Inaugural #WICxALLIES Awards Nominations Now Open 📣

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We are delighted to announce the call for nominations for the Inaugural #WICxALLIES Awards.  

As part of the #WICxALLIES campaign, Women in Cloud partners with tech-industry leader Gavriella Schuster to bring you WICxALLIES Inaugural Awards.

As part of the campaign, WIC is pleased to announce the first ever WICxALLIES Awards, recognizing the individuals who demonstrate allyship by empowering women by Advocacy, Listening, Lifting, Including, Elevating and Sponsoring. 

Allies are the men and women building for inclusion through their everyday actions to bring more women into their network, organization and leadership roles. 

The #WICxALLIES Awards are a unique opportunity to acknowledge those who have supported your entrepreneurial  and professional journey through their Advocacy, Listening, Lifting, Including, Elevating and Sponsoring. 

We would like to hear from you! Nominate the allies in your community and network for the Overall Allyship Award, Advocate Award or Sponsor Award by December 30, 2021.

Allies are the men and women building for inclusion through their everyday actions to bring more women into their network, organization and leadership roles. 

The #WICxALLIES Awards are a unique opportunity to acknowledge those who have supported your entrepreneurial journey. The awards will recognize three allies in the following categories: 

  • Overall Allyship Award – recognizing an ally who clearly demonstrates their work who act to Advocate, Listen, Lift, Include, Elevate and Sponsor women in their network with examples of outcomes. Nominate an Ally here >>
  • Sponsor Award – recognizing a leader and ally who clearly demonstrates their work to sponsor women in tech through financial empowerment and mentorship. Nominate a Sponsor here >>
  • Advocate Award – recognizing a leader and ally who clearly demonstrates their work to advocate for women in tech through their supplier and organizational ecosystems. Nominate an Advocate here >>

As a community, we count on your support to spread the word about the call for nominations so that we reach all the noteworthy individuals and organizations around the world. 

Important:

1. Organizations and initiatives can nominate themselves!

2. Nominations are open until December 30, 2021.

3. This year’s award ceremony will be on January 26, 2022 during the #WICxANNUALSUMMIT event. 

We can’t wait to see the nominations start to roll in!  

Please contact Sammy at [email protected] with any questions or suggestions you might have.

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5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Miss #WICxAnnualSummit 2022

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This year, Women in Cloud is achieving yet another milestone.

As we go through our second year of the global pandemic, everything is set for the upcoming edition of the #WICxAnnualSummit—and we couldn’t be happier!

The 2021 edition paved the road with collective power. Now, we’re heading towards a new chapter for #WomenInCloud by honoring the fantastic milestones and achievements of women tech founders, entrepreneurs, and purpose-driven leaders of the tech industry—and celebrating the tremendous impact of their collective influence. And that’s precisely the theme for 2022’s Annual Summit.

From January 26th – 28th, it will be the time to celebrate as a collective. For three days, we will count on the participation of powerful voices from our community. We will be discussing how we address current and relevant topics such as AI, gender inclusivity, job creation, workforce development, and the acceleration of the entrepreneur spirit in each of us.

Hear and Learn From Our Speakers and Top Leaders of the Industry

Just as in past editions, we will count on the participation of the top leaders of the tech industry, such as Joyce Mullen (CEO, Insight), Vinita Gupta (Ex-CEO, Digital Link Corporation), Gillian Muessig (CEO, MastersFund), Sonya Shorey (VP, Invest Ottawa), and more. Discover how they impact leadership and advancements in the industry and entrepreneurship globally, achieve new milestones for a more inclusive workspace, and address economic access and gender parity experience.

Together, We Can Create a Positive Impact

We are a collective of women worldwide who are determined to achieve great things through the power of collective influence—but, more importantly, we want to empower every one of you to get involved, transform finite access to growth and influence into infinite access, and generate $1B in net new global economic access for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Grow Personally and Professionally

Build up your skills with our bootcamps and hands-on labs. Participate in the immersive experiences and get access to downloadable resources, lives exercises, and hands-on training by industry experts.

Join this year’s bootcamp: #TechProfessional, #FindYourFit, #ThoughtLeadership, and #CloudFounders.

Unlock new results and make a difference!

It’s an Excellent Opportunity to Meet Industry Leaders

Connect and learn from industry leaders, sponsors, and speakers at the roundtable sessions. Receive advice and mentorship that will accelerate your vision towards leadership training, skill-building, internship readiness, networking, and more!

Explore New Job Opportunities

Networking is one of the best ways to achieve your career goals—what a better way of connecting with big tech companies, leaders, and colleagues than sharing experiences in the same (virtual) room!

 

We can’t wait to have you with us at the #WICxAnnualSummit 2022.

You can participate as an attendee—or you and your company can become a sponsor to get involved and actively participate in the event!

