Kiko Smith: I am a wife, a mother, an architect and a proud member of our TechWomen sisterhood

At the TechWomen reception hosted by Sheila Gwaltney, U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic, on March 2 in Bishkek, Professional Mentor Kiko Smith of Twitter shared the power and impact of TechWomen. Kiko has been a TechWomen mentor since 2015. 

Today, and everyday, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, we recognize the TechWomen community of mentors, fellows and supporters and the collective power we have to impact not only our future, but the future for generations to come. Happy International Women’s Day! 

I am a wife, a mother, an architect working at Twitter.

I’m honored on behalf of our delegation of professional colleagues and friends to say a few words about what TechWomen means to us.

We all know that TechWomen is an initiative started in 2011 by the U.S. Department of State …

What is it really?

TechWomen is not a fight, battle or war, but rather a campaign to encourage careers in the STEM fields for women, with women, by women … and men.

TechWomen is a community of women professionals bonded by the desire to share, with each other, our life experiences and the responsibility we all feel to pay it forward.

We develop and discover lifelong relationships and connections, across the globe, that we didn’t know existed. In my case, my long-lost sister, Amy in Kenya, and this year, I found a daughter, Nargiza, here in Kyrgyzstan.

TechWomen serves as the foundation to support the professional women in emerging countries today, who in 20 years will be recorded in the history books of their countries.

Recognized because these women will have paved the road for the extraordinary women, not yet born, who will affect great change in their country and the world.

I am a wife, a mother, an architect working at Twitter and a proud member of our TechWomen sisterhood.