Six Feet Up VP of Service Delivery Benedict Wong has been recognized as a Pledge 1% Woman Who Leads for her leadership in tech, mentorship, and commitment to social impact.
The recognition is part of Pledge 1%'s #WomenWhoLead series, which celebrates women paving the way for future leaders. Benedict leads Six Feet Up's Service Delivery team, working with clients and engineers to turn complex challenges into practical solutions.
"Carve your own path. Don't let fear or 'No' answers stop you," says Benedict.
Pledge 1% is a global movement encouraging companies to dedicate 1% of their time, product, and/or equity to charitable causes. Six Feet Up joined the initiative in 2022. The pledge is one way the company puts social impact into practice, alongside its goal of completing 100 IMPACTFUL Projects™ by 2033.
In the full Q&A below, Benedict shares her thoughts on AI's potential to benefit communities, lessons from competitive sailing, and what it takes to lead a team with confidence and clarity.
I'm VP of Service Delivery at Six Feet Up, where I get to build something brand new: a team that sits between sales and engineering. We work closely with clients to understand the problems they're trying to solve, shape those problems into something clear and buildable, and collaborate with our engineers to bring solutions to life, all while keeping an eye on budget, timeline, and scope.
I think the most timely opportunity right now is around AI. We're at a moment where every organization is wrestling with how it fits into the org, people's work, and their livelihoods. And you know what? No one has the full answer yet. I find that exciting more than anything: it means the story is still being written, and companies have a real chance to shape it for the better.
There's a narrative floating around that AI is mostly going to make the rich richer and leave everyone else behind, and I think that sells the technology short. What I've seen in our own work is AI helping people do more of what they're good at: giving nonprofits better tools to reach and support the people they serve and helping small teams take on problems that used to require big budgets and armies of people. That's the story I want to help tell.
I think companies can really have an impact over the next decade by showing people what AI can do for them, not just for shareholders. That means helping organizations, individuals, and communities see it as something that expands what's possible for them.
At Six Feet Up, that's part of why we care so much about who we work with. We only take on clients whose mission genuinely aligns with ours, because I truly believe that if more companies were intentional that way, you'd see it add up to real change. It's also why we've committed to completing 100 IMPACTFUL Projects™ by 2033, including work in areas like forest fire management, lightning strike prediction, and carbon emission reduction. It keeps us honest about the kind of impact we want our work to have.
I think about this a lot through the lens of being a woman in tech, a field that wasn't always welcoming to those who are different. But when I look back, I realize I only got here because the men and women before me pushed doors open that I got to walk through. That's the part I want to pay forward: helping the next generation of women, whether in tech or any field that's traditionally been male-dominated, have the confidence and the opportunity to show what they're capable of.
It's a big part of why I mentor at Loyola University Chicago, where I got my MBA. I love working with students early in their journey and being the mentor I wished I had when I was a student. I've learned many life lessons the hard way, and I want to share what I know so students have the mental models to decide how they want to navigate their own journeys.
I want mentees to walk away with more than career advice about tech and consulting. I want them to develop curiosity and a lifelong-learning mindset that will serve them no matter what path they choose.
Decisive.
I learned this out on the water. I do sailboat racing. Early on, before a race, the skipper handed me the helm to practice while we waited for the start. I had to choose: steer starboard or port. I didn't know which way we should go, and I hadn't told the crew what I was thinking. So when another boat closed in and I had to make a real call, I froze.
The skipper took the helm back and said something that's stuck with me since: Pick a direction. Make it obvious.
That's how I lead now. You won't always have all the information you want before you have to commit. But a team can't move together or perform at a high level unless the leader has decided where they're going and communicated it clearly.
Decisiveness and communication go hand in hand. That ties into one of our core values at Six Feet Up: "Go Together." You can't go together until someone's picked a direction.
There are no rules.
Don't let anyone tell you that you have to do things a certain way or that you can't do something because of how the industry or society has traditionally worked. So much of what holds women back in male-dominated fields like tech is an unspoken rulebook that was never written for us.
My advice: don't listen to it. Carve your own path. Don't let fear or "No" answers stop you. Trust that your life can look completely different from everyone else's and still be exactly right.
Personally, I just took a few weeks off to sail from Bergen, Norway, to the Faroe Islands, across the North Sea like the Vikings once did. There's something about heading into the vast open ocean that's incredibly humbling and exhilarating. Once you're out there, all the noise falls away. Your mission is simple: stay alive, have fun. Your destination is clear: the Faroe Islands. Nothing else matters.
It's also the kind of adventure that reminds me why I love competitive sailing in the first place. There were six of us on the boat, crossing the North Sea together. You can do it alone, but you pay for it: more risks, less sleep, no one to spot what you miss. There's something special about a crew pulling together toward one goal instead.
Professionally, I'm excited to keep building. Growing out this new Service Delivery function at Six Feet Up means taking on more of the ambitious, mission-driven work we care about and helping our clients turn their hardest problems into solutions that actually matter.
Discover what drives Six Feet Up.
Six Feet Up, Inc.
11208 Windermere Blvd.
Fishers, IN 46037 - USA
Phone: +1 (317) 861-5948
Email: info@sixfeetup.com
