TechWomen #waytosiliconvalley

What is TechWomen?

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

TechWomen empowers, connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities.

Through mentorship and exchange, TechWomen strengthens participants’ professional capacity, increases mutual understanding between key networks of professionals, and expands girls’ interest in STEM careers by exposing them to female role models.

The Kyrgyz Republic is one of the country participants of the TechWomen, and each year the program is selected 5-6 women in STEM fields who actively demonstrate pursue in their professional and social sphere. After all selection process the top 100 finalists of the program from 21 countries of participants becoming the Fellows of the TechWomen program and get a chance to be interned at tech giant companies in Silicon Valley. I want to point out that the fellows don’t have the privilege to choose the company to be interned in, the program has it’s own algorithm for match the fellows with companies basing on the surveys you fill in and what sphere you are interested in mostly. Before heading to Silicon Valley, the program will solve and cover a bunch of logistic and any other program-related issues, starting from your food preferences and ending your visa issues. As you understand when you were selected by the program, eligibilities you can check here, the only question that you should worry about is ‘what you want to learn/get from this program?’ and highlight your personal and professional takeaways.

• Team Kyrgyz Republic with mentors and team coaches at Google.

I was lucky enough to be interned at Head Quarter of LinkedIn company under the supervision of Stephany Lucas, Sarah Yu, and Swetha Surapaneni. My mentors were so kind and highly welcomed me at the company and help me to deep dive into everything during the whole internship. They picked and asked those who are successful in my chosen field and let them help by offering advice, encouragement, and introductions.They were my insurance whom I can reach out to in real-time at the moment I needed them. As a great mentors, they gave me the courage and confidence to do things maybe I wouldn’t do on my own. Many times, it just takes a word or a sentence to get me grounded, validated, and back on the right path. Sometimes it’s so subtle that I can’t even put my finger on it. I started to think big with my mentors!

One of the highlights of the internship was that they put the relationship before the mentorship and empowered me to pay forward. They even visited the final wrap-up events in Washington, DC and they also visited the Kyrgyz Republic Embassy in Washington together with me.

• Team Kyrgyz Republic with mentors and the Ambassador of Kyrgyz Republic to the United States Kadyr M. Toktogulov.

As many leadership programs as well in TechWomen also have a competition, competition for the best projects among the participant country teams. That’s why most of the time you will collaborate with your team from your county and your team coaches with different professional backgrounds. Most coaches for your teams are specialized for start-ups, entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship. The goal of the team-work, brainstorming, moving through iteration and strategy, and concluding in the creation of high-impact plans and close collaboration with the mentors and coaches is to prepare the team and project to a Pitch Day to get a seed grant. On Pitch Day, all teams from 21-countries will present their projects for the independent jury and they will choose the winners. Each team presented their pitch, speaking about their country’s critical needs and showing how their project will contribute to solve them. The seed grant can give that teams to start realizing winners projects in their countries. As TechWomen is a STEM and women-oriented program, most of the projects initiated by our Emerging Leaders are related to the STEM field.

Highlights of the program

After all teams arrived to the Bay Area, the program will start with amazing event which is called Cultural Kickoff. Emerging Leaders literally got the star treatment the following evening at Juniper Networks. Arriving in traditional dress for the much-anticipated Cultural Kickoff, we were greeted by a red carpet, “paparazzi” and personalized stars on a walk of fame. Country teams had been preparing for weeks: the event was an opportunity to showcase their countries, with each team preparing dances, presentations and videos transporting the audience and introducing them to their customs and cultures. I was also able to meet my mentors for the first time, this was really one of the best days in my life.

• Cultural Day with my mentor at Juniper Networks

There are a different group of mentors one of them are cultural mentors who organized impeccable cultural events for our Fellows to explore the Bay Area like visiting Sequoia National Forest, hiking to Yosemite National Park, Santa-Cruz roller coaster, Surfing, Kayaking, Cliffs, NASA’s Ames Research Center and etc. I would give many credits to our cultural mentors because they try their best to help foster good memories for us while we were in the USA.

• visit to NASA’s Ames Research Center

“When our experiences transcend borders, it opens minds.” – Jillian Scott, IIE

Coming together to discuss our professional mentorship, action plans, and the cultural activities we enjoy in the Bay Area during the program. I tried to participate in as many activities and cultural events as I can and this was a fulfilling, touching, eye-opening, and life-changing experience.

This was my first visit to Silicon Valley and very fortunate to make it with the TechWomen program. For me, TechWomen 2018 was a life-changing journey. At the beginning of the program, I was so excited and didn’t know no one. By the end of the program, I had connected with more than 150 wonderful women, taken more than 3,000 photos, and treasured every encounter I had. I am so proud of all the TechWomen alumnae, and I’m grateful to be one of them now.

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