Yesterday, the TechWomen delegation met with talented girls at Injaz and the Jubilee School. We were deeply inspired by their energy, bright potential, and delight in learning. We were also treated to women entrepreneurs presenting on their startup companies at the Oasis500 MENA tech incubator. We finished the day learning to cook local dishes with the women of Beit Sitti. It was a day full of delight to our hearts and minds.
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
Yesterday, the TechWomen delegation headed into the northern mountains of Jordan to visit technical women graduate students at JUST ( Jordan University of Science and Technology and their Dean, Dr. Rehab Duwairi, and the craft collective leaders in the village of Koura. The village treated us to a feast in a meadow of wildflowers and interesting rocks. We ate macmoria (chicken pie), tabbouleh, hendbe, yogurt, dolma, freekeh and other wonderful delicacies. Then, we went into town where my team and I gave a workshop on how to sell artisanal crafts though e-commerce. We finished the day with a big Italian dinner in Amman.
My daughter Jessica arrived safely after midnight and will join the delegation’s activities today.
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
The TechWomen delegation spent today meeting and learning from the technical community in Amman, Jordan. The delegation visited N2V Labs as a group, then some went to HP, Bayt.com, or Yahoo. My group had a fascinating discussion with the refreshing leaders of Palma Consulting. Tonight, we all went to a special TechWomen edition of Amman Tech Tuesday. Some of the TechWomen gave speed talks on their technical projects. I was on a panel telling about our TechWomen mentoring experience.
Tomorrow is my big E-Commerce workshop – my team and I have been discussing how we can represent best practices and pitfalls of selling artisanal crafts on the web. This is a repeat of a similar talk that was very popular when I was a member of the TechWomen delegation that went to Morocco in 2011.
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
Members of the 2013 TechWomen delegation to Jordan are still arriving. Those of us who came last night were able to tour the capital Amman and the ancient ruins at Jerash today. We were entertained by a local family performing music in the Roman theater. I was told that bagpipes are a traditional Palestinian instrument – although these particular instruments were a familiar Scottish plaid. After lunch at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature Wild Jordan Center, we went shopping at the Al Aydi Jordan Craft Center, then visited the huge King Hussein Mosque at sunset.
Tomorrow, we start making presentations and I can distribute the MentorCloud stickers and TechWomen pencils I brought:
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
The TechWomen delegation members who are mentors and our IIE staff arrived safely today in Amman Jordan – traveling from San Francisco by way of Paris. The picture above shows the first of us to emerge from Customs-Immigration at the Amman airport. Tomorrow we start orientation, connect up with some of the TechWomen Emerging Leaders from MENA and our U.S. State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs delegation members, and discuss our presentations and workshops for next week.
Here is the State Department’s press release about our delegation: TechWomen Gather in Jordan to Collaborate, Code, and Connect (31 January 2013).
Image Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
Busy week… I have been working with MentorCloud on mentoring programs from Ethiopia to Afghanistan to Korea to the USA. A group of three graduate students from Seoul National University, who have been hosted at Global Fluency here in the Silicon Valley, have been discussing their mentoring research with us. Their big presentation on mentoring in Korea compared to the USA was very interesting.
The San Jose city inspector signed off on our new porch construction (hooray!). The iron work railing, breakfast bar, and handrail got fitted by the blacksmith crew – and was carried away for final welding and powder coating. We hope all porch work will be done by the time I get home!
I am leaving today for a two week trip to Jordan and Lebanon with the TechWomen delegation. I already finished and sent off for translation my presentation materials, one is a talk on mentoring and the other a workshop on e-commerce for crafts. My husband drove me to the airport right after MentorCloud held its user experience walk-through with customers, at the Plug and Play Center in Sunnyvale. A long airplane ride sounds restful about now…
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
19 October 2019: Links Updated. For more about MentorCloud business practices, see Collecting a Labor Judgement (15 January 2016).
Filed under Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
The TechWomen mentors gathered for a reunion and evening holiday party at Anar Simpson’s home in Saratoga, California, this week. Anar was a TechWomen mentor in both 2011 and 2012 and is on the TechWomen entrepreneurship advisory committee. At the event, Heather Ramsey (Director for Strategic Partnerships, Institute of International Education) gave us details about the October 2013 TechWomen program (more below), and the February 2013 delegation to Jordan – which I plan to join! I caught up with news from my sister Mentors and told them about my new job as the Vice President for Solutions at the MentorCloud startup.
Carmel Jud from Rising International gave us a presentation about her organization and brought in crafts made by women entrepreneurs – including some delightful lady dolls from Afghanistan. In the picture above, the doll on the lower left was the first one made. The doll on the lower right is the one I purchased for our family doll collection.
TechWomen potential Mentees may now apply for the 2013 program. TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from the Middle East and Africa together with their counterparts in the United States for a professional mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in STEM fields by providing them access and opportunity to advance their careers and pursue their dreams.
During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in Silicon Valley, participate in workshops and networking events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and travel to Washington DC, for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.
In 2012, 41 TechWomen Emerging Leaders participated from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen. The 2013 TechWomen program has expanded to include women from Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe. TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The Mentee Application deadline is February 22nd, 2013.
The Professional Mentor application will be available April 1st, 2013 (deadline is June 1st, 2013). Cultural Mentor application will be available July 1, 2013 (deadline to apply is August 1st, 2013).
Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
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