Hi, everyone. Hope you're all doing well and staying safe. Thanks for joining my session. I first want to thank Ann and Women Tech Network for giving me the opportunity to be a speaker for this tech conference.Um I'm also honored to be part of this amazing platform full of inspiring women in tech. So for my presentation, I'll be talking about the evolution and importance of women in leadership and I'll try to answer any questions at the end of time permits, but I hope you enjoy my presentation. So here are some of the highlights. I will provide a brief intro of myself. Um I'll get into the basics of women in leadership roles, how it has changed over the years, challenges that many women face and the ways that we can encourage the next generation of future leaders. So about me, I'm a currently a senior data analyst at Digita Health, which is a subsidiary of flu group and I'm aspiring to become data scientists in the near future. I'm also a tech leader for women tech Network and the winner of the Woman Tech Global Awards 2020 for global ambassador most invitations.

I'm also a life coach and founded beautifully empower in which my goal is to empower women to become the best possible version of themselves and to reach their full potential through personal and career development. So I like love to connect with you all. So feel free to add me on Instagram and linkedin. So stats for women um as we all know, based on the stats from various resources regarding women in the workforce, only a few are in leadership positions in the US and also in other countries. Globally, there has been gender inequality and bias challenges and we can see that the significant gender wage gap overall, only 24% of women hold senior titles like CEO CEO and other leadership titles, especially in the US, which is at 21%. Now for five hun 500 companies, especially, only 4% of women are leadership roles, which is actually very less and also nonprofit companies, 60% don't even have females as board members. So the stats have increased compared to five years ago. But the ratio of women to men in senior management roles are still really less, especially in the tech industry. So even though we see a lot of more women breaking that glass ceiling, they still face barriers to climb up that corporate ladder. So here we can look at how leadership styles overall have shifted and more women's representation has grown in the past decade. So leadership is not the same as it was 10 years ago, which is something I like to bring to light.

Now in the past decade, traditional leadership was more like the norm where the leader would make all the decisions and follow an authoritarian style where managers would focus on getting tasks done and would follow strict rules over the years. Because of technological advancement and commercial innovations, leadership styles have shifted where managers would take input from employees and then they would foster a more collaborative and you know, work environment and flexible. One where everyone can add value and innovate new ideas like the management style was actually to build more trust and employee engagement for actually better decision making. But now things have changed in the past 2 to 3 years. As more women have con have been considered for senior management and a new leadership style, which is more integrative where mentors are mentors are more focused on a mission and vision. They focus a lot on the growth mindset where they recognize the employees strengths and give them resources for them to grow and improve their skills to get those optimal results. So such as like continuous improvement, using training and mentorship, also making sure that they leverage new skill sets in each role so that each employee gets to thrive in their tasks.

Like it's more about what the people or employees want and how managers can actually make them happy and evolve and grow person professionally. So how has female leadership evolved over time? So as I mentioned before, in the previous slide, women that did face a lot of challenges a decade ago, especially in a male dominated industry where women weren't even able to be in a leadership role, even if they were competent, they think they faced imposter syndrome had to do with the high competition with male peers leading to low self esteem and self doubt.

But leadership styles have shifted and has changed dramatically. Over the years, women have become more competent and more educated and that confidence soared tremendously for the past like 56 years, um reducing that confidence gap. So they were able to increase this confidence by practicing more self love and being determined to go after what they wanted. No matter what anyone said, they became eager to shatter the glass ceiling and focus on woman empowerment. So as you can see the rise of more female leaders now where women have become very strong advocates and have created several support groups where they all get together to inspire and empower each other to reach their full potential and to show that they're capable as capable as men.

There are several global conferences just like woman tech network out there that foster a safe community for women to help each other out via training and workshops. So due to this increased solidarity, like there are also more male allies that are tremendously supportive these days. Ok.

