Shabana Ahmed is a Senior UX Designer and has spent over 10 years designing experiences and interfaces for International companies & startups. Her experience covers everything from finance to health tech and she’s presented and led UX workshops around the world.

Shabana’s passion for design and improving everyday experiences is so apparent in everything she does. She’s also written and illustrated a children’s book!

Key Lessons From This Episode:

⭐  How to evaluate if a job aligns with your values and the benefits of changing jobs frequently (5:02)

⭐  The growth that comes when we are brave and accept change (8:05)

⭐  How to keep going when things don't work out as you expect (10:36)

⭐  How Shabana approaches solving UX problems (19:07)

⭐  The lessons Shabana learned from Hajj (25:47)

🚀 Tech Sisters is thrilled to announce our very first community hackathon for Muslim women in tech! 

✅ Collaborate with other Muslim women and create meaningful work together 

✅ Develop your skills and build your experience 

✅ Participate from anywhere in the world, on your schedule

Visit https://buff.ly/3PL2Nfo to learn more and sign up! 

Registration is open NOW until Friday, October 27

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Shaheen Sultana

Shaheen is a QA Analyst at Aventum Group. She loves to speak at various conferences and blogs to share knowledge and connect with more people in the community.

• Once you have knowledge, you can demand what you're worth (10:10)
• The more you do wrong, the more you learn (17:33)
• Don't limit yourself by only asking for feedback and guidance from only your field (19:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/12/shaheen-sultana

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Zahraa Al Sahili.

Zahraa is a current PhD Student at Queen Mary University of London and Google DeepMind PhD Scholar. Zahraa is also an AI Session Lead a Udacity.

• Zahraa's experience studying in Beirut during the height of the economic crisis (2:32)
• Zahraa's favourite AI project (7:30)
• The complexity of removing implicit bias from AI (10:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/12/zahraa-al-sahili/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Marwa Jawad

Marwa enjoys developing things that live on the internet. Her interest in web development started back in 2018 when she decided to try to make her ideas into real projects with HTML & CSS! Fast-forward to today, and Marwa had the privilege of working on a variety of real projects using the latest techniques

• Marwa's experiences as a developer in Iraq (2:00)
• Be ready for opportunities before you get them (4:30)
• Without mistakes, you never learn (11:10)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/12/marwa-jawad/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Fatma Elasouad

Fatma is a hardworking, motivated and knowledge-hungry developer; currently working as a cloud data engineer at BT. She’s also a co-founder of @Inclusive.Code a community that shares their experience as Early Career Developers, many of whom have made a career switch into Tech, in order to spread visibility and hopefully show others who have the same ambition that Tech needs their passion and unique perspective.

Fatma was also part of the winning team of the ShowCode Athena 2022 hackathon and was recently shortlisted as a finalist for both the Rising Star of the Year - Tech and the Role Model of the Year - Tech, for the Women in Tech Excellence Awards 2022

• How Fatma built up her experience while she transitioned from education into tech (5:32)
• What led to Fatma co-founding Inclusive Code (10:52)
• Fatma's insights as a STEM ambassador (23:29)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/12/fatma-elasouad/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Esraa Qandeel.

Esraa is a software engineer at Trilogy. She graduated from Al Azhar University and has a master's degree in computer software engineering from Arizona State University

• Esraa's top tips for surviving technical interviews (9:25)
• Don't face huge complex problems head-on. Break them down into small pieces first (19:35)
• Esraa's experience working in tech as a niqabi (28:43)
• If companies care about the quality of their code, I should care about the quality of my life (40:10)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/11/esraa-qandeel/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Shahed AlMashni

Shahed is currently a software engineer at Google working on Sovereign Cloud. Previously, Shahed has held internships at Amazon, Meta, and Google.

• How competitive programming helped Shahed pass her technical interviews (3:53)
• What kept Shahed applying for internships even though she didn't get any responses for two years (6:00)
• Shahed's growth mindset and how it helps her become a better version of herself every year (12:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2022/11/shahed-almashni/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Hawa Camara

Hawa is a freelance Copywriter working with the Brandz Bee on the Tech Sisters rebranding project.

She loves to write personality-filled copy that goes right to the heart and boosts conversions.

• Why Hawa feels her ADHD is a blessing and a curse (11:39)
• "Good copywriting is when you understand what people want, how they want it, and when they want it" (14:53)
• "No one can touch me because I'm comfortable with who I am" (21:50)
• Find a way to keep going. Even if I fall, I have to get up and figure it out, even if I don't know how. (27:50)
• "If someone doesn't like you, it doesn't matter. They don't pay your bills, and they never will!" (45:47)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3dHbmbz

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we’re excited to have Yulianna Frederika

Yulianna is a multi-faceted creative with expertise in graphic design, branding, social media & content creation across various industries who believes that thought-provoking content inspires actionable change.

She’s a social media manager at Rice Media and co-founder of Lepak Conversations which focuses on engaging social change-makers around issues concerning the Malay/Muslim community

• Design and tech should be available and accessible to everyone (3:50)
• Yulianna's approach to inclusive social media (14:45)
• Why Yulianna sees being a minority as her superpower (22:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3AdVAOh

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Sara Khan 

Sara is a Program Manager at Amazon Web Services where she manages MAS2 and all of its services. She especially enjoys using data to convey meaningful stories about consumer patterns, behaviours and business operations 

Key Lessons from this Episode

• How Sara balances working and motherhood (3:07)
• The importance of having women, especially from minority backgrounds, in leadership positions (7:52)
• Why the most important thing you need in tech is confidence (19:55)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3vCuFcr

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Marium Abid

Marium is a senior technology consultant Digital Analyst at EY. She’s an active Tech Sisters member and was the recipient of last season’s scholarship from Product Guru.

• Marium's experience getting into tech through an apprenticeship (5:22)
• Winning the Product Guru scholarship and her experiences (8:00)
• How Marium prioritises what to learn (27:30)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3zEZjUI

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

That's a wrap on Season 2! 🎬

To celebrate, we changed the format of the episode a little bit. Grace Witter, Tech Sisters' founder and regular podcast host is on the other side of the table this time. She's being interviewed by one of Season 2's most popular guests, Esraa Qandeel.

1. Grace's experience transitioning from SAHM to frontend developer (4:15)
2. And then transitioning again into product management (13:30)
3. Grace's favourite moments from Tech Sisters (18:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/03/grace-witter/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Ruqayyah Brown!

Ruqayyah is a brand strategist helping iconic Muslim brands elevate their voices. She has over 10 years of experience in brand building and is also the co-founder of Homeschool Queens

• Why Ruqayyah loves working with Muslim brands (5:20)
• How she navigates being a brand strategist and co-founder (11:15)
• Ruqayyah's tips for being comfortable in uncomfortable situations (13:20)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3ySDKP2

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

For our first episode of season 2, we are so excited to have Yasmin Desai. AKA the startup girl, Yasmin is a product director who has worked for over eight years in startups, including catapult Revolute and  Impala. She's passionate about startups, tech and entrepreneurship, and she's on a mission to empower people, to develop entrepreneurship as a skill in their day jobs.

Key Lessons

• "Just apply. The worst that can happen is you don't get it. At least you tried" (6:50)
• Why Yasmin loves startups (17:20)
• Advice for people who want to launch a product (29:25)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://buff.ly/3yL1i8q

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

We're back with new episodes for season 2! 

Tech Sisters is here to help Muslim women to feel seen and validated in their tech journeys so that they can build fulfilling and long-term careers. We connect you with other sisters who share your story, experiences and goals so you no longer have to feel like the only one on your team.

Today's episode is a little bit different. We're talking to some of the participants of our first Mentor Match cohort: Medina Tochi Ajro, Madihah Akhtar, Muna Ali, Damilola Odumosu, and Sadiya Zackria. The three-month cohort recently finished, and you'll hear their reflections on their mentoring experience.

