Berangere Leroy
A part of the tech industry for over 20 years, Bérangère Leroy started in tech because it encouraged “autonomy of thought.” Bérangère has used that freedom and celebration of individuality to build the culture here at Nutanix at her post in France.
Good Vibes Only
Bérangère’s team describes her as a “culture champion.” You might find her tending to the tomato garden on the terrace or playing in a band with other Nutant musicians.
She was first attracted to Nutanix for its “vibes” -- a sense of collaborating to do more, learn more and share more. Bérangère boasts of the team’s determination and hunger to win, and in the same breath, she highlights their kindness and emotional intelligence. While some companies pay lip service to a collective culture with a few words in their mission statement, Bérangère says the passionate people at Nutanix bring the best out in themselves and each other by living their values. “With Nutanix, it’s the rhythm, the cadence. It’s always there. Like your heart beating.”
Celebrating Women in the Workplace
As one of her first tasks on board, Bérangère led a gender diversity project in which at least one in five candidates had to be a woman. Once the Talent Acquisition team made Diversity and Inclusion a primary focus and actively sought out female candidates, they were able to make huge strides in building a team with greater female representation. Within a year, the France office had doubled in size, and grown from women being 7% of the local workforce to 20%, including engineers!
“Diversity is about unlocking your bias,” Bérangère explains. Bringing more diversity of skills, backgrounds, points of view, and life experiences has enhanced the local culture. “Being different is part of our richness.”
The Path to Diversity
While the diversity in the overall talent pool needs improvement, Bérangère offers advice on how we can change that. Bérangère contests the easy path is for a hiring manager to claim it’s too difficult to find diverse hires in our field. “Yes it’s difficult, but why don’t we try? If we try, we may succeed.” Bérangère encourages hiring managers to check their own blind spots in order to challenge a biased hiring system in the industry. Bérangère believes the next steps in bringing more diversity to the tech industry includes attending diversity conferences, talking about diversity earlier in school, and encouraging young women to continue pursuing technical degrees. She is currently in talks to build local partnerships that encourage girls and women to learn coding.
The Song of Nutanix
One of Bérangère’s favorite pastimes is to play in a band with her fellow Nutant musicians. “Our goal is to play .NEXT Paris next year...if we’re good enough!” As a musician and D.J., Bérangère relates our company culture to a rhythm of at least 80 beats per minute (BPM) and describes the song of Nutanix as a big soundtrack with rhythmic guitar, bass, high hat, and a bit of tropical sound. Perhaps we will hear this song at .NEXT Paris next year!