Welcome and Introduction
TechStylers April 2022 Inspirational session took place on Saturday 30th April. Our hosts for the session were Victoria Erogunaiye and Sarah A.
As with many of our sessions, a recording is available on YouTube, and I can heartily recommend giving it a watch. You won’t be disappointed.
The meeting was well attended and started as always with a brief welcome to TechStylers for any newcomers.
We then moved onto the agenda for our session and the introduction of our 2 amazing speakers for the evening.
Aida
The first session of the evening was from Aida Sow, a Partner Technology Strategist at Microsoft from Senegal. Aida is also a busy mum of 2 young children aged 3 years and 6 months. And in what spare time she has, Aida loves to travel and practice her photography.
Aida’s session was all about her tech journey, focussing on her time with Microsoft. Originally unsure of what she wanted to do, Aida did her first year of Uni in France as a science generalist. But having discovered a passion for networking during that year, Aida went on to focus in that area. This led Aida to Cloud Computing and the beginning of her very successful career.
Common to many of our inspirational speakers, Aida places huge value on mentoring and allyship. Having experienced both herself, Aida recommends that anyone new to tech takes up the opportunity if possible.
I really liked Aida’s advice for newcomers to technology on overcoming our old friend ‘imposter syndrome’ . According to Aida the key to overcoming any challenges in your career was to stay motivated, and not doubt yourself. And I absolutely could not agree more with that advice!
Echoing many other of our speakers, Aida urged everyone to be confident in your ability, be courageous and use your voice. I loved this absolutely priceless advice, from a really great speaker.
Belinda
Our second session was from Belinda Allen, who is very well known and greatly respected within the tech Community. Belinda is partner in her own consulting firm and co-author of 2 books on Microsoft Dynamics and Dynamics Great Plains (GP). And she is also a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).
Belinda’s session was on her journey into tech and her favourite Power BI tips. Because she is such a huge advocate for Power BI, Belinda had a very unique approach to her slide deck. She was using Power BI rather than PowerPoint which was really interesting! Like many of us at TechStylers, Belinda loves learning, which means she has lots of hobbies.
As part of her session, Belinda shared 2 lessons she had learned from her mother.
- The only dumb question is the one you do not ask
- The only people who don’t make mistakes are the ones who don’t do anything
These are both rules I absolutely go by! As with many of our speakers, it seems regardless of our life experience, we are more similar than we realise.
At the end of her awesome session, Belinda extended a fabulous offer to our members. Incredibly generous, and in the true spirit of an MVP, Belinda offered some free Power BI training including exam vouchers. What a wonderful human she is!
About TechStylers
Founded in May 2020, TechStylers is a community comprised largely of women, focussed on supporting women in technology. We do this by providing inspiration, support and mentoring. This can be career coaching on a 1:1 basis, or in a group as part of Tech Deep Dives sessions.
We like to think we are heroes with a very special super power. And that is the ability to use our technology skills to solve real-world problems! If you would like to join us, just drop into one of our Inspirational sessions. They take place the last Saturday of every month, and details are posted on social media. Alternatively just get in touch and I will be sure to welcome you on board!