Tech Queen: Solona Hollis - Senior Director of Science Strategy at Leading Educators
Solona is a problem solver and strategic thinker who is passionate about working with educators to create learning environments that allow all students to see themselves as life-long learners of science.Before joining Leading Educators, Solona worked with state, district, and school leaders to develop strategies and implement systems for increasing leader capacity and teacher effectiveness. Most recently, she supported the implementation of a state-wide coaching model.Before pursuing a career in education, Solona worked as a chemist and co-invented a commercially sold adhesive.Solona Hollis holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Dillard University and completed her education certification at Mercer University. An Atlanta native, she spends free time with her two sons and her dog, Layla. Solona works to promote autism awareness and advocacy in her local community. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Tech Queen: Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya - Founder and CEO, African Women in STEM
Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya is a TEDx speaker and founder of African Women in STEM, an organization empowering African women in STEM fields globally. With two decades of experience in engineering and energy, she has managed projects worth over half a billion dollars.As a catalyst for change, Adaeze speaks powerfully about cultural inclusion and community building. Her TEDx Talk challenges professionals to embrace their cultural identity as a key to innovation. Through her Leadership Development Program, she helps women in STEM design careers aligned with their values to maximize their potential. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Tech Queen: Arpita Vats – Senior AI Engineer at LinkedIn | ex-Meta | ex-Amazon
Arpita Vats is a Senior AI Engineer at LinkedIn, specializing in feed recommendation and large-scale machine learning models. She worked as a Research Scientist Intern at Meta and Amazon, focusing on Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI. With extensive experience in recommender systems, computer vision, and natural language processing, Arpita has authored multiple research papers and contributed to industry-leading AI advancements. Her work includes privacy-aware LLMs, a Mixture of Experts (MoE) scaling, and multimodal AI for video understanding. She has served as a reviewer for top-tier conferences such as CVPR, ICLR, KDD, ACM CSUR, and IEEE AI Multimedia. Arpita is also an active speaker at AI conferences, including Data Science Salon SF. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Tech Queen: Alexandra David - Enterprise Solutions Consultant at Figma
Alexandra David is an Enterprise Solutions Consultant at Figma with over a decade of experience in the SaaS industry. She specializes in Pre-sales Strategy and Solutions Consulting. Her extensive knowledge of go-to-market strategies and SaaS-driven innovation has significantly contributed to her expertise in technology solutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Tech Queen: Cosima Meyer - Senior Data Scientist at SAP ex-IBM
Cosima Meyer is a senior data scientist at SAP. In her previous role at IBM, she took machine learning products from concept to production. She was also a co-leader of IBM's Data Science Methods Community where she managed data science asset development. Cosima is passionate about building sustainable machine-learning products and creating relevant frameworks for working with and using AI. She won the “Innovate With Purpose Award” by IBM for a project using a modern NLP approach and was named a Futuremaker 2024 by Business Insider for her work on making the tech industry more diverse.Cosima has a PhD in conflict studies, and with a background in statistics and social sciences, she enjoys thinking about bias and how to mitigate it to build fair ML products. During her PhD, she co-founded Methods Bites, a data science blog that provides step-by-step tutorials on topics ranging from package development over statistical methods to teaching data science. At CorrelAid, a European non-profit data for-good organization, she worked on a data course that offers civil society actors a hands-on, project-based learning course in data handling, statistics, data visualization, and web application development.As a Women Techmakers Ambassador, Cosima is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. As an active member of PyLadies, R-Ladies Global team, and founder of R-Ladies Cologne, she is also involved in several community initiatives that support underrepresented groups in the coding world. To further increase the visibility of underrepresented groups in tech, Cosima developed Mastodon and Bluesky bots that regularly post content created by PyLadies and R-Ladies. Since the beginning of 2024, she has also launched the “Amazing Women in Tech” project, which highlights each week one woman in tech, highlighting her background, and her accomplishments to provide more role models for aspiring data enthusiasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
About Queens of Tech Podcast | 100 Voices of Impact | Representation Matters!
Queens of Tech is a podcast series about voices of impact – 60+ questions in around 30-40 minutes with women, women of color, non-binary, and transgender tech trailblazers about their journey into STEM.I, Jasmine Moradi, started the "Queens of Tech Podcast" initiative in May 2022 because I would like to retain more tech trailblazers in the tech industry. There is abundant talent waiting to be tapped into, yet our work environments and systems must evolve to ensure inclusivity, safety, and equity for women, women of color, non-binary individuals, and transgender individuals. We must create spaces where everyone can thrive authentically, access opportunities equitably, and be recognized and valued for their unique contributions.My goal is to raise the voices of tech trailblazers around the world and together with companies, investors, and politicians raise the challenges and opportunities around Equity, Inclusive Diversity, and Belonging in our workplaces.Each podcast episode revolves around over 60 questions covering upbringing, education, career trajectory, DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), and future guidance. The goal is to delve deep into the life and career journey of my guests. By sharing their insights, experiences, and achievements, I aim to inspire girls, women, women of color, non-binary individuals, and transgender individuals to unlock their full potential in the tech industry and aspire to reach top leadership positions.Representation matters! Your voice matters! Join the Queens of Tech movement! #queensoftech #womenintech Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Listen to Queens of Tech Podcast | 100 Voices of Impact | Representation Matters!, The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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