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Alliance of Women in Tech Leadership – Spotlight Series – Introducing Julie Bryce
By Tricia Lucas | Leadership
By Tricia Lucas | Leadership
Julie Bryce- Alliance of Women in Tech Leadership Member
Meet Julie Bryce, an Alliance of Women in Tech Leadership member and a global marketing leader with experience developing integrated marketing teams, designing marketing strategies, and launching new solutions to new audiences. She strives for authenticity and has a perpetual sense of urgency. Julie spent the last 15 years marketing companies and causes spanning enterprise technology titans like Red Hat and Oracle and scrappy startups ripe for acquisition. Now, Julie Bryce is feeding her passion for leadership and embracing the ever demanding marketplace as a Fractional CMO.
Fractional C Suites are gaining popularity now that recruiting talent has changed almost overnight. According to the 2018 Nielsen CMO Report, CMO’s aren’t just looking for more data, they are looking for insight. Julie agrees and feels high-performing teams need two things to excel: Framing and freedom. “Not everyone needs or can afford a full-time Chief Marketing Officer. Whether you’re an early-stage start-up, a lean non-profit, have a frozen headcount, or other economic constraints, an ongoing part-time arrangement can deliver the benefits of experience and expertise without incurring full-time salary and fringe costs.”
I want to be known for recognizing every person’s humanity. I am proud when colleagues and former employees reach out to give me an update, to tell me where they are or what they’re doing, or to ask for advice or a reference. This tells me that I didn’t just invest in a company, in a brand or in a project, but in the people I worked with. People remember how you made them feel long after the work is done.
I am proud of the times I’ve failed and gotten back up, for the times I’ve faced down shame to build resilience. In 2017, I launched a marketing campaign right before I went on maternity leave and left ample content and instruction for its continuation while I was out. When I returned, I was disappointed to learn it hadn’t taken off the way I’d hoped. Unfortunately, resilience is one of those muscles that can only be strengthened through failure.
I would love to be a personal gift shopper – the kind that is employed to do a client’s major gift shopping for their loved ones – for holidays, special occasions and birthdays. I would include wrapping in my service because I love to wrap presents in extravagant, creative or unexpected ways. When I’m eighty (if I’m eighty?) I would love to own a flower shop.
Lately when I work out, I remind myself that I want to be able to run a 10k with my son when he’s 7, 10, 13, as long as he’ll run with me! I want to be able to keep running long after he finds it socially acceptable to run with his Mom. By taking charge of my health today, one day at a time, I give myself the best shot at running later. That motivates me. The future unfolds before us, but only one day at a time. Today, I want to do what I can to build for the future, because today is all I have to work with!
I’ll answer for the company I recently left, to start work as a fractional CMO. The company was founder-led until 2016 when we hired a female CEO – a technology veteran with no legal background. For a successful startup in the male-dominated legal industry, that was a big change (and a great one).
My husband and I are starting a new business, an artist-designed miniature golf course and bar in Durham… you know because we have so much free time.
I badly broke my left arm when I was eight and it’s been crooked ever since. My husband makes fun of me and in yoga classes the instructor always looks at me like I’m doing something terribly wrong. I would change that.
Who do you go to when you have a hard question that’s either confidential or you’re embarrassed you have to ask? In the past two years I navigated several difficult people management issues, including putting someone recently back from maternity leave (as was I) on a performance improvement plan. It was heartbreaking and grueling. I didn’t have anyone local in my field, at my level, to turn to for advice, support, tips, empathy. I’m hoping this group will fill that void, and I’m quick to share what I learned with others because I’m wiser and better for it. Going together is so much better than going alone.
Our professional woman’s peer group is designed for strong successful leaders in the Triangle. Members include executives in sales, marketing, and business development type roles in technology, pharma, biotech, and healthcare. Our group provides a confidential place to share best practices, discuss strategies, and address business challenges. We share successes, tools, vendors, networks, talent, and ideas that can help each of us grow and develop professionally.
Through our passion, enthusiasm, talent, innovation, recruiting, and success, Women in Tech Leadership support, mentor, and empower one other. We also support one another during trials and transitions, through coaching, collaboration, and resources. Our members are building healthy relationships and stronger networks, creating stronger personal brands, recruiting and retaining talent, positioning ourselves as thought leaders, and communicating with confidence.
We believe in candor and confidentiality, creativity and concision, confidence and circumspection. We believe in taking risks and grasping opportunities that challenge the limits of our capability, and encouraging others to do the same. We believe in winning with integrity, through inspiration and leadership.
Tricia Lucas has over 25 years of demonstrated success in recruiting, marketing communications, and social media and helps technology companies recruit more efficiently by focusing on Recruiting Efficiencies, Employer Branding, and Social Media.