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WICxUNGA 2021: Join the conversations around AI Ethics & Innovation, Digital Skilling and Leadership Acceleration

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Revolutions cannot thrive without our industry being reshaped by those that are at the core of its future. At Women in Cloud, we have learned the power of collective access and action to ignite stronger leadership and economic opportunities for women in technology, through the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Welcome to #WICxUNGA 2021, where like-minded industry leaders, executives, investors, entrepreneurs and community members come together to share the new narrative that is accelerating digital transformation, economic opportunity, global inclusivity and proven leadership development for our community and beyond.
The #WICxUNGA event will capture powerful dialogue through unique activations focused on UN SD goals, including gender equality, sustainability, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and strategic partnerships to achieve our collective mission and vision. We’ll cover social responsibility and collaboration to eliminate inequalities and injustices, including TED-like workshops, plenary sessions, roundtable discussions and a pitch challenge. 

Experience a community event unlike any other that dives deep into addressing the challenges we face today with next generation solutions harnessing AI for good, sustainability, building trusted partnerships and networks, becoming effective strategic advisors and developing career growth opportunities focused on leadership acceleration.

How are thought leaders today changing the narratives for tomorrow? This is #WICxUNGA 2021.

We are so delighted to bring you three unique and creative experiences by our partners.

Presented by IBM : AI Innovation and Ethics Track

Thought Leadership Session: Using AI Innovation To Achieve The UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

AI and climate change has been an area that has been gaining a lot of traction in recent years.Today’s cloud age of digital technology drives remarkable advancements at phenomenal speed. This plenary session will examine how AI Innovations can help us achieve the UN 2030 SDG’s and their potential ethical issues that are likely to bring forward, their impacts on economic equity and access for women.

AI Innovation & Ethics Unplugged Roundtables

If AI is our future, what is it really telling us? This is a session hosted by experienced leaders utilizing a group discussion format to allow attendees to share their own valuable inputs on specific AI-related topics and their potential ethical issues that is likely to bring forward their impacts on economic equity and access for women to design the strategies for Women In Cloud – AI Ethics Coalition 2022 charter. Your input, your voice and your ideas will help us shape the future of the AI Ethics Coalition. Get engaged, connect with other thought leaders and join our collective action.

Presented by Microsoft: Cloud Hands On Lab & #Buildfor2030 Hackathon

Hands on Cloud Day: Provide attendees with access to a free Hands-On Lab experience to get their hands “Cloudy” and deepen their Azure foundational knowledge.

#Buildfor2030 Hackathon and Ask Me Anything Session: An innovative hackathon that seeks to drive transformative solutions and services into development to further the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Through this learning and community-building journey, together we are accelerating innovation to power a more inclusive economy.

#CloudJobs Diverse Recruiting: A digital job fair offering a meet and greet experience with hiring managers and recruiters, where women can meet with companies actively seeking and recruiting talent, benefitting both the company and the job seeker by aligning talent with employment opportunities.

Power Talk: What’s Next After Cloud Certification? How to Pursue Your Dream Job: Sometimes when we reach one destination it’s actually just the beginning of a new journey.  Cloud Certification is just the first step of many in your new career path.  Learn how to develop the right strategy, skill sets and approaches to landing that dream job you have been searching for.  Discover the best practices of how to market yourself in a highly competitive marketplace and understand what companies are looking for in today’s ideal candidate.

Power Talk: How to Secure a Job in the Trillion Dollar Cloud Industry : The Cloud Technology industry continues to grow at incredible rates, and so do the opportunities to become part of this trillion dollar marketplace.  But where do you begin?  Learn how to search, apply and prepare for securing a cloud technology job today that matches your skill sets and vision for success, even when there is a growing number of talented candidates out there.  Here’s your chance to find that competitive advantage you’ve been hoping for.

Presented by JP Morgan Chase : Leadership Acceleration Track

Workshop: How to Become a Strategic & Effective Advisor (Panel & Demos): What if we all tapped into the natural born leaders that we already are? Strategic and effective advisors are not taught, rather learned from experience.  Learn how to tap into the innate personal power and leadership skills you possess to become advisors to others, enabling you to grow in your career, support others in their own growth and have access to achieve more advancement opportunities in the future. This is the power of purpose-driven leadership in action.

How to Build a High Trusted Relationship (Workshop): What if our greatest relationships start with one powerful story? Often we find ourselves in a position where we have to prove and demonstrate our knowledge to others in order to get noticed or validated. Learn techniques on how to create a strategic business narrative that is built on trust, authenticity and human connection so you can develop the strongest personal and professional relationships possible. This is where your voice cultivates real business growth.

Get access to all this and more at the 2-Day Signature Event. 

SAVE YOUR SPOT TODAY

Visit https://www.womenincloud.com/wicxunga/ for full event details.

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Women in Cloud Announces the Get Introduced 7-Day Challenge: Register Today!

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Sometimes, our greatest opportunities are just one introduction away—which is why Women in Cloud is ecstatic to announce the Get Introduced Challenge from October 7th to October 14th. 

70% of women entrepreneurs in our network stated that their #1 request was a warm introduction to an advisor, leader, or mentor who can transform the trajectory of their career. 

So, we listened, learned, and acted. 

The Women in Cloud Get Introduced Challenge is a week-long journey that transforms executives, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, subject-matter experts, community leaders, and thought leaders into Influential Cloud Advisors to contribute relevant insights and perspectives to community members so they can achieve their dream goals.

