>>Hey, everyone, welcome to the Cubes Coverage of the International Women's Showcase for 2022. I'm your host, Lisa Martin. Pleased to be here with an agreement ahead of small medium business SMB for Asia Pacific and Japan at Amazon Web services. Anna. It's great to have you on the programme, >>Lisa. I am delighted to be here and really excited to be talking about what we're gonna be talking about today, which is diversity and women in technology. >>One of the great things about International Women's Day Tuesday, March 8th, is there's always a campaign of theme. This year's theme is breaking the bias. What does that mean to you? And are we on our way to actually accomplish that? >>Look, Breaking the bias really is about all of us being more self aware in our workplaces. Really. What it means to me is understanding that the communities and the employment, the employee population, that all of us working is diverse. Um, and this is a great example of that, right? We are a global organisation and our employees come from across the world. I am representing people from across Asia Pacific and Japan. They look, feel and think differently to people in other parts of the world. So, really, what breaking the biases about is understanding our unconscious biases and thinking differently about how we approach conversations in the workplace to make sure that we're including everyone in the conversation. And honestly, Lisa, when you do that, you get much better. Business outcomes. I've seen that for sure. >>Definitely. There's some stats we can talk about later that I think really articulate that point incredibly well. But I want to talk about your background. You pivoted many times from lawyer to the CEO of ANZ Bank in the Philippines to now a leader at Amazon Web services. Talk to you about your career path with all those different pivots. How did you get to where you are tonight? >>Yeah, I mean, honestly, I recognise that I don't have a traditional Orthodox career plan, but that's my intention. I'm somebody who has always been really interested in the world around me, and I would say that my biggest driver is learning and being curious, which, as you know, is an Amazon leadership principles. So it's probably not a surprise that I ended up here at Ws, but really for me when I thought about my career and I have thought about it intentionally. I've been willing to put my hand up and take risks where I think probably others around me were not feeling as safe, and that's that's a function of who I am. But it's also a function of what I see women wanting to and needing to do more in order to bring their career forward. So as you say, I started my I had a pure technical lens when I started my career, which was being a lawyer, and there's been a lot of time just learning that and holding that skill set, I knew Lisa even then that that was not what I wanted to do forever. I wanted to do more than simply sit in an office and negotiate documents. Um, even though that was an exciting career, there was more that I wanted to do. So off the back of that, I moved into banking and was able to to learn and build some really important skill sets in terms of thinking about being a leader. And those skill sets include things like running a balance sheet, managing people thinking differently about risking compliance, which then allowed me to guess, run a bank and run the business. And then finally, how did I then pivot into technology? Well, it was a long conversation. If I'm honest with you, you know, there were there were conversations back and forth and I thought to myself and doing the right thing here. But what I could see for sure was that the world was moving to a technological context and for me not to take an opportunity to do it. A job like running a technology business across Asia, particularly Japan, just It just wasn't a possibility for me. I had to take the opportunity. So here I am, >>And that's one of the most exciting things I think is that these days every company has to be a tech company. Every company has to be a data company, a digital company with one of the lessons we've learned in the last couple of years. But another thing that we've learned is you mentioned skill sets. But it isn't just about those hard skill sets. What are some of those key soft skill sets that you think are really outstanding and really help to break down the bias. >>Yeah, again, Really interesting. So as I'm talking to women, when they hear about my career journey, a lot of them are surprised. How could you move into technology? And I think the challenge is that a lot of women view technology simply as a coding context. They view it as something that only someone with technical skills can do, and that is simply not the case. So if you look at a recent study by Deloitte Access Economics in Australia, for instance, the soft, skill intensive occupations are going to account for two thirds of all jobs by 2030. So if you think about that having a pure technical skill set, so certainly if you're going to do something like be a solutions architect or be a coda, it's really important that you must have those skills. But technology businesses are building and growing like no other, so we need all of those soft skills, like project management like P and L. Accountability and responsibility, like learning how to manage teams. These are caused fuels that have nothing to do with kind of fundamental technology, understanding that business contacts is important, but there are a lot of women out there who could be working in technology now but are a little bit scared to do so because they're thinking maybe they don't have the skills and I would encourage them to think differently. >>I think your your background with your pivots is a great articulation of you can take so many different backgrounds law banking into tech There's probably a fair amount of overlap there, but you also have you have in and of yourself thought diversity because of your background. I think that's another important thing for women to learn how important that thought diversity can be in any sort of job that they do, whether they are in a technical field. Or maybe they're in finance or operations or sales for a technology company. You guys talk about builders at A. W S. Talk to me about what a builder is, what's that definition and one of some of those key skill sets hard and soft that those builders exemplify. >>Yeah, so we are very build focused at AWS because we're building on behalf of our customers. But what that means is that the trays that make you a builder are exemplified by our leadership principles. So things like being curious. As you just pointed out, Lisa, these are the tenants of being a good builder, um, pursuing continuous learning. So whilst you you may know that you're good at something, you're not scared of trying something else. You're not scared of training and learning about something else. Being able to look around corners, um, and take calculated risks. I mean, whilst it may sound like my career journey has been pivot, pivot, pivot. Actually, if we're honest that these have been very intentional moves that I've made with my career to try to learn, as I said, to try to grow, um, and I've been fortunate and have been intentional also about building that leadership profile, But that's because I'm really fundamentally interested in how business and how people are connecting across the world. And as I said to you in a building context, really, that's about learning about how to build and run digital businesses. And at the end of the day is I guess the key message that I would send to everyone out there getting involved in a career in technology is not a bad move. >>No, it's definitely not a bad movie. I love the curiosity angle. That's one of those things that I'd love to hear. How do you encourage that? One of the biggest challenges. If we look at the stats of girls in stem programmes, from primary school to high school to university, as we see the numbers going down, we see them going up in university. And then, of course, when we're in, we're looking at the raw tech numbers. The number of women in technical positions is quite low to your point. There's many other opportunities besides technical positions. How do you encourage women to not be afraid to raise their hand and ask a question, even if they think maybe this is a dumb question? >>Uh, it's such a I think, you know, honestly, we need to see more women in leadership roles. Um, and, uh, and I think it's incumbent upon the organisations that are are running our businesses, that