This week's guest is Lisa Heite, a Partner Development Manager at Microsoft with a passion for helping others. Lisa's story revolves around living, studying, and working around the world. She gained a wide range of experience throughout her international travel and has used that to bring a unique perspective to the tech industry. Her ideas and approach give her an edge when it comes to solving problems and bringing people together.

While volunteering at an NGO, Lisa developed a digital strategy and saw how digital transformation could further women's rights and give them a voice throughout the world. This passion for women's rights led Lisa to the WIT Network, and she is now lending her skills to their cause.

Thank you for listening; we hope Lisa's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. To learn more about the WIT Network, visit their site here: https://thewitnetwork.com/

To Reach Lisa Heite on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-heite/

Suruchi is the Founder & CEO of GIANT, a blockchain protocol that turns a phone number into a bank account and bandwidth into currency via; seamless and secure access to the internet globally; rewards on usage and yield on airtime balances.

Suruchi has extensive telecom, consumer software and blockchain experience and serves as a speaker/panelist at industry events in the US and abroad. She advises and mentors blockchain start-ups at Founders Space (ranked #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes) as well as mentoring young girls to cultivate her passion for technology.

Suruchi Likes to identify herself as a passionate, result-oriented, and fun-loving individual. Has an unbeatable self-confidence, undying willingness, and unbreakable perseverance. Strongly believes in “Winners never quit & quitters never win” - Vince Lombardi. Feel free to reach out by adding a quick note about why you would like to connect.

Today we talk about Suruchi’s dream for technology and her passion for influencing young girls to start looking into technology, as early as 8 years old.

Click HERE to learn more about Suruchi on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptasuruchi/

Thank you for listening to Suruchi’s story as she encourages young girls to get into tech.

Join Jennifer Didier as she speaks with Amber Ivey. Amber has a unique career path that eventually lead her from the private sector to the government sector. Listen as she shares her journey and educates us on the positive work that is going on.

More about Amber Ivey:

Amber Ivey “AI” is currently a Vice President at a non-profit where she leads a team that helps governments drive impact. In her prior role, as the Senior Director for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, she led a team that assisted governments in utilizing data and performance management for decision-making. Furthermore, she played a key role in the design and launch of the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance. The program aims to train 100 mayors and their senior leaders throughout the Americas on utilizing data to achieve better outcomes. Formerly, she worked at The Pew Charitable Trust—a nonprofit focused on solving today's challenges by using data-driven, nonpartisan analysis. Here, Amber led the data collection and organization efforts of a first-of-its-kind research study on how all 50 states and the District of Columbia use data to solve complex problems, improve the delivery of government services, manage resources, and evaluate effectiveness. Most recently, Amber led a team that provided technical as well as strategic assistance to states and counties, who were working towards streamlining their business processes and launching technology, like legal assistance websites and online courts, to modernize and improve access to the legal system.

Before joining Pew, Amber served at Maryland StateStat, a performance-measurement and management office established by former Governor Martin O'Malley (D). Following the change in administration, she helped facilitate the transition by demonstrating the effectiveness of data-driven decision-making through StateStat. Additionally, she played a key role in the establishment of the Governor's Office of Performance Improvement under Governor Larry Hogan (R).

Before joining the State of Maryland, Amber was a logistics manager for a Fortune 50 company where she used data to drive efficiency, productivity, and profits. She switched from private to the public sector to use her skills in service of government efficiency. She has her MPA and J.D. and is excited to serve at the intersection of data, technology, public policy, and law.

She is also the creator and host of the AI for Kids podcast–a series of podcast interviews with industry experts and everyday people who help explain topics related to AI for kids and their parents and the creator of AiDigiTales—an edutainment platform that focuses on AI for kids.

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberivey/