Review TechWomen program information regarding coronavirus (COVID-19).

TechWomenTechWomen

TechWomen is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

  • Home
  • Program
    • Overview
    • 2019 Action Plans
    • Professional Development
    • Cultural Exchange
    • Delegation Trips
    • Impact
    • TechWomen Covid-19 Program Information
  • Participants
    • Eligibility and Application
    • The Experience
    • Award Details
    • 2020-2021 Emerging Leader Profiles
  • Mentors
    • Why Mentor With TechWomen?
    • Professional Mentor Overview
    • Cultural Mentor Overview
    • Impact Coach Overview
    • TechWomen Mentor Application
  • Get Involved
    • Host an Emerging Leader
    • Host an Event
    • Other Ways to Get Involved
    • Host companies and partners
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • Program Countries
    • Connect
  • FAQ
    • General
    • Participants
    • Mentors
  • Blog
  • Log In

TechWomen week two: the power of mentorship

October 9, 2018 By TechWomen Leave a Comment

During week one, Emerging Leaders were introduced to the 2018 TechWomen program, setting the stage for five weeks of cultural exchange, professional development and personal growth. Although they had already met many Cultural Mentors, Professional Mentors and Impact Coaches, week two was an opportunity to expand on those relationships. Whether it was through hiking in the mountains, attending meetings with host company leadership or gathering valuable insight into their action plans, Emerging Leaders were supported, advised and uplifted by the community of nearly 300 TechWomen mentors.

Exploring new surroundings

After their busy week, Emerging Leaders were ready to explore their surroundings alongside Cultural Mentors. Cultural Mentors play an essential role in helping Emerging Leaders acclimate to life in the Bay Area: through outdoor activities, exposure to the arts, culinary excursions and professional enrichment, cultural programming offers Emerging Leaders a chance to customize their time in the Bay Area and get to know local culture in a way that best fits their interests. Often, it provides a connection to home: they can eat their country’s cuisine at Bay Area restaurants or engage in hobbies like hiking, visiting art galleries or exploring city streets. This past weekend, Emerging Leaders walked San Francisco’s Chinatown, canoed in Mountain View, went on a tour at Nasa Ames Research Center and took in the sights at Angel Island. The weekend allowed Emerging Leaders to form new friendships, connect with mentors and relax before a busy week ahead.

A group picnics at Angel Island
Emerging Leaders take a tour of NASA Ames Research Center
Emerging Leaders and their Cultural Mentors walk the alleys of Chinatown

Expanding professional horizons

Emerging Leaders in the field with Pacific Gas & Electric

After the weekend, it was time for Emerging Leaders to put on their power bracelets and begin their professional mentorship at 34 companies throughout the Bay Area. Host companies and Professional Mentors provide Emerging Leaders an immersive, participatory experience that nurtures both professional and personal development. Over the course of 15 days, Emerging Leaders are exposed to new innovations in technology, complete projects that develop new skills and are exposed to company cultures where diversity and inclusion are an important tenet of their business model. Already, Emerging Leaders have met CEOs, attended forums and conferences and met with a number of new colleagues. Horore Bell, hosted by Twitch, attended Amazon Con 2018, Amazon’s gender diversity conference. There, she learned how businesses can champion and support a diverse workplace: “Participating in this conference made me understand the importance of diversity and inclusion in Africa, especially when it comes to women in tech,” she said. By the end of the day, she walked away with lasting lessons: “Be honest about who you are. Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.”

Sebay and Dalia receive a warm welcome from SS&C Advent
Marian begins a week of learning at Zenefits

Embracing authentic leadership

After spending a week at their host companies, Emerging Leaders gathered at LinkedIn for their Leadership Workshop, a day focused on building upon strengths, embracing authentic leadership and adopting a growth mindset. Each woman, already a leader in her field, was challenged to take on a mindset of introspection, learning how she can grow and make the most impact in her home country. Maria Zhang, Vice President of Engineering at LinkedIn, opened the day by sharing her experiences as an international woman in tech. Maria, who became a leader despite personal and professional challenges, had a strong message for Emerging Leaders: Dream big. Embrace obstacles and challenges. Be authentic.

Samantha Raniere leads the group in  strengths-based development exercises

The day continued with a session led by Samantha Raniere, President of Raniere Consulting. Samantha, an expert in strengths development, asked Emerging Leaders: “What do you have the potential to be the best at in this world?” She explained that people who focus on using their strengths are three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life and are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs. Throughout the session, Samantha showed that innovation occurs when we embrace our skills but also leverage our weaknesses. “A weakness is only a weakness if it gets in your way,” she said.

