---
aliases: ["Podcast recording — 2024-04-11"]
Is A: Event
Date: "2024-04-11"
Belongs to: "[[2024-04]]"
Related to: ["[[person-lucia-martinez]]"]
Tags: ["Work", "Podcast"]
---
# Podcast recording — 2024-04-11
Recorded episode with Lucia Martinez. Great conversation.

## Notes
- Episode theme: diversity in engineering leadership and the structural barriers that prevent underrepresented groups from reaching principal engineer and VP-level roles
- Lucia shared data from her research on promotion patterns at large tech companies, revealing that the biggest drop-off happens at the senior-to-staff transition, not at the entry level as commonly assumed
- Her background leading DEI initiatives at a Fortune 500 tech company while simultaneously serving as a staff engineer gave her credibility that pure HR-focused guests often lack
- Very candid conversation — Lucia did not shy away from naming specific failure modes she has witnessed, which makes this episode feel authentic rather than performative
- Key quote: "Mentorship without sponsorship is just friendship. If nobody is putting your name forward in rooms you are not in, nothing changes"
- Clean audio; recorded via Riverside with no technical issues

## Follow-up
- [ ] Send thank-you email to Lucia and ask permission to link to her published research
- [ ] Draft show notes with references to the studies she cited
- [ ] Schedule editing with [[person-paco-furiani]]
- [ ] Create social media clips — the mentorship vs sponsorship distinction will drive engagement
