Meet Gina Tesla, Vice President at Coupa Software, driving Sustainability, Social Impact, and DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion). 

Gina is also the Executive Board chair of “Empower” – Coupa's employee resource group for women in business – and our recent 10KC Program Innovator awardee. Responding to the women of Empower's call for more professional development and networking opportunities, Gina has:

• Initiated specialized mentoring programs for women in male-dominated sales teams.
• Addressed the discomfort men may feel mentoring women, successfully pairing male leadership with women employees.  
• Implemented technology to scale women’s mentorship, reducing the manual work of spreadsheets to match employees and build connections. 

The 10KC Innovator award celebrates leaders shaping the future of mentoring and networking, committed to improving employee retention, engagement, inclusion, and workplace culture. 

Read on to discover how Gina is revolutionizing women's mentorship at Coupa. 

What circumstances led you to identify the need for a platform to manage your women’s mentorship program at Coupa Software? 

Gina: What I love, among many things about Coupa, is that we really give robust support to our employee resource groups. We encourage employees to join the spaces that we make, and we fund our employee resource groups. This particular employee resource group, which is called “Empower”, is focused on supporting women. 

This initiative was designed as a direct result of some feedback that we got from women who are in our sales organization, or what we refer to as our commercial team. We heard from them loud and clear that they wanted to have more opportunities for professional development, networking, and how they could advance their careers.

We decided to take the leap and create a mentoring program that was going to be different, to really focus on this core group of women who are in the sales organization / commercial team, branching out a bit to engineering as well. 

We wanted to really be honest about the fact that the majority of leadership within those teams happens to be men. We know the data tells us that men can feel uncomfortable – there's a lack of clarity around how to successfully mentor a woman or have that type of relationship. We wanted to create something that was going to help us have successful pairings between men and women.

What results or feedback have you seen in these early stages since starting mentoring programs for women?

Gina: We're still early days, but we have seen very positive initial responses from both sides and it's starting to develop stronger networks and points of connection. There’s a lot of appreciation for the fact that we listened and that we turned it into action. Some direct quotes from feedback: 

• "I enjoyed another very positive, open discussion with [mentee] on this topic. She was well-prepared and clearly has put a lot of consideration into her goals for the conversation while also cultivating that personal connection between us."

• "I'm really enjoying my conversations with [mentee]. She is engaged every step of the way asking great questions and I'm learning from her as well!"

• "[Mentor] gives transparent and relevant feedback for professional growth which is exactly what I was hoping to get out of this program!"

How has the implementation of a tech-enabled solution contributed to the involvement of male allies and mentors within your women's mentorship program?

Gina: I give the credit to the men who have signed up. I think that really tells us something – that it might just be a case of providing a mechanism to make it happen.  

There isn't a lack of desire or interest, but where we have room to grow is to provide a specific mechanism. A solution for people who are sort of like, ‘I don't know where to start. Should I be reaching out to people? I'm really busy.” And a mentee may think, “Oh, well, I just assume this person doesn't have time.” 

Having supporting technology is about being vulnerable in saying that we recognize that there are challenges to this. We've been doing more work overall to create a more inclusive environment at Coupa and to expand representation. It was the right time for us to do this.

You need to have the technology and the solution in order to effectively pair people.

Our gender-specific mentoring not only has gotten several male SVPs, VPs, RVPs, and Sr. Directors to pair up with women they'd otherwise not work closely with, but it has added a spotlight on the lack of diversity, that they have a chance to change,  during backfilling any of these leadership positions in the future. We’ve also expanded the program to our engineering team which is a testament to its adoption and success. 

And the high visibility of these leaders is creating a demand for more to be involved in the future, which is great!

What fellow leaders have supported your efforts in championing a women’s mentorship program at Coupa? 

Gina: Kristi Gay is a key part of Empower, co-chairing these initiatives, as well as Alison Barrett, who is a VP within our sales team and our newest Empower executive board member.

We've also had leaders who've been really supportive, like Mark Riggs, our Chief Customer Officer, and Zach Logan, who is our Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. There have been lots of people! 

We’re also excited about  our new (female) CEO, Leagh Turner, agreeing to host the March Office Hours in honor of Women's History Month. 

Could you share advice and encouragement for other businesses interested in mentoring women in the workplace? 

Gina: Go for it. Be really thoughtful about the allies who you'll reach out to, who will be a champion for the activity, and who will really help you – not only to gather mentors, but also those who share this as an imperative and priority. 

We're fortunate here at Coupa, that for many of the leaders we reached out to, it was just a given. They had been engaging in mentorship and coaching, and this was a way for them to give even more. 

We really wanted to start with a very specific part of our organization, where we knew there was an interest and where we really wanted to see an impact. I always believe in starting with pilots. It can feel a little bit more comfortable to embark on something new if you kind of consider it a pilot, and I would encourage people to think of it that way.

What tech features do you find most valuable that better enable you to deploy mentoring programs at Coupa? 

Gina: Creating mentoring programs in the past were really spreadsheet based. It required a huge amount of work from a small number of individuals who had to take on the work of gathering the mentors and matching people manually. 

There's an improvement over having one person trying to juggle a lot of information within spreadsheets and chasing down people. That's a piece that's really compelling, as well as guidance that's specific to really help facilitate these pairings. And I'm looking forward to seeing more of that more guidance and helpful tips to people to ensure that these are really successful pairing and successful relationships.

Also, one of my favorite features as an admin of 10KC, is getting direct quotes from the feedback data points that are auto-requested after each session. 

If you could have coffee with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? 

Gina: I would love to have tea with my grandmother, Liv, who was a huge inspiration to me. She was born before women had the right to vote, which is incredible. And I just would love to have any extra moments that I could have with her and get her advice and guidance. 

Congratulations, Gina Tesla, on your incredible work to empower women at Coupa with mentorship programs! 

Let's give a resounding applause to Gina Tesla for her well-deserved recognition as a 10KC Program Innovator and the transformative impact she’s had on mentoring women at Coupa Software.

Her dedication to addressing the specific needs of "Empower," the women's ERG, speaks volumes for women in notoriously male-dominated industries. In Gina's own words, "We heard from [the women of Empower] loud and clear." 

Gina’s initiatives not only garnered the support of male allies but also demonstrated a tangible commitment to listening and turning feedback into action. This has undeniably shaped a more inclusive and engaged culture, and we’re excited to see an even bigger impact from women’s mentorship at Coupa in the future! 

Discover more about 10KC Program Innovators 

Get the details about this honorary award, showcasing 10KC customers’ exceptional leadership, and submit nominees here.