Lucy Ross: paving paths for women in tech

Women in technology companies are rare. Like many other industries, tech organisations are severely lacking in female employees. It is an issue that humanitarian, non-profit organisations around the world strive to bring awareness to, alongside the gender pay gap and equal rights. So when we sat down with 22-year-old Lucy Ross, a former Miss Universe Australia Finalist and current Regional Operations Manager for ride-sharing company Uber in Sydney, we expected to hear the full wrath of a woman who suffers within a male-dominated industry, but we were wrong.

“I think there is a perception that [the industry] is a big boys club. I’ve been the only female in both of my teams and I’ve never felt isolated or like I’m not included. Not to say that there isn’t [gender inequality], I’ve been very lucky not to experience it but it is out there,” says the five-foot-ten former model.

Upon meeting Ross, one would immediately recognise her modelesque features: her sharp cheekbones cast deep shadows across her face, her broad shoulders frame her impossibly slender body, her recently darkened locks draw harshness yet unmistakable beauty to her demeanour and her impeccable, welcoming smile is wide enough to attract anyone’s attention.

Ross began her short albeit successful modelling career in 2012 in her hometown of Attadale, Perth, where she began walking for swimwear labels in the city’s Fashion Week. Ross has since walked for international and Australian labels in Perth, including the iconic Alex Perry: “I think the whole experience just opened my mind and helped me realise you can do anything that you set your mind to.”

The natural blonde was signed to the now inoperative model agency Chadwick and Vivien’s in 2013 and began to model for local labels such as Yeah Tie-Dye and Icarus.

However, Ross is eager to let people know that there is much more to her than a stunning face and flawless figure. Her experiences and changes in career have made the former model wise beyond her years – something she seems to be aware of. Ross can confidently claim that modelling was not a career she was passionate about – joining Uber’s team in 2014 was her calling to join the gradually expanding tech industry.

“I never had any management experience so I went from managing no-one to managing a group of twenty people daily – a majority of them were older than me.”

Although she is no ordinary 22-year-old, Ross does attend university and plans to complete her Arts degree. She was unsure of her future when she graduated in 2012 - modelling was a quick and easy way to gain some money, but not much. She admits considering showbiz: “I started drama in high school and went to NIDA as I was doing my arts degree [at University of Western Australia] … but I later figured that it wasn’t for me.” As an 18-year-old, her goal was to be secure and successful: “I definitely had a plan when I left high school. I was going to go to university, get a degree and get a job that I could travel with”.

In 2014, Ross was picked alongside five other Western Australian beauties as finalists for Miss Universe Australia and simultaneously, Ross was introduced to Uber, an emerging start-up company at the time and she was offered a place as a Partner Support Rep in a share-space office in Perth. Since then, she has worked through three job titles at the controversial company and as of March 2017, Ross is Uber Sydney’s Regional Operations Manager.

“Before I started at Uber I had zero coding and sequencing skills but now I use coding in most of my projects”. Through online courses such as Uber’s Engucation, Ross quickly became a proficient coder which helped her reach her current management position. “It is such a unique company and it grows incredibly quickly that it’s quite high paced. There is a lot pressure but I tend to flourish under pressure.” Ross finds herself leading global experiments across forty cities and considers that aspect of her job one of her biggest achievements.

“For somebody who has no technical experience and is a very young female, I was really happy with becoming the Regional Operations Manager. I see myself at Uber for quite a long time and I think there’s so much room for my personal journey in terms of growth and development.”

Despite achieving her goals and successfully landing a job she can travel with, the former model holds a passion for women in the tech industry and hopes to encourage women to join companies like Uber. Ross was alarmed when she joined Perth’s team – she realised she was the only female. When she moved to Sydney in 2016, once again she discovered she was the only female in the CBD office.

However, she recognises the strong women within the senior management team who have incredible strength to push the company forward and she considers these women her role models. “I think it’s sometimes really hard for a female to own their voice and own their space when they’re in a room full of males. So I think, work wise, they inspire me the most to develop and continue to empower myself”.

Like many other successful women, Lucy Ross owes her success and inspiration to her mother who managed a household of teenagers by herself while her husband was abroad in Malaysia, Norway and the United States for work. “She spent a lot of time away from dad just with my brother and I, and she killed it. We renovated, put another story on our house when we were growing up while only mum was home and dad was in Houston… she just has strength and she shows what strength can do outside of a professional career”.

Given her passion for women, we asked her what feminism meant to her: “To me, feminism means equality and equal opportunity. I don’t think that I shouldn’t be offered an opportunity just because I may fit that negative Miss Universe stereotype. I don’t think just because I was doing modelling and don’t come from a technical background that I can’t do an equal or better job than a male who has always studied engineering.”

Although Lucy Ross is successful well beyond her years, she is already set to break gender stereotypes and is encouraging young women to join the tech industry. Her experiences as a model and manager for Uber has helped her realise that many young women can follow in her steps.