they make this a priority because you can't see I'm sorry. You can't be what you can't see Lisa, Um, and so it's great for us to talk about it. But once we start seeing women having active business, led conversations. That's where we're really going to see the dial shift. I have a 13 year old daughter, Um, and she's deeply interested in everything on her computer. Um, and what I try to do is encourage her to think differently about the type of roles that she could have if she was interested in, say, for instance, graphic design. She loves drawing, Um, singing. There are so many ways you can do all those YouTube videos. Maybe not, but you know, ways in which you can engage with technology to pursue a career that's interesting to you, regardless of your gender. So maybe the first part is making sure that we are talking about female leaders and what they're doing. I think also what we can do is start building programmes where we're involving women in building skills and certification skills. So here we've got this amazing event which we've built called She builds and I'm an active mentor for that. And what that's all about is kind of connecting women in the tech community and those who are interested with programmes that really speak to the way that women are thinking about their roles. So we have like minded peers. We have senior leaders, We have certification skills, programmes, always part of that, and we also have male allies. It's really important to include our male allies in that conversation, and you will have heard about things like male champions of change. These are very important conversations because again, what we know from statistics is that women are not as likely to build networks and sponsors as men are. And that's not statement of Miss Mala intense. What it means is that they just learn differently and think differently as they're building their careers. So if we're starting to get a man involved in the conversation in a more meaningful way, it's a conversation that's inclusive, and that's really what I want to drive. So I'm not sure I answered your question, but I certainly got to a couple of points that I was interested in highlighting, which is it's a conversation that has to happen at a grassroots level at a leadership level and across the organisation in terms of metrics, data understanding where women are and how to build and grow them >>right. But one of the things that you said that I was about to say was, We can't be what we can't see. We need to be able to elevate those female leaders like yourself so that more younger women and even women who maybe have been in the field for a while, can see the opportunities, the leadership. But you also brought up another great point. And that is, and something I was going to ask you about who are who are some of your mentors. And I imagine it's not just all females. It's got to be men as well. As you point out, it's incredibly important to have the men as allies. >>Yeah, absolutely. And certainly I wouldn't even be having this conversation with you now if I didn't have some amazing allies, both men and women, by my side as I've tracked this leadership journey. Certainly, um, Phil Davis, who is the head of our commercial organisation, Greg Pearson. These are people who have taken time out of their careers to talk with me about how we can help to build and grow women leaders, and to me, that's impactful. And I feel that that's an authentic engagement because there is a recognition in technology that we need to do more around this issue, and I see senior leaders like Matt Garman leading into the conversation. So for me, that's that's very inspiring. But I can't I couldn't have answered that question without telling you that the people who probably inspired me most in the organisation and within my network are those young women out there who are female founders. Now you know, I'm going to have to say a couple of names because I get the opportunity. Lisa, I've got a part of the networking, a women's networking, um, and mentoring organisation. And we have women here in Singapore like Ping Ping Han, who is building out an environmental education and sustainability digital business. We've got Francesco Cuccia, who is building Go get. She's already built it, which is an on demand workforce platform, which has over 250,000 people online that are helping people in Malaysia to work and has helped immensely during Covid. So what we're seeing with these young women is that they're actually building the digital businesses of the future, and it's not about, I mean, what I'm seeing them do is invest their time and energy in building. As I said, kind of programmes and models that are sustainable. So they're building businesses not just for the bottom line, but also to help the communities in which we operate, which to me is deeply inspirational. >>Absolutely. And the female founders need much more visibility than they're getting and obviously much more funding. One last point that I want to bring up because this is really important is that there is some data that I know that you have about performance company performance. When there are females at the helm, talk to me a little bit about that, and how can we help get that word out there more? Some more organisations understand the potential they have when they got that thought. Diversity. >>Yeah, it's such a wonderful point, and it's so well made now across the across media. But I feel like we need to double down on it because this is not a piecemeal conversation about doing the right thing. Um, sometimes we view it that way, and of course it is the right thing to have equity and diversity in our workplace. But in fact, there's so much data around how a diverse workforce creates better outcomes for business So in 2020 we had a McKenzie survey that found that companies with more than 30% of women executives were more likely to outperform companies with this percentage. So there is now a huge amount of data that's starting to show us what a diverse. And this is not just about gender. This is also about diversity across various lenses culture, ethnicity, minority groups, etcetera. So and for me, Lisa, it's just common sense. So if you're building a business that is trying to reach the most number of customers, it really is intuitive that you need to have all of those customers represented around the table. If you only have a single point of view, you're not going to represent all of those customers out there. And increasingly, those customers are expecting to be represented as part of your conversation in your business. So it totally makes sense from a business lens to build and recruit a diverse workforce. >>I couldn't agree more. One. I like to have one more question. Talk to me really quickly, briefly about how how are you building your teams to promote effectiveness through that diversity that, as you just described, can be so leading edge. >>Yeah, So what I'm doing is being intentional in my hiring practises. So this is something that all leaders can do. >>And that is really >>carefully about filling the roles in my organisation, where I'm given a role to fulfil, making sure that I'm looking at that diverse candidates, not just the same candidates who might have applied before. And that means sometimes throwing the net a bit wider than what you might usually have and thinking differently about the candidates that are applying. So, for instance, in my team, we have 50 50 men and women. Um, and we all come from very diverse backgrounds. We've got Indian, we've got Singaporean, we've got Australian talent, which means we've got a gender and cultural mix, which is actually, as I said, bringing a very different lens to the conversation when we're trying to solve customer problems. And what I would say is collaboration and respect is the cornerstone of the way that we should be. Building teams and diverse perspectives mean that our teams and the outcomes that we build are going to reflect the complexity of both the cross cultural and the divers, gender lens within which all of our customers are doing business today. >>Anna, thank you so much for joining me today, talking about the intentional pivots that you've made in your career, how inspiring those are two others and also how we're making progress on breaking the bias. My pleasure. >>Lisa. It's wonderful to join you. And thank you always think you for bringing us so much interesting data >>for Anna Greene. I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching the Cubes. Coverage of International Women's Showcase 2022.

