
I start my new half-decade tomorrow. Such a delightful adventure!
















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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 1957-2022 by Katy Dickinson.
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
On Facebook, I have been posting stories which demonstrate leading by example. I disagree with Sharon Keating’s assessment in her Buzzfeed article yesterday, “Stop Sharing Viral Photos Of Cops Kneeling With Protesters”, in which she writes, “This movement is not about individuals.” Systemic evil like our country’s racism and violence toward people of color was built up one person at a time. I believe this toxic system can only be torn down by each of us honoring each other’s importance as an individual, a valued and loved child of God. A moment of humble solidarity is important, is something we can build on and celebrate. Even though they may not last, I will continue to share those moments of leadership.
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer)
Facebook Posts on Leading by Example
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Thanks to the Rev. Peggy Bryan for the “Faith can move mountains…” image!
Filed under Church, News & Reviews, Politics
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:
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Images Copyright 2019 by Katy Dickinson.
Yesterday, I moderated a mentoring panel for the TechWomen Mentor Kickoff event (hosted by SurveyMonkey in San Francisco). The experienced and inspiring panelists were:
Some of our advice:
I also offered my five best questions:
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:
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Images Copyright 2019 by Katy Dickinson – with thanks to Jessica Dickinson Goodman.
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
My daughter Jessica and I will be visiting Families Without Borders in Sierra Leone next week with Terri Khonsari. If you have any extra laptops or smart phones we can bring – no matter how old or dead – the students will be delighted with your donation. Please contact me soon!
I have visited the inspiring and fascinating continent of Africa at least once a year since 2010. With TechWomen Delegations, I have been to Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, plus participating in Delegations to Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa below the Sahara. With People to People, John and I visited Ethiopia. My only actual vacation in Africa was to Egypt in 2010 – a much longer trip than planned since our family was stranded there by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano. This will be my first trip to West Africa.
I bring gifts on each trip for our generous hosts and for new friends and colleagues. For my first TechWomen Delegations, I had custom pencils made but more recently, I have brought San Francisco keychains and geeky pens and toys given away at events like the Grace Hopper Conference. For this trip, I bought keychains, the Willow Glen Wells Fargo Bank branch gave me a big bag of red pens, and I am also bringing packages of stickers for the children.
However, the best present for the students in Sierra Leone would be empowerment and greater connection to the wider world. Your outdated computer gear can help them. I hope to hear from you!
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Image Copyright 2017 by Katy Dickinson
The TechWomen mentoring program has been since 2010 a big part of my annual planning. 90 Emerging Leaders from 19 countries in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East will arrive in the San Francisco Bay Area in about ten days to start working at local STEM companies. I am already working with the 6 ELs from Tunisia as one of their 3 Impact Advisors. Our Impact Advisory group has been meeting remotely every Friday – I look forward to meeting the Tunisia ladies in person soon. The 2016 Emerging Leaders will be in the USA until mid-October, returning home after a visit to Washington DC.
I am also enjoying supporting one of my 2014 mentees, TechWomen Fellow and Fulbright Fellow Mai Temraz from Gaza, who will be starting her MBA at Cal State San Bernardino next month. Several of us visited Mai and her family in Gaza City earlier this year. The Temraz family is staying with us in San Jose while Mai goes through orientation at UC Davis. Last weekend, my daughter Jessica, Mai, and I did a road trip to help find an apartment in San Bernardino and to see the Cal State campus. In a few weeks, the Temraz family will move to Southern California.
TechWomen is more than an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, it has become a beloved community and extended family for many of its participants.
Walaa, Mai, and Yazan Temraz in San Jose, California, August 2016
TechWomen Erin Keeley, Eileen Brewer, Mai Temraz, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Katy Dickinson, and Aliya Janjua in Gaza City, February 2016
TechWomen Seham Al-Jaafreh, Mai Temraz, and Katy Dickinson, San Bruno Park, California, October 2014
TechWomen in Tunisia, with Impact Advisors in California, August 2016
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Images Copyright 2014-2016 by Katy Dickinson
Last week, I enjoyed attending the Technovation World Pitch Summit 2016 hosted by the University of San Francisco. Technovation was the single most popular formal mentoring program mentioned by the Mentoring Standard Certified Mentors (see the “First Mentors – What We Learned” report), so I have heard about its excellence from many sources. Technovation was founded in 2009 to offer girls the opportunity to learn how to start a company and become high-tech entrepreneurs. It is now a global competition reaching thousands of girls. This year’s winners were:
The pitch videos from all of the finalists are well worth watching. In addition to the awards given to the girls’ teams, TechWomen‘s own Dr. Amel Gouila (Bioinformatician at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis) from Tunisia was honored as The Technovation Regional Ambassador of the year. In advance of the awards, there were inspiring speeches by:
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Images Copyright 2016 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews