Tech in the Right Direction

How-to Push Beyond Your Comfort Zone and Reach Your Goals

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This week's guest is Deanna Emery, a Lead Data Scientist at Aon - a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, reinsurance, retirement, and health solutions. In addition to her work as a Lead Data Scientist, Deanna heads a Sprinternship Program that focuses on growing women and non-binary presence in the STEM fields.
Today we talk about Deanna's jump from Astrophysics to becoming a Lead Data Scientist at Aon. Deanna also shares her experiences with growing women's presence in the industry. This focus on increasing women's presence is centered around the Sprintership Program Sponsored by Break Through Tech Chicago and Aon. The project they worked on this year revolved around building out diversity solutions for inventors and creators.
Thank you for listening; we hope Deanna's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.
Update on Deanna's career:
Founding AI Researcher at Quotient AI | Associate Board Member at Illinois Science and Technology Coalition 
You can still reach her on LinkedIN.

Understanding Software Security

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Join Jennifer and Laura Bell Main as they talk about the importance of Software security.  Software security is not just a business challenge, but a challenge for home computer users as well.  Laura Bell Main shares some great insights and tips that everyone can use to have a safer online experience.
A little more about Laura Bell Main:
Laura Bell Main specializes in securing some of Australia andNew Zealand’s fastest-growing organizations. She has overtwenty years of experience in software development andinformation security. It's her mission and passion to bringsecurity into organizations of every shape and size.Laura is the founder and CEO of SafeStack Academy, anonline education platform offering flexible, high-quality, andpeople-focused, secure development training for fastmoving companies, with a focus on building security skills,practices, and culture across the entire engineering team.SafeStack is a value’s driven company on a mission to makecybersecurity accessible for everyone and any organization.“To protect each one of us, we must protect all of us”This is the underpinning belief that drives Laura. Hercompany pushing hard into this issue by attempting to trainall of our organisations, big and small. Through free plans,student sponsorships and sponsored communities, she isworking towards a future where we no longer spend 99% ofour security resources on 1% of our organizations.She is an experienced conference speaker, trainer, andregular panel member, and has spoken at a range of eventssuch as BlackHat USA, Velocity, and OSCON on the subjectsof privacy, covert communications, agile security, and securitymindset. She is also the co-author of Agile ApplicationSecurity and Security for Everyone.

Using Tech with Fashion and Beauty Brands

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Caley Adams is the Founder & Creative Director of Wildes District, an NYC-based design studio that specializes in emerging women's and e-commerce brands. Wildes District works closely with founders to build meaningful experiences that span multiple touchpoints — including brand, web, app, print, packaging, and more.
In today's episode, Caley discusses the importance of branding, her challenges, and being an entrepreneur along with motherhood. 
You can find out more about Caley on her website and be sure to follow her on Instagram. 
We hope you enjoyed today's chat with Caley and her advice on branding. 

Hayden Orme talks about Life, Work balance.

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Jennifer Didier speaks with Hayden Orme as she shares how she left the corporate world to become an entrepreneur.  In this process she has developed a system to help individuals as well as companies find their life, work balance.
Hayden Orme Bio:
I am the Founder of Handled. By Hayden & Co., as well as a speaker, two-time international bestselling author, award-winning leader, and a 50 Ton Master Merchant Mariner Captain. I have a top-notch team of Executive Assistants, all with years of extensive experience, providing business elevation and optimization services to small business owners and C-suite leaders in a variety of industries. I bring with me more than 13 years of experience supporting top executives in major health and tech companies, including Brightcove, Novartis, and McKesson, before starting HBH & Co. Today, I focus on giving our clients more time and freedom so they can efficiently advance their business and mission, instead of drowning in their inboxes, calendars, and tortuous daily tasks. I believe that burnout is not a status symbol, and leaders do not need to suffer to succeed. Rather, with the right, strategic, high-touch support, it is possible to change the culture and create sustainable growth and holistic success as Empowered Leaders in both life and business.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayden-orme-84459b11/

Making AI in the Metaverse a reality

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Jennifer Didier gets to know Weili Dai. Hear their conversation about Understanding how to make next-genConversational AI in the metaverse a reality.
Weili Bai Bio:
Weili Dai is one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world. Widely considered atechnology visionary, she is the only woman Co-Founder of a global semiconductor company,Marvell Technology Group. For her contributions to technology and society, Newsweek named Ms.Dai one of the “150 Women Who Shake the World” and was profiled by CNN International for theLeading Women Series: Leading the Female Tech Charge, Leading Women Principles Fair and Care,Educating for Future Success, and Leading Women Inspire Others.Forbes Magazine listed Ms. Dai as one of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” and 2021’s“America’s Richest Self-Made Women”. The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) recognized Ms. Daialong with her husband Dr. Sehat Sutardja, Co-Founder and former CEO of Marvell, with theprestigious 2013 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award, selected due to their exceptionalsuccess in creating Marvell, their individual contributions to today’s modern semiconductor age, aswell as the talents and expertise they’ve continuously leveraged to address and overcome pressingglobal issues like education and smart energy. Ms. Dai was also named to the prestigiousCommittee of 100, an organization representing the most-influential Chinese Americans.Weili Dai holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California atBerkeley. In recognition of their generosity, her alma mater named Sutardja Dai Hall for Ms. Dai alongwith her husband Sehat Sutardja. Sutardja Dai Hall is home to the Center for Information TechnologyResearch in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). Celebrated as the glue behind her companies, familyand community, Ms. Dai is the proud mother of two sons, Christopher and Nicholas who bothreceived their Ph.D degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Ms. Daiwas selected as the first woman commencement speaker for the University of California, Berkeley,College of Engineering graduation ceremony on May 12, 2012.Ms. Dai is the Chairwoman of Lark Health through which she has become a powerful advocate forthe better use of technology to improve the human condition. Ms. Dai continues to have a relentlesspassion to innovate through her various active roles in semiconductor technology and softwarecompanies, including FLC Technology as the Co-Founder and President and Meetkai, as theCo-Founder and Executive Chairwoman where she is leading the charge to make next-genConversational AI in the metaverse a reality.