(upbeat music) >> Hey everyone. Welcome to theCUBE's coverage of the International Women's Showcase for 2022. I'm your host, Lisa Martin. I'm really excited because for the first time in my CUBE career of six years, I have a father daughter duo maybe the first time in CUBE's history. Frank and Emma Arrigo from AWS join me guys it's great to have you on the program. >> Great to be here thank you. >> So, Emma, let's go ahead and start with you. Talk to us about how you got to AWS and a little bit about your background. >> Yes, thanks Lisa. So I've joined AWS as a recent graduate from university. So I did my masters of data science and I was going through the grad, the grad job hunt applying for all these different places. And AWS appeared on my radar for an intern program. And Frank was there at the time and so I was like, "Should I do it?" But I still applied cause it was a great program. And so I went did that internship for three months over the summer of 2019-2020, and then I went back and finished my degree. And another grad role came up for in AWS in Tech U to be an associate solutions architect. And so I was approached to apply for that. And I got through to that program and joined the team almost a year ago in March, 2021 through Tech U and yeah, that's how I ended up at AWS. >> Excellent and so Frank, this is a pretty unique situation, father daughter duo at AWS let alone Amazon, let alone probably a lot of companies. Talk to me about it the parental lens. >> Yeah, look it is unique, there's a few family connections within AWS, but you know, definitely here in Australia, it's really rare, but I think the family connection is, you know Emma and we've got four kids, I've got four kids in total. So Emma has three brothers, you know, I've lived in tech, my entire career and so they've been part of it. You know, we've lived in the States, lived in Seattle for a couple of years. And so they'd come to the office and see what dad did. And so it wasn't a big surprise for them to understand what the role was and what we did, so, you know, they kind of grew up with it. And you know, when the opportunity came up for Emma, did the internship, I was excited for it because it was in a different area. It was working in a startup team doing some interesting work that really lined up with some of the interest Emma had. And so she kind of learned what it was like to be Amazonian through that internship and that was... I call that a long audition for a job. And she was then able to join Tech U program, which is a early career bootcamp, I like to think of it, which is the six month program to help our grads learn some of the fundamental skills because the value of a solutions architect or some of these other tech roles is you need experience. You need to have been in the game a while to be a trusted advisor to a customer. And it's hard to do that when you're a grad. So the bootcamp gives them the practical experience and then they get another six months on the job experience where they develop those skills and hone it and get ready to, you know, be a trusted advisor to the customers. >> Right, and that's such a great... I'm sure that's a tremendous opportunity to learn how to become that trusted advisor, especially from peers, such as yourself and I want to go back to you. Talk to me about your interest in IT, in data science. Was this something that you were always interested in primary school or in high school? Or was this something that kind of came on later on? >> Yeah, so my interest in tech kind of emerged as I went along in my education. So when I was younger, I really wanted to be an orthodontist for some reason. I don't know why. And then you just sort of in year eight and like early school sort of didn't really know what I wanted to do. Just sort of going through just trying to survive as a teenage girl at high school at an all girls school, didn't really have many, didn't really have career aspirations, I guess, and then one year I attended a information day at a university about engineering and that just really sparked my interest, I don't know why, but I was like, I've always been obsessed with like factories and those types of things and how things are made. And so that really just sparked my interest and I never really thought of it before. And so then that put STEM engineering on my radar and then I guess spoke with it about with the parents. And then they mentioned that tech would be a like IT, Information Technology would be really useful. And so then we approached the school to ask if I could do IT in year 11. So that's sort of our second last year of high school. And they said, "No, we couldn't do IT." I couldn't go to the boys' school to do IT. That girls don't do it or that not good at it. And I wasn't allowed, and they wouldn't let me do physics either. So I moved school in for the final two of high school to be able to do IT and physics to help, you know, get to the course I wanted to do. And so that was my journey into STEM. So it wasn't really on my radar, but then events like this and at university isn't it? Organizations sparked my interest. And then still when I entered university, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to major in nor where I wanted to work would never have thought it would be where, with my father, like I was aware of the world of IT and everything, but I wouldn't, if you'd asked me in first year, it wouldn't have been that I would probably, we would've said, I don't know an academic or something. I don't know. And then, but again, as the university went on and you attend networking events or club things, you sort of learn a bit more about the ecosystem. And then that's where yeah. Tech company sort of became where I was looking for jobs and roles for when I finished up. So that was kind of my journey to... >> So what I love though, that you and Frank, this is going to be a question for you, how Emma was told. "No, you can't study IT. No, you can't study physics. You can't go to the boys school and do that either." Talk to me about that, Frank, from your perspective as a parent of a daughter, and you said, I think she's got three brothers lucky, Emma, but talk to me about that from your perspective, in terms of going, my daughter has really has an in a strong interest in this and they're telling her no we're going to pivot and actually change schools to be able give her the opportunities that she wants to pursue. >> Yeah. Look, as a parent, we were shocked. You know, it was just an unexpected response, you know, in a lot of ways, the school that she was at was more of a finishing school than anything else, you know, preparing young ladies for marriage and, you know, career as a, I don't know, I will leave it at that. So we were really disappointed. And so very quickly we looked at other alternatives and other options and we pulled Emma out of school and we knew it was like the last two years are critical in Australia. We don't have a middle school and a senior school, it's all one, you know, combined thing. But those last two years are all about getting ready for university. And so we made a really tough call and we picked her up, dropped her into a totally new school. It was co-ed school. And then when we told her previous, her girl's school. I actually spoke to the vice principal and he said, "Oh, I can't believe you're sending her to a co-ed school. She's going to struggle 'cause boys are so much better in tech." And I was totally, I was lost for words, right? Because I felt back in my career and I had some amazing female managers, leaders, role models in my time that I worked for and I followed and they were always struggling because, you know, they were in the minority, but they were incredible, you know, technologists and leaders. And I just couldn't believe it. So as parents we made the tough call. We picked Emma up. We put her into another high school and she flourished, you know, Emma started a club, she got convolved with a whole bunch of other things. When she graduated, the teachers felt that she'd been there six years, right? The whole time of it. So she really made a mark, made an impact at this school and so much so that her younger brother then followed and went to that school and completed his high school there as well. But it, we just can't believe it. And we tell it everyone, this story, you know, we name the school, we won't name. We choose not to name them here, but we name the school because we just think it's really terrible guidance and terrible advice. Like we want people to follow their passion. I tell my kids and I tell the folks when I speak to, you know, early career folks, follow your passion first, guess what the job will appear. Right? You know, there'll be the... The work will come if you do something that you love. And then the second piece that I always say is, "Every future job is going to be a tech job." Technology is embedded in everything that we do. So the fact that you say, "A girl can't do technology," you're limiting yourselves, right? You don't want to think that, you want to think about the possibilities rather than the things you can't do. It's the things you can do. And the things that you haven't even thought about doing. So that's why, you know, it was so exciting to see that experience with Emma, and just seeing her grow through that and she became a bit of a STEM advocate at a high school as well. So, she saw the value of her role model that helped her. And she wants to be a.... Continue being a role model for others as well, which again, I think is admirable, right? It's about- >> Absolutely. >> Shining a light and leading and as a parent, irrespective that we work at the same company as a parent, that's what you want to see. You want to see your kids aim high and inspire others. That's what she does. >> Well, she's already been a role model too, I mean, to your younger