Kesha Williams is an award-winning software engineer, a machine learning practitioner, and a training architect with 25 years of experience in IT. She enjoys sharing lessons learned through mentoring, teaching, and speaking at technical conferences across the globe.
Forbes, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Oracle have applauded her contributions to the technology community, and Kesha has spoken on the TED stage about the transformative power of artificial intelligence as a winner of TED’s Spotlight Presentation Academy. Her pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence earned her the distinctions of AWS Machine Learning Hero and Alexa Champion from Amazon. In her spare time, she co-organizes the NW Atlanta AWS Meetup and serves as a mentor to women in tech.
Especially for the WomenTech Network, Kesha agreed to give an interview and share her story.
Are you excited to be among the keynote speakers at the WomenTech Global Conference 2021 and what motivated you to join our community of 100 000 women in tech, minorities, and allies?
Yes, I’m super excited about being a keynote speaker and sharing about machine learning in the cloud. Machine learning is a pervasive technology that is relevant to today's IT development, but transitioning skillsets to machine learning can be challenging. I look forward to sharing my lessons learned and showing how the cloud can speed up the development of machine learning systems. I joined the community as a way to give back and inspire and empower women to transform the tech industry.
Share with us about your background, your journey in tech, and what inspired you to develop your career in this direction?
I've been in IT for 26 years. I built the bulk of my career in the Java software engineering space, and I’ve held multiple positions such as web developer, technical lead, software engineer, and software engineering manager. I’m currently a Principal Training Architect with A Cloud Guru. Eight years ago, I was introduced to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the cloud. About four years ago, I added machine learning to my list of technical skills. Throughout my career, I’ve always had a heart for teaching and mentoring, which led me to my current position. I’ve been coding since high school, and I love building and bringing ideas to life that solve real-world problems.
Who would you advise to attend the Global Conference and why?
Those looking to level up their technical skills, find inspiration and make new friends should attend the global conference.
Reserve your spot at WomenTech Global Conference in June 2021 to enjoy Kesha's talk "Machine Learning in the Cloud", and learn from other inspiring speakers.
