Editor’s note: After a social media pause, TechWomen is sharing weekly highlights from the Spring 2022 TechWomen program that began on February 23 and concluded on March 31, 2022.
After an active week of cultural exchange and professional development workshops, Emerging Leaders were eager to explore all the Bay Area has to offer alongside Cultural Mentors, their cultural ambassadors to the Bay Area. Whether it was a visit to the Academy of Sciences, a tour of Tesla, attending panels with industry leaders at a Bloomberg event or sightseeing around the Painted Ladies, Emerging Leaders and mentors learned about Bay Area culture, and one another, before a busy week ahead.
Professional Interest Groups
Week two kicked-off with the first meeting of Professional Interest Groups, small groups of Emerging Leaders with common professional interests that are guided by mentors. Through the groups — themed on a variety of fields such as digital media, edtech, green tech, engineering, biotech and health sciences, AI and machine learning and more — Emerging Leaders and their mentors will share learnings from their professional mentorship experience, exchange resources and engage in conversations relevant to their fields of interest. Their first meeting explored themes established in the Leadership Workshop, prompting Emerging Leaders to discuss their individual strengths, team strengths and how they could leverage their skills for impact. Cora Lam and Anila Adhikari, co-leaders of the software engineering group, spent time setting goals with their group of Emerging Leaders: “We had a great meeting,” Cora said. “What we discussed the most was soft skills, and we asked Emerging Leaders to create tech-related learning priorities topic that we mentors will try to cover.”
Professional Mentorship
Emerging Leaders were eager to officially begin their professional mentorships on week two, diving into their mentorship goals alongside their mentors. On week one, Professional Mentors and their Emerging Leaders were encouraged to discuss their professional journeys, the Emerging Leaders’ goals and how the Emerging Leader can be supported in her learning objectives. Many Emerging Leaders had an opportunity to meet their mentors on-site at some of the Bay Area’s leading companies.
Action Plan Workshop 1
On Sunday, Emerging Leaders came together as country teams to lay the groundwork for their social impact projects at Action Plan Workshop 1 led by Susie Kelleher and her colleagues at YSC. At the online event, Emerging Leaders began to think strategically about their action plan, a project that will address a socioeconomic issue in their home country. Building off the framework of leveraging personal strengths, thinking critically and maximizing teamwork, Emerging Leaders gathered in breakout rooms to discuss their best moments at work and their best moments outside of work. “What lights you up?” Susie asked.
Week three will bring Action Plan Workshop 2, a continuation of Professional Interest Groups and professional mentorship and, hopefully, continued exchange as Emerging Leaders take advantage of all the Bay Area has to offer.
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