Strong, talented, creative, and smart: Those are just some of the words that come to mind when describing the diverse group of women who work at Facebook. We sat down with ten women across the company who are leading teams that are shaping the future of the industry. We asked them about their backgrounds, what inspires them most, and, of course, what they love most about the work they’re doing here.
Tamara Berg, Research Scientist, AI Applied Research
Menlo Park, California
What advice do you give other women who are looking for a position like yours, at Facebook or elsewhere?
Dream big! Find something you’re passionate about, talk to as many people as you can about it, and find ways to work toward your goals.
You could say fashion led me to Facebook. I was an academic for a long time, first as a professor at Stony Brook University and then at UNC–Chapel Hill, working mainly in AI on the intersection between computer vision and natural language processing, but I always had a side passion for fashion and shopping. Over time, I wove that hobby into my academic research. In 2016, I co-founded a startup with my (also a professor) husband, Alex, working on AI technologies to personalize the online shopping experience. We joined Facebook in 2019 to help grow these efforts in Facebook AI. I never thought that my hobby around fashion would someday be one of the biggest influences on my career!
What advice would you give to your younger self about getting started in a career in tech?
Find places where you can grow and keep working on them. As a child, I was very shy; even giving a two-minute presentation was terrifying. Then I became a professor, and giving lectures to tens or hundreds of students was a daily occurrence. This really helped me push past my fears and get more comfortable with the things that scared me. Now, public speaking is still something that I work on continuously, but it’s gotten much easier with a little practice.