Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Jenny Zhao of GoGuardian On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Lead with authenticity: I’ve never believed that trying to force a certain leadership style because I’m a woman in a male-dominated field would earn trust and inspire my teams. Instead, I focus on who I am — my authentic self, my passion for serving user-centered technologies, and my drive to achieve great things alongside my colleagues.
As a part of my series about “Lessons from Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jenny Zhao.
Jenny Zhao is Chief Technology Officer at education technology company GoGuardian. Her multi-decade rise through globally-dominant tech companies started at computer graphics innovator Silicon Graphics, where she led advanced simulation middleware solutions for clients including the U.S. Air Force and Disneyland. She also served as a Senior Director of Engineering at Google. She is passionate about building effective learning solutions that advance educational outcomes.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
That’s a good question. I am very passionate about both education and technology. I’ve worked in technology in my entire career, including a recent role as Senior Director of Engineering at Google where I helped build innovative solutions in GPay, Search, and Maps. Not many people know this, but in 2002 I took a break from my engineering work to help launch an immersive Chinese-American bilingual school in the San Francisco Bay area. It was motivated by the needs of my kids and it helped many other families, as well. I joined the GoGuardian team in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer and really love that I can combine two of my greatest passions since it’s an education technology company. It’s a perfect fit to merge my parallel career paths.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The first time I worked on a 3D real-time graphics simulation release, I had quite the typo. I underestimated how much time I needed to work on the project, so I was up until 3:00 a.m. trying to finish a beta to send to user companies. At that time, you had to physically cut a beta. My job was to do the final editing. Instead of saying “if stuck, click any key,” I typed “if stuck, lick any key.” This experience taught me that with engineering, you need to factor in enough time for testing and quality assurance. Projects aren’t finished when you’re done coding; you need to do it in its entirety.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
GoGuardian is truly unique as a startup because of the incredible passion for education I see from all my colleagues! The team that our CEO and co-founder Advait Shinde has built is remarkable in its dedication to our mission to supercharge human potential through the ultimate learning platform. We’re constantly asking ourselves not just “How can we engineer this better?” or “How can this be designed more intuitively?” but “How can we better inspire students to achieve their best educational outcomes” and “How can this help make our world a better place?” It sounds like an exaggeration, but every day at GoGuardian is an inspiration.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
One of GoGuardian’s most interesting services is Beacon, a student mental health solution that uses AI to help identify online activity that suggests a student may be at risk in order to help schools support students who might be struggling. Beacon’s AI alerts designated responders, which is especially critical during the pandemic and at a time when the U.S. Surgeon General has declared student mental health a national emergency. Last year, we introduced the ability for Beacon to identify cyberbullying and potential threats of violence, empowering schools to deploy our AI as part of their complete security solution. Our objective in introducing this new feature is that schools can use Beacon alerts to help prevent future tragedies and keep students safer on campus. We know that psychological and safety needs are foundational parts of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and we believe that schools can use our technology to help students feel more safe, secure, and supported in their learning journey.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
There’s certainly room for improvement — not just with women in STEM, but with diversity across the board. When I recruit for my teams, I seek to build groups of outstanding engineers with widely different backgrounds, each of whom brings their own unique skills, points of view, and backgrounds. Diversity results in more creative thinking, which is what we really strive for at the highest levels of engineering. To really change the status quo we need to constantly think about elevating diverse backgrounds across gender identity, race, ethnicity, neurodiversity, socioeconomic origin, and so on. In this way, we can truly diversify STEM and make our field an agent of societal change.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
I’ve noticed that many successful women often hold themselves to an unachievable high standard. We have to be overachievers not only in our careers, but in our home lives too. Whether put on by society or women themselves, that pressure leads to guilt when you realize you can’t do everything perfect. Our energy is limited, and if we strive to overachieve in all parts of our lives, it takes a toll on our physical and mental health. We have less time with friends, less sleep, and sacrifice selfcare. To address this, I encourage women to strike a balance and give themselves permission to not be perfect at everything. Sometimes good enough is good enough.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
There is a myth that STEM is boring, dry, and lonely. Sure, back in the early days of computer science, you’d sit in a corner and crank something out by yourself. That’s not the case today. A lot of work in STEM is about solving real problems in people’s lives. There is cross-functional collaboration and abundant creativity. If you’re a woman considering a STEM career, I’d like to underscore that the work we do is about connections between people and making a real-world impact. It’s far from dry and boring.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Lead with authenticity: I’ve never believed that trying to force a certain leadership style because I’m a woman in a male-dominated field would earn trust and inspire my teams. Instead, I focus on who I am — my authentic self, my passion for serving user-centered technologies, and my drive to achieve great things alongside my colleagues.
