Published Jun 01, 2017
When Delia Grenville was bestowed with the Women of Color 2015 Technologist of the Year Award, she didn’t fully realize the impact the recognition would have on her professional life.
She received more opportunities as a speaker and panelist, received invitations to meetings and luncheons, and found herself with increased access to top executives at her company, Intel. In fact, after receiving the award, she was given the opportunity to work with Intel’s vice president of engineering as part of the Chief of Staff’s Office.
Grenville, who was an architect at Intel specializing in strategy, innovation and platform engineering, and user experience at the time of the award, has built a body of work over 25 years as she worked as a research scientist, technology strategist, and program manager. She’s also the inventor of six digital content technologies. In the nomination packet for the award, she was described as being a visionary thinker who brings her all to everything she does.
“When Delia was tasked with creating an overall corporate strategy for connecting product requirements with end-user research and design, not only did she create a process and framework, she created an entire community of over 1,200 internal experts and stakeholders,” it states.
“The award opened up a lot of career conversations in and outside of my company,” said Grenville. “It definitely gave me access to executive-level connections and conversations I wasn’t having before. I don’t think where I was in middle management, those conversations would have occurred as quickly.”
Grenville, who earned doctorate and master’s degrees in industrial and systems management from Virginia Tech, said it’s beneficial for individuals advancing on the corporate ladder to be aware of how they are perceived both within their companies and beyond.
“A lot of times our viewpoints can be very filtered by our situations, our organizations that we are in,” she said. One also shouldn’t fear that getting feedback from outside sources, such as in a wide network, is being disloyal, she said, adding, “Career management is especially important for women as we tend to traditionally be more focused on others.”
When asked about the highlights of the past year, Grenville cited attending Silicon Valley Comic Con (she represented Intel on an “Engineering for Tomorrow” panel) and meeting Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, participating in an Intel fashion and STEM panel with women who have combined technology with the arts, and speaking at a Women’s Club luncheon at which the audience kept expanding and chairs were continuously added.
“On a personal front, last year opened me up to expanding my horizons and creating space for entrepreneurial collaboration,” she shared. “There are so many ways to contribute to how the world views technology, women, and diversity. One of my favorite projects is with my sister, where we are bringing an adventurous young girl of color, Sela Blue, to life. I love applying my product development body of knowledge to an entirely different domain. Selablue.com is a creativity opportunity where I can provide ideas to combine technology with print.”
As for advice for the next Technologist of the Year, Grenville said that she should think long and hard about what messages she wants to drive home.
“You have a platform,” said Grenville. “How do you want to use that platform? Think about where you want to have an impact.”
And Grenville said her message to youth is simple.
“Believe you can,” she said, adding that those individuals who possess the “unique combination” of artistic talent and technical and scientific skill must recognize that they have something special to bring to the world.
She encourages those focusing on science in school not to undervalue the importance of the arts. It’s “up to students” to take the opportunity to blend arts and sciences to help them develop the unique abilities to invent, design, and create our future technologies.
