S2.E3 "Being the best I can be": Pendo O'Donohoe on Resilience, Identity & Leadership

In this episode, Anya and Dr. Tiamo sit down with Pendo O’Donohoe, Director of Sales for EMEA Emerging Markets Google Ireland, to explore resilience, leadership, and what it means to navigate identity in spaces where representation is limited. With nearly 20 years at Google and a career spanning continents, Pendo reflects on the experiences that shaped her journey; from growing up in a Zimbabwean family shaped by political exile and entrepreneurial resilience, to becoming Google Ireland’s first Black employee and its only Black woman director. She shares what it means to lead while holding multiple identities: an African in the diaspora, a senior tech leader, and a mother raising a mixed-race son in Ireland. The conversation also explores the realities many Black women face in professional environments, how direct leadership styles can be misinterpreted, the subtle biases that show up in the workplace, and the balance between adapting and staying authentic. In one of the most personal moments of the episode, Pendo reflects on returning to work after the sudden loss of her sister, and how that experience reshaped her understanding of grief, community, and extending grace to yourself. Throughout the conversation, Pendo reframes the idea of Black excellence: not as perfection, but as being the best version of yourself, living your values, and helping others rise along the way. In this episode, we discuss: • Redefining Black excellence beyond perfection • Navigating leadership as a Black woman in tech • Balancing identity, motherhood, and career • Mentorship, representation, and building community • Grief, resilience, and the importance of mental health