Cyber Trends and English Lit – An Interview with Sara Abiusi

Sara Abiusi is a Managing Director with Accenture Federal Services. She is the Civilian Portfolio Technology lead and leads Technology for the US Postal Service account. She founded the Accenture DC Women in Technology program. Sara serves on the DC Board of Ascend – the largest PanAsian Professional Development nonprofit in the US and the board of the JHU Women in Business affinity group. Sara graduated in 1996 from Johns Hopkins with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Sara is married with two children: an eight year old daughter and a four year old son.

Which of your special projects or undertakings are you most proud of?
I helped launch a Women In Tech group at Accenture. We have a leadership series, we monitor cyber trends, and do other activities to ensure that we as a company can stay relevant.

You win the lottery for $10 million. What do you do?
I would call my husband and relatives! And then I would retire way early. I do have a passion for women and girls in technology, and so my work in those two spheres would definitely continue. I’m also active in the Asian-Pacific Islander community—I’m associated with Ascend, an APA professional development organization, and would devote more time to that area. And, you know what, I studied mechanical engineering in college, and have been in tech my whole career. I’d love to devote time to English Literature, to enjoy and to feed the soul.

What’s an overrated piece of advice that people give and why doesn’t it ring true for you?
People always say, “network all you can.” Really, it’s a bit more nuanced than this. It’s more than just having the biggest stack of business cards in your wallet or LinkedIn contacts. It’s about finding people you feel really connected to. There’s no substitute for good work that will leave people with a concrete positive memory of you.

Describe a decision you made early in your career that has had a big impact for you.
Early on in my career as a technical architect, I was pretty introverted. I learned a lot in my first year, but I kept to myself most of the time. I was adding limited value to the company because I had things to say and wasn’t saying them. I was afraid to be wrong or disagreed with. That was a big learning curve – that it’s okay not to be 100% right all the time. It’s okay to create some tension when it ultimately leads to a better product.