brother, but one of the things that we say often, and theCUBE does a lot for women in technology events. And I'm fortunate to get to host a lot of those, we say, "You can't be what you can't see." So needing to have those role models who are visible. Now, it doesn't have to be female necessarily. and Frank you mentioned that you had female mentors and role models and in your illustrious career. But the important point is being able to elevate women into positions where others can see and can identify, "Oh, there's a role model. There's somebody that might be a mentor for me, or a sponsor down the road, it's critically important." And as of course, we look at the numbers in tech, women in technical roles are still quite low, but Emma, tell me a little bit about, you've been through the program. You talked about that. What are some of the things that you feel in like the last six months that you've been able to learn that had you not had this opportunity, maybe you wouldn't have. >> You know, I think that's a great point. So as a solutions architect, I get to be both technical. So hands on building an AWS, helping customers solve their problems, whether it be a data leak or I don't know, an image recognition tool to look for garbage dumped on the street or, and also thinking from the business perspective for the customers, so that's a fun part as the, of the role, but things I get to do. So currently I'm working on a demo for the conference in Sydney. So I'm building a traffic detection model using some computer vision and IOT so I get to bring my data science background to this build and also learn about new areas like IOT, Internet Of Things; Technologies. So that's been a really fun project and yeah, just having the ability to play around on AWS, we have... >> Right. Well, the exposure in the experiences is priceless. You can't put a price on that, but being able to get into the environment, learn it from a technical perspective, learn it from a practical perspective. And then of course get all the great things about getting to interact with customers and learning how different industries work, you mentioned you were in public sector. That just must be a field of dreams, I would imagine. >> I know. >> In some senses for you, right? >> Really have lucked out. I know it's, I'm like, "Wow, this my job is to play around with some new service, just because need to know about that for the customer meeting. Like I'm building a chatbot or helping build a chatbot for a customer, at the university. So yeah, things like that make it very, yeah. It's a pretty amazing role. >> It sounds, it sure sounds like it. And sounds like you're are excelling at it tremendously. Let me ask you Emma. For young girls who might be in a similar situation to where you were not that long ago with the school telling you, "No, you can't do IT." "No, you can't do physics." So you actually switched schools. What would you tell those young girls who might be in that situation about hearing the word, "No." And would you advise them to embrace a career in technology? >> Yeah, I would say that it really..... What makes me so sad is if my family didn't know about tech and had my... Supported me through that like if I would've just gone, "Oh, okay. I won't do it." You know what I mean? Like that just makes me really sad. How many people have missed out on studying what they wanted to study. So by having those types of experiences, so what I would say as advice is, "Back yourself, find supporters, whether it be your family or a teacher that you really sort of connect with, to be able to support you and through these decisions." And yeah, I think having those sponsors in a way, your advocates to help you make those choices and help support you through those choices. >> Yeah. I agree. And I have a feeling you're going to be one of those sponsors and mentors, if you aren't already Emma, I have a feeling that's just around the corner from you. So Frank, last question to you. What's the overall lesson here, if we look at statistics, I mentioned some of the stats about, you know, women in technical roles as usually less than 25% globally. But also we see data that shows that companies are more profitable and more performant when there's at least 30% of the executive suite it's women. So from your parental perspective, and from an Amazonian perspective, Frank, what's the lesson here? >> Well, look from an Amazonian perspective, we need to make sure that we have a team that represents our customers, right? And our customers aren't all boys. You know, they're not all blokes, as we say down here. So you've got to have a team that is made up of what represents your customers. So I think that's the Amazonian view. And so diverse perspectives, diverse experience, diverse backgrounds is what does that. The other from a parent, you know, I said it earlier. I think every future job is a tech job. And I think it's really important that as kids come through, you know, primary school, high school, whatever, they're prepared for that, they're already consumers of technology. You know, they need to be creators or, or participate in that environment. And I can give you an example, a few years ago, I worked for, at a large telco here. And we actually invested in a thing called code club, which was aimed at primary school kids, kids in grade four, five and six. So elementary school for my friends in America, it's kids in grade four, five and six. And they were learning how to use scratch. Scratch is this interactive tool like building lego to write programming and believe it or not, there were more girls interested and were part of code club. It was probably 60-40 was the ratio of young girls doing it compared to boys because it was creative, it was a creative outlet, they were building stuff and assembling and making these things that they loved to make. Right. But then what we saw was there'd be a drop off at high school, whether it's curriculum related or interests or distractions, I don't know what it is, but there things get lost along the way along high school. But I see it at the primary school stage at elementary school that the interest is there. So I think part of it is, there needs to be a bit of a switch up in education or other opportunities outside of school to really foster and nurture and develop this interest because it really does take all kinds to be successful in the role. And Emma talked about a chatbot that she's building and that's a conversational thing. I can't see geek boys having being able to impact and create a interesting conversation, right. Then there's other areas that seems to be skewed and biased based on a predominantly male view of the world. So we need the tech, the industry needs these diverse perspectives and these diverse views, because, you know, to your point, it's going to impact the bottom line. It's going to also deliver a better product and it's going to reflect society. It's going to reflect the customers that are using it because we're made up of every, every race and color, creed, gender. And we need a team that represents that. >> Exactly. I couldn't agree more. Well, it sounds like the Arrigo family are quite the supporters of this, but also we need more of both of you. We need more of the sponsors and the parents who are encouraging the kids and making the right decisions to help them get along that path. And we need more folks like Emma and more women that we can see, "Wow, look what she's doing in such a short time period. We want to be just like that." So you guys are, have both been fantastic. I thank you so much for joining me at the International. Women's Showcase, more power to your family. We need more folks like you guys, so great work. Keep it up. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Lisa. >> For Frank and Emma Arrigo, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE's coverage of International Women's Showcase 2022. (soothing music)

(upbeat music) >> Hello, everyone. Welcome to "theCUBE's" coverage of the International Women's Showcase, 2022. I'm your host, Lisa Martin. I'm pleased to be joined by my next guest, Madhura DasGupta Sinha, the founder and CEO of Aspire For Her. Madhura, it's great to have you on the program. >> It's lovely to be here on this program. Thank you for having me, Lisa >> Tell me a little bit about your background. >> Lisa, I have been a banker for the last 25 years but the last two years of my journey have been professionally and personally the most satisfying and fulfilling. On 8th of March, 2020, I started Aspire For Her. So today is our second birthday. >> Lisa: Happy birthday. >> Thank you, Lisa >> Tell us a little bit about Aspire For Her >> It's been a wonderful journey. >> Yeah, what was the genesis of it? You're obviously very passionate about it but talk to us about the Genesis of Aspire For Her. >> Thank you for the question. I was looking at gender data emanating from India and that left me fairly disturbed and distressed, why? Well, I was looking at the economic participation of women and I realized that we are absolutely at the bottom of a list of 156 countries. I felt someone needs to do something about this problem and I thought that someone could be me. >> And so two years ago you launched Aspire For Her. Talk to me about what that has achieved in its first two years and now embarking on year three. >> Well, I think our journey has been absolutely fascinating Today we have more than 120,000 members, mentors, supporters across the globe, across 60 different countries. We have more than 150 women leaders who are mentors at Aspire For Her, we have about 50 organizations that are working with us jointly and partnering with us in our journey to motivate more women to enter and stay in the workforce. Our vision is to add more than 1 million women to the workforce by 2025 and 10 million women to the workforce by 