With a focus on female students in Years 9 to 13 , DigiGirlz Aotearoa strives to dispel stereotypes associated with high-tech jobs. Part of the #10KWomen initiative to upskill and inspire 10,000 women and girls to explore all sorts of amazing careers in the tech industry, DigiGirlz introduces students to mentors, role models and inspiring technical experiences.
In late May and early June, DigiGirlz hosted a multi-day online series for students across Aotearoa filled with interactive sessions from Microsoft people and partners, as well as a fun photo competition. Over three days, 170+ girls heard from inspirational speakers including Microsoft New Zealand Managing Director, Vanessa Sorenson, expat Kiwi and cloud expert Sonia Cuff from Microsoft Australia, Rachel Niao (KPMG), Shelley Hirst (NetSafe) and Vivian Chandra (OMGTech).
Vanessa enthralled her young audience with an incredible opening address around her career journey and life lessons. The girls also enjoyed showcases from our partners, Datacom and Theta, as well as interactive workshops from Soul Machines and OMGTech! on online safety and the opportunities available in the tech sector. A huge shout out to Anusha Ahluwalia, Harshil Mistry and the entire DigiGirlz v-team for leading this incredible event in such a short timeframe. Thank you to all the volunteers, from MCing the event to providing swag – we are ever so grateful.
And we’re looking forward to stepping things up even more in the future! We’ve partnered with AKQA, a design and innovation company, who’s worked with Fonterra and Foodstuffs NZ. This partnership will give nine young wāhine the opportunity to be mentored by the AKQA team!
Following the kick-off event, we’ll be hosting many more online and in-person events for girls across New Zealand, including an in-person event on the 30th of August.
We’re always on the lookout for enthusiastic volunteers and inventive organisations wanting to inspire our future female tech leaders, so please don’t hesitate to reach out at [email protected] if you or anyone you know would be interested.
Here’s to many more exciting events to come!