Applications for the next mentor match cohort will open after Ramadan

Also, this is the last episode of season 1! Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show. Season 2 will start in August iA

• Mentoring is just being sisters to one another and sharing and saying, "Hey, I've been there. I understand what it's like." 16:00
• So much of mentoring is just listening to your mentee and pointing out the things that their not necessarily seeing. 20:00
• You don't have to know all the answers to be a mentor 29:30

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3t60ZlT

Show Notes and Transcription: https://buff.ly/3MYoQwV

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Reem Mahmoud

Reem Mahmoud is the cofounder and Education Lead at Zaka, a community-driven Artificial Intelligence startup. She is pursuing her Ph.D at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in Electrical & Computer Engineering where her research focuses on personalized Machine Intelligence with a focus on learning from limited labelled data.

• Reem's experience as the only female electrical engineer in her university 7:00
• What happens when technology, especially AI, isn't developed for diverse communities by who belong to those communities 13:00
• The challenges of having a startup in Beirut 17:00
• Reem's beautiful answer to what makes her most proud 23:45

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3t60ZlT

Show Notes and Transcription: https://buff.ly/3J2FTLL

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Iliana Montauk and Mai Temraz from Manara.

Manara is a social impact startup whose mission is to unlock human potential and diversify the global tech sector while uplifting the economies of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), with a focus on Palestine and women.

Iliana is the co-founder and CEO of Manara and Mai is the Program Manager. They’ve both previously worked together at Gaza Sky Geeks and they’re both Fulbright Scholars.

• Manara's vision is to become a platform that creates community connections and supports people at every stage of their career 12:00
• What makes Manara graduates so special 14:20
• Confidence is a huge challenge for people who come from non-traditional backgrounds 16:30

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3t60ZlT

Show Notes and Transcription: https://buff.ly/3CcWQ3z

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Safa Ghribi!

Safa is a full stack developer at Microsoft, and an expert in NodeJS, Electron, Angular and React with quite a certification collection! She also did her university studies in 3 different countries: Tunisia, France, and Canada.

• Never limit your ambitions 11:00
• Safa's advice for getting into top tech companies like Unity and Microsoft 15:30
• Don't focus too much on work; have a healthy life balance 23:30
  

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3t60ZlT

Show Notes and Transcription: https://buff.ly/3vdP2x1

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Amira Chalbi

Amira is a UX/CX researcher at Worldline Global. She’s very experienced in UX design and research, data visualization, innovation, UX strategy, and market studies.

Amira is passionate about contributing to the development and enrichment of the community and has been a wonderful part of Tech Sisters

• Amira's experiences working in academia and industry as a Muslim woman in France 8:30
• What happens when companies misuse UX 14:38
• The mindset that helped Amira overcome the many challenges she's faced 24:00

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3t60ZlT

Show Notes and Transcription: https://buff.ly/34Kw5aH

In today's episode we'll continue where we left off in How to Survive as a Muslim Woman in Tech. This time, we'll focus on the job interview as a point where you can get a sense of whether the company will be a safe place for you. A place where you can thrive being yourself without any compromises.

I'll go through over 20 questions that can help you figure out what you want in a company and if the company you're interviewing for fits that ideal.

• Questions to identify the purpose you want to have at work and if this company aligns with that purpose 4:30
• What kind of team do you want to be a part of? 9:03
• Does the pace at this company fit with the work-life balance you want for yourself? 12:28

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3Kkw5Oy

Show Notes: https://buff.ly/3gBSx82

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Sadiqah Musa

Sadiqah is a co-founder of Black in Data, a rapidly growing network of people of colour in data. Their end goal is to shift diversity in the data industry, ‘in order that people of colour may feel confident, visible and heard.’

She is also a lead analyst for the Guardian News and Media where she is an advocate for increased representation of ethnic diversity within data.

Sadiqah was recently recognised as Best Motivator by Women Leaders in Data and AI as one of the Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics by Corinium Global Intelligence.

• What Sadiqah wants her as legacy  2:45
• It takes courage to step into the unknown and invest in yourself 7:00
• Sadiqah's experiences as a Muslim woman in data 8:40
• Why setting boundaries and self-care is so important, especially for advocates 12:00
• The balance Sadiqah's been able to achieve with her family life 15:00

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3Kkw5Oy

Show Notes: https://buff.ly/3uq7lPp

How many of us got into tech not because we loved to code, but because we saw a problem and had an idea? These sisters take the founder's path into tech. Some of them have prior technical experience and some don't. But they all have passion for their idea and a drive to make it happen.

