By: Anita Jindal, Thrive-WiSE Advisory Council

We often hear the phrase: “Encourage your daughters to stay in STEM”.

“While growing up, my father’s encouragement piqued my interest toward Science and Math. My upbringing played a big role in me pursuing field of STEM, and I set a goal to achieve a PhD in Computer Science.  While in High School and B.S program, I was surrounded by smart students, and many of them were girls. When I started the PhD program this demographic completely changed.  The number of female students in my graduate classes dropped significantly.

When I joined the industry, and progressed through my career, I often found myself to be the only female engineer and an engineering leader on the team. This never held me back from pursuing my goals, and I forged ahead. My career progression wasn’t a smooth sailing.  I had to work extra hard towards getting right opportunities and promotions. Little did I know that I was not alone.  There were many of us who faced similar challenges and passionately worked to make forward progress.

In the last decade, forums and conferences focused on women have become a catalyst in raising awareness on the challenges faced by Women.  It shed a light on the reason for drop in number of women in STEM and through engineering and leadership rungs of workforce.  This has enlightened us on the pending work to address hiring, retention, and inclusivity at workplace.  Companies have mobilized efforts in this space, and still lot of work remains to be done.

Non-profits such as Thrive-WiSE (for Women+ in Science and Engineering) have come into existence to focus on educating, developing, and preparing women on identifying and facing challenges and addressing bias at their workplace.  These non-profits also serve as a network where like-minded women can come together to help other women and learn from each other.

My first introduction to Thrive-WiSE was at their conference, where as a panelist I shared my own experiences.  After the panel many women approached me for the guidance on handling their own situations. I realized at that time, the benefit of sharing experiences and knowledge with others.  Being a Women in Technology myself, I decided to help other women through mentoring and sharing tools based on my experience. To contribute directly towards effort of retaining women in Science and Engineering, I decided to join as an advisor to Thrive-WiSE.

Through my participation at Thrive-WiSE, I had an opportunity to increase the participation of women from my company to: (a). learn from sessions and panels at micro-conferences; (b). share their professional stories and technical experiences for benefit of others.   The Thrive-WiSE micro-conference provide an opportunity for women from many companies to come together, freely discuss their challenges and seek counsel from others, network and build long lasting relationships.

As an advisor at Thrive-WiSE, I directly contribute to the planning of programs and workshops catered towards professional development of Women. Thrive-WiSE has provided me a channel to continue to pursue my passion of contributing to initiatives catered towards retention of women in technology. I have found a community in my fellow-advisors and volunteers, who share same purpose as mine. Thrive-WiSE has provided me a wonderful platform to pay-it-forward to make the better world for future generations.”