WiBD Global Connect - January 2025
Happy New Year January 2025! Hope all enjoyed your holidays!
In this issue, we feature:
- 2024 Global Impact Report - WiBD is now at 22,000+ members
- 2024 Recognition Awards - Featuring our amazing global volunteers
- 2025 Mentoring Programs Begin - Be sure to sign up
- DataCamp Donates Training Program - Top learners and latest testimonials
- 2025 WiBD Hackathon - February 1st to April 30th
- Podcast - Bridging the Gap Between Good Enough & Full Throttle", Radhika Rangarajan, Co-founder and Executive Director of WiBD
- WiBD India Shakti Mentoring Program - For Women Returners in Tech & Data
- Events around the globe - Online, Bay Area, SoCal, Northwest, Berlin Chapters
2024 Global Impact Report
We're excited to share our 2024 Global Impact Report! This year, we've celebrated remarkable growth, with over 22,000 community members, 590+ participants in our mentoring programs, and 275 DataCamp learners. Discover how our community is shaping the future of tech through initiatives like mentorship, training, hackathons, and our expanding podcast series. Hear inspiring messages from our leaders and discover how you can get involved. A special thanks to our amazing WiBD team and incredible allies for their invaluable contributions to this report. Access the report here.
2024 Recognition Awards
Introducing the amazing volunteers from our WiBD Americas region! Their leadership and dedication have been pivotal in driving growth and empowering our community. A heartfelt thank you for your passion and hard work—you inspire us all - Srabasti Banerjee Stuti Patel Vidhya Sonali Pagade Dhana Srinithi SrinivasanVinutha Veerayya Hiremath Parul Pandey Poornima Muthukumar Shweta Mokashi Ania Korsunska Pradnya Patil Mallika Haridas Viviana Alba Jialing Wang Maria Mai Josephine Porrazzo Sangeetha Parsan
Meet the inspiring volunteers from our WiBD EMEA region! ?Their incredible leadership, dedication, and passion have been pivotal in driving growth and empowering our community. We are deeply grateful for your hard work and impactful contributions—you inspire us all! Congratulations to Anita F. Nellie Aboudaram Maufras Ann Katrin Maria Beiner Sharone Dayan Boubli Corinna M. Andrea Leylavergne, PhD Itai Yaffe Aliya Boranbayeva Neil Metzler Yulia Tokareva Marina Alekseeva Katarzyna (Kasia) Stoltmann Karolina StosioMeyyar Palaniappan Alina Florentina Popa.
Meet the inspiring volunteers of our WiBD South Asia / India region! We are deeply grateful to these dedicated individuals for their outstanding leadership and expertise, which have played a vital role in supporting and uplifting our India community. Thank you, Himashinee VenkateshVaishnavi Jinde Tamanna Khaitan, for making a difference! Well-deserved recognitions.
Check out WiBD Wall of Fame for all volunteer recognitions.
Mentoring Program Updates
Deborah Sgro, Program Director
Global Mentoring Initiative: Kicking Off Year 4!
We’re excited to begin our fourth year of providing free, high-quality mentoring services, programs, and events to professionals worldwide.
2025 Mentoring Sessions Schedule
-?????? Session 1: February–May
-?????? Session 2: June–August
-?????? Session 3: October–December
Session 1 Highlights:
-?????? Mentoring Matters Program: 1:1 personalized mentoring for skill development, career planning, and more.
-?????? Senior Technologist Circle: Peer mentoring for seasoned technologists aiming for leadership roles.
-?????? Panel Discussion (Feb 6): Careers in Academic Technology Research: Insights from experts on transitioning between academia and industry (register by Jan 31, 2025).
More speed mentoring events and exciting opportunities are coming soon—Stay tuned!
Join us in 2025 as we continue to support professionals worldwide in achieving their career goals. Together, let’s grow, connect, and thrive!
Training Program updates
Srabasti Banerjee, Program Director
Women in Big Data is proud to continue our partnership with DataCamp Donates, providing free training resources in 2025 to support communities in need.
-?????? Meet our top DataCamp Donate learners for the month.
-?????? Testimonial by two of our DataCamp Donates learners, Jasmin Rafi and Malathy Arumugam.??
领英推荐
Hackathon Program updates
Rupa Gangatirkar, Program Director
The first cohort of the 2025 WiBD Hackathon program planned:
When: February 1st to April 30th - 8 weeks + prep time Where: In partnership with WiDS (Women in Data Science) for the Datathon 2025 Challenge.
