We celebrated Women's History Month in March, hearing valuable insights from our Cast on empowerment & allyship. Read on!
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Throughout March, we’ve been excited to recognize some of the incredible women at Aiven. We are committed to recognizing women during the whole year but wanted to celebrate specifically in March to support International Women’s Day.
Over the past few weeks, we introduced four inspirational women from our Cast on our LinkedIn page. They all have their own unique story and gave valuable insights on empowering and lifting the women around us. These women demonstrate our core values of courage and openness not only in how they approach their work at Aiven but also in how they live their lives.
Nicole Ingham is a proud mom based in Florida, who works in our customer success team. Even though Nicole doesn't have a dedicated mentor, she is passionate about supporting others. She is currently actively working on a Mentorship Program here at Aiven to empower other colleagues. We asked Nicole about career advice for other women in tech. "Our voices are our power; we can share our experiences and push for change. It's not the times in my career that I stayed silent that I am most proud of, but the ones that I spoke up," she replies.
Ting Ong is a mother and creative storyteller currently in Singapore, working as our Communications Director for APAC and EMEA regions. She believes, “Anyone can be your sponsor or your ally. They could be your peers, colleagues from other teams, functions, or even someone in senior management. But first, you need to be able to deliver and establish credibility in your role before anyone will be willing to support you. And when they do, you can be certain that they will help to amplify your work and accomplishments, raise your visibility, and eventually help you out in times of need.”
We also met Phiona Basemera, a Backend Software Engineer who swapped life in Uganda to work from our bustling Berlin location. Phiona believes that making the workplace open to different personalities and backgrounds will help tech organizations build a sustainable environment for women. “Sometimes the best ideas are not listened to because they are not the loudest. Managers should ensure they identify different character traits and find ways of making sure everyone feels heard’, she advises.
Anna Richardson is an active mum to an energetic 4 year old and leads our people function as the VP of People. An Aussie living in Berlin, she built her HR experience from the ground up working in a variety of industries. Anna is constantly striving and working towards making Aiven an inclusive and safe environment for everyone to be able to show up as their authentic and true selves. Anna’s career advice for other women in tech.“ Don’t underestimate your own gut feeling about a situation. If something feels off or wrong, speak up to a trusted colleague or confidant. Be deliberate about building your networks within your company and recognise who are your allies and potential cheerleaders, because no one can succeed or build a successful career alone”, she says.
To showcase our commitment to enabling women at tech, this year Aiven was proud to sponsor FemTechConf and all the incredible work it does to empower women in the tech community. FemTechConf is a community-driven organization celebrating and championing the success of women, transgender, and gender non-conforming people in the tech field. We had two incredible speakers from Aiven give talks; Ewelina Grajko, our Sustainability Lead, and Olena Kutsenko, a Senior Developer Advocate. We’re already looking forward to next year's summit and the opportunity to learn and network with more women and gender-diverse people in the tech community.
We are committed to supporting, uplifting and empowering our team members. “Lift” is one of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at Aiven. The group is on a mission to cultivate an inclusive and safe environment that supports and encourages those who identify as women. In addition to educating and raising awareness on the gender equality challenges to our Cast, Lift advances the feeling of belonging and inclusion among all of our Crabs.
Without inclusion, the power of diversity remains untapped. We want Aiven to be a place of openness, ownership, and courage for all.
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