Healthcare Statistics for Women and Why are they so Important

Jennifer Didier interviews Ann Garnier. They discuss Ann's exit from being a healthcare employee to opening a business that collects the necessary data needed to further healthcare for all women.  She also shares about her journey and tools that help her to be confident and successful as a woman in technology.
Ann Garnier Bio:
Ann Garnier, the co-founder and CEO of Lisa Health, is a seasoned healthcare leader andoperator, helping to create, launch, and scale innovative tech companies and productsthat have improved patient outcomes and access to care. Prior to Lisa Health, Ann wasCOO at CarePayment, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Operations at RelayHealth(McKesson), and Vice President, Strategy and Marketing for Paradigm Health (Optum).She is passionate about using technology to transform women’s health, advancingresearch on menopause and healthy aging, and helping women thrive in midlife andcelebrate the start of something great.

Helping Students Get Into Top Colleges

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Leelila Strogov is the Founder and CEO of AtomicMind, an education technology company offering families a boutique coaching experience that prepares students to become “wow candidates” in the increasingly competitive college admissions landscape. Leelila earned her Bachelor of Science degree from MIT and, with dual interests in the humanities and sciences, works with students around the world. As a former journalist, Leelila employs her interest in people and storytelling to students, helping them develop the tools and mindset that enables their success, and assisting families as they navigate college admissions.
Today, Leelila talks about her passion in helping students get into top colleges through her background in journaling and storytelling. 
You can learn more at atomicmind.com. 
We hope you enjoyed listening to Leelila and her mission. 
 

Revolutionizing Social Change Through the Power of Technology

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This week's guest is Anne Bathel, CEO and co-founder of ReDI School of Digital Integration. In 2006 Anne graduated from KaosPilot in Denmark, a hybrid of a business and a design school. From 2006-2009, she worked as a corporate social responsibility consultant. While in this role, Anne developed and implemented Samsung Electronics' award-winning corporate social responsibility strategy for Scandinavia. Anne eventually moved to Japan, where she spent two years researching open social innovation and received the prestigious Rotary Peace Fellowship.
In 2012, she moved to Berlin to set up the Berlin Peace Innovation Lab in association with Stanford University. The lab focuses on how technology is facilitating emerging and measurable social change toward global peace. In 2015, in response to the refugee crises, Anne co-founded ReDI School of Digital Integration, a vocational training program teaching programming and tech skills to refugees and marginalized people. ReDI is currently teaching 1500+ adults and kids per year. 65% of these are women and girls.
Anne was recognized by Edition F as one of "25 Women" revolutionizing German industry and by Handelsblatt as "Mutmacher of the Year" (2018). She was awarded Best Female Social Entrepreneur of the year in Germany 2020
Thank you for listening; we hope Anne's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.
Guest Update:
Anne is CEO and co-founder ReDI School of Digital Integration. She is a 2006 graduate from KaosPilot in Denmark, a hybrid of a business and a design school. From 2006-2009, she worked as a corporate social responsibility consultant. In that capacity, she developed and implemented Samsung Electronics’ award-winning corporate social responsibility strategy for Scandinavia. In July 2010, Anne moved to Japan, where she spent 2 years researching open social innovation and received the prestigious Rotary Peace Fellowship. She wrote her master thesis in Silicon Valley with OpenIDEO. In 2012, she moved to Berlin to set up the Berlin Peace Innovation Lab, which is associated with Stanford University. The lab focuses on how technology is facilitating emerging and measurable social change toward global peace. In 2015, in response to the refugee crises, Anne co-founded ReDI School of Digital Integration, a vocational training program teaching programming and tech skills to refugees and marginalised people. ReDI is teaching 8000+ adults and kids per year. 65% of these identify as female.Anne was recognised by Edition F as one of "25 Women" revolutionising German industry and by Handelsblatt as "Mutmacher of the Year"(2018). She was awarded Best Female Social Entrepreneur of the year in Germany 2020, Ashoka Fellow in 2021 and German CIO of the Year “Digital Future” 2023. In addition she served as jury member of iF Design SOCIAL IMPACT PRIZE 2023, Preis für digitales Miteinander 2023 and “10.000 Tage” by Project Together.