Impact Stories from Professional Growth Policy Area
Fellow(s): Mercedes Soria and Anar Simpson
Country:
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
TechWomen was well represented by mentors and past and present fellows at the Grace Hopper Celebration, which was held in Orlando, FL by AnitaB.org. Marie Claire Murekatete, 2014 fellow of Rwanda, was honored with the Change Agent ABIE Award and TechWomen mentor, Mercedes Soria, was honored with the Leadership ABIE Award. Anar Simpson, also a TechWomen mentor, moderated a panel that featured both Marie Claire and Mercedes. 2017 Emerging Leader from Kenya, Chao Mgobo, was also honored at the event as a winner of a Systers Pass It On award, which honors Anita Borg’s desire to create a network of women technologists helping one another. Chao presented about a mentorship program she created to encourage more female students to join and stay in the field of computer science.
Read More »Report Date...: 10/2/2017
Fellow(s): Leedjia Svec
Country:
Policy Area(s): Professional Growth
TechWomen mentor Leedjia Svec of NASA was honored at the 4th Annual Global Women in STEM (WiSTEM) Conference on September 11. The WiSTEM Conference Awards is an annual initiative to establish, recognize, honor and promote outstanding contributions women make to the scientific and technological communities that improve and evolve our society. Leedjia received the Woman STEM Influencer of the Year award for her work with the TechWomen program and at NASA.
WiSTEM is an initiative of Menina Kaj Femme, a public charity founded by TechWomen mentor Meera Kaul to nurture the social, economic and intellectual potential of women.
Read More »Report Date...: 9/11/2017
Grace Hopper Celebration
Fellow(s): Marie Claire Murekatete, Chao Mbogo
Country: Kenya, Rwanda
Cohort: 2014, 2017
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Entrepreneurship, Professional Growth, Youth Engagement
TechWomen was well represented by mentors and past and present fellows at the Grace Hopper Celebration, which was held in Orlando, FL by AnitaB.org. Marie Claire Murekatete, 2014 fellow of Rwanda, was honored with the Change Agent ABIE Award and TechWomen mentor, Mercedes Soria, was honored with the Leadership ABIE Award. Anar Simpson, also a TechWomen mentor, moderated a panel that featured both Marie Claire and Mercedes. 2017 Emerging Leader from Kenya, Chao Mbogo, was also honored at the event as a winner of a Systers Pass It On award, which honors Anita Borg’s desire to create a network of women technologists helping one another. Chao presented about a mentorship program she created to encourage more female students to join and stay in the field of computer science.
Read More »Report Date...: 10/2/2017
Mozilla Open Science Fellow
Fellow(s): Amel Ghouila
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Professional Growth
Amel Ghouila, 2014 fellow of Tunisia, was selected as a Mozilla Open Science Fellow. Out of 1,090 applicants, Amel was one of just two individuals selected for the fellowship. Mozilla’s Open Science Fellows work at the intersection of research and openness, fostering the use of open data and open source software in the scientific community. They receive training and support from Mozilla to hone their skills around open source platforms, participatory learning and data sharing. Amel was selected because of her passion for knowledge transfer and working to foster collaborations and innovation in the biomedical research field. Fellowships are awarded to 15 fellows in the fields of science, advocacy and the media.
Read More »Report Date...: 9/18/2017
Google Developers Roadshow MENA 2017
Fellow(s): Rayan Alzahab
Country: Lebanon
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Professional Growth
Rayan Alzahab, 2016 fellow of Lebanon, has been invited to speak at the Google Developers Roadshow MENA 2017. The Google Developers Roadshow is a series of interactive conferences, providing the latest updates on Google technologies and open platforms for developers and industry leaders. Held throughout the year at various cities in the Middle East and North Africa, the Roadshow starts next week in Amman, Jordan and continues the following week in Cairo, Egypt. Other cities on the schedule include Algiers, Riyadh, Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat.
Rayan is the founder of Bamboo Geeks, the first immersive coding bootcamp in northern Lebanon.
