Missy Grish

What did you want to be as a child and how has that journey led you to where you are today?
This might be silly, but I always wanted to be a hotel manager – I always wanted to help the people who stayed, and I really thought I was going to go into hospitality. However, I ended up having a baby earlier in my life, so I had to decide how I was going to support my child.

In 2001, the highest paying job was being a data analyst, so I thought how can I do this? I lived down the street from IU Northwest, so I enrolled, earned my technology degree, interned at IU Northwest within UITS, and started in the hardware department. At the time, there wasn’t a data analyst degree, but I had experience gathering data and making reports for the UITS department. I never ended up in data analytics, but I fell in love with user support – helping someone understand technology. I have a real knack for getting down to someone’s level, stripping away the tech of it, and just being able to communicate with someone and help them with what they need.

I recently landed a manager role within my team, and my supervisor pushed me to get out of my shell. I joined the Bootcamp and ITLC Board Committee, which led me to the IUWIT Leadership Committee today. .

Do you have advice for women working in male-dominated teams?
I learned early on that I have to speak up, and if I feel something is off, I absolutely say something, especially if I think that it’s off because of gender or inequality. When it’s a room with the same people as you, how will you know that what you’re saying is biased? It helps others realize how things are worded or presented may be harmful or biased, while letting things go may not help because it can justify inaccurate behaviors or representation.

How did you become inspired in environments where women are a minority?
During my schooling, there was only one other girl and myself. As you get to senior year, the classes get a lot smaller, and it was all boys. I noticed, “Oh, this is a male-dominated field.” Outside of my computer classes, there were a lot more women in English and math. The other girl ended up working at UITS Northwest as well, which was really cool. Early in my internship, which was all men, I met the Executive Director, who was a woman. The highest-level person in my organization was also a woman, just like me. It made me see that at UITS it wouldn’t be a constant uphill battle, and everyone was on even ground, because the highest-ranking positions were all women.

Do you have any advice for current women studying computer science or informatics?
My advice is to go through with it, and don’t hold back. If you believe in something and you want to do something, go for it. If you have an idea or project you feel strongly about, and someone tells you “No,” don’t stop. Maybe you’ll have to gather more evidence/research, but I don’t like it when people put out my fire, and I purposefully add more gas at that point. It is a male-dominated field, so you have to find your voice. I don’t mean to be argumentative, disruptive, or loud, but if I have a purpose, it needs to be heard, even if it’s not used .

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I am passionate about the local campus community, so anytime we have an event on campus, I try to get myself involved. I am on 3-4 committees for the campus, and I believe in community. If you’re happy at work and you can contribute to your community, your community will grow. We plant trees on the campus, there’s clean-up days – I participate as much as I can in local campus. Networking and relationships are very important to me, because you never know when you’re going to need them later.