2. Have a clear strategy and clear direction: Great teammates appreciate a clear understanding of our “true north” — our collective strategy and overarching direction beyond the “deep in the weeds” conversations we often find ourselves day to day.
3. Follow your passion and learn from experience: My greatest successes have come from following my passions, whether in technology and software engineering, education, or now at GoGuardian, the combination of both! My most valuable lessons, hard-won experiences, and proudest triumphs have come when my work is something I can place my whole heart in.
4. Empower great talent: As a leader, you’re only as good as your team! Recruit exceptional people and then empower them with the tools and resources to do great work, and the entire team reaps the rewards.
5. Take risks and step out of your comfort zone: As the saying goes, “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” and many of my hardest-won yet most valuable lessons have come when I tried something new or took on new challenges. Even at this stage of my career, joining GoGuardian as CTO presents a fascinating new challenge that will keep me growing, adapting, and learning new ways to lead and inspire my teams.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Recognize that there’s no one universal way to be a good leader. I’ve seen new leads, especially young women leaders, try to mimic someone else’s style, and only end up limiting themselves in the end. To help your team thrive, be true to yourself. If you’re more of a nurturing person, it’s okay to be more nurturing with your team. If you’re more technical and detail-oriented, it’s okay to be technical with your team. When you’re confident with yourself, you are comfortable with your team, and that comfort lets people feel safe to take risks, to find passion in their work, and innovate.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Be inclusive and be the best manager you can be regardless of your label as a woman leader. Hire, attract and recognize talent. Check in with your team often and be clear on strategy. See the “leaves and forest” at the same time. Be organized. Inspire and create room for innovation for people, but also give them an understanding of constraints. Learn how to manage up. Recognize diversity and respect culture.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I was fortunate to work with the great Michael T. Jones. As creator of Google Earth, he was a brilliant computer science pioneer who helped put 3D graphics and simulation on the map for the United States. He thought outside of the box and taught me that engineering isn’t just about coding — it’s about connecting with customers and solving their problems. Not only that, it’s about anticipating problems they don’t even know they need to solve yet. I’m truly thankful that he was my manager.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Part of my personal mission is to bridge the gap between the East and the West. I have spent a lot of time in China and the U.S., so I have a well-rounded perspective on how both sides can appreciate differences and find common goals and passions. Over the years, I’ve also had the pleasure of working with people in India, Singapore and other parts of Asia. My hope is that I’ve helped people around the world have more respect for each other and be more willing to collaborate based on a true understanding of background, culture and what’s in our hearts. I hope that many people have seen and experienced each other’s worlds firsthand through my work and that these experiences have had a lasting impact.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I want there to be a movement of appreciation. I want individuals to appreciate all the people that have helped and influenced them — and to not be too focused on how they may have felt wronged. In short, appreciate more, everywhere. An impactful way to support DEI goals is to have a great deal of appreciation. Positive energy brings out positive energy in return.
When I helped build out an office in Beijing, I created an appreciation wall that included the name of every person who has worked in the office. I felt it was important to thank all the people who contributed to the site even if some of them have left the company. This brought a lot of goodwill — some employees actually came back and some recommended good talent. I encourage people to find ways to give appreciation both personally and professionally.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
A famous quote from Confucius is roughly translated as “With three men walking together, there is always a teacher among them.” I carry this with me all the time because I am always seeking and learning from people around me. Willingness to be educated will take you far in life.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to sit down with President Biden. I admire his mature leadership style and how he rose up through the ranks over many years of hard work. I would like to learn his insight on making progress in extremely complex situations.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Jenny Zhao of GoGuardian On The 5 Leadership Lessons She… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.