But there are some myths and misconceptions. Despite the fact that more women leaders have been on the rise and have ascended the ranks. These powerful women do face a lot of barriers and challenges as society is still hesitant to accept that more women are advancing the corporate ladder and challenging that status quo. Um I had this happen to myself actually, but people have misconceptions where that being a woman is being a leader. It's only because like, ok, she wants power or status. But and then people assume that women cannot be as determined or ambitious as men. Society is still hes hesitant if women portray masculine qualities. And that means like we're labeled as aggressive, bossy controlling, which is not true at all. So if you're a woman, it's like you're known as weak if you are submissive, but if you're assertive immediately, like you're the tough one or the difficult one. So even if we try to own our voice, these challenges keep coming up and we get that bad reputation. Yeah, but leadership reality is different. So I like to challenge that status quo and go against gender stereotypes which are deeply rooted.

So women and men are equal and it's totally fine for women to share those ma portray those masking qualities such as just being ambitious, driven and not having that mental strength. Like women, we don't believe in that power where one gender is more superior or inferior, which is pretty much understood society these days. But you know, we don't think that we're more dominating or superior. All we ask is that men and women are equal and they get the equal rights. And if men can do it, women are also capable in every aspect, equal partnership is significant, whether it's in the workforce or even in personal relationships. But I have to say like it's inspiring to see more men allies these days. And I do encourage younger men to understand who strong women are and accept that women like to bring change into this world and help support them in achieving their dreams. And you can be a successful leader by balancing these masculine women qualities. So when I came to women in tech, the women tech network as a leader, I realized and learned that you can be strong and assertive and also be compassionate and empathetic. The way is to be an effective leader. So here are a few qualities an effective leader possesses.

So number one, authenticity is very important as in a leader if you want to become a leader, so always be yourself, be unique, um share like who you are and what you're capable of showcase your strengths and talents that makes you make you stand out from the crowd. You know, you don't have to put on a mask to be someone who you're not also portray confidence. Um work on your inner confidence always and believe that you have the potential to become a successful leader by knowing your self worth and what you bring to the table. So these two are super important for leadership. Um effective communication also very important. Um always know how to listen to people, be a good listener, you know, um understand where people are coming from. You know, everyone has their stories to tell. And at the same time, also speak up for yourself, like, you know, own your voice um yet be assertive and stand up for what you believe in. So compassion and empathy um always have empathy because neither for others, you don't unders you don't know what people are going through. So always be kind. Um everyone faces battles so understand what their needs are and their values and respect their opinions and try to help them out as much as possible. Encourage personal and professional growth, encourage others to adopt the growth mindset that like success is not always going to be linear.

You know, there are gonna be like rejections, failures, but you learn from those mistakes and you help yourself grow and you keep evolving to reach. Um because failures are setting stones of success. Um managers, like if you're kind of mentoring people or your manager, are you willing to give constructive feedback to employees or others so that they can improve on the areas that they need help in and portray humility, integrity as always like celebrate your achievements, which is super important to celebrate how far you've come, but yet be humbled to know that, you know, you don't know everything and that's totally ok.

And that's why you're here to grow and learn, stick to your principles and lead a life that reflects your core values. So how can we inspire empower, aspiring female leaders and the next generation of women? So conduct workshops. So educate the next generation of females um on important topics like such as tech, the latest technologies, the latest trends in tech or even in life, leadership, career growth and et cetera, encourage them to attend conferences or events just like this woman's tech conference.

There are so many out there. So make sure you attend all of them learn from female leaders because that's what I did, you know, I was new to the tech industry as well and being new, like I kind of went to my mentors and attended conferences. I learned from all of them like senior executives, I would do informational interviews and ask them like how to navigate the workforce and follow their advice. And I was able to follow my advice and I became like more I improved over time to motivate them and ask questions, you know, allow them to network and get inspired. So also have a one on one mentorship programs. A lot of you know, organizations are having where you can guide mentees by promoting personal and professional growth and create a safe community for women. Um There's so many out there, but there, you know, there are a lot of space, safe space for women to share their stories.

