theAsianparent’s Jessica Tremel Leads the Way for Women in Tech

Anyone looking for parenting advice will most likely go to theAsianparent, an online parenting community with a specific focus on Southeast Asians. theAsianparent was first created by its founder, Roshni Mahtani, when she realised there was little relevant parenting-related content online in the context of her Southeast-Asian culture. The very first article Roshni wrote was about feeding preschoolers durian, during her days as a babysitter in New York City, which was the very beginning of theAsianparent.

Today, theAsianparent has evolved from a simple blog to a 250-employee strong content, community, and commerce health-tech company. It is localised in 13 countries and reaches 35 million parents monthly. Part of theAsianparent is VIParents, a Southeast Asian real parents community management platform that helps parents earn a livelihood by promoting and recommending brands that they love.

During JobStreet and Tech in Asia’s recent virtual career fair, Jessica Danajaya Tremel, the Co-Founder of VIParents and Head of Agency Partnership at theAsianparent, was one of the speakers at the Women in Tech webinar. She was part of the team that nurtured this homegrown Southeast Asian tech company from series A to series D, successfully building a software business from zero to a revenue generating model. Jessica has over 9 years of experience in the technology and media sector.

From one industry to another

Jessica was first inspired to join the tech industry by her friends and acquaintances. She saw the industry as the most attractive industry to work at due to the high growth and potential, as well as the high pay and good job security. According to her, it was the fastest-growing, fastest-changing, and possibly most demanding career sector. She loved the challenge of it and how it rewarded innovation and creativity. Additionally, she saw it as an opportunity to transform the way we live in and give back to the community.

Jessica originally worked in a production and creative agency before making a mid-career switch to the tech industry. When she made the career change from a production and creative agency to tech media, Jessica faced the challenge of having to relearn the whole process again and absorb knowledge very quickly within a short period of time to show that she was suitable for the role. “It made me feel like a fresh graduate,” she admits.

Today, Jessica is one of the leaders behind theAsianparent and plays an active part in transforming the way users are engaging with the platform. She says that one of the most exciting parts of her job is working with an international team made up of people from multiple countries and navigating through the different cultural intricacies to fulfil the same goal.

Keeping up with tech

When asked what qualifications she thought were needed to pursue a career in tech, Jessica recommends having a degree in computer engineering, marketing, or business. However, she also says that learning and getting certifications in Google ads, Facebook ads, TikTok ads, CRM, and other relevant fields would make you stand out even without the relevant degree.

She also recommends nurturing transferable skills which can help boost your chances of getting a job in the tech industry even without a background in tech. As we move towards an increasingly digitalised market, skills to do with product, engineering, sales, marketing, people management, and strategic will stay relevant. Furthermore, Jessica says that the world needs more engineers. “There are not enough of them!” she emphasises. Jessica also identifies that the new skills that are gaining momentum are data science, content creation, and blockchain.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of tech has been accelerated as people spent more time at home and turned to online avenues. Jessica notes that there has been an increase in spending in digital marketing, e-commerce, online education, and gaming.

As working from home became the norm, it was easier for women, especially mothers, to join and thrive in tech by juggling the management of the household and children with their work responsibilities all in one place.

Women at work

The tech industry is commonly known to be a male-dominated field. However, theAsianparent is an exception—Jessica says that 70% of the workforce at theAsianparent are women.

Jessica advises women who are looking to enter the tech industry to try working in women-led start-ups, like beauty commerce and parenting, to gain confidence and a track record before jumping into a male-dominated workforce. “The main thing we need to prove, whether you are a woman or not, is your result and performance,” says Jessica. “The numbers will speak for themselves. If you are good, it will reflect on the numbers. Then, none of your colleagues can find fault in you.”

She advises that the key thing is to gain respect from your team members by being humble and firm and showcasing leadership skills. “When you show respect to others and help others become the better version of themselves, the people around you, regardless of rank and hierarchy, will lift you up automatically,” she advises. On the other hand, Jessica says when dealing with people who seek to oppress you, you should stand up to them and not let them step on you.

Regarding gender inequality in the workplace, Jessica thinks that there should be more women-led events to empower women and change the mindset of men to be more forward thinking. She believes that having different perspectives from people of different backgrounds is beneficial for a fast-paced industry like tech as this is a field where creative thinking and growth mindset is valuable.

To girls and women who want to join the tech industry, Jessica says, “No outfit is better than wearing your confidence! It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female—work hard to show your numbers and the result will speak for itself! Keep reinventing yourself by learning new skills and gaining experience as tech is fast paced. There are always new things to learn when changes happen very quickly in this industry.”

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Jessica Danajaya Tremel was a speaker at the Women in Tech webinar held during the JobStreet x Tech in Asia’s Virtual Career Fair, along with Mei Lee from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Aditi Toshniwal from TikTok.