Guest post by Ouafae Alami, 2014 Emerging Leader from Morocco
Being selected in the 2014 TechWomen program has been a dream one true. One month already spent in Silicon Valley–the temple of technologies that every engineer dreams to visit–I can’t begin to describe my feelings! One thing I can say is something in my has changed; my life perception has changed. Visiting LinkedIn,Twitter, Mozilla, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Facebook and many other innovative companies is dream that came true because of the TechWomen program.
These big companies are more than just than big logos. Being inside their headquarters and in the executive briefing centers, and discussing with the top management of others has changed my perception of driving a business. I feel even more proud of working in STEM fields. I am even more motivated to advance my career as a woman in STEM, with the belief that starting small but thinking big is the philosophy behind Silicon Valley success.
My Mentorship at Symantec: An experience that begins with an inspiring speech and ends with an idea to advance STEM in Morocco
The TechWomen Emerging Leader Orientation was hosted by Symantec. I was excited to have the opportunity to discover host company a few days before my first official work day. My favorite memory of this day was an inspiring speech done by the CIO of Symantec, Sheila Jordan. She gave a a great speech in which one quote began to change my life perception: “If someone gives you an opportunity, never say no even if you are not ready. Accept the challenge and learn how to do it in parallel.”
Read more about Ouafae Alami's experience as a 2014 Emerging Leader from Morocco.