Voice of the Month: Alicia Retzlaff - Fearless Visionary
At Women Speak Up, we celebrate women who don’t just find their voice—but use it to elevate others, lead with authenticity, and spark lasting change. This month, we are honored to feature Alicia Retzlaff, a senior leader for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and co-founder of TechnoGals.
Unstoppable Leadership in a Changing Tech Landscape
Alicia is a Senior Leader at AWS and co-founder of TechnoGals. With 20+ years in corporate roles and 10+ years in tech, she drives cloud transformation, adoption, and SaaS innovation strategies. She leads high-performing teams and mentors rising women in tech. She's passionate about people-first leadership and prioritizes cultivating inclusive environments where diversity thrives.
She's a champion of bold, authentic leadership and creating spaces where others feel seen, supported, and unstoppable. Alicia holds 4 AWS certifications: Solutions Architect Associate, Data Engineering Associate, Cloud Practitioner, and is a certified AI Practitioner. Alicia lives in Nebraska with her family and loves traveling, video games, and local breweries.
From Mentorship to Representation
Alicia is an advocate for women in tech through various methods. As TechnoGals’ co-founder, she’s part of the team that built a community of more than 6,000 members, providing mentorship, coaching, and support to the emerging leaders who are undergoing the transition from individual contributors to leadership roles.
In her role at AWS, she does not only design but also leads empowerment workshops for women int he areas of skill development and major conference presentation, hence amplifying the voices that may have been overlooked or silenced.
“I lead by example daily, showing my team and community that bold, authentic leadership creates spaces where others feel seen, supported, and unstoppable. I share my non-traditional path openly because representation matters, and someone needs to see that success doesn't require following a curated step-by-step playbook.”
Building Platforms, Not Just Skills
Earlier this year, Alicia had a mission to overcome a challenge that she had witnessed too often: the unavailability of women as speakers at prime tech conferences. She didn’t want to be apart of that narrative, so she took the jump and planned a workshop to bring out women’s special skills and help them present their proposals to conferences such as Grace Hopper, Women in Tech, and Society of Women Engineers.
The workshop was not merely a skill development activity, but it also revealed the true obstacles that usually prevent women from even responding to calls for presenters. As a group, Alicia and the participants looked back at previous conference agendas, pinpointed the areas where there was less representation, and created accountability partnerships with one another that provided moral support during the entire process.
“When workshop attendees started getting selected for major conferences, I was incredibly proud. That workshop became the catalyst that sparked the fire they already had inside them. That's my voice in action - not just encouraging women to speak up, but dismantling the barriers and building the frameworks and systems that make it actually happen.”
Voices That Paved the Way
When asked who inspired her journey as a women, she says:
“This list would be very long, because on a weekly basis, I'm learning about some other badass woman that I want to be just like one day.”
But she mentioned her leader that took her under his wing before she had any formal training in the technology field. He told others to "just get out of her way,” clearing a path for her to make her mark. He was the person who gave her the confidence to make her impact in her field.
Then there’s Traci, her co-founder at TechnoGals. Traci isn’t just a collaborator, but a challenger and a constant source of strength. She amplifies Alicia’s voice, always reminding her of the wins that she’s too humble to celebrate, and upholds the mission they set out to build together.
“She reminds me why this work matters.”
Advice for Women Finding Their Voice
“Start before you're ready.”
Alicia says that your voice grows through action, courage, and the support of others, so start speaking, even before you feel ready.
“Your voice doesn't magically appear when you hit some arbitrary milestone of expertise or confidence. You find it by using it. It will be messy and imperfect, and you'll be scared and uncomfortable. Share your perspective even when your hands shake. Post that thing you're nervous about. Raise your hand for the opportunity that terrifies you.”
She says to surround yourself with supportive people and spaces, and let each act of courage strengthen your voice.
“And here's the critical part: find your people. You don't have to do this alone. Find one person, one community, one safe space where you can practice being bold. Your voice gets stronger every single time you use it, so stop waiting for permission and start speaking. The world needs to hear what you have to say.”
What It Means to Be Voice of the Month
“Being ‘Voice of the Month’ means my work empowering women, especially in tech spaces where we're underrepresented, is creating the impact I hoped for. It validates that showing up authentically, sharing the messy parts of the journey, and building community allows for a sense of universality and reduces isolation. Most importantly, it means I have an even bigger platform to tell other women: your voice deserves to be heard, your path doesn't have to be linear, and you don't have to wait for permission. This recognition amplifies not just my voice, but the voices of every woman in our community who's navigating her own path.”
Connect with Alicia
Instagram: Techno.Gals
LinkedIn: Alicia Retzlaff
Website: TechnoGals
Want to be featured as our next Voice of the Month?
Nominate yourself or another incredible woman at https://forms.gle/A6gq51CfQqUrrN646