After Emerging Leaders reflected on their individual strengths, it was time to understand group dynamics: they broke out into country teams, using a strengths assessment to learn about how they can bring out the best in each other. Whether a person is an influencer, an executor, a relationship builder or a strategic thinker, Emerging Leaders learned how to maximize cohesion and success by fostering each other’s talents and strengths.

The day continued with a “fireside chat” with Kiran Prasad, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Product. Moderated by Mansi Modak, their discussion focused on the principles of authentic leadership. Kiran shared best practices for how to drive change in a purpose-driven company, stressing the importance of putting trust in others. The workshop concluded with Emerging Leaders embracing a growth mindset alongside Cherisse Gill of LinkedIn. Cherisse demonstrated that a growth mindset – defined as the belief or understanding that we can develop our qualities and abilities – is essential in becoming effective leaders. Through effort, openness and allowing room for mistakes, individuals can foster an environment of exponential growth.

Cherisse Gill teaches Emerging Leaders to embrace a growth mindset

Developing social impact models

The week concluded at Mozilla with Action Plan Workshop 2, where all 20 country teams continued to ideate, create and lay the groundwork for their community-changing social impact projects. Joined by their Impact Coaches, Emerging Leaders took a deeper dive into their mission, formulating their strategic approach and organizing project execution. The day began with inspiration from Professional Mentor Molly Pyle of Singularity University, who urged Emerging Leaders to embrace “moonshot” thinking:

Next, Molly moderated a panel with Anju Wicke, Anar Simpson, Kate Scott-Dawkins and Rikin Gandhi. The group discussed impact models for change, speaking about how to measure success, move from idea to action and create maximum impact. Anar Simpson, Impact Coach and Global Ambassador of Technovation, urged Emerging Leaders to cultivate their network, leveraging their greater community in times of need.

The remainder of the day was spent expanding on their action plans, meeting with Impact Coaches who asked questions and provided meaningful insight and feedback. Country teams further developed their issue statements and paired them with tangible, real-world solutions they can implement in their home countries.

Sierra Leone’s issue statement
Sierra Leone’s solution
Uzbekistan’s issue statement
Uzbekistan’s solution

Emerging Leaders closed out the workshop sharing successes and challenges of the day. They shared lessons on team cohesion, the need to create foundations of respect and stressed the need for flexibility when approaching a team strategy. The final lesson shared, however, was emblematic of the week’s work: never be afraid of big ideas. With an aligned team, thoughtful leadership and proper strategy, Emerging Leaders can take on any challenge.

It’s hard to believe we are halfway through #techwomen18 in the Bay Area! This week, Emerging Leaders continue their professional mentorship and cultural activities. The week concludes with Action Plan Workshop 3, where they will learn strategies to deliver an impactful pitch.

Stay up to date on the TechWomen blog as we provide weekly program updates, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for daily content.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: 2018 Program, Announcements

Speak Your Mind Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 738 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • At Regional Summits, Emerging Leaders further develop their action plans
  • TechWomen 2020-2021 begins with Professional Interest Groups
  • The secret of getting ahead is getting started
  • Unleashing uniqueness: my journey as a young professional in STEM
  • Educate a girl and change the world

Categories

  • 2012 Program
  • 2013 Program
  • 2014 Program
  • 2015 Program
  • 2016 Program
  • 2017 Program
  • 2018 Program
  • 2019 Program
  • 2020 Program
  • Alumnae
  • Announcements
  • Application Tips
  • Central Asia
  • Conferences
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Delegation Trips
  • Emerging Leader Voices
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Girls Education
  • IIE
  • Impact
  • Lean In
  • Mentor Application
  • Mentoring Girls
  • Mentorship
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Partnerships
  • Professional Development
  • Scholarship
  • Seed Grant
  • Solar Power
  • STEM
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington, D.C.

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011

Tags

2013 program 2014 program 2015 program Africa Algeria Alumnae application careers central asia Community cultural exchange Cultural Mentor delegation trips Education Egypt emerging leaders emerging women leaders Empowerment Entrepreneurship guest post impact Jordan kazakhstan Leadership MENA Mentees Mentor Mentors mentorship Middle East Morocco nigeria Rwanda San Francisco Silicon Valley State Department STEM technology TechWomen TechWomen Alumni Tunisia U.S. Department of State Women womenintech women in tech

Blogroll

  • DipNote
  • E-Mediat
  • Fulbright mtvU Fellows
  • Fulbright Student Program
  • Gilman Program
  • Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project Blog
  • IIE Opening Minds
  • Parallel Earth
  • TechGirls
  • Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability

CONTACT US | MEDIA | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Sitemap
Copyright © 2021 TechWomen | Site by MIGHTYminnow

   

Copyright © 2021 · TechWomen on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.