I'll go ahead and introduce myself since we only have twenty minutes. I'm Stephanie Levy, the CEO of schools at forty two Berlin and forty two Wolfsburg.I'll be telling you a little bit about what that means with our forty two network. But today, the focus will be on AI, EdTech, and the future workforce. And we'll talk a little bit about leading digital transformation and diversity in tech and, give you a few ideas on how we can do an even better job with that. So let's go ahead through my presentation. Why does this conversation matter? Why are we talking about these this today? AI is the hot topic today in tech as we all know, and it is transforming industries truly. However, inclusion is lagging. And it for a few statistics here, only 26% of the AI workforce are women globally so that we can definitely, improve that number.

In the EU, so I'm based in Germany, less than 20% of tech specialists are women, and only 12% of AI researchers are currently female. And since this is also a women in tech conference, we wanna think about leadership. How can we bridge the tech gender leadership gap? And only 5% of tech CEOs are women. VC funding for women led startups remains below 3%, so also a bit low. And we're gonna talk a little bit about how AI, EdTech, and workforce upskilling can make a positive impact and increase diversity. So the speed of change is definitely accelerating. If you look at all the new technologies, emerging technologies, AI, the things going on in cybersecurity, and so on, It's really very clear that according to McKinsey, up to 375,000,000 workers, maybe even more, depends on what statistics you're reading, will need to reskill or change roles by 02/1930.

We're already in 02/2025, so that is actually coming up very quickly. And AI is transforming roles. It's demanding faster and more inclusive upskilling. And I'm a very strong believer that education is the key to increasing diversity in tech. Education is so important in all aspects. It's really our, I wouldn't even say secret weapon. It's just essential for, you know, going moving ahead, whether it's in leadership, in tech, in AI, in all of the new emerging technologies coming up. Education is key. So So what does that mean if we're talking about tech education and diversity? So of all, where I am the CEO of schools at forty two, we are two software engineering campuses, and we like to say we open the doors to tech and for very diverse groups of students.

And one of the things that we think about is what types of audiences we're targeting. So when we're doing outreach and recruiting students, we're really looking at some of those underrepresented groups, for example, women, but also all age groups, people from different, types of backgrounds. We are trying to get the most diverse group of students possible who then can succeed in tech education and then later with a tech career. Also, I think something just in general, which is going to happen in education, we're gonna see much more individualized programs through AI. It's so fascinating. I've been working in education and edtech for many, many years. And now to really see how AI can make, different learning programs, different learning structures, different learning paths really individualized, and I think that that is, something that makes a huge difference and is gonna help us reach many new learners, maybe people who didn't have an interest in tech beforehand.

Role models. I think role models are so important, and it's great to see, conferences like this one, online conferences, also in person conferences and meet ups just so that we can, really reach out, see tech leadership role models with women, like I said, also underrepresented groups. And one of the things we do on our 42 campuses, we invite a lot of guest speakers in. We work very hard to build our community, and this provides our learners with role models. But it's something that's important regardless of what, educational institution or what industry you're in. I think providing those role models and mentors are super important. And I think, you know, this is just a a few ideas from our side. Nothing too revolutionary there, but I think we can all get creative.

And, you know, to use the kind of cliched phrase, to think outside the box, but I think it's really important, As all of these new technologies are changing so quickly, how we learn is going to change, how we upskill is going to change, and how we work is going to change. We are in the midst of a revolution. I think we can all agree on that. And, really, how can we, you know, reach as many people as, as possible just so that they all have the chance to learn and to succeed? So for a little case study, I've already mentioned, that I'm leading two software engineering campuses, 42 Berlin and 42 Wolfsburg. And we are part of a 42, which has headquarters in, Paris. We are nonprofit, so we're all nonprofit schools and tuition free. So this is not, a pitch for money or to to sell a program to someone. Anyone accepted into our program can participate tuition free.

And, to really think in a broad way about diversity. So our forty two students are 70% international. Even though we're both locations are in Germany, our working language is English, so we can reach an even broader range of students. The current age range is 18 to 62. So that's open end. You do have to be 18 to participate in our programs, but you can be of any age. In Berlin, we have 46% non male participants. So we're pretty excited about that. If you compare, that number to the number of women in tech working in the tech industry in Germany, it's, like, 17.5%. So we're way above the norm in terms of, non male participants, especially in our on our Berlin campus, but we're also doing we're also almost at 30% in Wolfsburg, so really pushing for that.

