TM
Publisher’s Note
“Don’t Stop Believin’.” A WLT Media production WLT Media 5605 FM 423 Suite 500 #286 Frisco, TX 75036 www.ESTEAAMMagazine.com
To subscribe, please email our editorial department:
Editorial@ESTEAAMMagazine.com
WLT Founder & CEO Kelly Flowers
A dear friend and I were recently having lunch, and the conversation eventually had us comparing notes on our state of being in the new year. We had each promised ourselves that after surviving 2021, this year had to be better; however, it wasn’t long before we began lamenting the fact that, honestly, our amazing year had not yet taken form. Whether it was lingering COVID-19 concerns, political unrest, rising food and gas prices, or a host of other possibilities, we agreed that something just felt “off.” Regardless, we professed to continue focusing on the positive and working hard to make this year just as amazing as planned.
TIFFANY W. EVANS As I sit at my desk today, swamped with work and jammin’ to some of my favorite old-school tunes, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” begins to President and Publisher play. I could not have asked for better timing. Just as my friend and I Tiffany W. Evans TEvans@WomenLeadingTechnology.org concluded, we have so much for which we are thankful, and we have to trust in the promises of the future. We just can’t stop believin’. A Editor-in-Chief quick perusal of this issue gives me hope. Jennifer Mills For starters, we are excited to present a new feature category titled JMills@WomenLeadingTechnology.org First Gentleman™. Just as the moniker implies, the section is devoted to highlighting men in the tech industry who celebrate the inclusion Issue 1, Vol. 2 and rise of women in higher positions and who believe that supporting women in tech adds exponential benefits to the industry for all. ©2022 WLT Media Group. Flip to page 14 and meet Jeff Lovejoy. He embodies the qualities and All rights reserved. No part of characteristics of an ESTEAAM Magazine™ First Gentleman, as he bethis publication may be reprolieves in girls and women, and we are so honored to recognize him. duced without prior Lovejoy’s feature perfectly correlates with our cover story, where we written consent of the CEO highlight the WLT STEAAM Experience for Girls. Its Founder, Kelly or Publisher. Flowers, details how she draws on her experiences as often the only woman on male-dominated teams to fuel her passion for giving girls the chance to achieve different realities. She believes that together we can positively impact the trajectories of young ladies across the globe, and her energy will encourage you to do the same. Info@WomenLeadingTechnology.org
I could go on and on giving sneak peeks of the uplifting stories presented in this issue, but I do not want to give away any more surprises. Spend some time perusing the issue cover-to-cover. Believe me; you will be inspired! Thank you for supporting ESTEAAM Magazine™ and our commitment never to stop believin’ in the power of girls and women in STEAAM.• Cheers,
3
Newsworthy
Young Women’s Preparatory Network Marks 20th Anniversary
Y
oung Women’s Preparatory Network (YWPN) has been celebrating 20 years of educating young women in Texas communities this year. Founded in 2002 by philanthropists Lee and Salley Posey to support single-gender, collegepreparatory, and public education, the nonprofit gives young women the academic and leadership skills to succeed in college and life. “I think that the network is so successful and unique because it doesn’t have economic barriers for students to succeed,” says Brenda Romero Torres, a student at Young Women’s Leadership Academy, San Antonio. “So, many students who normally
wouldn’t be able to afford a good education have this opportunity to explore their interests, especially women.” Natalie Devero, Director of Special Projects at YWPN, adds that YWPN has 100 percent high school graduation in its schools and 100 percent college acceptance. YWPN opened its first school, the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, through a partnership with Dallas ISD in 2004 and has since teamed up with other public school districts across Texas. With 10 schools, the organization currently operates as the largest network of all-girls schools of its kind in the U.S.,
serving more than 4,600 young women annually. YWPN’s success is a team effort, according to Devero, with teachers, principals, and staff giving so much of their time and attention, recognizing that the future is female. “The future is these young women. And, I can’t say enough about our schools and the community that helps support us.” •
To learn more about YWPN, including testimonials from current and past students, visit tinyurl.com/WLTPodcast for a full interview.
