Mica Alaniz is a Chicagoan, first and foremost, born and raised. She is also a Technical Leader focused on a values-based team growth, advocacy and coalition-building. All of which she brings to her role as an Engineering Manager on the Enterprise team at Slack.
Prior to that, she spent two US election cycles – the 2018 Midterm and 2020 Presidential elections – on the Tech team as an Engineer, Tech Lead and then Engineering Manager at the Democratic National Committee; where she built tools to support Democratic candidates and campaigns and to empower data-driven organizing and voter education. She is also proud to have been an organizing leader in the drive to form the DNC Staff Union.
She continues to be engaged in her community, whether it be through local neighborhood organizations or through being a Code2040 Fellows Program Mentor Coach. She also gives talks, teaches workshops and offers career coaching centered around underindexed individuals in tech. In her spare time, she can be found enjoying and exploring her hometown, inhaling books, collecting board games, conquering roguelike video games and having this thing with coffee where she needs it to live.
Making do: Scaling expertise on teams you can't grow
Explore how flexible team models enable small teams to handle high-stakes challenges, maintain resilience, and sustain morale during periods of organizational change.
