TechWomen Experience

In 2014 I had the opportunity to become an emerging leader with the TechWomen program. I am thankful to LinkedIn and Center for Women’s Leadership Initiatives at Institute of International Education (IIE) for giving me this opportunity.

What is TechWomen?

TechWomen is a US-state sponsored program run by Center of Women’s Leadership Initiatives (CWLI) at Institute of International Education on behalf of US State Department. Participants include women in mid to senior level experience from countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Central and South Asia. These Emerging Leaders come to the United States for a period of four weeks and get exposure to technology in Silicon Valley and interact with tech communities there.

There are three tracks of mentorship in the program cultural, professional and impact. If you are interested in becoming a mentor you can directly apply with their website or find out if you company has a formal program and apply through that channel. There are many other ways to get involved apart from mentorship — you could work with your company to host a TechWomen event, provide sponsorship or seed grants. Check here for some more suggestions.

More about the program

Being selected in the 2014 TechWomen program has been a dream one true. One month already spent in Silicon Valley–the temple of technologies that every engineer dreams to visit–I can’t begin to describe my feelings! One thing I can say is something in my has changed; my life perception has changed. Visiting LinkedIn, Twitter, Mozilla, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Facebook and many other innovative companies is dream that came true because of the TechWomen program.

These big companies are more than just than big logos. Being inside their headquarters and in the executive briefing centers, and discussing with the top management of others has changed my perception of driving a business. I feel even more proud of working in STEM fields. I am even more motivated to advance my career as a woman in STEM, with the belief that starting small but thinking big is the philosophy behind Silicon Valley success.