Insha Tazeen, is in the middle of that path. In today's episode, she discusses the projects she's working on and what she's doing to overcome her non-technical background.

1. Deciding to get a Master's degree in AI (4:30)
2. Co-funding Bound Security, a cybersecurity consultancy (5:30)
3. "The more I'm challenged, the more I feel motivated" (12:30)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/03/insha-tazeen/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

It's a solo episode this week!

We get asked about how to survive as a Muslim woman in tech all the time. And from women at all points of their careers - from considering transitioning into tech to seasoned tech veterans.

In this episode, I'll talk about why niche groups, like Tech Sisters, are essential, what's going on with the tech pipeline, and go over some strategies to reduce the harm you might experience as a Muslim woman working in tech.

Key Lessons from this Episode

• Why niche groups, like Tech Sisters, are so important 4:00
• What's happening with the leaky pipeline 9:00
• Techniques to reduce the harm you might experience 14:00

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3Kkw5Oy

Show Notes: https://buff.ly/3o5bNPy

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Hira Saeed

Hira Saeed is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at CaterpillHERs, a social enterprise that works for women-led startups, and helps build their business acumen through the curriculum, 1:1 mentorship, support network, and investment-readiness training.

Over the course of five years, Hira has mentored dozens of startups all over Pakistan to build their content, marketing, and branding strategy. She also creates content on her social media and youtube channel sharing tips about content, social media tips, and copywriting

You can follow Hira on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and by email.

Key Lessons from this Episode

• Tech is an incredibly vast industry, you don't have to limit yourself to coding 4:00
• How having a freelancing mindset helped Hira navigate her career 8:00
• Hira's advice for anyone considering being a freelancer 9:45
• Why Hira founded CateripllHERs 15:15
• Your startup idea changes slowly and gradually as you get into it 16:40

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3Kkw5Oy

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Sherifat Akintunde-Shitu.

Sherifat is a Data Management Consultant at Accenture and has a decade of experience in managing and unlocking actionable insights from data. Mentoring is a high priority for Sherifat and she volunteers as a mentor with Muslim Women Connect, Reed, Black in Data, and runs mentoring programs in Nigeria.

• The biggest challenge Sherifat faced in her career was trying too hard to fit in and not speaking up for herself 5.20
• How she feels like she's flying now that she's comfortable completely being herself at work 12:30
• We're able to endure failure because ultimate success comes from Allah, not us 15:50
• Mentorship is everything 18:25

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3Kkw5Oy

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Rahmat Lasisi

Rahmat has more than 17 years of experience working in tech and has done pretty much everything: Web Application Development, Mobile Application, Bespoke Websites, Hardware Architecture, Big Data Analysis, Team Building, Mentoring and Product Management.

She co-founded two companies and is currently the CTO of Herconomy, a Female-focused fintech startup dedicated to creating financial resources for women. Rahmat is also a faculty member at Eko Innovation School where she helps teach the next generation of product managers!

• "I'm a finisher" 7:20
• How to accelerate your learning 8:30
• When the table isn't available for you, you have to create the space 13:00
• Rahmat's attracted to projects by the value and impact they give back 24:25
• What makes a good project manager 29:00

Golnoush Golshirazi is the co-founder and CEO of ScreenMe Scientific. ScreenMe bridges the gap between holistic and diagnostic healthcare, helping to eradicate preventable disease with individualized health recommendations.

Golnoush was inspired to start ScreenMe following her own struggles with endometriosis and is primarily responsible for managing overall operations and resourcing, while also making sure ScreenMe moves towards its mission and vision.

We're so excited to welcome Golnoush Golshirazi as our latest Tech Sister!

• ScreenMe's purpose and the problems they're trying to solve 7:00
• Golnoush's journey as a founder and the hesitations she felt when starting out 12:15
• We should be encouraging younger Muslim girls to reach high 18:00
• What’s next for ScreenMe  27:00

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Aysha Ingar

Aysha is the founder and CEO of Muslimah - the only app built specifically for Muslim women to help them easily fit life around faith. Muslimah has recently celebrated its first anniversary!

We're so excited to welcome Aysha as our latest Tech Sister!

