Volunteer of the Quarter – Empowering Women and Girls Globally

Symantec’s Volunteer of the Quarter initiative highlights and rewards those employees who dedicate their time and talents to those in need. We have a long and proud history of encouraging our employees to volunteer. While the driving force of our efforts is largely altruistic, there is even more to volunteering than giving back to our communities. Volunteering makes our company a better place to work, so employees are helping both Symantec and the organizations they volunteer for.

This quarter we recognize Eileen Brewer, Senior Manager, Security Appliances Team, and her work to empower women and girls globally in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She is involved with three organizations that leverage technology and mentorship programs to encourage female empowerment and career development for women in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East: the TechWomen Program, Women’s Alliance for Knowledge Exchange (WAKE), and GirlHype South Africa.

I have been volunteering since I was a child. I started volunteering at the library, putting books back on the shelves, and then at a local convalescent hospital where I wheeled the elderly to the cafeteria for their meals. I don’t recall a time in my life when I was not volunteering. When I had young children I volunteered where young children could be involved, for example one year we volunteered at the Special Olympics helping the participants get from one event to the next. On average I volunteer about 15 hours per month with peaks and lows throughout the year depending on the events.

I used to volunteer sporadically across many organizations for one-time opportunities. A few years ago I got more organized. I now support three organizations that I feel passionate about and help them year round with ongoing projects.

My TechWomen Story

In 2012 Symantec sent out an email asking women to volunteer for the TechWomen program. I applied and was accepted, and have been involved ever since. The TechWomen program – a U.S. Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs’ initiative – “empowers, connects, and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities.” Over the past three years, 156 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe have participated in TechWomen. This year the program will expand to include women from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

I am a Professional Mentor with TechWomen, and last year we hosted 6 emerging leaders. We had 11 Symantec women volunteering as Professional or Cultural Mentors. We reached out to our peers and over 40 Symantec employees helped provide training during the month of October. Collectively, over 700 volunteer hours were recorded and submitted to Symantec’s Dollars for Doers program, which provides cash grants to organizations where employees volunteer. The Institute of International Education (IIE.org) received a check for $10,095 from Symantec which was allocated to the TechWomen Grants Program. The women who are mentored through TechWomen return home and often start their own businesses or NGOs. They can apply and receive funding from the TechWomen Grants Program to fund their projects.  

Come October we will greet our next group of TechWomen Emerging Leaders and I will spend the full month mentoring a woman from the Middle East or Africa. She will come to work with me every day and we’ll complete a project where she gains technical and soft skills to take back to her job and share with others. I am also on the selection committee, so I read approximately 40 applications and make recommendations on who should be accepted into the program. Every year I also travel to two countries in the Middle East and Africa as part of the TechWomen Delegation trips and help facilitate workshops to introduce young girls to technical careers. I literally stuff about 6-8 old motherboards into my suitcase and teach the girls how to take the components on/off, like CPU’s, memory, batteries, transistors etc.
 

An Experience to Remember

It’s hard to describe how inspiring it is to witness the learning process and see these young women from remote communities in Africa and the Middle East beam with pride once they’ve “got it.” One of the lessons I share on the trips is how a server motherboard works. On every occasion, the girls would look at the motherboard with fear and near panic, however in just 30-40 minutes they start grinning with delight because they can name the components and tell you the jobs each component does.

It’s thrilling to watch it unfold every time.

Developing personal relationships with women from the Middle East and Africa has helped me demystify much of the hyperbole we receive from our news media sources. Traveling to places like Rwanda and Tunisia were life changing opportunities that have improved my world perspective and made me more humble.

I cannot rest knowing that women and girls are being treated unfairly in most of the world. Many are denied access to education and basic human rights.  What drives me to continue giving to these organizations is knowing that each time I help another women or girl, they help someone else, and that kindness grows exponentially. There are talented people everywhere, however opportunity is not. Any little bit that each of us can contribute to help others adds up to make a big difference. 

Eileen Brewer is Symantec's Senior Manager, Security Appliances Team, MV