2030 and we want to do that by using the power of networks and communities. >> Those are really lofty goals, but fantastic. You mentioned and across 60 countries so far and we're talking about just on your second birthday, all of that you've accomplished. Talk to me a little bit about some of the mentors and how did you find some of these people? >> Well, Lisa, we use a unique five point model to change mindsets, and the first pillar in that model is mentors and role models. Because we notice that four out of five women have no successful, professional women role models in their immediate network. We give them access. So these mentors are CEOs, CXOs, women leaders who have built businesses who want to give back and they come to us and want to be part of Aspire For Her. They are a big part of our equation for success. The second pillar that we work on is learning opportunities and we work with organizations like Amazon and many others to ensure that our members stand head over shoulders over others when they are being looked at for jobs and recruitment opportunities. The third pillar that we work on is what we call career previews. Now, if you are wanting to get women excited about careers we have to understand one thing, if she can see it, she can be it. That's the mantra that we follow as we open up doors and windows of women's minds to new age career options. The fourth pillar that we work on is what we call a peer community. And what we notice is that the community connects with each other, motivates each other and elevates each other and collectively finds solutions to problems. The fifth pillar that we work with is what we call 3E, employment, entrepreneurship, or education. We want every woman in our country and across the globe to be in 3E. We want every woman to be financially independent because financial independence is the cornerstone of all other forms of independence and that is how we can break all biases. >> That is fantastic. The five point model, how it leads of the 3E's. Something you said really resonated with me and that is: if she can see it, she can be it. And we often say, we can't be what we can't see but I love this spin that you've taken on that, you've put that positive mindset, if she can see it, we want to enable her to see it across the globe. As you talked about your goals of a million women in the workforce by 2025 which is just a few years down the road, you're well on your way to accomplishing that. Talk to me about some of the data. I know you have some interesting data from McKinsey that really supported the genesis of Aspire For Her. >> Yes, Lisa, in fact, there's a report for the "Power Of Parity" report which McKinsey publishes from time to time and I notice some very interesting data in that. McKinsey says, "If we have a little more "than 10% women more in the workforce "this will be a trillion dollar opportunity for India. "A 27% increase in our GDP." So if we get more women to work, it essentially means that they will add to their families, to their country, to their society, to the world. >> So the data is there showing just a 10% increase in women in the workforce leads to a 27% increase in India's GDP. We're talking about India alone here. Talk to me about how are you working with companies like AWS to help Aspire For Her achieve it's lofty goals. >> AWS has been an absolutely wonderful partner for us. And let me start by talking about the She Dares community, their focus on diversity and their thought leadership has been absolutely wonderful for us. Well, the She Dares community is meant for all women who want to be in tech careers whether today they're in school or in college or they're working in non-tech fields, but are interested in technology as a career option or they're taking a break and they wish to come back into the workforce. The AWS She Dares community welcomes all women like this. It's very inclusive, all embracive and that's what we love about building the community with AWS. We just started two months ago and today we have more than 10,000 members in India and we've had some fantastic stories also emanating from the She Dares community in AWS. >> I love that. You've 10,000 members in two months, the Aspire For Her program, not only does it have lofty goals but you've got a really fast growth trajectory. Share a story with me, if you will of a woman that that is in the She Dares program and where she came from and where she is now. >> Yes, let me share the story of Usha and we just shared this at the launch of AWS, just a couple of days back, Lisa. So Usha worked for just two years and the next 16 years of her life, she devoted to bringing up her family. A few years back, her husband suffered Parkinson's disease and she realized that the entire weight of the family was on her so she decided to join She Dares. She decided to sign up for the AWS cloud certification program. How did she do it? Well, she had the entire family's burden on her. She worked night and day, but somehow she squeezed out hours during the night where she would sit and study and ensured that she got certified. Remember, this was a woman who just spent two years in the workforce and the next 16 years, she had absolutely no connection with anything that was even remotely career oriented. But after getting certified and getting motivated by the community of She Dares, she decided to give it a shot and apply for a job with AWS. Two days ago, she got her offer letter. So today, she's proud-- >> What a fantastic story going from two years in the workforce, 16 years taking care of her family then the burden is on her with her husband falling ill and she finds this opportunity. I love the message there. How do you talk to women who might be in similar situations to Usha going, "I haven't been in the workforce "for a really long time, Tech seems intimidating." How do you help them achieve the courage to go forward >> Lisa, it's the same five point model that we use. If she can see it, she can be it. If she can see a role model like Usha, a woman who has been out of the workforce for a long time finds the confidence, finds her voice and finds the ability to just rise up above that adversity and ensure that she jumps right back into the workforce. >> And is Aspire For Her focused on STEM only, or are you focused on all industries for women? >> We are focused on all industries for women and we like to look at fairly new age careers as well. So whether it's an Instagram influencer, whether it's somebody who's opened patisserie for the best brownies in town, we like to celebrate all women and all their career paths, but STEM is a very important part of what we do because we know that the STEM skills gap in India and globally is a very serious problem and if we train women and reskill women in STEM, they will automatically gravitate towards those roles which will open up in the India of tomorrow. >> Are you able to reach young girls like say in primary school and high school as well, is this open to women of all ages? >> It's open to women of all ages. We like to start at the age 16 because that's when women start taking career decisions whether it's about writing competitive exams or whether it's about looking at which colleges they will get into so we like to start at 16 and there's really no age limit. >> That's fantastic that there's no age limit but also starting young. One of the things that we know about the tech industry is the percentage of women in technical roles is quite low, I believe it's below 25% and has been for quite some time. We see that in a lot of countries that drop off around the high school, 16 year age, how do you help attract these young girls to be interested in not just STEM but in creating a career for herself? >> So we like telling a lot of stories, Lisa, and there are constant nudges and triggers on our platform. So today I'm speaking with you and I'm sure that this will be beamed across our platforms as well, And people will look at Lisa and say, "Hey Lisa is doing this fantastic thing as a host. "And she's working with this great organization. "Why can we not be like Lisa?" And that's the way in which we motivate folks. And we try to ensure that every woman with a career story comes in and is able to share her journey, her path with our larger community whether that's through mentorship sessions, whether that's through role modeling, whether it's through coaching, whether it's through many fireside chats that we have, we have a lot of workshops and webinars. We are a COVID baby so we are very digital and we love technology. So that's how we try to create the community, ensure that there is enough excitement going every minute of the day. It's a very buzzing, humming, active community and we ensure that finally, everyone has that one thing in mind: I have to be financially independent and I cannot ever give up on my career. >> I love that: Be financially independent and not give up on my career. You must be obviously, very intentionally, you launched Aspire For Her, you mentioned two years ago today, on the 8th of March, 2020 right in the very onset of COVID but also on International Women's Day. Talk to me a little bit about why that was so important to launch on that day in International Women's history month. >> Well, when I was looking at the problem that was staring at women in India there's another interesting piece of statistic that's struck, which was that the percentage of women in the workforce has been declining steadily in India. And I thought that someone needed to do something about that problem, and I thought that someone could be me. I'm not a great one for symbols but I thought that if we launch it on Women's day, this will be a constant reminder for us to strive harder to get to those numbers quicker than we have set ourselves up for. That's the reason why I decided when the world was talking about