Week four: pitch planning, inclusive leadership and giving back at Volunteer Day

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.

Emerging leaders entered week four of TechWomen with new skills and enhanced networks, ready to apply their learnings towards fulfilling their mentorship goals and finalizing their action plan projects.

At Action Plan Workshop 3, the final workshop before Pitch Day, Emerging Leaders were led by longtime TechWomen mentor Eileen Brewer through a comprehensive pitch training and practice session. There, Eileen explained the six sections required for an impactful elevator pitch — Problem, Solution, Launch, Growth, Sustainability and Team — and emphasized that fitting elements into three minutes requires focus and discipline. “Start with your narrative — your words,” said Eileen. “Get those concise. Illustrate the problem — who is impacted? How many? What are the barriers they face? In the end read it out and time your pitch. Reduce words, do it again. Repeat.” Eileen encouraged country teams to understand their unique value and contributions, and work to communicate it concisely and impactfully. She also shared ways to enhance their projects through tying their initiatives to the UN SDGs or finding support or partnership through former TechWomen fellows. After Eileen’s training, it was time for country teams to come together in breakout rooms with their Impact Coaches and begin brainstorming bullet points for each of the six sections Eileen outlined. Together, Emerging Leaders spoke about what they learned and how they can use the strategies to develop their pitch.

In their breakout room, Team Zimbabwe brainstormed pitch delivery for their project, FOCUS ZW (Feed Our Children Using STEM Zimbabwe), that seeks to enable children in Zimbabwean orphanages to grow nutritious food by learning to create and maintain their own aquaponics system. Team Tajikistan spoke about their project’s alignment with the UN SDGs, spending additional time defining their MVP, or their Minimum Viable Product. Through their Life Bridge Program, the team hopes to support 13 to 17 year old students from rural regions with career planning and training. Team Jordan brainstormed expansion plans and the age groups that they’ll cater to for their project that will empower young women in public high schools through financial literacy and soft skills training.

At the end of the session, Impact Coaches from all country teams shared their advice for Emerging Leaders as they prepared to take the virtual stage: “Get a hook that excites and evokes emotion,” said one Impact Coach. “One way to choose your introduction story is for each of you to write a short story and practice it as the introduction to your pitch, so your team can choose their favorite,” said another. At the end of the session, Eileen reminded the Emerging Leaders to enter their pitch feeling confident and empowered: “Don’t pause, don’t apologize, don’t backtrack, ” she said. “Take a breath and keep on going when you’ve made a mistake.”

Inclusive Leadership Workshop

At the following week’s Inclusive Leadership Workshop, YSC Consulting facilitators Robyn Hidock and Sarah Oremland spoke about equity and conscious inclusion in a session where Emerging Leaders were encouraged to share, engage freely and be vulnerable in a judgment-free space. Sarah Oremland opened by defining diversity, equity and inclusion: “What equity does is recognize that while fair practices are important, there is recognition that individuals come from different starting points, and that needs to be taken into account,” she said. The facilitators then introduced their IEA Model, bringing Emerging Leaders through the model’s three pillars: Identity (the way we see ourselves), Expression (how we show our identities to the world) and Attribution (the labels, beliefs and judgments that people ascribe to us). In breakout rooms, Emerging Leaders were prompted to share their Identity and Expression and speak about how they are perceived. After the first breakout room, Emerging Leaders shared their takeaways, expressing that despite representing 20 countries, there were commonalities across all regions.

The second half of the session was spent exploring psychological safety, or the ability to show and employ one’s true self without fear of negative consequences to your self-image, status or career. Together, the group spoke about exploring how it feels when we are fully valued and able to be ourselves. At the end of the session, Robyn and Sarah shared a helpful framework for inclusive leadership:

Curiosity: create the conditions for learning and creative thinking
Courage: embrace the uncomfortable, take risk, encourage others
Connection: understand yourself and leverage the rich diversity of others

Volunteer Day

Week four also featured Volunteer Day, a day where Emerging Leaders gave back to the community through volunteering at Bay Area initiatives that serve the local community. Whether it was through helping seniors at the Community Technology Network, assembling STEM kits with Resource Area For Teaching, packing donation boxes at Community Impact Lab or planting in a community garden, Emerging Leaders had an opportunity to better learn about community needs in the Bay Area and the organizations that are dedicated to creating solutions.

It’s hard to believe that TechWomen 2022 is soon coming to a close! Before they officially become fellows, Emerging Leaders have a busy week ahead as they prepare their action plans for Pitch Day, continue to engage in their professional mentorship, attend regional bureau briefings with State Department representatives and look forward coming together as a group for the Farewell Lunch and Community Celebration.

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