Tag Archives: Middle East

First Day with TechWomen 2015 Emerging Leaders – South Bay

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99 TechWomen Emerging Leaders have arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 19 countries. I am one of the Cultural Mentors working with the South Bay contingent. Erin Keeley and I spent time after their orientation today – giving a tour of the CalTrain and VTA Light Rail Stations, going to lunch, and going to the market to stock the kitchens in their apartments. Hanging out with amazingly smart and capable technical women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe is such a delight!

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Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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TechWomen Emerging Leaders arrive this week!

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The San Francisco Bay Area mentor community is very excited to welcome 99 TechWomen Emerging Leaders from 19 countries – arriving later this week to spend a month in the Silicon Valley, followed by a trip to Washington DC. This is our 5th annual cohort from the Middle East and Africa. In 2015, we are also happy to welcome technical mentees from Central Asia to this prestigious mentoring initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The mentors have been getting ready – developing a professional and cultural events schedule, and meeting with each other at picnics, receptions, and small dinners to make plans.

My company, Mentoring Standard, is honored to provide three services to TechWomen 2015 mentors from 91 Bay Area companies:

  • Two workshops this week for mentors: “How to Be an Effective Mentor: Best Practices Workshop”, generously hosted by Juniper Networks and IIE.
  • Private Consulting for Mentors – Co-Founders Katy Dickinson Kathy Jenks are available to TechWomen 2015 mentors for consultation during October 2015 because even the most experienced mentor sometimes has a specific mentoring question or just wants to check in about developments with her or his mentee.
  • Mentor Certification – Mentoring Standard celebrates mentors with deep experience, who have done the work of helping people to achieve their goals and grow their careers. Great mentoring isn’t the result of completing a check list or training program. Mentor Certification documents and celebrates your past and ongoing mentoring accomplishments – it does not require you to join a new mentoring program or take additional training.

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Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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TechWomen and Mentoring Standard

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

The US State Department TechWomen mentoring program has been holding its opening events for mentors in anticipation of 99 Emerging Leaders (mentees) arriving from 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia to the Silicon Valley at the end of this month. My company, Mentoring Standard, is honored to be offering both Mentoring Certification and workshops to the TechWomen mentors.  Mentor Certification documents and celebrates a professional’s past and ongoing mentoring accomplishments – it does not require him or her to join a new mentoring program or take additional training.  However, we are also offering two optional workshops next week on “How to be an Effective Mentor: Best Practices” for interested TechWomen mentors from about 40 companies.

The Mentoring Standard team has been answering questions by our early adopters and polishing up our website, getting ready. So far this week, I have published an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page for those already in the certification process, plus updates of three of my most popular reference documents:

In addition, those of us honored to be elected to this year’s TechWomen Alumnae Council held our transition meeting this afternoon. We said our grateful thanks to the outgoing Council members for their great work and started planning for the coming year.  I am looking forward to serving as the Mentor Professional Enrichment Officer.

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

Image Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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Organizing TechWomen Mentors, South Bay Activities

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The TechWomen mentoring program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is looking forward to welcoming 99 Emerging Leaders from 19 countries to the Silicon Valley next month.  I am honored to be the Lead for the Cultural Mentors – South Bay – Arts & Culture group, working with experienced TechWomen mentors Megan Dean Farah, Lori Kahn, Rochelle Kopp, and Shannon McElyea. Arezoo Miot (TechWomen Director) and Jillian Scott (TechWomen Program Manager) of IIE – San Francisco lead the South Bay Cultural Mentors’ orientation meeting yesterday, generously hosted by Flipboard in Palo Alto.

Our Arts & Culture team will work with about fifty of the ELs who are staying in Mountain View – coming to us from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. The ELs are still in the process of being matched with their Professional Mentors and companies. 91 companies in the San Francisco Bay Area have hosted ELs since 2011.  They arrive at the end of September and will be in the US for about six weeks.

Our team will be considering events and activities throughout the Bay Area.  However, since we all live in the South Bay, we have been collaborating to create a list of options closer to home – to reduce transportation management and traffic time. Here is our list so far – for discussion.  We will only pick a small number of these for the whole South Bay EL group to enjoy!

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Pictures Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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How to Make a Short Video

PicnicPortraits_A225_MG_2493 copyright by Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover 2014

I am working with a group of technical women professionals of ArabWIC (the Arab Women in Computing Association) who want to make a video about mentoring best practices and experiences. ArabWIC, Gaza Sky Geeks, and the TechWomen mentoring program are target audiences. I am delighted to be collaborating on this project with one of my TechWomen mentees, Mai Temraz of Palestine. Mai (and Seham Aljaafreh of Jordan) and I made a series of videos together last year. We now want to make a somewhat longer video, putting together the thoughts and experiences of several experienced mentors and mentees from different countries in the Middle East and Africa.  This is how to make such a short video.

Here are three short video examples from my YouTube Channel:

You see that these three videos are not Great Art but they do get a simple message across.  Searching the web will quickly give you more detailed analyses and instruction, as well as tips on video creation and production.  However, sometimes you are limited in resources and time but still need to get the job done. For example, Meg Desko and I recorded her video in a Tunis hotel room the night after the Bardo Museum attack, when we realized that she would not be able to present at Tunisia Digital Day as planned.  Her video was presented in her stead.

Our focus was on simple, cheap, fast, and good-enough:

  • Conveying clear content, simply and briefly.
  • Using accessible, relatively-simple and robust tools that we already knew, or could learn quickly.
  • Low cost.
  • Quick cycle time.

Our tools were:

For each of the three video examples, we recorded many attempts before achieving a video that satisfied. I think 15 takes was our highest number! Our requirements for a final recording:

Checklist

  1. Simple, light background – nothing behind the speaker to distract from her message. Standing in front of a corner gives enough contrast for interest.
  2. A room with no outside noise. Background sounds of air movement, beeping, traffic, and voices will get picked up by the microphone and detract from the speaker.
  3. Gentle light on the speaker’s face so that there are no deep shadows or bright spots.
  4. The camera is held very still with crisp focus on the speaker. A simple tripod or stand may help.
  5. The speaker wears a strong clothing color – to give her skin a glow and make a soft visual transition from the light background.
  6. The speaker speaks and looks directly at the camera – to engage the audience directly. Sometimes this is called “Breaking the Fourth Wall”.
  7. The content has a clear start and a crisp end, giving basic structure.
  8. Record one continuous video to minimize editing.
  9. Repeat often: Done is Better than Perfect.

This checklist will be used by the ArabWIC mentors and mentees to

  • Prepare two-to-four minute video segments in English (using an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet computing device) about mentoring best practices and experiences.
  • Upload the video segments to Drive.

I will stitch all the little videos together into a longer video (using iMovie), for posting to YouTube this month. Wish us luck!

Image Copyright 2014 by Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover

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TechWomen 2015, Mentoring Standard, Notable Technical Women, Wikipedia

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TechWomen 2015:  The TechWomen 2015 year has started! Professional and Cultural mentors for the 99 Emerging Leaders from 19 countries who will participate in the five-week program are being notified of acceptances. I have been honored to be selected as a Cultural Mentor for the South Bay Area in the Arts & Culture group. I am looking forward to working with Emerging Leaders and other mentors in the Silicon Valley. Since 2011, 156 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe have participated. The 2015 TechWomen program will expand to include women from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This year, my company Mentoring Standard will be offering training and certification for TechWomen mentors. Our Team is now developing those materials. We are very much looking forward to supporting this outstanding program of citizen diplomacy by the US Department of State – Bureau of Educational Cultural Affairs.

Notable Technical Women: The Notable Technical Women project by Jessica Dickinson Goodman (California Department of Justice), Dr. Susan Rodger (Duke University), and me is also thriving: Jessica just placed a big re-order of the Notable Women in Computing card decks and posters, and the TechWomen cards and posters continue to sell steadily. TechWomen Director Arezoo Miot is pictured above with the TechWomen poster in her Institute of International Education office in San Francisco.

Want to write for Wikipedia? We welcome corrections and additions to information on the Notable Technical Women materials. Since the first printing in November 2014, eight honorees have had new Wikipedia biographies written (or we found pages about them): Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza, Laurie Hendren, Kathleen McKeown, Betty Snyder (aka Betty Holberton), Valerie Taylor, Marlyn Wescoff (aka Marilyn Meltzer), Linda Petzold, and Lixia Zhang. There are only six Notable Technical Women honorees left (out of the 54 honorees) who need biographies written: Anuradha Annaswamy, Chieko Asakawa, Qiheng Hu, Yuqing Gao, Lila Ibrahim, and Sophie Vandebroek. We update the cards as possible between printings.

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Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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Become a Mentor with TechWomen!

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The Mentor Application for the 2015 TechWomen is now open!

I have been working with the TechWomen program since 2010 and I highly recommend it as a life-changing and exceptionally rewarding professional and personal experience!  These photos are of TechWomen mentees and friends from Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Algeria – some of the most impressive and capable women I know!

Apply by July 19th for priority consideration.

Professional Mentor Application

Eligibility Requirements

Professional Mentor applicants must be

  • Women working in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • Able to host an Emerging Leader at their company’s site.
  • Able to coach the Emerging Leader on the project four days per week for four weeks in October 2015.

Learn more about the Professional Mentor role.

Cultural Mentor Application

Eligibility Requirements

Cultural Mentors applicants must be

  • Women living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • Willing to coordinate within a group to foster relationships and plan activities of interest to their respective Emerging Leaders.
  • Excited about serving as a cultural ambassador and showcasing all the Bay Area has to offer.
  • Willing to help Emerging Leaders navigate logistical challenges as they settle into life in the Bay Area.

Learn more about the Cultural Mentor role.

TechWomen Mission

The mission of TechWomen is to empower, connect, and support the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by providing them access and opportunity to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and become role models for women and girls in their communities.

How TechWomen Does It

TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa and the Middle East together with their professional counterparts in the United States for a mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen provides participants access to networks, resources, and knowledge to empower them to reach their full potential.

During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, participate in professional development workshops and networking events, and travel to Washington, D.C. for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.

Over the past three years, 156 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe have participated in TechWomen. The 2015 program will expand to include women from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Mentoring Across the World

The TechWomen experience doesn’t end in California or Washington, D.C. After the program, Emerging Leaders and Mentors have the opportunity to reconnect during delegation trips to program countries in Africa and the Middle East. Programming focuses on expanding networks of women in the STEM fields, creating and strengthening partnerships, encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers, and ensuring the sustainability of Mentor-Emerging Leader relationships.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). TechWomen, launched in 2011, supports the United States’ global commitment toward advancing the rights and participation of women and girls around the world by enabling them to reach their full potential in the tech industry.

TechWomen is managed by the Center for Women’s Leadership Initiatives (WLI) at the Institute of International Education ® (IIE).

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Images Copyright Katy Dickinson 2012-2015

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