TechWomen in Yosemite

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

I am proud of my daughter Jessica whose annual Yosemite camping trip for her Palestinian mentees has evolved into a TechWomen tradition. This year, there were enough mentors and mentees for two weekends. I was a driver last weekend, joining about thirty others – many of them camping for the first time. We stopped over in Columbia for lunch on the way to our campsite at Tuttletown. We had a lovely time getting to know each other, figuring out how to raise a tent, singing pop songs, and eating s’mores – and Safa of Libya got to touch a river for the first time ever!

TechWomen going camping, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Kate’s tea, Columbia, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen Jessica and Samantha, Columbia, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Columbia, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Columbia, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Columbia, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 26 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 26 Mar 2022

sunset at Tuttletown camp, CA, 26 Mar 2022

sunrise at Tuttletown camp, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Tuttletown camp, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen at Yosemite Falls, CA, 27 Mar 2022

TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East together with their professional counterparts in the United States for a mentorship and exchange program. I have been working with TechWomen since I helped to design it in 2010. Launched in 2011, TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Images Copyright 2022 by Katy Dickinson.

TechWomen Volunteer Day in the Garden

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

Today was TechWomen Volunteer Day and twenty-three of us gathered at St. Stephen’s-in-the-Field Episcopal Church – Community Garden in San Jose, California, to work together. We divided into three groups: the Hunters (looking for oak seedlings to pot), the Killers (taking down an oleander hedge), and the Diggers (making an accessible path for elder gardeners). We included technical leaders from the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia, some of whom were novices and others who had deep gardening experience, as well as two regular community garden volunteers and four TechWomen mentors. My daughter, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, manages the community garden but she was managing another TechWomen volunteer group today, so I was in charge. It was a fun and productive day!

Launched in 2011, TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

Lizard, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

TechWomen Volunteer Day, St.Stephens-in-the-Fields, San Jose, California, 18 Mar 2022

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Images Copyright 2022 by Katy Dickinson.

Christmas 2019

May this blessed Christmas season bring you and your family joy! It has been a busy Christmas, starting even before I turned in my last (16 and 18 page) term papers at the Graduate Theological Union. So far, our adventures have included:

• Reading Charles Dickens‘ “A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas” aloud with my Shakespeare Reading Group
• Hosting the Silicon Valley Lines and John‘s train club lunch group’s annual holiday party
• Dinner with my Education for Ministry class, after the Bethlehem pageant at Santa Clara First Baptist Church
• Lunch with the Interfaith Speakers of the Islamic Networks Group
• Shopping in Chinatown, San Francisco, with Sally Hambridge and Paul
• Receiving my certificate of appreciation from the US State Department for being a TechWomen 2019 mentor for Team Algeria (my 10th year as a citizen diplomat with TechWomen!)
• Dickens Christmas Fair day of music, high tea, and shopping with Jessica and Paul (including buying an amazing Christmas candle)
• Seeing the new Star Wars movie with John, Matthew, Jessica, and Paul
• Cheering on Paul for finishing the many Christmas orders for his reclaimed hardwood cutting boards
• Sitting with John and his teen video crew recording the Christmas Eve service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
• Bringing services to two Elmwood jail dorms with John on Christmas Day (on behalf of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy)
• Enjoying family, food, and gifts with John, Jessica, Matthew, and Paul at home on Christmas Day!

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right).
Images Copyright 2019 by Katy Dickinson.

Best Mentoring Practices

Yesterday, I moderated a mentoring panel for the TechWomen Mentor Kickoff event (hosted by SurveyMonkey in San Francisco). The experienced and inspiring panelists were:

• Mentorship Advice: Katy Dickinson, Mentoring Standard
• Professional Mentor: Roojuta Lalani, Salesforce
• Impact Coach: Kiko Smith, Twitter
• Cultural Mentor: Jennifer Gieber, Glassdoor

Some of our advice:

• Katy: Look for long term success, this is a personal relationship in a professional setting
• Roojuta: Be flexible, make introductions, find people to help
• Jennifer: Create handouts for events, give good directions with pictures, be flexible, reach out to other mentors
• Kiko: Provide resources, help the group find value in each other, encourage teamwork, stay focused, show up and listen

I also offered my five best questions:

1. What problem are you solving? (define the challenge)
2. How do you know when you are done? (success/completion metrics)
3. Who is your customer? (target audience)
4. What is your data? (quantification)
5. What difference will it make? (impact)

These are on my Mentoring Standard website

I was proud to attend this event with my Co-Mentor and daughter, Jessica Dickinson Goodman. She is a Country Coach for Palestine and I am a Country Coach for Algeria this year.

Just for fun – some of my collection of magnets from the 22 TechWomen countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia:

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right).
Images Copyright 2019 by Katy Dickinson – with thanks to Jessica Dickinson Goodman.

TechWomen Team Morocco – Connect to Impact

I have been proud to team up with Mercedes Soria and Fatema Kothari for a third year as TechWomen impact coaches, to work with five remarkable leaders from Morocco: Safaa Boubia, Nisrine Oukacha, Fatima Zzahra Meziane, Fatima Zahra Oumenni, and Imane Nassif. We have been working together since the ladies arrived in September to create Connect to Impact – a new online platform offering resources for nonprofits in Morocco to showcase their actions plans, increase their awareness and access to donors, and in time, improve their skills through fit-for-purpose training. Connect to Impact will provide a bilateral matchmaking algorithm between donors and nonprofit organizations.