Women Leading Technology is grateful for the generosity of its sponsors. One hundred percent of the proceeds from its 3rd annual Masquerade Fundraising Gala will fund STEAAM scholarships for deserving young ladies and help establish STEAAM Experience Centers across the metroplex. WLT appreciates the community’s continued support.
5
Perspectives
Ph.D. Student Daisha Oruru Introduces the Multi-Faceted Face of STEM
“I truly believe that
the cure for cancer, climate change, and the cure to all of the things that we’re currently researching is in the brains that have not been inspired to pursue STEM. —Daisha Oruru
”
F
rom neuroscience to dance, and investing, Ph.D. student Daisha Oruru introduces us to the multifaceted face of STEM Daisha Oruru is a 2020 graduate of Tennessee State University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee. She completed her degree with a major in psychology (concentration in neuroscience) and a minor in biology. She started her journey to a Ph.D. last fall at the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida.
ESTEAAM Magazine had the pleasure of speaking with Oruru
about her experiences as a student of the STEM disciplines. She provides candid insight into the realities facing women in college STEM programs while offering hope and promise for the future of women and their impact on science.
Can you tell us what motivated you to go along this track to pursue neuroscience? Daisha Oruru: So, I want to be 6
completely honest. I did not know that I wanted to do a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Since I can remember, I have always struggled with science. But I always knew I wanted to pursue a higher education. With my undergraduate degree in psychology, I always loved learning about how behavior worked. I thought that was so cool. I decided to take physiological psychology, and that was my first introduction to the brain. It was the first time in a science course that I was challenged in a way that fueled my curiosity and made me want to learn more. It was not easy at all. I actually spent most of the time in the professor’s office, Dr. Lisa de la Mothe, asking her questions and preparing for quizzes and tests. But I was also intrigued, and somehow all that time spent in her office landed me the opportunity to have a spot on her neuroscience research team. I would not be where I am today if not for her mentorship.
Do you feel like her being a fe-
male leader had any bearing on how you connected with her or the material? Did that resonate in any special way for you? DO: Yes, it really did. The big thing for me struggling in science is that I never really had anyone tell me that I couldn’t do it. I realized it was me telling myself that I couldn’t do it. Having another woman who has mentored so many students tell me that I can and that there’s no reason to beat myself up about not knowing things or not being confident in myself, it was just everything for me.
You said you thought science wasn’t your thing. Do you have any thoughts on why that may have been the case? Can you recall any experiences at a young age regarding science and math? DO: I thought science was really boring. When you’re younger and take science courses, they’re very general. But, when I was moving recently and going through stuff at my house, I found I had actually won first
Perspectives place in a few science fairs, and that’s so funny because I tell people I do not like science. My stepdad always pushed computers on me and said science and technology are where it’s at. My dad is from Kenya, so all of my dad’s siblings are in the nursing realm, and I was always told to be a doctor. I kept saying that’s not for me, not realizing that I would be a doctor. Also, my mom has a communications and family studies degree, and I spent a lot of time in classes with her as a child. That’s how my interest in psychology started. I didn’t think of that as science then, but now I know. Especially in our community, we’re told to be a doctor, be a lawyer. Or parents say play a sport. I truly believe that the cure for cancer, climate change, and the cure to all of the things that we’re currently researching is in the brains that have not been inspired to pursue STEM.
Some young ladies pursuing STEM talk about how some of the other women in the program leave. Did you have any of those experiences? DO: In psychology, it was mostly women in my courses. We all stuck together, and I never saw many people change. Biology was a whole different story. There were constant talks about switching or dropping courses. A big thing that our professors encouraged was to have group messages and communities and group studies. It was tremendous for me to be in a community of other STEM majors. That way, we could keep each other on track because, being at an HBCU, we realized that we are the next advocates, we are the future, so these people are the people that I’m going to see in
white coats. So we all said, these are my doctor friends, and it was very important that we all called each other doctor by our last name.
