(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)

>> Live from San Francisco. Its The Cube. Covering IBM Think 2019. Brought to you by, IBM. >> Okay, welcome back everyone, live here in The Cube here in San Francisco, exclusive coverage of IBM Think 2019. I'm John Furrier and Stu meeting next guest is Calline Sanchez, Vice President of IBM Systems Labs Services. New role for you, welcome back to the cube. >> Yes. Thank you for asking me back. >> So the new role, Vice President of the Systems Lab Services. Sounds super cool, sounds like you got a little lab in there, a little experimentation >> yeah think of it as a sandbox for geeks worldwide. And what that means is we enable high performance computing deployments as well as what we do with blockchain and also artificial intelligence. >> So its a play ground for people that want to do some big things, solve big problems, what are some of the things that you offer, just take us through how it works. Do I just jump in online, is it a physical location? What's it like ? In 2018 9000 plus engagements worldwide in 123 countries. So to net it out is, it's not necessarily a single lab or a single garage, we have multiple locations and skills worldwide to enable these engagements. >> How big is the organization roughly? Its over a thousand folks, consultants who are smart and capable. >> We had a conversation yesterday with Jamie Thomas, talking about, from a super computer stand point, now IBM's reclaimed the top couple of positions there and from a research stand point, David Floyer from our team has been talking for years about how HPC architectures are really going to permeate what happens in the industry and I think about distributed architectures, it all seems to go back to what people in the HPC environment lived in. You've got background in that, you worked for one of the big labs, explain how this has come from something some government lab used to do to something that now many more companies around the globe are leveraging. >> Before IBM I worked at Sandia National Laboratories and the reason why I chose to work with these awesome skills worldwide in lab services is that I wanted to be part of the cool group, so to speak. So they were doing work in deployments with Oak Ridge National Laboratories and also Laurence Lilvermore. So you'll hear (inaudible) with Laurence Livermore speak on stage about some of the relevance associated with high performance computing and why were number 1. So, to get to our question it's cool to be back online with what I could say, high performance computing deployment. We are the mechanics so to speak in this organization. Similar to what we do with formula 1, people who put on the tires, add the air and also enable the cars to move around. Well without them, guess what? Things don't move around. >> So you guys work on the high performance systems, you got quantum coming around the corner, you got AI front and center so you guys are like the hot shots. You come in, you build solutions with what's in the tool chest, if you will with IBM, is that right ? >> correct You're 100% correct. I will say it in my mind, we make things real. We deploy and implement strategic technologies worldwide for the benefit of our end users and we do that also with our partners. >> Give an example of an engagement you guys have had that's notable, that's worth sharing. >> Recently, this was a really exciting area a Smarter Cities with Kazakhstan. And so heres this independent city that works on basically AI for filming things whether its a security thing recognizing certain faces, deployments associated with weapons etc. And they were able to secure safety based on the film, films that they've taken, those assets. Now the other aspect is managing safer traffic. So even the president of Kazakhstan felt it was extremely relevant that we helped him deploy and he comes back to one of our European leaders saying, hey we need more of this and we want it to be extensive, we want to scale this opportunity. >> Talk about the philosophy's you guys are deploying because it sounds like its a... you said sandbox, when I think sandbox I think you do prototypes, I'm thinking about cool stuff, building solutions and that kind of brings this whole entrepreneurial creation mindset. Do you guys have like a design thinking methodology, is there things you're bringing to the table what else is involved besides the sandbox? >> You are correct. We have a very key component of design thinking. There's a CTO that reports to me directly who leads our overall design thinking and so that's a key component of what we do worldwide. Now as far as... We also enable incubation of technologies. So it's like what we intend to do with IBM Cube, What we intend to do with blockchain on system Z. So with these things we have garages worldwide to deploy or incubate the technology. >> What's the coolest thing you've worked on so far? Or the team's worked on? >> That's really hard to say 'cause there's so much. >> It's like picking a favorite child. >> Yeah, it's like I have way too many. So I was - >> You mention blockchain. I like blockchain. Blockchain, are you in healthcare, is it more, is there certain industries that are popping out for you guys? >> So healthcare is an example but I have seen it in the telecom area as well as other industries in general. So we have 11 industries in which we serve. >> How about AI? We're always trying to understand where customers are, how they're really moving things forward, to understand that that HPC architecture is a foundational layer for many customers to help deploy AI. Where are customers starting to make progress ? Give us some of the vibe you're feeling from customers out there. >> So its exciting with AI right now because we have Power Vision that allows us as any of us to actually exploit, utilize and play with, so to speak. So from my perspective that is what's nice, is that you can enable opportunities with the consumer market and learn. Similar to what we do with, and for instance, I am jumping around here, IMB Cube. Where users can actually become a user and start evaluating algorithms in order to enable this really amazing technology as in IB Cube. >> That was always the promise of big date, is that we should be able to leverage our data and get the average business user to do it. So it sounds like AI will continue that trend. >> Correct. So in prior rule, I talked to all of you about big data storage, right and replication. So now what's amazing about the conversations is that they've transcended. Its like, here you're looking to manage these large data warehouses, when, what do you do with the data? How's it monetized, how is it used in order to solution what's possible. >> What is the goal of the organization, next 6 months, year, what's the charter, what's your key performance indicators, how do you guys measure success, client engagements, onboarding people, what is the business objectives? >> So we look at the number of engagements, we also look at educational services worldwide for instance I will be in Cairo, Egypt next week to work on specific things that are going on in Mia in order to enable this next growth market so to speak. What in addition we do to measure ourselves, utilization, classic services organization view of the world. So we also evaluate what we can do with revenue, profit and our understanding of growth and we really believe the focus is these growth technologies. >> Is there a criteria if I wanted to get involved, just say I am a customer, prospect, wow, I really want to get into this design thinking, got these labs, coolest labs services, I want to play with the cutting edge technologies, how do I get involved? Is there a criteria open to all or how does it work? >> In addition to IBM Systems Labs Services, I have technical universities and we actually run technical universities worldwide for end users, clients as well as what we do with partners and IBMers. And this is important because we're able to then discuss, talk, collaborate with SME's across multiple areas of technology. So its a very good question and very important that I mention the technical universities. >> Are there certifications along that line? What are some of the hot skill sets that people are looking to learn about ? >> It circles right back to your last question, AI. With regards to how we certify folks as well as we, in essence, they get enough training in boot camps in order to get badges. >> So their certification, they just pass the touring test and then they're okay. >> correct. Well. (laughs) I don't know about the touring test so to speak. >> So is there a website on IBM.com, is there like a URL as in like labservices.ibm.com? >> I personally like the look at twitter where you can do a search on IBM Lab Services or Tech U. >> Tech U. And screening, how big is that focus, used a lot of video, is it collaborative tooling is it face to face, virtual, how do you guys do the training, all the above? >> Unfair, I was going to say all of the above. (laughs) It depends. (laughs) Giving that classic response, our favorite is video blogs. What we can do in social media with the YouTube channels etc. to get our opinions or our voice out with regards to key technologies. >> Well great, make sure you let us know what those channels are and we'll promote them, get that metadata out there, of course The Cube loves to collaborate. And thanks for coming on and sharing. >> I appreciate it and I will definitely take a sticker and put it on my laptop. >> Calline Sanchez, Vice President of the new IBM Systems Lab Services. A lot of opportunities to get in the worldwide sandbox and put the sluices together from blockchain to cutting edge AI. Your live coverage here at San Francisco at IBM Think, I'm (inaudible) stay with us for more coverage after this short break. (lively music)