You know about HerTechTrail’s community and her academy, but do you know about her heroes? “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” – Helen Keller HerTechHeroes was created as an opportunity for people who are passionate about what we do at HerTechTrail and want to contribute directly to the growth and success of black women in tech globally without having to do the work directly. The programme is entirely remote, and membership is unlimited by age, gender, social class, or location. In 2022, HerTechHeroes contributed to our achievements: financial support to train 2000+ black women in our tuition-free cohort learning programmes supported 12 women with laptops provided network data to 300 women to aid learning. One of the laptop beneficiaries of the 3rd quarter in 2022, a TechTrailer named Ruth David, shared that she was excited to be selected for the laptop support as she usually worked with her office’s laptop, which restricted her from reaching certain levels in her UI/UX learning. HerTechTrail presents a new laptop to Ruth David A mother of one and design enthusiast, Nkechi Azunna, shared with us how being a laptop beneficiary of the Q4 2022 laptop support programme turned out to be one of her biggest highlights of the year. “Hertechtrail turned my wish into reality. Like I said, I always wanted to be in tech, but I didn’t have any idea how to start. Hertechtrail made it easy for me to start. I can’t remember being chosen for a gift before, and one that I really needed at that time, so it was quite remarkable for me.” Tech Mom, Nkechi Azunna Our community manager, Idongesit Akpan, shared this with us: “Before becoming the community manager of HerTechTrail in June, I was a trainee in the digital marketing track of Cohort 3. During my training, I was given data support various times for emerging the student of the week from my track. It gave me encouragement and strength to finish the three months. I also got a laptop from the Q2 2022 laptop support programme. My journey as a digital marketer has been made easier since then.” Idongesit Akpan, Community Manager at HerTechTrail The story of Claire Igwe (our current Academy Director) is an amazing one. Having graduated from the academy in the very first cohort and now being a part of HerTechHeroes- contributing to the lives of other black women, she still amazes everyone that comes across her story. Imagine if she didn’t get trained. Just imagine. She went from being a total newbie to working remotely from Nigeria. The stories above are just a small fraction of the momentum and impact being created by the programme. The lives of black women in tech are improving daily, and we’re glad for the current HerTechHeroes who are making this happen. Currently, we have over 10 heroes in the programme, and it is open to willing members so we can all work together to achieve more. This year, we intend to achieve a lot more than we did in 2022 and touch as many lives as possible in and out of Africa. Would you love to join hands with us as we solve the problem of global inclusion in tech? Check out the programme for full details (registration, activation and rewards). WE CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE YOU JOIN HerTechHeroes!
Tag Archives: Testimonial
Apr
Women are being awesome friends to each other in the most amazing ways that are great for progressing their careers. This series will bring you sweet, and encouraging stories of female friendships among techies every month. Be sure to come back for more! This month, I got talking to a TechTrailer- she currently works as a product designer and volunteers to coach UI/UX design with a non-profit organisation. She shares with us how amazing her female friends have been to her in ways that are great both for her and her career. Hi Sis, what do you think about the term ‘women supporting women’ and how female friendships can help a tech sis make significant progress in her tech career? First, let me say one thing: I wish we didn’t have to live in a world where there was that demarcation. I wish we lived in a world where we don’t need to have discussions about equal rights, like that kind of world where it’s not even a thought, like, why do I have to have that conversation where everybody is equal normally? I know the feeling, yeah. I wish we lived in that kind of world, but I know the kind of world we live in. One thing is that I’m a very introverted person, but the friendships I’ve had in my life that have added things to me, to be very honest, are with women. That’s why I don’t like it when people bash female friendships by saying things like, “Women will do you this or that.” People will do you shege! That’s the truth! It’s not about women; it’s about people. A person who is bad is bad, regardless of whether they’re a woman or a guy. A person will show you shege if they’re bad. Source: Pexels Let me say that I’m biased toward women. If I see an opportunity, and I know a lot of people like that, the first person I’ll think about is a female friend. Let me put it this way: Recently, a friend called me up, and in most cases, I’ve not spoken to this person in a really long while; they just call me, say there’s an opportunity, and ask if I’m interested. Most of the lasting friendships where I might not even speak to them for a while yet, but when we meet up or talk on the phone, we still have a lot to talk about, are female friendships. I know that some people might have a different experience, but for me, that’s the experience I have. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have male friends, but they’re very few, like very few, and it’s easy for the relationship to die down, unlike my female friendships. There are people I went to school with, and I graduated from OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) in 2018, and that’s been many years. We might not speak for a long while, but when we do, there’s still that rapport and that friendship. there’s no thought or fear of them thinking badly of me or anything like that. I know they have my best interests in mind. That’s how I feel about female friendships. Awesome! I can relate to having great female friends because that’s my current reality. I feel bad when people bash female friendships too and I realise it stems from the experiences they have had. I’m hoping many more women come to experience the comfort and support of female friends who truly have their backs. Do you want to try guessing the identity of this TechTrailer? Go right ahead! Did you enjoy reading this? It might be your story next. If you’d love to be featured, reach out to @Wonu.Wealth in the general community on Slack. If you’re not there yet, you are welcome to join us.
Digital Marketing, HerTechTrail Academy, Tech Education, Women in Tech
HerTechTrail: Advancing Women Economically through Technology
Mar
According to a report from the National Center for Women & Information Technology, women made up only 26% of the computing workforce in 2020. This represents a decline from previous years, indicating that the gender gap in technology is actually widening rather than closing. It is clear that the gender gap in technology remains a significant issue, and there is much work to be done to address it. Everything is being done to encourage diversity and inclusion in the tech sector, but the pace of change has been slow anti7yt what do you mean by the last word? At HerTechTrail, we are bridging that gap by equipping African women to get started in and build sustainable tech careers with relevant and in-demand tech and digital skills. We do this by providing an enabling community where women techies can thrive and by providing access to tuition free learning opportunities in a variety of skills including data analytics, product management, digital marketing, product design, and UI/UX design in the HerTechTrail Academy. As a testament to the progress we are making, meet Oluwabukola Anjorin, a product manager. “My learning experience at HerTechTrail was valuable. It was practical and comprehensive. Classes were interactive and tutors were accessible. I was very confident in the knowledge imparted to me and my abilities, so I started applying for PM roles almost immediately after I concluded the PM Pro course. Fortunately for me, I got an internship role with a start-up company a month after our graduation. When I started working on tasks given to us every week, I confirmed that I had gotten the best training from HerTechTrail. I was able to carry out the tasks because we had practicals in class and assignments as well. As a result, I needed little or no supervision and my mentors were very pleased with my work at every time” Oluwabukola Tweet The pattern of Oluwabukola’s story is consistent with the thousands of women and girls we have supported through their journey building sustainable tech careers across 5 cohorts in the academy with the 6th cohort being onboarded. Our work is aligned with Goal 5 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which is to Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and as such we’re excited that this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023 (IWD2023), is “DigitALL: International Women’s Day has passed, Wonu. Tweak this paragraph. Innovation and technology for gender equality.” This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67), “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” We are therefore more driven and continue to intensify our efforts in providing support and inspiring African women to be outstanding and blaze trails in all aspects of Tech careers and business. In the 6th cohort of the HerTechTrail Academy now in session, we are set to train 5,000 African women who will have access to our community and the following perks: 100% Remote Learning Media Hackathon & Prizes Community Learning Opportunity to WIN a laptop 3-month intensive learning Access to remote job opportunities Certificate LinkedIn Profile Optimisation We acknowledge that having more women involved in the technology industry results in more creative solutions and increases the likelihood of advancements that promote gender equality and meet the needs of women. In fact, a lack of women inclusion, comes with massive costs: according to UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade—a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action. Collaborate with us to empower more women economically by providing tuition-free access to learning much needed technical skills. Get started here.