Maribeth Fitzpatrick: A technology leader who develops future leaders

Maribeth Fitzpatrick is Imarc's Director of Front-end Engineering. She has been with Imarc for almost ten years and we all appreciate her incredible work that often straddles the lines between UX, Creative, and Engineering. Beyond that though, we value that in her position of Director, she takes the time to mentor her entire team and the women of Imarc.

Recently, Maribeth volunteered to be a judge for the Massachusetts division of the Technovation Girls’ Challenge.

The Technovation teams work together on project briefs, pitch videos, tech videos, app building, and business plans. Then they reflect on their learning journey and the challenges they faced. All of these materials contributed to their score, so there was a lot to review!

As a judge, Maribeth completed both online preliminary judging and attended the Technovation MA Showcase event on Saturday, May 13, 2023, to meet the teams in person and finalize their scores.

To learn more about the competition and why it mattered to her, we sat down with Maribeth for a Q&A. Enjoy!

The competition

What about the Technovation Girls’ Challenge was most exciting for you?

I think the fact that it involved high school-aged girls who are just getting into the technology and engineering space and the fact that all of their projects submitted had to support one of the United Nations sustainability goals. Not only are these girls learning a new skill, they're also learning how to run a business, how to plan and build something, and how to develop in engineering. They're learning how to make the world a better place.

What was the judging process like?

The preliminary judging process included a virtual round with a proprietary dashboard for entering scores of up to 90 total points. I had two teams that scored 82/90. Then the in-person local chapter event allowed for interaction between the contestants and judges.

Each team set up a poster board about their app, so you could go and talk to them and ask questions live. A few of them actually had the app working on their phone! So I got to demo it and play with it a little bit. It was cool to see them in action, really working. I went around, talked to each team, asked questions, and right then and there logged on to my dashboard and finalized my scores.

What surprised you about the projects created during the Technovation Girls’ Challenge?

I was surprised at how forward-thinking they were and how passionate they were about the different sustainability goals that they decided to support. Not only were their concepts impressive but the amount of thought they put into creating something that supports a sustainability goal really blew me away.

One of the teams came up with a safety app for girls or women walking alone at night that would ping three emergency contacts with their location at the push of a button. Another app was all about social media and the negative influence it has on young girls and the way they perceive themselves and their bodies. That one was trying to encourage self-love with affirmations, daily quotes, and included hotlines and other resources for mental health.

One of my teams' apps tied music to speech therapy because music and speech have similar rhythms and it's been proven that music can help kids with speech delays understand and practice the rhythms. It was an interactive game with a little drum that would play a beat, and you had to tap the same beat on the phone. One person on that team has a younger brother that suffers from a speech delay so they were super motivated and passionate about it.

Some teams spoke with doctors, while others reached out to local Facebook groups or surveyed their peers. The depth of research that each team did was really impressive. I was amazed.

What global problems did the projects aim to solve this year?

Some of the projects were focused on gender equality, healthy living (both mental and physical), world hunger, environmental sustainability, and climate action. Good health and climate action were probably the most popular ones this year.

Do you think any of the projects will be rolled out into the real world?

I honestly I could see some of them becoming real apps. Some of the concepts were just so innovative. The designs were really good too, so yes, I could actually see quite a few moving on to the real world.

Mentoring & inspiration

What inspires you in your field?

I think for me it's my field in particular. The front-end engineering world is constantly changing and evolving. That's inspiring because there's always something new to learn about. And even if I'm not as technical as I used to be, you know, in the weeds coding every day, learning all the latest and greatest things, I can see my team doing it. For example, someone like Megan, an associate who was hired about a year ago – it's been amazing watching her flourish and just pick up these new technologies faster than I could possibly imagine.

I also think seeing different team members have healthy debates on best practices or ways to do something is inspiring. There are a million ways to accomplish one task in our world, so seeing different team members learn and feel comfortable bringing their ideas to the table is wonderful.

What do you feel are crucial elements of mentoring?

You have to listen to the things your mentees are struggling with and to the things they want to learn and you have to be humble. Being kind, open, and honest, knowing how to read a person, and being empathetic matters.

Why do you think mentoring is important?

I want to help guide and inspire – especially young, women and girls. If there is ever a situation where I need help, I go to my mentors. Just knowing that you have that person that you can go to and ask really anything to and they're not going make you feel stupid or put you down – that they're going to jump in and figure out the best solution or where to point you to – I just think that's really important.

How do you find mentors for your own work and how do you go about finding people to mentor?

I think just in various networking events. That's how I've met a few people in the industry that I would never have met and I keep in touch with.

At Imarc I have a couple of mentors really but, one of them would definitely be Jeff Turcotte. I think working super closely with him, I've always considered him a mentor, whether it's official or not.

I heard this advice recently ... just ask. Ask if someone wants to be your mentor or wants to help advocate for you or be on your own personal board. I heard that at a recent MassTLC event, I went to ... create your own personal board of directors, people that you can go to for advice. People that you can look up to and feel comfortable talking to and asking questions of.

Did you/do you have a person who mentored or inspired you to be the person you are today?

At one of my first jobs, my mentor left, and it took a while to hire a new manager for me, but when we did, she was awesome and instantly filled the role of mentor for me.

She would ask me if I was happy doing what I was doing and was interested in hearing about what I wanted to do. That's when I realized I really liked the design and development aspect of my job and so I learned this whole new system and helped build an intranet. That inspired me to go back to school to get my certificate and that's what led me here today.

At Imarc there's Jeff, but there's also Katie who has always been a strong woman. She's my mentor now that I'm a Director, and she's always inspiring me as she's oftentimes one of the only women in a room and I can relate. She helps me to speak up and be my own person. And we have Karin now who's also a very strong, successful woman and we have a mutual mentorship relationship there.

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We are extremely proud of Maribeth for taking on this mentoring opportunity as we too are passionate about inspiring, hiring, and advancing professional women.

That's why we hold space for female-focused initiatives such as Women in the Workplace where our team members tackle topics they might not feel comfortable talking about in a larger setting.

Our female leaders are continually advocating for the advancement of women.

If you are interested in an agency partner that cares about female empowerment, let's talk.