Hi, Dim.

Hello.

Great, great to see you here on stage and I will take the chance to introduce you and her electrical engineering and management studies at the University of Pals Atia DM. Started her career with management consultant at Car PG and Motorola at as a passionate diverse inclusion and STEM champion DM has led several global programs that brought her and her team numerous awards including women tech, 102,019 champion, future Leaders award, diversity role model and top 50 most influential Turks in the UK.

DM is a non-executive director on the Board of Creative Education Trust which oversees 17 high schools and 16,500 students in underprivileged regions in the UK. This is impressive. Great to have you with us. DM.

Thank you, Anna. Thank you so much. I'm going to share my screen right.

Just take a couple of seconds to make sure everything works.

Sure. Sure. Let me know if you can see my screen so we can see your screen. Sure,

the stage to you and enjoy. We'll be back for Q and A if you have some time.

Absolutely. Thank you, Anna. So, hi, I'm di da in at, I'm based in London and I lead accenture's Data A I efforts uh for their Microsoft Business Group in Europe. I absolutely love technology and believe data and A I is one of the dream places to be these these days. So I would like to start by saying a huge thank you. Thank you so much for your interest in technology, your passion, your perseverance, your hard work to be here. We need you. I'm informed, we have several 1000 attendees today. I'm thrilled and touched, I feel under pressure to deliver. Um As I mentioned, I'm in a dream place in technology data A I but suffice it to say it has not been a walk in the park. Uh So I thought I would start by sharing a bit about my journey as a woman in technology in case it may help you save some time and some pain in your journeys to your dream jobs or your dreams, dream places in technology. And then let's talk a little bit about the impact of the pandemic on us on in technology and wrap up with your past to your dreams if that's all right. Um So today I would like you to walk away with three things. One dream big aim high.

Number two, be bold, take bold steps towards your dreams. Number three, embrace obstacles, embrace them as your springboard. So for your growth, for your path to your dreams, so I this is more of a mindset, uh more of an attitude uh that I will later explain with an analogy to a lotus flower. So let's get going. Um for my path, I'm going to share talk a little bit about my high school years than university years and fast forward to 2020 which is basically my working years. So I uh come from a middle income, Turkish family full of engineers, mathematicians and entrepreneurs. So I guess it wasn't a coincidence that I ended up in technology and I love it so much. Um There was domestic violence in my family. So as much as I love my parents, uh I knew I couldn't stay in that environment. So I came up with a dream and the dream was to go to the US and study electrical engineering and be independent financially and personally. So and in fact that that was actually my first experience, unconscious experience turning a seemingly negative situation into a positive one into a driver for myself to get to a better place, but I was completely unaware of it at the time.

So back to my dream, uh the dream was good, but I had two obstacles, one was money. Uh My family's total annual income was about $20,000 at that time. And as some of you, I'm sure know the costs of uh American universities as annual costs are somewhere between 25 to $35,000. So that was my first obstacle. And the second one, was I was pretty sure my family, especially my father wouldn't allow me to go to the US at the age of 17. So, what did I do? I applied secretly and I applied, I got accepted, I got a scholarship, I was basically choosing dormitories by the time I finally told my parents about the situation and my decision and at that stage, they just couldn't say no. So that was my first dream coming true. And also I went to Philadelphia to study electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania because I want to make the most of that scholarship money. I added the second degree strategic management. So it was called basically Management of Technology, dual degree program University. And MB A were fantastic.

I strongly recommend all of you to work or study in a different country if you can. It's really at least double the experience, if not more, double the experience of growth and learning. So it was fantastic. It was also my first experience as a woman in technology because I was one of five girls in a class of 100 80. And that ratio pretty much stayed the same throughout my career. But at university, I never felt any glass ceilings, I never felt discriminated against or treated unequally or paid less uh or, or, you know, harassed and so on. All of that, unfortunately, came later during my career. So let's move to those years. Um I started my uh work life in Boston uh at Gemini, which is now Cap Gemini. And I love my job and of course I was focusing on technology clients. I love my job and my clients so much. I worked so hard. I burned myself out at the end of first year. And just around that time, my parents decided to divorce, which was actually welcome news by most of the people who knew our family. So I actually decided to return to Istanbul to Turkey to help my mother who had given up her career for us and who had really rusted as a housewife, she was unable to pay even her bills. At that time, I wanted to help her settle her new life.

And of course, I also wanted to heal in the, in the, in that process. And uh mind you when you know, everybody around me at the time thought I was crazy. They, they just completely disagreed with my decision saying like you just started an amazing career, you're making a lot of money. Why are you leaving all that? And just as you started? And it was, and yet it was my gut feel and it, I I can assure you it turned out to be one of the best decisions in my career. So maybe it's really worth listening to that voice in us. So I went back to Istanbul and within the first four months, I experienced four near death experiences. Two major earthquakes, uh about 43,000 people died in one and 20,000 people died in the second one and two major terrorist bomb attacks. Basically, two very large buildings, almost skyscrapers collapsed on the same day in Istanbul. And both of them happened to be very close to where I live and work about five buildings. So I saw blood and body parts on the ground and I wasn't afraid of this at that time. But I did come out determined I made a commitment to myself to make the most of my life however much time I have.

So I, I promised myself that I would be my best self every day. My best employee, best daughter, best sister. And that came with another realization because uh it meant that I had to embrace the negatives, not so good days as well, not so good experiences because it's easy to be your best self when things are going well. But it's not the case when you have some crises, obstacles or tough people to deal with. So all of those um experiences, I started to think of them as things to turn upside down, turn it into an opportunity for myself, a springboard for getting nearer my dreams. And uh I really, I'm a visual person. So I always think of the lotus flower in these uh cases. I hope you've seen a real lotus flower. If not, I encourage you to see one. It's, they are just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. And yet they grow in the most disgusting muddiest smelliest waters. And yet they are able to radiate beauty around Na South. So when I uh face a challenging situation or let's say uh an upsetting uh an adversity, I just asked myself, what kind of a lotus flower can I nurture here?

And I assure you if you give yourself enough space and time, you will definitely come up with a creative uh solution. So uh just a few examples of lotus flowers I nurtured in my career in my company, the culture and my values were in such a clash that I had a rash. I mean, the moment I would enter the building, my whole body would turn red. Literally just saying, didn't want to be there in another job. I love my job. I love my team. We all loved each other working, amazing, doing amazing things. But my manager, unfortunately, it was a sociopath. He sexually harassed or tried to harass females both internally and externally even, you know, partners, employees. So it was very painful at the time but not just me, all of us moved on to other roles. And uh the good thing is we all landed in better, bigger amazing roles and stayed close friends. So uh there are many more examples. But the point is you really get to a better place if you look at these things as opportunities as springboards. Um And I can guarantee you that you're either experiencing some of these right now or if you are not enjoy while it lasts, you will definitely experience them. And at that, at those times, just think of the lotus flower and make the most of those so called obstacles.

Mm Currently, we are actually going through a lotus period as a society. Uh According to some analysts, post COVID technology development and adoption has have accelerated by 10 to 15 years, which is fantastic. Of course, hypergrowth is good yet diversity in technology, especially gender diversity has took a big hit according to a recent uh Forbes article and this is from May 13th 2020. So it's just after the first wave. Uh So I suspect I'm I'm, I'm pretty uh worried that these are actually much worse by now. One woman in tech are 1.6 times more likely to be laid off or furloughed. And 72% of us struggle with child care as opposed to 53% of men. And if, as if these two are not enough women in technology feel more pressure to be productive. So 40% have stated that they are feeling more pressure to be productive uh with in comparison to 30 31% of men and in general, 64 60% of female technology workers believe, I mean they, they, they feel a raise in their familial duties. So it's tough out there and yet we need more diversity in technology than ever to ensure this amazing acceleration actually is implemented successfully. In other words, inclusively responsibly ethically in our society, we really need you.

