Macon Magazine

42 maconmagazine.com | April/May 2026 concerns we had 20 years ago — users, security, data, machine learning, AI, that sort of thing — it is vastly different in other ways. There's never a defined way to best answer. Like the last question, I was looking at transitioning between institutions, and everything told me that was the right decision. But it was a significant female leader who approached me and made me make the right decision, reminding me that perhaps that wasn't the right way to go, and that's led me to where I'm at now. HEATHER: For me, it was starting in a very small rural hospital and now transitioning to this mammoth of a health system. The trajectory of having to shift my mind. You can't control everything, and trying to bridge the strategy gap and let go of some things, not needing to micromanage everything because you're part of a larger health system. That's taken a lot of agility to adapt to my environment, but it's actually been a wonderful change. In the beginning, I couldn't see it, but through every step I've developed more, and grown, and I led a team through that. TEKQUELL: That's what I'm faced with right now. Coming from a very stringent, structured, organized environment… to a little bit of chaos. I want to set the tone, but I want to be intentional, because I know that others are looking toward my leadership. I want to be able to mold, shape, and cultivate an environment that's conducive to learning and growing together. HEATHER: Find someone you can bounce ideas off of before you do it, because everyone's watching everything, particularly when there's change. Before I send an email out to the group, I'll have someone look and tell me if it's going to have the right reaction. It takes a village. Early on in my career when I first became a director, I felt a little bit more pressure getting up in front of a board. I put a lot of that on myself. It's funny to me that there's still people that will say, "You don't look as nerdy as a tech person should look." We're not all nerdy looking. There's some stigmas about what a tech person is, but the reality is there's all types of different people. Tech's broad. TEKQUELL: I think as women, we are watched, every angle, constantly. If you make one wrong decision, someone is looking, someone is complaining. Finding common ground is hard to do because you start to look internally: "Am I doing this right? Am I speaking right? Did I say the right thing? Did I make the right decision?" It's a lot to endure, but as women, we survive. HEATHER: We have to learn how to bring confidence that isn't viewed as attitude, right? That's not always easy. TEKQUELL: Not in a male dominated field. Oftentimes, when you're the only woman at the table, your voice is not always heard. I had a mentor tell me once, if you have an idea, share it with a colleague that's a male. Let them voice it, because guess what? It carries more weight, and you get more buy-in. I actually tried that at one meeting, and he was exactly right. I said it. It's quiet, nothing. A colleague said it: "Oh yeah, I think we can do that. We can go with that. " Q How do you balance risk and opportunity when there's pressure to deliver results quickly? HEATHER: There are times when leaders want something done quickly, and if you don't understand the complexity of tech, you don't realize what it takes. You have to stand up and have critical conversations around the risks of doing things that they want. I've had some really uncomfortable conversations: "I know you expect this, but you need to accept the risk if we do it fast instead of smart." You certainly

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