You know, all of us are having posture syndrome. We feel like we're not good enough, but sometimes we just talk to another woman. We're going through the same thing, you know, be vulnerable and other women can get inspired as well and always share your voice. You know, that's what makes you you and speak up for yourself. So I define leadership as empowering the people around you and wanting them to make a positive impact on the world. It's not about you and it's about what the people want and what they're looking for. It's about catering to their needs and giving them the moral support and resources to make them successful personally professionally. It's also about owning your identity and sharing your story, empower others to be apologetically themselves and be a Trailblazer because that's when others become inspired.

It's important for women leaders as well as male allies to spread awareness of women in equality in the corporate world and encourage young girls to tap into their strengths and abilities so they can reach their full potential. Um We should empower girls to let their voice be heard and stand up for what they believe in, listen to what they have to say, respect their opinions and accept them for who they truly are. Let them bring their true self to the table and eliminate, enter any kind of gender bias, discrimination, stereotyping. So we should support them to have the same equal rights as men as always and instill confidence in them to manifest their dreams. So to all the girls out there, your guys are all strong, talented, worthy of love and you have what it takes to become, get that leadership position or role or even want to become a CEO someday. You have what it takes and um you're the dreamers, the doers, all of you guys are the winners in every aspect. So we're all here for you. So how I became a tech leader. So my mission in life is to inspire others to be the best it can be and reach their full potential to make a world a better place. And I've had a lot of setbacks in my career.

I've experienced imposter syndrome, but I didn't have a mentor and learned everything the hard way and on my own. Like I'm the kind of person who has the can do attitude. So I never give up no matter what. I've attended several webinars joined many networks and now I have an amazing support system here at woman tech that is also helping me get through this. So I didn't want the younger generation of women to go through what I went to, which is why I wanted to become that role model where I can show younger girls that if I can do it so can they? So my goal overall in life is to encourage women to break those gender stereotypes and give them the moral support that they're capable of becoming a future. Excellent female leader, like your identity, creativity, perspective, everything is valuable to the world and to a company and it's my job or in everyone else's job to make you guys feel heard, seen and loved. So I like to pave the right path for the next generation of girls to break that glass ceiling and to create change in the tech sector. So I started focusing on leadership development and have been working as a founding member for women tech network.

I've empowered from last year um united at least 100,000 women in tech. Now we have almost 3000, 300,000. So super proud to find their purpose and excel in their career and they've all were very happy about it. Another amazing leaders out there. It's one of the best decisions I made. I was ranked number one global ambassador. And because of Anna, like I also doubled my leadership skills. Like before I came into women's tech network, I didn't even know what leadership was. Um You know, I have that imposter syndrome where like am I good enough to be a leader? Like do I have what it takes? But I went in, I realized yes, you know, I aimed high and I was able to kind of get that recognition. And I was able to not only expand my network but learned from so many global woman tech leaders. Now I also encourage the other women the next generation to promote the network and help the community grow. I was one of the community keynote speakers for the one of last year's tech conference, which also had about 200 speakers and 3000 women in tech. Because of this, I got so many more opportunities, like a lot of opportunities opened the door for me and a lot more features and interviews and other tech magazines such as Women Tech Leaders magazine and Y Talk Techs, et cetera.

So I learned a lot within these past 1.5 years. I've been in tech through my personal experiences and from industry experts. It's been an incredible experience and truly an honor being part of such an amazing platform full of inspiring women leaders. So my goal is to add value to people's lives and make a difference, you know, by sharing my story, you know, experiences and the lessons learned with everyone out there. The quote that I really liked and I wanted to share with you guys is that if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. You're a leader, like you don't have to have a title or status to be a leader, like just empowering or just motivating others to just make a small difference in the world, um world makes you a leader and that's all it takes. So I hope you guys enjoyed my presentation and feel free to reach out to me on linkedin. Um I'll leave it in the chat below or shoot me an email at Mina Forever 19 at gmail.com.