women, it's a great idea for this to be like a conscience keeper for us. >> Perfect timing. Well, congratulations on all of the success that you have achieved in just a short two year time period. I can't wait to see what year three brings and sign me up to be a mentor. I'm a woman in STEM, I'm a woman that hosts this program. I would love to get involved and help encourage girls and other women to follow their passion. >> That is so amazing, Lisa, you are on and we'd love to welcome you aboard as a mentor >> Oh, excellent! Lucky me, my lucky day. Madhura, thank you so much for talking with us about Aspire For Her, and again, congratulations on all of your success. >> Thank you. >> And Madhura, you've got one final message for AWS employees that you want to leave, what is that? >> Thank you, Lisa, for the question, there is a message that I'd like to leave for all AWS employees across the globe, join us, be a part of our movement, it takes about three minutes to sign up for Aspire For Her. Please be a part of the change that you wish to see. Thank you. >> Well, Madhura again, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Congratulations on the success, the momentum that you have achieved in such a short time period. We appreciate your insights and your time. >> Thank you so much, Lisa, thank you, thank you, and I am going to send you the form to become a mentor as well (chuckling). >> I'm in, sign me up. >> Thank you >> For Madhura DasGupta Sinha, I'm, Lisa Martin, you're watching "theCUBE's" coverage of International Women's Showcase, 2022. (upbeat music)

(upbeat instrumental music) >> Hey, everyone, welcome to theCUBE's coverage of the International Women Showcase 2022. I'm your host, Lisa Martin. I'm pleased to welcome my next guest, Jadesola Adedeji, the Chief Executive Officer of STEM METS. Jadesola, it's wonderful to have you on the program. >> Thank you so much, Lisa. It's great to be here, thank you. >> I was looking you up on LinkedIn and I noticed that your profile describes you as a social entrepreneur. Talk to me about that. >> Well, basically, the idea is that we are a business but we are in the social segment. And of course, that segment for us is education, which is obviously is one of the critical, you know, things that you need in life to thrive and to progress. So it's a social need and we are in that space trying to make a difference and bridge a gap that is in the education sector, which is around digital skills, 21st century skills. >> Jadesola, talk to me about STEM METS, the impetus to found this organization which you and a physician friend founded seven years ago. What was the genesis? >> Okay, so about 10 years ago, my husband and I moved back to Nigeria from North America, where we'd been working and studying. And we decided that we would take our experience and education back home, as well as our young kids, who were six and 10 at the time. But when we got home, what we found was a broken and impoverished educational system. And Nigeria was, you know, essential in our own foundational years. So it was really shocking and disappointing that our education system hadn't moved with the 21st century. A lot of our youth were leaving school without the relevant skills for them to get meaningful jobs. So my co-founder and I decided to do something about that by bringing in a different and more up-to-date way of learning and teaching, which was in STEM education. And so that's how we started, so both of us had a STEM background and we decided that, well, we would do something or attempt to do something about the state of our education in Nigeria. And so that's how we started. >> I love that. And you were talking to me a little bit earlier about the enrollment rate of students. Share with the audience what some of those statistics are and why this STEM METS program is so pivotal. >> Mm hmm. So as I said earlier, there are about 80 million school-age children in Nigeria. There are 10 million children that are out of school, of which about 50 to 60% are actually girls. So we are already at a disadvantage regarding our female population and even diversity in education. And so for us, we saw it as being bad enough that we can't even get into school and then when we get into school, you're not getting quality education. You get an education, but not sufficient enough with skills to get you meaningful jobs. And so for us, STEM education was the answer to trying to bring up the quality of our education and making sure that what the learning that was going on was relevant to the 21st century, which is innovation-driven, which is technology-driven, and combining that with soft skills that are required for the future workplace or even a life in entrepreneurship. And so, that's what we did in response to that. >> Tell us a little bit about the curriculum. And also, are you focused on young, school-age children, primary school, high school? >> Sure. So the great thing about what we do is that early years is essential, we feel, because those are the foundational years when the brain is developing. So we run programs for children from ages three to 16 and we run a variety of programs, so anything from construction with Lego, robotics, coding, UX design, sound and technology, just to be able to show the array of skills and modules that are available under the STEM umbrella, and also be able to showcase the diversity in terms of career options that are available to the children in our community. >> Who are some of the educators? Because one of the things that we say often when we talk about women in STEM and women in tech or some of the challenges with respect to that is, we can't be what we can't see. Talk to me about some of the mentors or the educators within STEM METS that these young girls can have a chance, as young as three, to look up to. >> Well, so that's the thing. So, I think fundamentally, our co-founders, myself and my co-founder were pivotal in terms of positioning ourselves as role models. We're female, we both had a STEM background. And then, secondly, our educators. Not being sexist, but about 90% of our educators are female. So we train them. We make sure they have the skills that they require to also implement our programs. And that is a secondary way of also showcasing to the children and the girls that we are teaching, that look, you know, STEM isn't just for boys. These are live and present role models that you can aspire to be. And we also felt that it was essential for us to recruit from the female pool, and it also helps working mothers. So they are able to look after their family, as well as still earn an income to support their families. Otherwise, they would have to give up one or the other. And because our programs are supplementary classes and we run them as after school clubs or holiday clubs, they are able to manage their time and their family accordingly. So we see what we are doing as two programs. We are educating the kids, we are educating the girls, but we're also capacity building in terms the female work force. So yes, we think that what we're doing is just really feeding the female ecosystem and just ensuring that we are developing women with relevant skills. >> So she can be what she can see because you're enabling her to see it. Talk to me about like the number of educators versus the number of girls that are in the program so far in the first seven years. >> Okay, so to date, we've reached about 10,000 learners, of which I would say about 40% are female. Obviously, our aim is to be sure that that number increases. So we're quite targeted in some of our programs, particularly the ones that we take to low-resource community. We are supported by brands from organizations such as Airbus Foundation, so that enables us to take our programs to the low-resource community and we ensure that the enrollment and the sign-up is equitable, ensuring that the girls also have access to it. >> I'm curious about your background. You said you were 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Were you always interested in STEM fields since you were a child or is that something that you got into a little bit later? >> Actually I think unconsciously, well, since I was a child. In our culture, at least then when I was growing up, you were either a doctor, or an engineer, or a lawyer. So there were specific pathways. So if you were in the liberal arts, you were expected to go into maybe law. If you were in science, engineering, or medicine. So I went down the pathway of pharmacy as a sort of in-between because I wasn't very good at physics so engineering wasn't an option. But I think growing up, you know, I felt that we had role models that we could also look up to, so going into the STEM field was something that, you know, was somewhat natural actually in my educational journey. Yeah, so that's how I got into the STEM field, encouraged by my dad actually. You know, he said, "You know, if you're going to "go into a life science sector, "make sure you have something that is professional, "something that can make you independent." So my career started in the pharma industry but then I ended up running my own businesses, as well, so I had a couple of pharmacies in Canada when we lived there. So I ran that as a businesswoman, but still in the life science field. >> So you've reached 10,000 youths so far and you're showing them all about STEM. STEM is a very broad mix of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts, as well, if we go to the STEAM area. So you're showing these kids there's so much breadth and depth there within the STEM in and of itself. >> Exactly. So that's why we oftentimes ensure that we have a variety of programs. So, and also, educating the parents and the public that STEM does not mean you're going to be a coder. You know, you can be a graphic designer, you could be a fashion designer even, UX design, you could