Key Lessons from this Episode

• Why Muslim women need an app made for us 7:30
• How Aysha managed funding Muslimah with medical school 18:45
• Aysha's experience building the Muslimah prototype with a no code tool 26.45
• What’s next for Muslimah 31.34

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Zakia Abdullah.

Zakia is an award-winning character artist who creates characters and concepts for the game industry. She draws inspiration from her culture, experiences, and curiosity in order to make impactful work. She’s committed to improving ethnic diversity in the games industry and recently served as a judge for BAFTA’s Young Game Designer Awards.

We're so excited to welcome Zakia as our latest Tech Sister!

• Imposter syndrome prevented Zakia from being able to accept her calling as an artist for 25 years (10:15)
• Do your own research and look beyond the first thing you hear. Get advice from people with lived experience and empathy (13:50)
• Why sharing knowledge and inspiring others is a huge part of what Zakia does (18:00)
• Zakia's experiences as a Muslim woman of colour working in the video game industry (23:10)

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we have Khaulat Abdulhakeem!

Khaulat is a tech career coach, instructor, and speaker who loves helping students and recent graduates choose and navigate their dream tech careers.

Additionally, Khaulat is the founder of DiverseK.com where she provides helpful resources, career and product consultation, and interviews with tech industry experts.

Khaulat is very passionate about Artificial Intelligence education and its application to agriculture, trade, and automation. She founded AI Abeokuta to provide a platform for local AI practitioners to network and learn.

Key Lessons from this Episode

• How following her interests and exploring new things helped Khaulat discover her passion for coaching (8:45)
• It’s not just about getting into tech. It’s about what makes you happy, what do you need right now, and what are your skill sets (13:10)
• The questions Khaulat asks to help people get unstuck (16:40)
• What traits make some people more likely to succeed in tech (12:02)

Are you feeling dissatisfied with work and thinking about making a career change into tech?

You're not alone. 1 in 4 workers left their jobs and are looking to change careers post-COVID.

The questions we get asked the most at Tech Sisters, by far, are around getting into tech. Women tell us they're unhappy with their current jobs or degree programs because it's not aligning with their values or sparking their interest like it used to. Working in tech gives people the ability to work remotely without too much hassle. You can create a work-life balance that suits you instead of changing your life to fit around work. And let's be real, high tech salaries play a huge part in why people want to join this field. Tech is a level playing field (or at least more level than most industries). And it's big enough that anyone can in and find their place.

But making a career change into tech isn't easy! Among lots of other things, you need to think of what role you might like to have, learn completely new skills,  interview in ways you never had before, and navigate a very different work culture.

It's a journey I made five years ago, and I'll be interweaving my personal story of how I got into tech throughout today's episode.

• Assess your current situation (6:35)
• Potential signs that it's time for a career change (11:48)
• What do you want in your new career? (14:33)
• How to make an actionable plan to get the job you want (23:18)
• Why networking and making connections matters (31:40)
• Start applying for jobs (34:28)

Today on Tech Sisters Stories we have Humayra Hanif!

Humayra is a software developer and team lead with an unending passion for learning. She’s been involved with numerous projects across the software stack, solving many problems within scalability, usability and infrastructure. Humayra is known to always bring, vision, creativity and empathy in everything she does.

Key lessons from this episode

• Humayra’s drive to make an impact on the world through technology (2:36)
• How Humayra cultivates a team culture based on collaboration and support (7:18)
• The ways Humayra gained the confidence to be a leader (12:45)
• What being a senior software engineer means to Humayra (15:36)
• How Humayra uses her tech skills to benefit causes she cares about (19:05)
• A time when Humayra stepped out of her comfort zone (25:36)

Three months into her first job after university, Sanna Siddiqui's manager left, leaving all of the company's PR and communications work to fall on Sanaa alone.

In today's episode, Sanaa tells us how she handled that sudden change, learned to advocate for herself, and how she's dealt with always being the first Muslim woman in her role at the companies she joins.

1. The benefits of having a manager who supports your professional growth (18:30)
2. Creative roles are part of tech too (23:00)
3. Sanaa's experiences always being the first Muslim woman in her role (25:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/02/sanna-siddiqui/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Kemi Hassan is a Silver Star award-winning agile coach and certified scrum master with 7 years of experience coaching teams, business analysts, managers and senior executives on Agile values, principles and practices.

