As you may know, I was a cultural mentor for the most fantastic woman from Egypt for the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen program in 2012. TechWomen brings women from the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and (now) sub-Saharan Africa to the U.S. for an internship and leadership program.
Being a mentor in this program is an incredible opportunity, and I loved learning from my Emerging Leader about her life in Egypt. She is an incredible and energetic woman, and I consider her to be one of my “women in tech” mentors.
As part of the TechWomen program, some of the professional and cultural mentors have the opportunity to travel with a delegation to one of the countries involved in the program. This year, the delegation is traveling to Jordan, and I’m part of it! Our plans include visiting historic sites around Amman, visiting the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, traveling to the Dead Sea, hiking around Petra, going to tech events, and meeting lots and lots of girls and young women to try to get them excited about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields. I only wish flights through Cairo were less pricey so I could visit my dear Emerging Leader there on the way.