be a robotics engineer, you could be a pharmacist. You know, so we try and bring in programs that just exposes them to a huge array of career options. One of the programs we brought in last year was a program that Spotify runs, which combines sound and technology. So making beats, making podcasts, and in there was literacy, as well. How do you pull rhymes together? You know, if you wanted to, you know, so music production, sound production, you know, writing poems and literacy. So the idea there is to say the skill sets are transferrable not just within the STEM field but also non-STEM field. So let's not forget, it's not just a technical skills development program. We are learning critical thinking, communication, problem solving, collaboration, how can you work effectively, resilience. So they are life skills that are also incorporated into the concept of STEM education. >> That's so important because as you shared with us, your 20-year history in the pharmaceutical industry, you ran businesses, you ran own pharmacies, you parlayed your expertise in the STEM field into running STEM METS. But what you're showing these kids that you've reached so far and all the many tens of thousands that you'll reach in the future that it's not just doctor, lawyer, firefighter. There are so many, I love how you have a program with Spotify. Kids probably go, "Wait, what? "Music production? "I wouldn't have thought of that "as under the STEM umbrella." But you're showing them, you're making them aware that there's so much breadth to what STEM actually is. >> Exactly, and I think the idea is to inspire creativity and innovation. That there's always a different way to do things. And so, STEM education is actually developing learning and thinking skills. You know, it's not just rote learning or cramming or theory. And you're applying it to real-life situations and real-life scenarios. So, I always say that our vision is to raise future leaders and problem solvers and equip them with skills to tackle challenges affecting our continent, as well as the world. So those skill sets are terribly important really and have a mindset of viewing everything as bringing solutions to any potential challenges that you may face, even personally. >> Which is incredibly important, especially as we've learned in the last two years that we've all lived through. I'm curious that you've got two kids you said, are they showing interest in the STEM arena? >> We are actually quite a STEM family. So my husband's background is in chemical engineering. My son just finished his undergrad in computer science and is doing a post-grad in computer games programming. My daughter is going to university this fall and she's looking into biochemical engineering. So I think the STEM thing was passed along. Not under duress, I think they just showed a general affinity for that. But I mean, we exposed them to a plethora of different programs so we are here now. >> And you're a STEM family. But that exposure is what it's all about, like we talked a minute ago about, you know, she can be what she can see. She needs to be able to see that, she needs to have that exposure, and that's what you're helping to accomplish with the STEM METS. Talk to me, last question. What are some of the objectives that you have for the next, say, two to five years with STEM METS? >> So for us in the next two to five years is really looking for opportunities to extend the reach of our program. With COVID, obviously we had to pivot online so we're seeing ourselves now as a blended learning education company. So we want to build out our online presence and capability. We definitely are looking to reaching about five to 10 thousand learners per year so we're really looking at, you know, our path to scaling. And that could be things like trainer sessions where we also equip our teachers, who then go on to equip students in their community or in their schools, as well. So path to scaling is really important to us and we are looking to see how technology can help us do that. >> Excellent. Well, we wish you the best of luck on your path to scale, and congratulations on all the success and the youths that you have reached so far. Sounds like a great organization and we appreciate learning about that and having the chance to educate more folks on what the STEM METS program is all about. Jadesola, thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you, Lisa. For Jadesola Adedeji, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE's coverage of the International Women Showcase 2022. (upbeat instrumental music)

(upbeat music) >> Hey, everyone. Welcome to theCUBE's coverage of the International Women's Showcase for 2022. I'm your host, Lisa Martin. I'm pleased to welcome Nancy Wong, the general manager of Data Protection and Governance at AWS to the program. Nancy, it's great to have you. >> Thanks so much for having me Lisa, and you know, I really hope that this is hopefully the last year that we'll be celebrating International Women's Day all virtually. >> I agree. I agree. Well, we're going in that right direction globally. So let's cross our fingers. Talk to me a little bit about your role at AWS and what you do there. >> Sure. So as a GM of AWS Data Protection and Governance, a lot of, we tackle quite a few problems that our biggest customers face, right? When they think about, "How do I manage my data?" Right. Especially in this digital world. And speaking of the pandemic, how much data has been generated by consumers, by devices, by systems, by servers? How do you protect all of that data? Right. Especially we hear about cyber crime, cyber attacks. Right. Data breaches. It's really important to make sure that all of our customers have a coherent strategy around not just management, right, but also protection and really how you govern your data. Right. And there's just so many awesome conversations that my team and I have had lately with CSOs or chief technology officers on this topic, as it evolves. >> Data protection is so critical. It's one of my favorite topics to talk about, cybersecurity as well. Talk to me about what it means though if we keep this at a bit of a different level to be an operator within the the big ecosystem that is AWS. >> Yeah. And that's actually one of the the favorite aspects of my role. Right. Which is, you know, I get to innovate every day on behalf of my customers. For example, I love having one-on-one dialogues. I love having architecture conversations where we brainstorm. Right. And so those type of conversations help inform how we deliver and develop products. And so in an operator role, right, for the the women in the audience today, is it really gives you that perspective into not just how, what type of products do you want to build that delight your customers but also from an engineering. Right. And a bottom line perspective of, well how do you make this happen? Right. How do you fund this? And how do you plan out your development milestones? >> What are, tell me a little bit about your background and then what makes women in technology such an important initiative for you to stand behind? >> Absolutely. So I'm so proud today to see that the number of women or the percentage of women enrolled at engineering curriculums just continue to rise. Right. And especially as someone who went through an engineering degree in her undergraduate studies, that was not always the case. Right. So oftentimes, you know, I would look around the classroom and be the only woman on the lab bench or only woman in a CS classroom. And so when you have roles in tech, specifically, that require an undergraduate degree in computer science or a degree in engineering, that helps to, or that only serves to really reduce the population of eligible candidates. Right. Who then, if you look at that pool of eligible candidates who then you can invest and accelerate through the career ladder to become leaders in tech, well that's where you may end up with a representation issue. Right. And that's why we have, for example, so few women leaders in tech that we can look up to as role models. And that's really the problem or the gap that I'm very passionate about solving. And also, Lisa, I'm really excited to tell you a little bit more about advancing women in tech, which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that I started to tackle this exact problem. >> Talk to me about that, cause it's one of the things that you bring up is, you know, we always say when we're having conversations like this, we can't be what we can't see. We need to be able to see those female leaders. To your point, there aren't a ton in comparison to the male leaders. So talk to me about advancing women in technology, why you founded this, and what you guys are accomplishing. >> Absolutely. So it's been such a personal journey as well. Just starting this organization called Advancing Women In Tech because I started it in 2017. Right. So when I really was, you know, just starting out as a product manager, I was at another big tech company at the time. And what I really realized, right, is looking around you know, I had so many, for example, bosses, managers, peer leaders, who were really invested in growing me as a product manager and growing my tech and career. And this is right after I'd made the transition from the federal government into big tech. What that said though, looking around, there weren't that many women tech leaders that I could look up to, or get coffee, or just have a mentoring conversation. And quickly I realized, well, it's not so much that women can't do it. Right. It's the fact that we're not advancing enough women into leadership roles. And so really we have to look at why that is. Right. And we, you know, from a personal perspective, one contribution towards that angle is upskilling. Right. So if you think about what skills one needs as one