And we have students with a from a wide range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. It's so exciting to see such a diverse group of students really in on all aspects, and no prequalification necessary to take part in our programs. And, you know, what are the other things? That's just kind of some statistics about our students, but what brings all of these diverse people to 42? So we have a very flexible, self paced learning structure. It's a gamified curriculum with no instructors, no seminars that you have to attend. You can you you do have to be on campus, but you can really set your pace on how you how you learn, and you do learn in, special peer to peer project groups, but more on that later. Our campuses are open twenty four seven, three hundred sixty five days a year. So, whenever it suits our students, they can come learn with us.

We also have family friendly learning spaces. As I mentioned, we target our marketing to reach very diverse groups because as a nonprofit, we really see it as our mission to reach as many women and underrepresented groups as possible. We also partner with several IT companies to provide mentoring programs because, as we all know, mentoring tends to really help boost completion rates, especially if people are struggling. That can be an extra source of support. And we invite in lots and lots of female tech leaders as guest speakers and role models. If you're listening right now and you'd love to be a guest speaker, for our one of our campuses, if you're from far away, we might be able to do an an online session. Or if you're somewhere in Germany or, anywhere close to Berlin or Wolfsburg, then please do get in touch with me. I'll have some contact information at the end.

And another thing we do is we bring in recruiters to help students transition from tech education to a career in tech. Because it's great to be a learner, but in the end, people generally want to learn about tech so that they can have a career in tech. So that was a little bit about '42. But just in general, I think, one of the things we have to look at is how are we leading through transformation. There's lots of talk for since years about digital transformation. How can we show leadership in that direction? So AI is really reshaping how we learn and work, and I think it's important to have to, really see how can we design AI literacy programs for equity, not just for efficiency. And tech education can close some of these gender gaps and diversity gaps, but only if we're really building these programs with inclusion in mind.

So I think as we're designing programs, thinking about what audience we want to reach, really from the beginning and not just as an afterthought. And forty two is just a since I work for forty two, I can speak for it, out of personal experience. And our model proves that we have accessible peer led learning that creates new tech leaders and does ultimately increase diversity in the tech workforce. Just another couple of thoughts here. I'd love to hear your ideas as well. But if we're thinking about how to create these AI literacy programs for people who come from nontech backgrounds, So, especially, many women are entering AI and the tech industry from all sorts of different sectors, from health care, social sciences, humanities, and education, just to name a few.

And, what we've seen is the programs that demystify AI, for example, AI programs that include a module on, ethics or basic machine learning that don't, have coding prerequisites that dramatically increases the participation. So I think there's place for everyone depending on what your interest, is in. I'm exam for example, personally really, really interested in AI ethics. So I'm planning to do some more training myself, in that direction, but, that's one great way to, you know, improve AI literacy for people from also from nontechnical backgrounds. Doesn't always have to only be about coding. At 42 Berlin and 42 Wolfsburg, we have a growing number of learners who are from design, linguistics, journalism, and create other creative industries who are successfully transitioning into tech, edtech, and other AI related fields. And one other thing that I think is really special about our programs is we have excellent peer to peer and project learning methods.

For example, nontraditional learners often thrive in collaborative real world problem solving environments, and that's something that we can see on our campuses. And with the 42 model, we have no lectures, no hierarchy, and this tends to help especially women and underrepresented, groups build confidence and skills faster than in a very traditional classroom type setting. And I think another thing that's super important is to link all of this tech learning directly to careers. So if there are very clear supported pathways from students learning tech or and AI, to employment or perhaps to entrepreneurship, this is, I think, a kind of a program for success. And we tend to try to add, have a lot of projects that are tied to real and realistic tech company challenges. One thing that's very popular is, hackathons with some of our hiring partners, and the 42 students are very talented at winning hackathons.

And I think that's because of all the group work and the peer to peer learning that takes place. And, also, we offer AI and tech mentorship programs for women and underrepresented groups. So that's pretty much, kind of the summary of what I am personally working on and the network that I'm associated with is working on. But I think that the topics we're speaking about today are much broader. And so I've listed a few things as a call to action, really, for all of us. How can we all contribute to increasing diversity in AI and tech education and edtech and also workforce upskilling? So one thing that I think is, a great solution is to support tuition free, flexible education models like 42, but there are many others even if it's not tuition free.