 Through a series of short video lessons by key industry leaders, networking sessions, blog posts, and more, participants will develop skills that will allow them to facilitate access to women entrepreneurs. 

The relationship between an advisor and an advisee is symbiotic—in addition to transforming the lives of others, there are several benefits to participants. Through this challenge, advisors will stay up-to-date on the technology of tomorrow through direct work with female cloud pioneers, grow their professional network, contribute to improving gender parity for women tech founders, receive access to exclusive speaking opportunities at WIC signature events, and gain recognition as a member of the WIC Cloud Leader Circle.

The challenge will cover a range of topics to promote professional and personal development: 

  1. Why you should become an Influential Cloud Advisor
  2. How to make your conversations create an impact
  3. How to grow your professional network 
  4. How to identify and share your why
  5. How to make your presence count 
  6. Why your advisorship matters 

The application opens today! Register now to join us in bettering ourselves and our industry! 

For more information on Women in Cloud’s 7-Day Get Introduced Challenge, click here. 

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2021 Edition of COVID19 Impact Report and Data Package Now Available. Learn How Women Tech Entrepreneurs Have Been Impacted & Sustainable Solutions Made Available!

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When COVID-19 hit last year, Senator Patty Kuderer asked, “How are the WIC founders doing and is there any meaningful data to share with legislators? And how will you be serving the new landscape?”

After talking to WIC Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors we commissioned COVID-19 Impact Survey to understand the state of the ecosystem and also impact on businesses. 

When we saw the data, we were devastated with the results and it was much worse than we had anticipated. The report indicated that the average loss of revenue in the next 24 months, across women tech entrepreneurs surveyed expanding 16 industries, is $500 thousand to $1 million per company. An additional $1 million to $5 million per company is expected in opportunity loss over the next three years. 

Women entrepreneurs face many complex challenges in setting up, growing and sustaining their tech businesses. 

Gender stereotypes, a lack of access to finance and complex societal threats like political instability, enormous uncertainty and a range of different barriers can prevent women’s businesses from thriving. It is particularly striking that the majority of women reported that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was the single greatest challenge they had ever faced.

In partnership with M12 Ventures, they commissioned a second edition of COVID-19 research to understand the comparison and see if something changed or if it is getting worse. 

What did the 2021 Edition OF COVID-19 research reveal?

Respondents of the survey in 2021 reflected those who responded in 2020, companies serving small-to-medium sized and enterprise level businesses, as well as nonprofit and public sector organizations, serving a wide breadth of more than 15 industries.

DOWNLOAD THE 2021 EDITION of COVID-19 RESEARCH MATERIALS

Recommendations: What’s Next?

While the outlook moving forward in a post pandemic world isn’t completely grim for women technology entrepreneurs and their businesses, many organizations and individuals will not be able to recover from the severe impacts alone.

In order to support the recovery needs for women technology entrepreneurs and their businesses, Women in Cloud has created a number of turn-key events and initiatives.

Solutions: Taking Action to Unlock Economic Opportunities

Get Introduced – 70% of women entrepreneurs in our network stated their #1 request was a warm introduction to an advisor, leader or mentor who can transform the trajectory of their career through the power of collective access and action. A streamlined platform to facilitate warm introductions between women in tech and potential clients, sponsors, mentors and advisors that allows women technologists easy access to WIC’s large and growing network of industry leaders, driving connection and collaboration. Request a Warm Introduction Today

Fortune 100 Lunch and Learn Sessions – Women in Cloud intends to double down on Fortune brand representation and engagement through a number of initiatives to facilitate relationships between women technology professionals and Fortune100 companies. #WICxFortune100 Lunch & Learn series is a networking experience designed to open the doors for leading fortune companies and brands to connect with technology business builders. Apply today to attend

WIC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator – An immersive 6 month program to assist women-led tech companies to co-build, co-market and co-sell with Microsoft and their distribution channels to help women in tech win enterprise opportunities, get access to Azure credits, an advisor community and a global stage to showcase their solutions. Secure Your Spot at the next Cloud Accelerator Open House

WIC Digital Academy – A digital learning initiative offering courses designed for anyone who wants to break into the world of enterprise sales to support women entrepreneurs in the development of skills for marketing and selling of cloud solutions in an enterprise environment. Get started with the Winning & Keeping Enterprise Contracts Course today

WIC Solution Marketplace – A one-stop shop for technology solutions and services for the mid-to-enterprise market, created, owned and operated by women entrepreneurs, creating an easy way for businesses to find and source women-led technology solutions. Here, buyers can easily find a variety of enterprise-ready solutions, special offers, and ability to schedule demos. Get started & Submit Your Solution today

Resources: Tools to Keep Handy

Here is how you can help the entire community and get involved.

Share this report with investors, policy makers and corporate executives. Understand how they can advance economic access. If they don’t have answers, suggest or recommend Women in Cloud as an economic development solution to accelerate sustainable growth.

Thank you to our partners on this initiative, M12, Arielle for Africa, Black Channel Partner Alliance, Hello Alice, Founders Live, The WIT Network, IAMCP, UN EQUALS, and Microsoft Alumni Network.

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