What: Participants will engage in the WiDS Datathon hosted on Kaggle. Although the challenge launched on January 7th, the WiBD Hackathon cohort will officially start on February 1st, 2025. Each participating chapter can enter one team into the WiDS challenge on Kaggle. Team size of 4 participants (maximum allowed)
Challenge Overview: Using fMRI data, participants will develop a model to predict an individual’s sex and ADHD diagnosis. This is an opportunity to hone your data science skills while tackling a critical social impact problem.
Podcast Program updates
Desiree Timmermans, Program Director
Kicking Off 2025 with Insightful Conversations!
In our first episode of 2025, Radhika Rangarajan, Co-founder and Executive Director of Women in Big Data, shares her perspective on "Bridging the Gap Between Good Enough & Full Throttle."
Radhika dives into the challenges organizations face when balancing "good enough" solutions with "full throttle" perfection. She offers valuable insights on finding the sweet spot by focusing on the why behind goals, helping teams avoid the extremes of over-engineering or under-delivering.
Reflecting on her own career, Radhika highlights that the sweet spot often lies in the courage to pause, listen, and build meaningful connections. "You have to build bridges rather than just features," she says.
Listen to the full podcast here to explore how you can apply these lessons in your own journey.
WiBD India Shakti Mentoring Program - For Women Returners in Tech & Data
WiBD India Shakti Mentoring Program for Women Returners in Tech & Data. ???????? ???? ???????? ???????? ?? ??????????????—it’s a movement towards a more inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. As a mentee in the Shakti program, you will enjoy one-on-one mentorship with an expert mentor, flexible upskilling at your own pace on the Datacamp and NASSCOM FutureSkills platforms, and valuable networking opportunities with the WiBD India community. Additionally, you'll have the chance to apply your skills in a hands-on Capstone project and earn a certificate upon successful completion of the program. Learn more and apply here.
Events around the globe
-?????? The WiBD Online Chapter recently hosted an engaging and inspiring discussion with Shoshi Kalderon?and?Dr. Marti Har-Lev. The session provided actionable insights and practical steps to drive meaningful change in both your career and personal life.
-?????? The WiBD Bay Area Chapter hosted Heather Woods? for an engaging and interactive session focused on strategic learning. Heather shared 6 powerful tips to help attendees to set clear, achievable goals; make time for skill-building, even with a busy schedule; stay motivated and on track. Whether participants were climbing the corporate ladder, transitioning to a new industry, or pursuing personal growth, the session equipped them with the tools to turn learning into meaningful progress.
-?????? The WiBD SoCal Chapter recently hosted a Personal Branding Workshop led by Social Media Consultant Dani De Boulay. The session focused on designing a personal brand on social media, transforming it into a career portfolio and business card that networks naturally share.
- The WiBD NW Chapter partnered with the Technology Association of Oregon to host an engaging panel discussion on harnessing data to drive positive behavior change. The event explored impactful and innovative approaches to leveraging data for meaningful outcomes. It also highlighted how data, when thoughtfully collected, analyzed, and applied, can inspire shifts in individual behaviors, foster community action, and support organizational transformation.
- Women in Big Data Berlin?in partnership with the?Hertie School kicked off 2025 with an inspiring event, “Empowering in Data & Governance,” where we explored Groundbreaking research in data governance, Real stories of successful academia-to-industry transitions, the transformative potential of AI Agents and GenAI in data quality and compliance. See the blog for details.
-?????? Held our first DataCamp Donates Monthly Meeting of 2025, celebrating our Top 10 DataCamp Learners and a presentation by Deborah Sgro, Building Career Support. In this engaging session, she covered how to leverage key relationships—mentors, sponsors, coaches, and professional networks—to accelerate your career growth and achieve your goals.
-?????? The WiBD Bay Area chapter hosted an event at Rackspace titled "Strategy Coaching for Extraordinary Results," featuring renowned executive coach Bernhard Ries. Attendees learned how to transform strategy development from a top-down executive task into a dynamic, team-driven process.
-?????? Join us for the second session of the "Data Science for Women, by Women: Insights, Inspiration, and Innovation" series, hosted by Women in Big Data - Dubai Chapter in collaboration with the Global Mentoring Initiative. Happening on February 6, 2025, at 6:00 PM Dubai Time, this free online event explores pathways for starting, advancing, or transitioning from technology careers in academia. Gain insights from experts on thriving in technical roles and successfully transitioning to industry-based careers. Don’t miss this chance to network, learn, and empower your career journey! Register here!
Join our WiBD Community!
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