>> From Phoenix, Arizona, theCUBE. At Catalyst Conference. Here's your host, Jeff Frick. >> Hey, welcome back everybody, Jeff Frick here with theCUBE. We are on the ground in Phoenix, Arizona at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. A great little conference, about 400 people, it's going to be 600 next year. I think (inaudible), it's her fourth year. Rather than coming down and seeing what's going on, it seems to be a hot bed of of Women in Tech issues here in Phoenix. We were here two years ago for our first Grace Hopper conference so we're excited to come down and get a feel. And our next guest, Laura Williams, welcome. >> Thank you. >> So you are, as we said off camera, you're the lone government representative. You're the eDiplomacy Officer at the US Department of State. >> Right. >> So, first off, what is eDdiplomacy? >> eDiplomacy was founded by Secretary of State, Colin Powell. I actually started on the same day as he did at the State Department. We took different cars to work that day. But, I was a new hire when he was coming on at Secretary of State and he very quickly identified that State Department needed a tech upgrade. But he also combined that with a culture upgrade. He said, you know, "It's not just about needing new technology but it's needing new technology that allows us to collaborate." And he, sort of, blew peoples' minds when he said, "You know it's not about need to know anymore it's about need to share." State Department, still is a very bureaucratic, sort of, hierarchical culture. So, this initially didn't rest so well. People said there's no way, you know, the first thing that eDiplomacy did to bring in a Wiki into the internal part of the State Department's network. And I said, "Well, that will never work. We're a clearance culture and all this stuff." We have 22,000 Diplopedia articles, you know, running now. So, it did work. We brought blogs into the Department in order to tell stories across bureaucratic and geographical divides. I mean, if you think of the State Department, we're working in 190 countries and we have 275 offices spread throughout those countries. So, we needed collaboration we needed technology like this. >> So that's really interesting coming from Colin Powell you know, Head of the the Joint Chiefs, Chiefs, right? >> Yep. >> Just got off of war, going into the State Department. Which, still today there's this issues on, you know, Hillary's emails and this and that. It is a culture of need to know. So how did the barrier break down. >> Yeah. >> Did we have, like, the security overlay on the Wiki. >> Yeah. >> Did everything kind of happen, you know, outside or at some kind of great level in terms of clearance. >> Yeah. >> So it could, kind of, spread. That's really-- >> Yeah. >> --an interesting story. >> Two things: first of all when Colin Powell came to the State Department, most people didn't even have their Internet on their desktop. >> This probably-- >> This is in 2001. >> --probably a security-- >> Yeah. >> --was it a security thing or just-- >> --well, that's what everybody said. >> --old computers? >> That's what everybody said, right? >> Everybody said, "we can't do that, it's not secure." Well, Colin Powell- right, the guy who knows all about security, also happened to be on the board of AOL, right? And so, he knew technology and he knew that you could make it secure. It's not like the Department of Defense didn't have access to the Internet. He said, "Yeah, you got to make it secure. So we're talking about hardening the department's internal network and adding access to it, but of course, adding a layer of security on top of it." So, he, it took that kind of leadership, that personality to come in and say, "Oh yes, we will do this. And you all need to figure out how to do it But we will do it." >> But that's nothing compared to the cultural change though, right?-- >> The cultural change is the hardest. >> --to get people to publish. >> Right. >> So was there a couple of people who were just wildly successful. I mean how, again,-- >> Yeah. Yeah. >> --it's a complete mindshift. >> Yeah. I think that we haven't been totally successful, even all these years later, 15 years later there are definitely people that do not contribute to Diplopedia. There are people that definitely believe that information is power and they would rather share less than more. But, if you look at the world around you today and State Department does a lot of that, right? >> Right, right. >> It's out job to interact with people. Even that business of diplomacy has changed. It is no longer the Secretary of State meeting with the Foreign Minister of another country- Well, of course that happens and treaties are made but all of us now are expected to preform diplomacy. It's people to people diplomacy, not just envoy to envoy. And how do we do that, how do we do that on a massive scale? Technology. Of course, technology is a big part of that. >> Well, how do you do all the people that you're not interacting with at work? I mean-- >> Right. >> --that's what we see over and over again as the consumerization of IT, right, >> Yeah. >> and the expected behavior of things-- >> Yeah. >> --that work to behave like they are when I'm not work-- >> Yeah. >> I wonder if some of the -- >> Yeah. >> --younger people have come in-- >> Yeah. >> --to the government, like what, of course, you, why, why do we have these things? >> Right. It's an awesome source of friction (laughing) Can I say that, I mean, it is definitely a friction, like every other CIO of an organization as large as the State Department's. There is a constant worry about security. A constant worry about being able to manage a diverse tool set. But, if you don't provide the technology that your organization needs, you're going to create even bigger security problems. You're going to have a shadow