Tech in the Right Direction

How-To Overcome Obstacles and Find Your Purpose

This week's guest is Kate Roberts, the founder of Maverick Collective, The Ikigai Company, and Katmondo Lifestyle. Kate is a global social entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor, artist, women's advocate, and public speaker. As a serial entrepreneur, Kate has used her influence and platform to find opportunities and gaps in world health, specifically women's health, to put together teams and address these issues. Kate has most recently worked with PSI, Melinda Gates, and HRH (The Crown princess of Norway) to fund Maverick Collective, a $100M groundbreaking philanthropic initiative led by women for women, which has been innovating and scaling women-focused public health solutions across 60 developing countries.
Kate is truly a difference-maker through the work she is doing in women's healthcare, and she is essential for making real change throughout the world. Thanks for listening, and we hope that Kate's story inspires everyone to be a part of the global programs that are making a significant difference in the world of women's health.
Get involved with Kate’s organizations here:
Maverick Collective
PSI

Building a Business from the Ground-Up

This week's guest is Denise Cagan, a graduate of James Madison University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Quality Systems Development. Denise never thought she would be a business owner, but as time went on, she found that her skillset coincided with her ideas and so she started her first business in 2001, followed with another in 2011. Her newest business is DCA Virtual Business Support, a company that supports small businesses with marketing and administrative tasks.
Denise credits her hard work for getting her to where she is today. She views work ethic as monumental for getting any job done and advancing your career. This hard work philosophy has been the foundation for how Denise has built her company into what it is today.
Thank you for listening; we hope Denise's story helps inspire the next generation of women entrepreneurs. If you would like to learn more about Denise and her company, visit her site: https://dcavirtual.com/
Find Denise on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisecagan/

Opening Doors Through the Power of Tech Education

This week's guest is Sandee Kastrul, the President of i.c.stars - a technology-based workforce development and leadership training program for underserved adults that connects them with career opportunities through their social enterprise and partner organizations. Sandee is also a board member of both Goodcity Chicago and HICC (Hispanic Innovation Center of Chicago). She is currently working on a new book, "Change and Equity" By Sandee Kastrul.
Sandee knows that education opens doors and allows people to reach their potential, and she has dedicated her life to this cause. i.c.stars is the culmination of her ideas around education and training and has grown into a fantastic organization. The program allows individuals to showcase their skills and develop new skills to help grow their careers.
Thank you for listening; we hope Sandee's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. To learn more about Sandee and her business, visit their website below.
i.c.stars: https://www.icstars.org/

Creating Opportunities for Real World Change

Enjoy this replay:
This week's guest is Chaitra Vedullapalli, an influential business leader with a passion for enabling business equity throughout our communities. Chaitra is also the Co-Founder and CMO of Meylah, a cloud solution provider that helps businesses grow their digital presence through a wide range of solutions. She is also a Board Member, Forbes & YourStory Contributor, Entrepreneur, TEDx & Public Speaker, Strategic Partnerships, Top100 Global Change Leaders Seeking opportunities to contribute to public or private boards.
 
Chaitra began her technological career in college, where she was exposed to COBOL Programming, Oracle Databases, and Windows. This experience opened her eyes up to the opportunities technology can create to change the world for the better. She also saw the glass ceilings for women and saw a chance to make meaningful change. Seeing these glass ceilings led her to become a Co-Founder of Women in Cloud, 'a community-led developmental organization for women that celebrates the female entrepreneurs in the tech world; creates opportunities and access for entrepreneurial acceleration.'
 
Thank you for listening; we hope Chaitra's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. To learn more about Chaitra and to get in touch with her, visit her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaitrav/

MENtors that Make a Difference Featuring Vince Menzione

This week on our MENtors that Make a Difference segment is Vince Menzione, an award-winning business leader who has delivered and advanced four successful business transformations by embracing disruptive technology and building successful partnerships to transform organizations. 
Today we talk about Vince's career journey and how it can be summed up into four business transformations that have culminated into the start of his very own podcast. We also talk about the changes happening in tech with regard to women's influence in the industry and how male allies can help support their female counterparts.
Vince also hosts the successful Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast, where he spotlights leadership and partnership principles to help technology organizations thrive and survive during this age of rapid transformation. 
You can listen to and learn more about the Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast here: https://ultimateguidetopartnering.com/
Thank you for listening; we hope Vince's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career. 

How Technology can power fashion

Join Jennifer Didier as she talks technology and fashion with entrepreneurs Kotryna Jukneviciute and Cassie Huang from Arete.  Here about their journey to build Arete and their story of how they got there. 
A little more about Kotryna Jukneviciute:
Kotryna immigrated to the US from Lithuania as a kid. Thanks to her artistic mother, she grew up loving fashion. She started her first venture in third grade and has been an entrepreneur ever since. Kotryna received her BA and MA from Georgetown University and was in the School of Foreign Service. She spent a few years working at the RAND Corporation, where she spearheaded international business partnerships and became known for her research on Russia.  You can reach Kotryna on LinkedIn or email her at kotryna@areteforyou.com
More information on Cassie Huang:
Cassie Huang grew up in Shanghai and came to the US when she was 16. A Georgetown University graduate, she started her career at Morgan Stanley as an investment banker, then joined The Cranemere Group as a private equity investor. Driven by her passion for building and entrepreneurship, she deferred her Wharton MBA to join Forum Brands, gaining experience in startup operations, e-commerce, and team building. Alongside Kotryna, she's now focused on growing Arete, leveraging her business acumen and a shared vision for impactful change. You can reach Cassie on LinkedIn or email her at cassie@areteforyou.com

How-to Create a More Inclusive Organization and Foster Growth

Enjoy this previously recorded Podcast. 
An update on Dr. Antoine. In March 2023 she joined the Capgemini team.  Her new role is EVP, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer in Europe.  Congratulations on being a rising star for Women In Technology everywhere. 
This week's guest is Dr. Cara Antoine, Managing Director Digital Transformation IG&H - a leading independent business consulting firm based in the Netherlands. IG&H is a market leader in complex end-to-end digital transformation and has focused its work across five industries: retail, healthcare, banking, insurance, and pensions.
In today's episode, we talk about Dr. Cara's journey from fixing radios as a young child to the head of IG&H's Digital Transformation team. We also discuss the difficulties women currently face in the technology industry and what we can all do to help grow their presence. Lastly, we discuss creating a more accessible business and how organizations can help create opportunities for anyone and everyone to gain access to products, services, and solutions.
You can learn more about IG&H here: https://www.igh.com/
We hope Dr. Cara's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.
 

Is There Privacy in Advertising?

This week on Tech in the Right Direction we follow Vanina Ivanova's journey in the Tech Industry and the extreme differences in digital marketing from when she first started her career to today. Vanina is currently the CMO at Adex Network, a blockchain powered system that is bringing full transparency to the digital marketing space through smart contract technology. She’s a cryptocurrency enthusiast herself, and is finding working for a blockchain company inspiring, empowering and overall – delightful. Join us as we dive into personal data, the lack of privacy in advertising, and what we can do to change this problem.
Learn more about Adex Network here: https://www.adex.network/
Thank you - we hope Vanina's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.