Read More »Report Date...: 9/11/2017
WiSTEM Conference Awards
Fellow(s): Charity Wanjiku
Country: Kenya
Cohort: 2017
Policy Area(s): Environmental Sustainability, Professional Growth
Charity Wanjiku, 2017 Emerging Leader from Kenya, was honored at the 4th Annual Global Women in STEM (WiSTEM) Conference on September 11. The WiSTEM Conference Awards is an annual initiative to establish, recognize, honor and promote outstanding contributions women make to the scientific and technological communities that improve and evolve our society. Charity received the Exemplary Leader in a Management Position award for her work as Chief Operating Officer at Strauss Energy Ltd., where she integrates energy-generating technology into basic building materials. Jillian Scott, TechWomen Lead at IIE, attended the ceremony to accept the award on Charity’s behalf.
WiSTEM is an initiative of Menina Kaj Femme, a public charity founded by TechWomen mentor Meera Kaul to nurture the social, economic and intellectual potential of women.
Read More »Report Date...: 9/11/2017
Meeting with President of Tunisia and U.S. Ambassador
Fellow(s): Amel Ghouila
Country: Tunisia
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Education Diplomacy/Mentoring, Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Amel met with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia Daniel Rubinstein, along with other alumni of U.S. government-funded academic and professional exchange programs. During this meeting, the alumni presented details of their accomplishments since returning to Tunisia. Amel’s accomplishments include: launching the Technovation Challenge in Tunisia, which started with just 54 girls during its first year and now enrolls more than 100 girls across the country; excelling in her role as a bioinformatician at the Institut Pasteur and implementing related training across Africa; receiving the 2016 Regional Ambassador Award from Technovation; and, with other TechWomen fellows in Tunisia, launching Women Leaders in Tech (WOLTECH), a group to empower Tunisian women working in STEM fields.
President Caid Essebsi highlighted the important role of exchange programs in empowering Tunisians with tools to be successful and boost the Tunisian economy.
Read More »Report Date...: 9/4/2017
California Women's Conference
Fellow(s): Sarah Abdallah, Maha Ech-Chefaa
Country: Lebanon, Morocco
Cohort: 2016
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Sarah Abdallah, 2016 fellow of Lebanon, and Maha Ech-Chefaa, 2016 fellow of Morocco, were invited by Cultural Mentor Ruby Yeh to participate in a virtual panel of Arab women at the California Women’s Conference. The panelists used storytelling as a means to address the cultural barriers they have faced as women and to identify ways in which their disadvantages have made them stronger and more successful individuals. Sarah referred to the panel as “empowerment through recognition of mutual suffering and realizing that we are not alone in our hurts and experiences.”
Read More »Report Date...: 8/14/2017
Next Generation Women Leaders Award
Fellow(s): Asal Ibrahim
Country: Jordan
Cohort: 2014
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Asal Ibrahim, 2014 fellow of Jordan, has received a Next Generation Women Leaders (NGWL) award from McKinsey & Company. NGWL awards are presented to women who want to use their talents to create positive change in their lives and the world we share. The program aims to connect entrepreneurial women from all over the world through events hosted by the company. Winners receive a financial award to implement a project of their choice and are mentored by a consultant at McKinsey. According to Asal, this award “boosts [her] confidence and gives [her] access to vast global networks which open doors to endless possibilities for the future.” Asal plans to use the financial award to broaden her volunteer work in Africa.
Read More »Report Date...: 8/14/2017
Inspiring South African Women in Tech
Fellow(s): Baratang Miya, Nomso Kana, Lindiwe Matlali
Country: South Africa
Cohort: 2013, 2015, 2017
Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Professional Growth
Baratang Miya, 2015 fellow of South Africa, was named by Business Tech as one of five inspiring South African women working in technology. Baratang was recognized for her work as the founder of Girl Hype, a not-for-profit organization that provides coding and app development training for girls and young women. Her work was also featured in a podcast interview by the Grey Ave Podcast, where she spoke about Girl Hype, shared her personal story of how she got started in technology and talked about her travels, including to the United States as part of TechWomen. In addition to herself being an inspirational woman in tech, Baratang served as a judge in the Inspiring Fifty: South Africa 2017 competition in which Nomso Kana, 2013 fellow, and Lindiwe Matlali, 2017 Emerging Leader, were named as winners.
Read More »Report Date...: 8/14/2017