IT. >> Right. Right. >> People are going to start using their person Gmail accounts instead of their State.gov accounts so we need to find ways to bring collaborative technology and technology that we use everyday in our personal lives, inside the safety of our network so that people have the kind of tools they need to do their jobs. >> That's great. We interviewed, Michelle K. Lee, who is the Under Secretary of Commerce at the USPTO Office. She came from Google, so again, another one of these kind of moves from the tech world into the government. But let's shift gears a little bit. Why are you here? What were you talking about here at this conference? >> Right, so, first of all, I've learned so much from being at this conference. You know, I was a little bit unsure when Adriana, the CEO of Girls in Tech, you know, invited me to talk as you mentioned, at the outset, I'm the only govie here. >> (laughing) The govie. >> So, I though, like, how is my story going to really resonate with the women that are present. And I spoke today, yesterday, story after story, presenter after presenter, I felt more and more confident I said, "Oh my goodness, the challenges are the same in private sector. They're the same if you're at a startup or at a big fancy company, like Intel or IBM. A lot of the stories are the same if you're in government so I'm just going to be authentic and tell my story." So, we did two things, we talked about, you know, IT innovation in government at the Federal level and how President Obama has invited, you know, West Coast high speed, low drag people to come help us fix our IT systems. But then I talked about my story. I had a degree in international ielations but moved out of that field in the mid 90s when it seemed everybody was doing something with tech. You know, it was an uncomfortable move at first because, you know, I was really wedded to whoa, I've studied international relations, I should be in this business. But I had one of those post-collegiate bubble bursting experiences where, you know, I was working at USAID and I thought, "I don't know this theory that I learned in school doesn't seem to be playing out in the field." And I shared an office with the IT guy, right? Uh, he was so annoying. You know. (laughing) But uh-- >> Funny how things work out, right? >> Right. So, a few months later he called me up. He said, "Hey, you still thinking about a career change, right?" Three years out of college, we have careers, right? So, I said," Yeah." And he said, "I'm in a different embassy every month. We're unplugging the old computer system, putting a new one in and we need you." And I said, "I don't know anything about tech." And he said, "But you know about the business. You've studied international relations. You are a people person. We need someone who can relate to people, who can sit in a meeting with the Ambassador and explain to him what the importance of tech rollout and explain it in plain language. Not in dorky, tech talk. And then we'll teach you the dorky, techy talk after-hours." I ended up really liking it. I liked that if there was a problem, I could fix it. And that has led to a career in the State Department where I'm certainly in between the org chart. The hardcore zero and one techies, they don't consider me a techie. The international relations majors that are doing the business of diplomacy, they're like, "You're not one of us either." But, I've made a sweet spot out of being in between orgs, org chart and it's really worked out for me. >> It's such a great story on so many levels. You are still in international relations-- >> Yes, very much so. >> --Except you work for the State Department. >> Yeah. >> It doesn't get much more international relations than that. >> Yeah. >> But you found your own niche. >> Yeah. >> And, I think a very important lesson for people considering a career in tech. You don't necessarily have to be a hardcore techie. >> Right. >> You don't have to know coding to get a job-- >> Yeah. >> --and get paid to play in this really fun and exciting and rapidly moving world. >> Yeah, that's true. There have been a lot of stories here over the past couple of days about that. There's a lot of people in that room who don't have a degree in engineering or computer science and in fact, I got to a place in my career where I stopped being shy about being that person who spoke both tech and International Relations and said, you know, in the State Department, you change your assignment every couple of years so you're constantly, sort of, lobbying or bidding for a new job. And I went to apply for a job in the operations center. That's the 24/7 nerve center of the State Department where we alert and brief the Secretary of State and other officials on events around the world. And, the guy interviewing me, who would later become my boss said, "You know, you're not a traditional candidate for this job." But, by this point in my career I said, "That's right. And that is exactly why I'm the best person for this job. Because I have this blend of skills that's going to take this place to the next level." So- >> And you got the job. >> I got the job and we changed the way, you know, the department receives, you know, alerts and briefs about events that are happening all around the world. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. >> Well congratulations. >> Thanks. >> Great story and really great inspiration for people looking for a great story. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your time, representing the government, representing the State Department here at the conference and thanks for stopping by theCUBE. >> Thanks so much. >> Absolutely. >> Thanks for having me. >> All right, Laura Williams, I'm Jeff Frick. You're watching the CUBE. We're at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. Thanks for watching.