climbs a career ladder, whether that's your first people management role, or your first manager manager's role, or obviously for bigger leaders when they start managing thousands, tens of thousands of individuals, well all of that requires different skills. And so learning those skills about how to manage people, how to motivate your teams effectively, super, super important. And of course on the other side, and one that I'm, you know, near to dear to me is that of mentorship and executive sponsorship because you can have all the skills in the world, right. And especially with digital learning and AWIT is very involved with Coursera and AWS in producing and making those resources readily available and accessible. Well, if you don't have those opportunities, if you don't have mentors and sponsors who are well to push you or give you a step ladder to those roles, well you're still not going to get there. Right. And so, that's why actually, if you look at the AWIT mission, it's really those two pillars working very closely together to help advance women into leadership roles. >> The idea of mentorship and sponsorship is so critical. And I think a lot of people don't understand the difference between a mentor and a sponsor. How do you define that difference and how do you bring them into the organization so that they can be mentors and sponsors? >> Yeah, absolutely. And there's, you know, these two terms are often used today so interchangeably that I do get a lot of questions around, well, what is the difference? Right. And how does, let's say a mentor become a sponsor? So, maybe just taking a few steps back, right. When you have let's say questions around compensation or, "Hey I have some job offers, which ones do I consider?" And you ask someone a question or advice, well that person's likely your mentor. Right? And typically a mentor is someone who you can ask those questions on a repeated basis. Who's very accessible to you. Well, a sponsor takes that a few steps forward in the sense that they are sponsoring you into a role or into a project or initiative that you on your own may not be able to achieve. And by doing so, I think what really differentiates a sponsor from a mentor is that the sponsor will actually put their own reputation on the line. Right. They're using their own political capital in order to make sure that you get into that role, you get into that room. Right. And that's why it's so key, for example, especially if you have that relationship already with a person who's your mentor, you're able to ask questions or advice from, to convert them into a sponsor so that you can accelerate your career. >> Great definition, description, and great recommendations for converting mentors to sponsors. You know, I only learned the difference about a mentor and a sponsor a few years ago at another women in tech event that I was hosting. And I thought, "It's brilliant. It makes perfect sense." We need more people to understand the difference, the synergies, and how to promote mentors to sponsors. Talk to me now about advancing women in tech plus the power of AWS. How are they helping this nonprofit to really accelerate? >> Sure. So from an organization perspective, right, there's many women, for example, across the the tech companies who are part of Advancing Women In Tech, obviously Amazon of course as an employee has a very large community within who's part of AWIT. But we also have members across the tech industry from startups to VC firms to of course, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix. You name it. With that said, you know, what AWS has done with AWIT is actually very special in the sense that if you go to the Coursera platform, coursera.org/awit you can see our two Coursera specializations. Four courses each that go through the real world product management fundamentals. Or the business side, the technical skills, and even interviewing for mid-career product management roles. And the second specialization, which I'm super excited to share today, is actually geared towards getting folks ramped up and prepared to successfully pass the Cloud Practitioner's Exam, which is one of the industry recognized standards about understanding the AWS Cloud and being functional in the AWS Cloud. This summer, of course, and I'm sharing kind of a sneak peek announcement that I'll be making tomorrow with the University of Pennsylvania, is that we're kicking off a program for the masters of CIS program, or the Computer Information Systems Master students, to actually go through this Coursera specialization, which is produced by AWIT, sponsored by AWS, and AWS Training and Certifications has so generously donated exam vouchers for these students so that they can then go on and be certified in the AWS Cloud. So that's one just really cool collaboration that we are doing between AWS and AWIT to get more qualified folks in the door in tech jobs, and hopefully at jobs in AWS. >> That's a great collaboration. What are some of the goals in terms of metrics, the number of women that you want to get into the program and complete the program? What are some of those on your radar? >> Absolutely. So one of the reasons, of course, that the Master's of CIS Program, the University of Pennsylvania caught my eye, not withstanding, I graduated from there, but also that just the statistics of women enrolled. Right. So what's really notable about this program is it's entirely online, which as a university creating a Master's degree fully online, well, it takes a ton of resources from the university, from the faculty. And what's really special about these students is that they're already full-time adult professionals, which means that they're working a full-time job, they might be taking care of family obligations, and they're still finding time to advance themselves, to acquire a Master's degree in CS. And best of all, 42% of these students are women. Right. And so that's a number that is multiples of what we're finding in engineering curriculums today. And so my theory is, well if you go to a student population that is over 40%, 42 to be exact percent women, and enable these women to be certified in AWS Cloud, to have direct interview prep and mentorship from AWS software development leaders, well, that greatly increases their chances of getting a full-time role, right, at AWS. Right. At which then we can help them advance their careers to further and further roles in software development. >> So is this curriculum also open to women who aren't currently in tech to be able to open the door for them to get into tech and STEM fields? >> Absolutely. And so in my bad and remiss in mentioning, which is students of this Master's in CS Program are actually students not from tech already. So they're not in a tech field. And they did not have a degree in CS or even engineering as part of their undergraduate studies. So it's truly folks who are outside of tech, that are 42% women, that we're getting into the tech industry with this collaboration between AWS, AWIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. >> That's outstanding to get them in from completely different fields into tech. >> Absolutely. >> How do you help women have the confidence to say, "I want to try this." Cause if we think about every company today is a tech company. It's a data company. It has to be to be competitive. You know, the pandemic taught us that everything we're able to do online and digitally, for example, but how do you help women get the confidence to say, "Okay, I'm going to go from a completely different field into tech." >> Absolutely. So if we, you know, define tech of course as big tech or, you know, now the main companies, right, I myself made that transition, which is why it is a topic near and dear to me because I can personally speak to my journey because I didn't start my career out in tech. Right. Yes. I studied engineering. But with that said, my first full-time job out of college was with the federal government because I wanted to go and build healthdata.gov, right, which gave folks a lot of access to the healthcare data, roles, right, that existed within the U.S. government and the CMS, NIH, you know, CDC, so on and so forth. But that was quite a big change from then taking a product management job at Google. Right. And so how did I make that change? Well, a lot of it came from, you know, the mentors that I had. Right. What I call my personal board of directors who gave me that confidence. And sure, I mean even today, I still have imposter syndrome where, you know, I think, "Am I good enough." Right. "Should I be leading this organization," right, "of data protection and governance." But I think what it boils down to is, you know, inner confidence. Right. And goes back to those two pillars of having the right skills and also the right mentors and sponsors who are willing to help sponsor you into those opportunities and help sponsor you to success. >> Absolutely. Great advice and recommendations. Thanks for sharing your background, Nancy, it's outstanding to see where you started to where you are now and also to what you're enabling for so many other females to get into tech with the AWIT program combined with AWS and UPenn. Exciting stuff. Can't wait to talk to you next year to see where you guys go from here. >> Absolutely Lisa. And what I'm really looking forward to sharing with you next year is the personal testimonials of other women who have gone through the AWIT, the AWS, the UPenn Program and have gotten their tech jobs and also promotions. >> That sounds like a great thing to look forward to. I'm looking forward to that. Nancy, thanks so much for your time and the insight that you shared. >> Thanks so much for having me, Lisa. >> My pleasure. For Nancy Wong, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE's coverage of the International Women's Showcase 2022. (upbeat music)