Denise Evans of IBM quoted Burns during a recent Women of Color in Technology Conference. The event, titled “Women Leaders: Unleashing the Power Within,” offered advice to women in corporate America.

“I didn’t learn to be quiet when I had an opinion,” Evans said, citing the Xerox CEO as the author of the quote. “The reason they knew who I was is because I told them.”

Evans, vice president of Women and Diversity B2B Marketing for the tech giant, was joined by panelists Nicole Patton and Dr. Akilah Cadet. Together, the three speakers unpacked pressing challenges facing women that aspire to leadership roles. Topics ranged from networking and mentorship to adversity in the workplace.

In order to move up the corporate ladder, high-performing employees must also be willing to shape their image around the demands of the job.

“You can put your head down and work really hard, but if nobody knows it, you’re like a tree falling in the forest,” Evans says. “Do you carry yourself in a way that people know you’re ready for the next level?”

Patton, who worked for years in IT for Lockheed Martin before taking a job as Manager of Desktop Engineering at Proskauer Rose, spoke of her own experience in moving upward.

“I was just a help technician crawling under desks when they said, ‘Hey, we want you to lead,’” she explains. “Then I have to change my wardrobe. I’m no longer wearing khakis and polos. I have to be a person who can speak to engineers and managers.”

She also spoke about the decision to leave Lockheed, a company with more than 100,000 employees, for a smaller business. This decision helped her to gain more visibility, something the panelists agree is crucial to success.

“At Lockheed Martin, you can be a number, so I decided to go to a smaller company to get more exposure,” she says. “Now I’m in charge of a group of three engineers who are migrating a global company, and I’m the face of it.”

While a change in companies was fruitful for Patton, some women find that starting their own company is the best path. Dr. Cadet did just that. Her organizational development firm, Change Cadet, was born out of her experiences with workplace adversity.

“I’m a woman, I’m of color, and I’m perceived as young, so a lot of people don’t want to hear what I have to say even though I have three degrees,” she says. “I’ve even had people tell me I was too smart,” she adds, laughing. “I didn’t know that was a problem.”