I think, low cost online programs like Coursera. There are really a number of different programs. There are also some programs that offer scholarships that you can find online. So I think anything we can do to make tech education more accessible and affordable is a super important component. Also, for anyone who's working maybe at a more traditional company or or a a start up, you know, how can we invest in workforce upskilling programs that reach diverse nontraditional talent? Or perhaps, you know, another big topic is ageism in the workplace. So how can we, reach perhaps really talented colleagues but who don't have a tech background and help them upskill and really be have the the relevant skills that are gonna be needed going forward with all of the changes coming coming for us with AI. I think also creating solid pathways from tech and AI learning directly to employment opportunities.

You know, whether it's having a career manager or, someone like an employer relations manager on-site. But there are many different ways to really help students, to help learners, but also, people who are already employed, you know, find their niche, find their skill set, and, really learn that learn something that speaks to their strengths and interest. Another thing we can all be doing, and I bet everyone on this in this, presentation already is doing this. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here today. But mentoring and speaking out for women and underrepresented voices in tech is so important. And that's something that we can all do in our daily lives, in our workplaces, is not be afraid to speak up, to say, hey. I wanna see more diversity in tech, and what can I do about it? And, also, making tech education central to the talent strategy in your company or organization.

I am a very strong believer in lifelong learning, and I think this is going to just get, you you know, even stronger in the years ahead. If you think about that McKinsey statistic way at the beginning, you know, how many millions of us are going to need to continue upskilling? I think that's probably a low estimate even. We're all gonna have to embrace the idea of being lifelong learners because things are changing so quickly, and I really see education as the key to increasing diversity and keeping AI ethical and, you know, as something that supports us. So that's that's what I would like to say today. And, yes, I'd like to turn it over if there are any questions or comments, that you might have here. I'm I'm looking at the the comments. Yes. There are some people here talking about, I can see some people out there.

They love the family friendly learning spaces from Berlin, so that's great. But if there are any specific questions, yes, and we can help can I share a real example of how AI powered learning at 42 Berlin or Wolfsburg has helped someone from an underrepresented group move into a tech leadership role? That's a fantastic question. So, yes, so we have the AI is integrated into our schools in that, students use some AI tools in terms of learning. So we are very much programming schools. So we don't have, like, a a typical, like, business or leadership track. But what I have seen, because we just have such a diverse student group, we can really open the doors to tech to many people I mean, people who are designers, actors, chefs, you know, like, very, very diverse backgrounds. But they come to us. They get, you do basically one and a half to two years of basic learning.

So really learning to program, learning about code from the very, ground up, and then you specialize. And so some of our students tend to, decide to specialize in AI. Some go for cybersecurity. There's also web development, different things. And, with this background, we then can really open the doors to them to to work with many partners. So we have many, corporate spark corporate partners who sponsor the education of our students, and they host hackathons. They also host recruiting fairs. So we don't only give students a really solid tech education. We also open the door to recruiters and, guest speakers, and we have really tried to bring in people, representatives of different companies and organizations, to our campuses as well. So I hope that gives you a little bit of an idea.

Really, from a from going into a tech leadership, I think that, you know, we're more kind of opening the door, and then the students we say, but the students have to walk through themselves. But we really try to give them all the tools that they need, all of the skills, and a lot of connections through our many events and guest speakers and also hackathons, for example. There any other questions? I also have, put here my contact address, and I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn or anywhere else, that you might be where you might be hanging out these days. I can see if I can get my LinkedIn profile also, maybe to put in the chat. But, but we'd love to connect and continue the conversation. Yeah. Okay. Great. I see already a message coming in from LinkedIn. Here is also my address in the chat if you, don't have can't see the QR code.

But I would love to continue the conversation. Twenty minutes is only a short time, and, it's really fantastic to see all of your comments. I'd also recommend somebody said, wrote just what makes forty two different from other coding schools. I think there are a lot of things that make us, quite unique, and I would invite you to check out the 42 and forty two, Wolfsburg websites. And there's information. We also have online and in person info sessions, and then we can give you some more in-depth knowledge about our programs. And if you're interested or you know someone who's interested in signing up for a tuition free program, then, as I said, we're really looking to improve and increase our diversity, and I think we all share the same mission, here at Women in Tech. So thanks so much for this opportunity, and I hope to connect with many of you later on. And enjoy the wonderful session.

I think it's such so fantastic to see so many female leaders in tech presenting over the next few days. So thanks so much.