Women in Big Data Pacific Northwest | Pacific Phoenixes Speaker Series

You’ve built a career. You’ve led teams, solved hard problems, and delivered real results. So why is it so hard to talk about yourself? That’s the question Sheila Mason — Director of the P4 Program at University of Portland and 25-year Intel veteran — put at the center of her workshop for the Pacific Phoenixes 2026 cohort. Her answer: the habits holding us back aren’t about lack of experience. They’re about how we’ve been trained to communicate it.

Sheila named five patterns that quietly undermine even the most accomplished professionals. The instinct to say “we” instead of “I,” especially after years in leadership roles. The vague, up-leveled headline that sounds impressive but says nothing. The undersell — culturally ingrained, particularly in women — that shrinks the scale of what we’ve actually achieved. The habit of listing tasks and responsibilities instead of contributions and outcomes. And the pull to show everything at once, hoping volume proves value. Naming these patterns was itself clarifying for many in the room, because the first step to changing a habit is recognizing it.

The antidote Sheila offered was a practical four-part framework: who you are (your identity, expertise, and what you’re known for), what you bring (your strengths, skills, and value), what you’ve done (specific accomplishments with impact, in your own voice), and what’s next (where you’re headed and what you’re exploring). She walked participants through a three-list brainstorm to unlock this — first, how you see your own strengths; second, how peers and managers would describe you; third, how you want to be known. The gap between those lists, she noted, is usually where the undersell lives.

From those lists, she guided the group toward building a hook (30–60 seconds, 3–5 sentences: who you are and what you bring) and a narrative (the full 2–3 minute story, built out with accomplishments and what’s next). Her signature writing tip was specific and memorable: draft your narrative in 14-point font, double-spaced, across two pages. Read aloud, it lands at exactly 3 minutes — giving you a tactile, physical sense of time and space to force the editing your story needs. Inspired by Intel’s own product pitch framework — the 30-3-30, describing a product in 30 seconds, 3 minutes, or 30 minutes — it was the kind of technique only someone who’s lived both worlds could have devised.

On AI, Sheila was direct: use it as a starting point, not a ghostwriter. AI tends to be over-complimentary, uses language that’s now easily recognizable as machine-generated, and can blur the authentic voice that makes your story distinctly yours. The goal isn’t a polished-sounding story — it’s an honest, specific, genuinely yours one. As she put it at the close: look yourself in the mirror, acknowledge what you’ve done, feel good about it, and then tell people. That’s not bragging. That’s owning your story. 🔥

Sheila Mason is the Director of the P4 Program at the University of Portland School of Business. Connect with her on LinkedIn. Pacific Phoenixes is Women in Big Data Pacific Northwest’s flagship returnship and career pivot program, running March–May 2026.

Recording, Workshop Worksheet and Presentation can be found here.