This Female Tech Exec Has A Passion For Coding - And Motorcycles

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IBM Lysa Banks

IBM

This post is sponsored by IBM.

If you ran into Lysa Banks on the street, you'd never think the motorcycle riding, tattoo-sporting, DIY woman standing before you worked for IBM - let alone had a passion for coding. But she does.

As lead architect for industry cloud solutions at IBM, Banks uses technology and software to improve people's lives, similar to how working at IBM bettered her own. Despite being raised in a low-income, single-parent household, Banks went on to graduate from the New Jersey Institute of Technology with a degree in computer engineering, eventually landing a position as a software engineer at IBM.

As much as the self-proclaimed geek enjoyed coding, she found herself yearning for more human interaction at work. With the help of mentors and a supportive management staff, Banks was able to find opportunities at IBM that allowed her to engage with clients. Banks even found time to pay if forward by becoming a mentor for adolescents interested in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

In nine years at the company, Banks' coding and people skills helped her rise through the ranks and into her current position as lead architect. "If there's something you want to do," Banks says now, "you can do it."

Banks is just one of the women highlighted in IBM's "A Day in the Life" video series. As part of the company's campaign to attract more women into the field of technology, the videos show how each woman has grown her career at IBM while achieving a healthy work-life integration.

Watch the video below to see a day in the life of Lysa Banks.

Learn more about IBM's opportunities and resources for women.

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