Crystal Leidy is Chief Implementation Officer at coLAB, where she leads tech-enabled projects that help mission-driven organizations turn strategy into systems and systems into impact. With a deep belief in the power of systems, strategy, and storytelling, she builds the connective tissue between people and platforms, quietly shaping the conditions that allow big work to move forward with purpose.
There’s this moment that happens again and again when someone asks, “So, what do you do?” And I pause because the answer is, “I’m in tech… but not in the way most people think.” I often find myself navigating the explanation behind that because while my work lives in the world of platforms, data systems, and digital infrastructure, it doesn’t always match the image people have in mind when they hear “tech.”
I don’t write code. I’m not the person building infrastructure from scratch or running servers. But I am helping build something else entirely: systems that hold complexity, platforms that connect people and purpose, and teams that move forward because someone is thinking five steps ahead.
And that is tech.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that being a woman in tech doesn’t always mean fitting the mold. It can mean being the one who understands the process behind the product, who translates between stakeholders and software, and who builds not just for functionality, but for impact, equity, and longevity. Strategy isn’t a soft skill in this context. It’s a technical one.
And yet, so many women I admire hesitate to claim space in this world because their work doesn’t fit the stereotypical version of a “tech leader.” We downplay the value of systems thinking, of facilitation, of implementation planning because we’ve been taught to see those things as invisible labor, not innovation.
Here’s what I want to say instead:
Strategy is execution.
Translation is technology.
Leadership is technical.
When we give ourselves permission to be strategic, we unlock a different kind of power not just for ourselves, but for the teams and communities we serve. We make room for nuance, we hold space for conflict, and we design with intention. That work may be quiet, complex, and unglamorous but it’s the backbone of every successful tech-driven initiative I’ve seen.
And I want more women to feel like they belong here not in spite of their approach, but because of it.
So if you’re someone who’s built your role at the intersection of systems, people, and possibility: you’re not “just” anything. You’re in tech. You’re strategic. And your work deserves to be seen.