For you and other students, what role do you think organizations like Women Leading Technology played as a resource, as a mentor, and as a support system? DO: Oh, it made a huge difference. As an undergrad, I joined the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, Inc. One of my sisters in the group was the one who connected me with Dr. Lisa de la Mothe and told her I was going to be taking her course. However, I still had not met anyone who looked exactly like me, black and neuro. So I spent the whole semester searching. Finally, I found a community called Black and Neuro, a virtual community full of neuroscience scientists, doctors, and everything you think of within the neuroscience world. That was the moment when I knew what I wanted to do was possible. But, of course, it was one thing seeing a woman like my mentor and the graduate students I worked with. But seeing that community, that was that nudge for me.
How can leaders help young women? What would be helpful as you pursue the next steps in your life? DO: It would be to recognize what we’ve already done and really pay attention to that. I think women are completely slept on. I think we are sometimes more capable than men of getting the job done because if you look in the science world, women have done incredible things. If people in authority tru-
ly recognize that and do not think it’s just a one-time thing but really acknowledge what it took for her to get there and give space for others to do the same, the world would be more innovative. Women are amazing, and we do amazing things. And science should look the way the world looks, from gender to race. For a very long time, science was a white maledominated field, and it’s no longer that. Those are the people that are the higher-ups because they’ve been here the longest, but women are coming for them, coming for them now.
We’re just scratching the surface, and we’re nowhere near where we need to be yet. I think of all the women who have come before me and the movies, like “Hidden Figures,” to even the woman going to the moon soon – the world needs women. I wish it would stop acting like it doesn’t and see we are innovative, we are diverse, we’re multifaceted, we can be feminine, and in STEM, we can rock heels one (Continued on page 22)
7
Cover Story
WLT STEAAM Experience for Girls: Preparing for Futures in STEAAM by JENNIFER MILLS
“
of service for our future leaders of tomorrow,” WLT is a nonprofit 501(c)3 sorority with a vision to uplift girls and women worldwide by providing resources and opportunities through STEAAM education, internships, apprenticeships, and job prospects. Its initiatives aim to raise awareness and funds to support its flagship program, the WLT STEAAM Experience for Girls. This program exposes girls in Pre-K– 12 and young women to classes through hands-on activities in coding, chemistry, architecture, and physics. Here, participants can gain greater interest and expertise that will propel them forward to pursue higher education and careers in these fields.
KELLY FLOWERS
Girls are powerful, and they are balanced thinkers.
W
”
hat was your first experience with science, technology, engineering, architecture, the arts, or math (STEAAM)? Maybe one of your parents worked in these fields, or a teacher introduced you to the exciting world of equations and experiments. Unfortunately for many girls, their exposure may come later in life, or not at all, and Women Leading Technology (WLT) wants to change that. Committed to “creating a circle
8
“After working in the technology industry for many years, I witnessed the disparities that continue to exist in science, technology, engineering, architecture, the arts, and math,” says Kelly Flowers, Founder and CEO of WLT and Founder of the WLT STEAAM Experience. “Being a woman, especially a woman of color, it’s important that women have a seat at the table in those fields. Not only is it needed, but it’s also important for the future.”
RESERVING SPACE FOR GIRLS IN STEAAM
For Flowers and Women Leading Technology, those disparities mean more work to do. That’s why WLT has as its mission to bridge the diversity, equity, and
inclusion (DE&I) gap in communities around the world. It’s not enough to be aware of the disproportionate opportunities for girls in STEAAM, particularly those of color. Therefore, WLT puts hope into action to reach them and show girls what is possible. Such steps could open the door for profound change in girls’ lives if they have not considered science, math, or technology as a place for them. In a broader sense, bringing women and girls to these learning environments contributes to a fairer and more diverse culture. “Girls are powerful, and they are balanced thinkers,” Flowers says. “Their input provides a unique perspective needed for the workplace and society.” Already, the STEAAM Experience program is providing opportunities for Pre-K—12 girls by hosting virtual and in-person workshops in chemistry and architecture and raising funds for scholarships and sponsorships to send them to the Girls Scouts STEM camp and contribute to
Cover Story college. Its biggest fundraiser is the annual WLT Masquerade Gala, which takes place on April 30. The program started with an inperson chemistry workshop in June 2021 that saw the girls building lava lamps and learning
about polymers, chemical reactions, and thermochromism through color-changing slime. The benefit of this workshop was that women leaders in those fields were the teachers and were able to show the girls that they, too, could find their place and success in STEAAM. “When I was in school, STEM/ STEAAM was not offered to me or even talked about, and I had no clue that option was available to me,” Flowers says. “I also have two daughters, and the same applied. So it’s important for girls to have exposure to STEAAM opportunities. But, most importantly, they need to see women represented.”
