Central to this year’s Women's History Month celebration for Lumen are the themes “Championing Women in Technology and Innovation” and #BreakTheBias.

Lumen’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer India Sylvester leads global efforts in driving the corporate strategy to create a culture that embraces diversity, inclusion and belonging. India has made recruiting and retention of diverse talent a top priority and says "intersectionality" will shape our people strategies in 2022.

India explained, “We are celebrating women in our company who are globally leading innovation through technology. Lumen is focused on supporting gender equity and increasing career opportunities for women. We are fostering a gender-equal world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination - a world where differences are honored and celebrated.”

Lumen is excited to recognize two of its women leaders who are breaking barriers in the tech industry to make amazing innovations happen.

Odoyemi Fonville

Odoyemi Fonville is making sustainability happen at Lumen. Every day, she helps Lumen excel by identifying opportunities to reduce waste and improve processes for the successful delivery of large and complex projects.

Featured in African Career World’s Winter 2021 – 2022 issue, Odoyemi Fonville works in Lumen’s Center of Excellence for the Implementation Program Management Office.

Odoyemi joined Lumen as an intern in June 2021. After graduating from Georgia State University with a Master of Science degree in Information Systems concentrating in Cybersecurity, Odoyemi decided to apply for a senior technical project manager position and was hired as a full-time Lumen employee.

Odoyemi said, “What attracted me to a career with Lumen was the opportunity to do work that is meaningful and impactful. As a millennial pursuing a lifelong career in tech, having the opportunity to contribute to the 4th Industrial Revolution through implementing and using innovative technologies was something I was immediately drawn to.”

Odoyemi participates in several employee resource groups at Lumen: Women Empowered, Alliance of Black Technology Professionals and NextGEN, and said, “Lumen’s work culture alone makes it a great place to work. I am grateful to be working at a company whose mission and values align with mine.”

Odoyemi advises college students and young professionals looking for a technology career to pursue higher education, gain an IT certificate, seek a mentor in the telecom or network industry and/or accept an internship position.

“Through my continued education, I have become a resourceful employee adding significant value to my team. Don’t limit yourself with fear of failure, self-doubt or settling for less than what you are worth. Spend time exploring different fields and focus on what makes you happy.”

Dina Dominguez

Lumen network engineer Dina Dominguez develops detailed designs of fiber-optic and copper facilities for new services, and is featured in Women Engineer’s Winter 2021 - 2022 issue.

As a single parent of three children, Dina explains how she moved up the ranks within the company, starting as an outside plant technician. She then began job shadowing various people to learn the internal equipment that provides the company’s backbone. Eventually, this allowed Dina to apply for an engineering role, and she was promoted as an Outside-Plant (OSP) Engineer I. In this role, Dina was responsible for the construction and maintenance of plant infrastructure, design, and engineering involving fiber optic installations.

Dina shared, “For a long time, I was the only female in the Winter Park District in Florida as an outside field technician. I worked equally with the men in my work group, installing and repairing services. In 2013, I was recognized with the highest honor by receiving Lumen’s ‘Outstanding Service Provider (OSP) award.’ This is an annual recognition event that honors employees who are outstanding role models for exceptional customer service.”

Dina is currently working as a Network Implementation Engineer II handling both the outside plant (OSP) and inside plant (ISP) responsibilities to implement Lumen’s Brownfield Aerial Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology, which is a new method to trench fiber underground into existing neighborhoods where copper wires were previously deployed. In January, Dina celebrated her 20^th anniversary with Lumen. 

Dina gives this advice for young women who are pursuing a technology career: “Set goals and have confidence in yourself. I’m an optimist and believe you get what you put into it. The only limitation you have is yourself.”

As a testament to our work culture, Lumen Technologies has been named to Forbes’ list of World's Best Employers 2021, America’s Best Employers for Diversity List 2021, and America's Best Employers For Women 2021.

Learn more about Lumen’s history of awards here.