So please think very carefully about your dreams, your paths and your mindset to get there. Where will you be in two years, in 10 years, in 20 years? What will you be doing? What kind of lotus flowers uh will you be nurturing? As I said in the beginning, I would love you to walk away with three things. Dream big, be bold. Take bold steps. Well, maybe you may not be able to take bold steps given the domestic duties situation at the moment. That's OK. Take a pause, visualize your dream, work backwards, set your milestones and when the time is right, execute on them, don't give up and of course embrace the obstacles. So in addition to those three points, I would like to take the liberty to share some additional learning in case they may help you. So the first one is really believe in yourself. If you are dreaming something, if you have a big idea, it pretty much means you can do it. Just believe in yourself. The second thing is be your own advocate. Don't wait for or expect others to acknowledge your hard work, your successes, your impact pat you on the back. Just don't just do it yourself and build your tribe. What I mean? Here is not act tribally or be tribal.

What I mean is create fans for yourself, be fans of others have mentors, mentees, especially in technology sector. We should all realize that it is not possible to succeed alone. No single person can practice. So the earlier you you start building your ecosystem, the stronger you'll be.

Next one is I would recommend you to volunteer. What I mean here is you, let's say you determined your path, your vision and you kind of are thinking about your next steps to get there for the next step, offer free volunteer projects, get to know the people, get to know that project or product, whatever it is. So it's a low risk way to experiment before committing yourself fully and learning from it if it's the wrong step. So um I'm a big believer in volunteer projects or side projects, stretch projects, whatever we call them. And um you know, we have a bad habit, woman in technology. Most of us, if not all are usually raised as good girls, we are too diligent. We just do what we are told we obey the orders. So my suggestion is don't just take them as given if you think if you have a gut feel that a process of structure or policy can actually be improved, do it challenges. So uh it really uh saves you time pain and probably others too. And always remember the lotus. So yeah, those are my tips. And uh to end with, I had met Mariana Costa Chea, a fantastic social impact entrepreneur from Peru at the Grace Hopper Conference in Houston in 2018.

And she had made this amazing statement which stuck with me for years. So it goes, if women knew how much they could change the world with technology, there would be so many more women in tech. I couldn't agree more. Let's use technology as our magic wand to change the world for the better and empower others each other and other minorities to do the same. Thank you.

Hi, Dina. That was fantastic. Such a wonderful journey you had in tech, very, very vice, career tips for all women out there. Those who are starting, who are in tech. And I really love the quote by Mariana. She became more famous at our conference. Thanks

to you. So you

the voice and this is so true. If women would have known how much they can change the world um that they, they would have actually gone for that, right?

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I

really love the story when you shared about going to the US,

how afraid

you were. And, and that's a great example when you want something so much and, and, and about taking some bold taps, right? At different stages of your career, I think your career is a, is a great example of taking bold steps and it's, it's a great, it's a great honor to have you with can learn from your experience and be inspired by you. Thank you. Do you have, do you have some questions for the? And people are? Thank you like a lot in the chat? Inspiring session. Great message, the power of collective intelligence. Amazing keynote, love, love, love, a lot of metaphor. I did love it too and I must admit, but this is so true. I mean, it's a great metaphor, so

inspiring. Thank you. I'm here to help anyone. My email is there and not just at the conference, but afterwards as well. Thank you for having me. And I think I'm going to, I have to leave now. Right? Thank you. Please stay

with us, stay with us. Um And um as you as also, if you know, I think many people would love to chat with you. So if you have some time, I know you're, if you have some time for the network in one on one. So um so you can connect and, and uh discuss more, maybe given advice. That would be fantastic

with pleasure. I'll jump on a meeting and come back. Thank you. Thank

you. Thank you very much, Jam and see you see you at our events again. You're a great, thank you. Great

to have. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you.