The WLT Experience for Girls recently hosted its first Architecture Day in Richardson, Texas. Guided by the theme, “Girls Can Build, Too,” the event offered young ladies from across the metroplex hands-on activities in architectural design. Dallas-based architect Kim Nickerson, owner of KN Designs Architectural, shared with students a brief architectural history lesson then taught key design principles. Nickerson then facilitated a workshop where students constructed their very own model homes.
While the program required a learning curve in its first year and finding female representation in the STEAAM fields was a challenge, Flowers is optimistic because the female instructors genuinely connected with the girls during the science and architecture workshops. This further reinforced how needed these nourishing environments and educational resources are during such a crucial time in a
girl’s life. “We were able to bring some successful programs to the community and reach students from various areas in Texas,” she adds. “I love all of our programs. However, I am most proud of our architecture program. To see the kids excited about building a model home was a pure delight.“
FUTURE WLT STEAAM EXPERIENCE CENTERS FOR GIRLS
Riding on the momentum of these successful workshops and classes, WLT’s ultimate vision is to give girls a permanent home and inclusive space for these meaningful experiences. Sights are already set on building individual WLT STEAAM Experience Centers for Girls in the Texas communities of South Dallas, North Dallas, and Fort Worth. “Our yearly fundraiser event is
Architecture Day student Tatyana Vaughn shows off her completed model home. KIM NICKERSON
(Continued on page 10)
9
our Annual Masquerade Gala for STEAAM education,” Flowers says. “This year, we plan to raise enough funds to open one of the locations a few months after the gala while also moving forward with our plans to open two more locations, all in 2022.” Proceeds from the annual gala and other donations will support future state-of-the-art facilities with first-class labs, design centers, and additional resources. “We are always looking for investors that want to donate to a lab or the design center,” Flowers adds. “We are also interested in women in STEAAM who want to work with the girls and offer their expertise, and partners to join us, so we can combine our efforts to move the needle together.”
At heart, the Women Leading Technology sorority is a group of servant leaders in STEAAM. They are all about sisterhood and unity and want to continue growing and connecting with sisters worldwide. They love their communities, supporting small businesses, and bringing families together. “It takes a village to make a difference, and together we can change the world and bridge the gap one city, state, and country at a time,” Flowers says. “We are in this together.” •
“We are also interested in
women in STEAAM who want to work with the girls and offer their expertise, and partners to join us, so we can combine our efforts to move the needle together. —Kelly Flowers
”
The WLT Experience for Girls kicked off during the summer of 2021 with its Chemistry Day. Instructor Taylor Champine led a class of girls in grades K-3 through an experiment that emphasized such principles as water density and chemical reactions. 10
Chemistry Day was a two-part experience, where the second component engaged girls in grades 4-8 with a colorchanging slime experiment. Chemical engineer Kaela Evans taught the students about thermochromism and chemical reactions while emphasizing that science is part of our daily lives – even when enjoying fun activities like making slime.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Ask the Expert
Incorporating a New DE&I Operating Model into Accelerated Digital Transformation Practices by CHANDRA GUNDLAPALLI
T
he past couple of years has seen the world grappling with the pandemic and doing everything it could to build the next normal. Now that 2022 is here, we are eager to witness hybrid workplaces, technological breakthroughs, and connected experiences that create history. Most will agree that the digital imperative drives innovation faster than ever with virtual engagement, digital commerce, and datadriven actionable decision making. However, with this innovation comes common business challenges, including: • Lack of diverse background culture, which limits innovation and lim-
its digital-capabilities talent
• A need to simplify processes—automated IT and operations • Data governance • Security and compliance • Workload optimization
CHANDRA GUNDLAPALLI
To address these challenges, I developed the following “Digital Business” Transformation Enabler Framework:
Acquiring new customers and optimizing efficiency to grow organization revenue (business value) is driven by the following six pillars: Digital Business Customer Experience
No. 1 Digitize Products No. 2 Digitize Data Insights No.3 Digitize Customer 360 Digital Business Operational Excellence
No. 4 Digital Business Operations No. 5 TEAM Culture No. 6 Strategic Partnerships
EVOLVING TRENDS Now that we’ve established the critical role digitization plays in a business organization’s strategy, we must examine accelerators that will enhance digital transformation: Lean-Agile, multi-skilled, nearshore talent: Lean-Agile is a set of
principles and practices for working that aims to minimize waste while maximizing value. Organizations need professionals who can handle various tools and responsi20
Source: CriticalRiver.com
bilities at any time. Digital Service Management: Ser-
vice management is a collection of capabilities and methodologies an organization uses to plan, build, deliver, and ensure the quality of the services they provide to both internal and external customers. Cognitive Data Services: Analytical methods and access to the correct data enable the generation of new insights and decision-rich information. Big Data allows for the rapidly increasing amount of data from multiple sources. Hyper Automation Integration Services: Integration-Platform-as-a-
Service (iPaaS) capability is helping with the workflow automation across organizations, including software delivery (DevOps) automation, which is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations. It aims to shorten the development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high quality. Optimized Customer Experience Services: Multi-experience is about
leveraging various touchpoints, apps, and devices to design and develop a seamless and consistent customer experience. Public/Private Cloud Services: The
Ask the Expert possibility to virtualize and utilize infrastructure, platforms, and applications as a service enables new levels of scalability, flexibility, and responsiveness. Market research underscores the impact of the growing tech market related to the above technology accelerators: • According to research conduct-
ed by Markets and Markets, the global cloud computing market size is expected to grow from $445.3 billion to $947.3 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3 percent.
• The application container mar-
ket is “expected to register growth with 26.5% CAGR” by 2025, according to market research strategist Million Insights.
• A new article from Grand View
Research Inc. reports that the DevSecOps market is expected to be worth $17.24 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 24.1 percent.
• Additional research published
by Million Insights shows that the machine learning market will reach $96.7 billion by 2025.
• According to Valuates Reports,
the low-code dev platform market size should reach $39.79 billion by the year 2027, with a CAGR of 30.9 percent. In addition to the solution accelerators above, I see a lot of excitement and hype around the Web3 (Blockchain, Non-Fungible Token, Metaverse, and Decentralization) space, which will disrupt every industry, potentially surpassing $1 trillion in the next 5-10 years. Therefore, I suggest organizations create an innovation team to figure out a real utility/use case that the new Web3 emerging technology could help accelerate. Still, I strongly recommend organizations focus on the technology accelerators mentioned above, starting with the most crucial asset, i.e., talent.
TALENT ON THE GROUND Implementing all of the above technology accelerators is made possible by enlisting talent. Many reports show that organizations with diverse teams outperform their competition by 25-50 percent. However, as reported in The New York Times, a fall 2020 analysis of the 3,000 largest publicly traded US companies found that just 12.5 percent of board directors were from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, up from 10 percent in 2015. Organizations should have a solid operating model to make diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) a reality on the ground. Unfortunately, in my more than 23 years of experience, including participation on leadership councils, I have observed and experienced an enormous gap between abundant conceptual talk versus actual DEI implementation due to the following challenges: • Lack of workforce strategy • Lack of shared consciousness • Lack of intentional DE&I Solutions for making DE&I real on the ground:
1.Create a dedicated workforce strategy business unit in your organization, where a focus is placed on the organization’s design with intentional DE&I initiatives (women leaders and minority representation, for example) on top of upskilling initiatives.
