WiBD Global Connect - August 2023

What's New?

In this month's update, learn more about Rupa Gangatirkar, our WiBD Hackathon/Competition Lead.

Also, learn about the WiBD updates around the globe, across our local chapters.

Interested in becoming a WiBD member? Sign up here to officially become a WiBD member

Have you met her?

Let’s get to know Rupa Gangatirkar, Women in Big Data Hackathon / Competition lead.?

We had the opportunity to interview Rupa Gangatirkar, a remarkable individual with a diverse background and a passion for Big Data technology and support of women in the space. As a Computer Engineer, Rupa initially specialized in semiconductor chip design but later transitioned into data science and AI/ML. Her enthusiasm for utilizing data and insights to make a meaningful impact is truly inspiring, and she leverages her skills in hardware, debugging, and data analytics to tackle the challenges of the AI and data field. Beyond her technical expertise, Rupa’s creative side flourishes in areas such as arts, drama, dance, and culinary adventures. Her extensive knowledge and experiences, along with her passion to pay it forward, are truly inspiring. We highly recommend reading this insightful interview to get to know this extraordinary woman better. Read more Here.

Women in Big Data around the globe

AMERICAS REGION

Bay Area Chapter:

Data Science Olympians?2023 - Congratulations to all the team members?Hindavi Dinesh Churi,?Rebecca Roman,?Amaka Ozobia,??Bill Lantz,?Hemaleka Mohanram,?Devi Chitra,?Alicia Ouyang,?Iryna Grom?and?Jacqueline Gonzalez?who completed the Data Science Olypmian 2023 successfully, under guidance of their Team Leads! We wish all of them good luck in their endeavors and applications of Data Science in their careers! This program was led by?Rupa Gangatirkar?and?Srabasti Banerjee. Check out the blog post detailing the program and the closing ceremony.?

Empowering Students in Data Science - The?Data Science Society?(DSS) and Women in Big Data (WiBD) jointly sponsored a flash mentoring event to discuss career development opportunities for the DSS members. The participants had the chance to learn about different paths and choices in the Data Science industry through a panel discussion, networking with peers and professionals, and learning from Mentors’ experiences.?Full report by Deborah Sgro,?Su Min Park

Awesome panel discussion at Prestocon event on Jun 7 of how real companies are using Presto today in their data architectures! Thank you Rupa Gangatirkar for moderating the panel discussion and representing Women in Big Data. Well done! Event was organized Presto Foundation and The Linux Foundation. Women in Big Data was a community partner.?

Northwest Chapter:

Women in Big Data (WiBD) NW chapter, conducted the first ever Data Science Varsity (DSV) program in partnership with Oregon State University, University of Portland and supported by Intel Corp. WiBD NW aspires to engage with local educators, attract the new generation of talent to Data Science and technology fields and establish a deeper collaboration with industry partners through networking. The 3-month long Data Varsity program was designed to advance students in their technical acumen of data skills and leadership through a data challenge. The participating students were mentored by experienced leaders at Intel as they completed this challenge. Full blog here.?

EMEA REGION

Berlin Chapter:

Meet?Nahia Ordu?a, an inspirational figure in the field of Big Data.

With her wealth of experience, she motivates, encourages, and generously shares her insights with readers and followers. Nahia is also a Manager in the Solution Architecture division at AWS. With a background in Electronics Engineering and a master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering, Nahia specializes in leveraging Big Data for optimizing telecommunication services. Boasting over 15 years of experience in International IT and Tech companies, Nahia has held diverse roles across the field, including Network Engineer, Software Engineer, Solution Architect, Solution Director, and agile Product Owner in multiple countries. Passionate about sharing expertise and insights on the Future of Work, Big Data, and AI, Nahia is actively engaged as one of the leaders in the Women in Big Data organization. Frequently participating in forums and thought leadership discussions, Nahia plays a pivotal role in advocating for diversity in data careers. Notable accolades include receiving the prestigious Data Leader of the Year Europe 2019 Award at the Women in IT Summit & Awards, as well as being recognized as an inspirational figure among Munich's "Extraordinary Women" through the?#sieINSPIRIERTmich?initiative in 2020.?WiBD Berlin chapter interviewed Nahia. You don’t want to miss it.

Check out the full interview.?

Women in Big Data Berlin chapter hosted an after-work event in the SAP office in Berlin entitled ‘The journey into the future: data-driven companies and required skills.’ The event, which was also sponsored by AWS, attracted attendees, primarily women interested in pursuing careers in data-related fields, but also including men who demonstrated their support for greater diversity in the tech industry.?Check out the blog for details.?

Berlin chapter hosted a great event at INNOQ in Berlin, bringing together an impressive group of people from diverse backgrounds to learn from some outstanding women in tech. The topics discussed were cutting-edge, including Data Mesh and Eventual Consistency, which are crucial for modern data-intensive systems.?hosting an incredible event at INNOQ in Berlin, bringing together an impressive group of people from diverse backgrounds to learn from some outstanding women in tech. Dr. Larysa Visengeriyeva and Dr.?Susanne Braun gave the talks.?More info here.?

Berlin chapter welcomed Marina Alekseeva at their online event to keynote on “Mindful professional development, the next version of yourself”. As a former VP and GM of Intel R&D Russia,?Marina shared her knowledge about career development in this coaching session. It was unique opportunity to gain?insights into successful career development. Marina?is an established leader, coach, and mentor of career wellbeing with a solid experience?in building her own professional career from programmer to the vice president. She is a strong advocate for women and diversity & inclusion, motivational speaker and a trainer.?Participants joined from Munich, Berlin, Paris, Russia, Mexico and US. Learn more here including lessons learned.?

Munich Chapter:

Women in Big Data Munich explored the journey of?One Data, an AI-powered data product producing software company based in Germany, and their efforts to promote DE&I within their organization. They interviewed?Ziye Wang, Head of Product Management at One Data and founder of their DE&I Committee, to gain valuable insights into what it takes to drive DE&I in a Big Data company. Thank you ?Colleen Arend for an insightful interview and article.

Israel Chapter:

Great update by Itai Yaffe, chapter director. ?It's been?a little over 4 years since we launched the Israeli chapter?of Women in Big Data.

During that time:

+ We've organized both in-person and virtual events.

+ We've grown our meetup group to over 1000 members.

+ We had great sessions delivered to our community members by remarkable women, on various data topics (e.g. Data Engineering, AI, ML, BI, and more).

In our latest meetup, titled?"Data Engineering at Scale", we had?3 speakers with top-notch sessions:

1.???Yulia Antonovsky (Akamai)?spoke about?Mastering Partitioning for High-Volume Data Processing.

2.???Maayan Gad (Wix)?spoke about?Solving Data Engineers Velocity - Wix’s Data Warehouse Automation.

3.???Ada Sharoni (Hunters)?spoke about?Lessons Learnt from Running Thousands of On-demand Spark Applications.?

Thanks to Akamai for hosting the event, to Meital Burstein (who was the real driving force behind it), and to Akamai employees who helped in making this a reality - Kineret Raviv, Aryeh Sivan, Lipaz Ben Porat, and Jonathan Perry!

A very special thanks to our 3 awesome speakers!

Russia Chapter:

Women Talk 2023 - At the end of May Women in Big Data Russia held the Women Talk online conference.

It has already become a tradition. For the first time Women Talk was held in 2019. The conference is held in the TED Talks format with short and vivid 20-minute reports on interesting practices of using soft and hard skills in the field of big data and analytics.

Learn more here

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SOUTH ASIA REGION

India Chapter:

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WiBD Insights Newsletter?: WIBD India chapter started a new Newsletter series in LinkedIn. The goal is our readers stay ahead of the curve with the latest events in Women in Big Data India community, get a deep dive into the latest trends, technologies, and best practices as we deliver a curated selection of industry leading articles, resources in the field of Big Data and uncover the successes of the latest Gen Z impact makers in the community.?Whether you are executive, a data professional, or a student fascinated by the world of big data, this newsletter is for you.?Grateful to Vaishnavi Jinde for leading the efforts. Check out the ?edition 7?with an article by Sowmya Moni, our India chapter director on mentoring and also subscribe for the future ones. You don’t want to miss that.

?India chapter held an event with Meenakshi Arun Subramaniam covering Supply Chain Analytics. Session was well attended and received.

Anjani Phuyal, WiBD South Asia Lead and Member of Global Executive Committee visited India and Chapter University of WIBD, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women.?He delivered a session on Exploring Careers: Cloud and Beyond.

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Nepal Chapter:

In partnership with Machhapuchchhre Bank, Women in Data organized and delivered an introductory session on Big Data Analytics.

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Every year on April 21st , the world is invited to celebrate the United Nations World Creativity and Innovation Day.

Target Audience: Engineering, Business, Design and Arts students.?Event type is a hackathon to encourage people to form teams and use their skills in generating new ideas for the UN Development Goals. Nepal Women in Big data was engaged in the event.

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