Team Morocco presented about Connect to Impact at TechWomen Pitch Day yesterday. We find out at the Community Event on Monday, 22 October 2018, which of the twenty country teams won.

What is TechWomen?
TechWomen empowers, connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). TechWomen, launched in 2011, supports the United States’ global commitment toward advancing the rights and participation of women and girls around the world by enabling them to reach their full potential in the tech industry.

Part of the joy of TechWomen is its large and supportive community. My daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman is also a TechWomen mentor, again coaching Team Palestine, which also gave an excellent pitch yesterday.  During the intermission, we got to see videos from TechWomen Fellows of prior years, including Solve24, created by our own 2017 Team Lebanon. Wish us luck in winning the pitch competition!

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right).
Photos Copyright 2018 by Katy Dickinson

Thanks, TechWomen!

Thanks to the TechWomen program for the recent Tweet quoting me:

Behind every successful woman is a tribe of women supporting her, like TechWomen

It is my honor to have helped design TechWomen – and to have been a TechWomen mentor and enthusiastic supporter since the program started:

TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East together with their professional counterparts in the United States for a mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen provides participants access to networks, resources, and knowledge to empower them to reach their full potential.

During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, participate in professional development workshops and networking events, and travel to Washington, DC. for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.

Over the past seven years, more than 500 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe have participated in TechWomen.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). TechWomen, launched in 2011, supports the United States’ global commitment toward advancing the rights and participation of women and girls around the world by enabling them to reach their full potential in the tech industry.

TechWomen is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
More: https://www.techwomen.org/

More about my company, Mentoring Standard: http://www.mentoringstandard.com/

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right).

Reading for Mentoring Month

Every day I am online looking for interesting news and articles from around the world, especially about mentoring. Most days, I post what I find on my Twitter account, with summaries of the most interesting posted in batches to Mentoring Standard on LinkedIn. In honor of January being America’s National Mentoring Month, here is a selection recent notable articles on mentoring to inspire you. Please nominate mentoring gems I have missed!

• Governor supports prisoner mentoring to reduce recidivism: “Brownback pitches prison mentoring to White House” – Kansas, USA
• How Not to run a mentoring program: “Teachers’ mentor program becomes unfunded mandate” – Connecticut, USA
• Forgiveness and mentoring – an effective response to violence: “Two teens attacked a Baltimore city councilwoman during a carjacking.” – Maryland USA
• Both boys and girls need mentors. Favoritism in mentoring will cause backlash: “MP starts boy-child mentoring initiative” – Nakuru County, Kenya
• Controversial mentoring program – only serves stars: “University of Sydney elite mentoring program a ‘waste of resources’, critics say” – Sydney, Australia
• Trust and respect basic to successful mentoring – especially when mentor and mentee are demographically different: “OPINION: There is power in inclusive mentoring” – Greenville, South Carolina
• A joy and privilege to mentor – specially for millennials “What millennials want in a mentor” – Cape Town, South Africa
• Veterans mentoring veterans – working to rebuild lives after prison: “Thanks for your service, please stay out of prison” – Ohio, USA
• Interesting: “Arab American National Museum to offer mentoring programs to Detroit immigrants, refugees” – Michigan, USA
• Good advice but leaves out a key step: Keep everyone safe by meeting in public places until you know you can trust each other (more on Mentoring Standard’s “Finding a Mentor”): “9 Tips To Land A Great Mentor: How To Ask A Stranger For Career Advice” – Washington, USA
• Senior mentoring in the Silicon Valley: This woman’s approach to mentoring in San Jose won a prize – California, USA
• Consider leader’s mentoring history as part of requirements for promotion in STEM: “Great mentoring is key for the next generation of scientists” USA
• In India mentoring, access to market, partnerships are key: “Start-ups need more mentoring than funding: John Chambers” – Hyderabad, India
• Sometimes a smaller experience gap may help in practical mentoring: “The smartest entrepreneurs aim low when picking a mentor” USA
• Interesting analysis about why on-site mentoring meetings can be better: “Think Twice About Meeting Your Mentor at Starbucks” USA
• False choice: need mentors and sponsors to succeed not one or other. Rarely can one person be both. “How to Turn a Mentor into a Sponsor” USA
• Program for mentoring children of fallen military or police: “New venture mentors, helps children of ‘fallen heroes’” USA
• Good advice on how mentees can help make the mentoring relationship most effective. “What Mentors Wish Their Mentees Knew” USA
• Mentoring success after a year: “How Your School Can Network Its Way to Increased Alumni Giving” – Pennsylvania, USA
• Women supporting women entrepreneurs: “Female VCs fight gender gap via ‘Office Hours’ mentoring program” – California, USA
• Fighting a life-threatening diagnosis with mentoring, strength, and a team: “Mentorship Can Be Life-Changing” USA
• Regular mentoring meetings and active support make the difference: “How to mentor other women, according to one of the most powerful women in NYC government” – New York, USA
• Task force on inclusion at Harvard supports more mentoring “Law School Establishes New Advising, Mentoring Programs” – Massachusetts, USA
• Mentoring teachers in music to improve academics: “The value of music mentoring for teachers” – Australia

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right).