2.Create shared consciousness with TEAM of TEAMS (inspiration from Gen. Stanley McCrystal). 3.Create real-time dashboards to make incremental progress daily/weekly/monthly. When I created an operating model for my 2000-plus global organization in the past, I made sure my direct reports leadership had diverse leaders (women and “unique ethnic” backgrounds) following the below operating model framework and partnering with workforce strategy BU leader. Digital transformation (DX) is about comprehensive transformation, including talent and culture. It alters everything about how products are developed, sold, and serviced. It compels CEOs to revisit how organizations execute new business strategies, management approaches, information systems, and the nature of customer relationships. CEOs should be talking about this and mobilizing the whole company. If your CEO isn’t articulating how to secure the enterprise’s survival amid digital disruption, they are doing the entire organization a tremendous disservice. We have plenty of opportunities to incorporate DE&I into our businesses’ digital transformation strategies. So let’s break the business-as-usual silos and create an empowered network of DE&I teams with shared consciousness with quantitative metrics.•
Chandra Gundlapalli is the senior vice president of Digital Transformation at a 600-member global technology organization and CoFounder of North America’s first super-app.
21
Good Read Resource Guide Encourages Girls to ‘Dream On’ face after entering college and ream continuing their STEM studies. On!”
“D
by Ezella McPherson, Ph.D., brings to light some roadblocks for many AfricanAmerican girls and women while pursuing their dreams of obtaining degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The book also emphasizes the critical importance of exposing girls to STEM subjects as early as kindergarten while explaining the unique challenges girls often
(Continued from page 7)
day and rock science goggles the next. There is a place for every single one of us in science. I see pictures of my friends, and I always tell them, “This is what an engineer looks like, and this is what a mathematician looks like,” and if we’re hiding or holding back from any parts of ourselves, then we’re doing our industries a disservice. So let’s allow women to be who they are because we’re freaking amazing.
Tell us about Daisha outside of science. What are some things that you like to do when you’re not rocking goggles and heels? DO: I like to say I’m multi-faceted. I love doing a lot of different things. I’m a dancer; I’ve been dancing my whole life. Recently, I tried out for the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, and I made it to the finals round, which is crazy, right? I didn’t make it to the next
22
Dr. McPherson immediately connects with her readers by sharing personal accounts with young African-American ladies enrolled in STEM programs during her tenure at universities across the United States. She discusses program retention and matriculation rates for African-American women pursuing STEM degrees, then dissects contributing factors to a phenomenon that ends with fewer African-American women in STEM professions. From truths about STEM culture to the influence of teachers on AfricanAmerican girls and STEM enlevel past that, but I’m proud of what I did. I love to work out. I’m a content creator for social media. I love reading and have been a bookworm my whole life. I love spending time with my family and my friends. I have younger siblings, and they’re my rock; they’re my world, and they’re my heart. So everything that I do, I genuinely do it for them. I say I will go through anything if that means they get to walk through the door easily. That’s my biggest thing. What else about me? I love Jesus. I did a lot of campus ministry in high school and hope to continue doing that as I move forward. Also, I’m an investor, so I invest in the stock market and just dabble everywhere.
Do you think you bring something to science because you’re so multi-faceted and wellrounded? DO: Yes, I also think that I have
gagement, she offers an examination of differing learning styles, a “hidden curriculum” within STEM culture, support networks, and alarming trends that dissuade African-American women from earning STEM degrees. “Dream On!” is an essential resource that guides parents and students as they navigate an often-convoluted path to STEM success. The book concludes with encouraging recommendations and a call to action that implores African-American girls and women to continue dreaming and achieving their STEM goals.•
no fear factor. I don’t see failures as failures; I see them as lessons, so I can throw myself out there at any time. The worst thing you can tell me is no, so I have no problem throwing myself out there. I love being a mentor. I love helping others. In the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, our motto is “lifting as we climb,” and I try to live that throughout my life. So if there’s any way that I can help the next girl get where she wants to go, I’m all for it.
Is there anything else you know the world should know about Daisha? DO: I would like to say to anyone reading this, “You are amazing, you can do anything that you put your mind to, and there definitely is a seat at the table for you, and if there isn’t, you make your own table.”•
23