She leads and manages the process of delivering software products; as well as providing coaching and mentoring to various individuals and teams on how to become more agile & deliver value more effectively.

Kemi is the co-founder of Lokem and also the author of an incredible book, Taking Action, the Busy Entrepreneur’s Guide To Mastering Time Management and Setting Smart Goals - a must-read for anyone ready to see their ideas move from dream to reality.

We're so excited to welcome Kemi Hassan as our latest Tech Sister!

Key Lessons from this Episode

• What caused Kemi to experience Imposter Syndrome and what she does to push through it (2:27)
• How Kemi finds motivation in facilitating transformation (5:26)
• Why it's important to think of people before processes (8:02)
• What holds people back from taking action on their dreams and what they can do to overcome that (11:54)

Nina Nduwayo is an experienced data scientist and consultant. In her interview with Tech Sisters Stories, she discusses her motivations, challenges, regrets, and accomplishments. Nina also discusses some ways people from under-represented can feel safer at work.

Enjoy the show! 

A lot of people say they stumbled into their jobs - and we have a lot of podcast episodes with guests who describe their career this way.

But we've never heard a story like Reham Fawad's. Her product career was literally handed to her!

In today's episode, Reham shares her knowledge and passion for product management, her 15 years of experience, and her insight into how to get into the profession. She also tells us about the amazing group she founded for Muslimahs in product - MVP!

1. At the core of product management is empathy, listening to people and adding value to their lives in whatever way you can (6:00)
2. Always look at the why and pull yourself back if you're solutionising instead of listening (10:00)
3. The question she gets asked all the time (hint: it's about how to get into product) (19:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/02/reham-fawad/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist? Should you stick to one path and become an expert in it or give yourself the flexibility to explore many different options? This is something that's unique to everyone and the answer changes as we move through live.

Today's guest, Aaliya Khan, thought she was a specialist. She went to school to specialise in global medicine and health advocacy. But, as she puts it, she fell into tech and into Product Management. In this episode, Aaliya tells us how she found her feed at an early stage start-up where her role was constantly pivoting and how she learned to embrace flexibility amid chaos.

1. How Aaliya fell into Product Management from a background in global health (4:00)
2. Aaliya's experiences working at an early-stage startup and having to pivot her role many times (9:00)
3. Push and advocate for yourself because you don't know what change that can have for the next person after you (37:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/02/aaliya-khan/

Leave a Review: https://buff.ly/3o3ifG7

Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters

"Sorry. You're the best candidate for this role, but we wouldn't be able to go ahead because of your hijab. People would think we're an Islamic organisation, and we don't want that. Maybe you could take it off?"

Searching for a new job can be a hard and demoralising process, even at the best of times. Most of us would be shocked to see such blatant discrimination in a job interview, but this is what today's guest, Fatimah Akanbi heard over and over when starting her career in Nigeria. And she's not alone. Sadly we've heard many similar stories from Tech Sisters around the world.

So what gave Fatimah the motivation to keep going? Did she find a job that accepted her? Did she need to compromise her deen to achieve her career goals?

Listen to today's episode to find out!

1. I didn't want to continue being at the mercy of employers who would discriminate based on my religion (3:12)
2. I believe once you are committed, I believe hard work, perseverance, and consistency are the keys to success (6:22)
3. Fatimah's volunteer work teaching coding to children from secondary schools and slums in Nigeria: "These are children people have given up on and I see a brighter future for them" (22:25)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/01/fatimah-akanbi/

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Imagine you're sitting in your university lessons with an uncomfortable feeling that you can't ignore anymore. You're realising that what you've spent the last few years studying, the life you planned for yourself, isn't actually what you want for yourself. How do you move on from that? Do you ignore that feeling and keep going or do you try something else.

That's what's happened to today's guest, Nasrien Youness. In the middle of university, she pivoted away from International Development and learned how build a career out of her love for drawing. Now a product designer at Uhubs, Nasrien tells us how she taught herself design skills, built up her portfolio, and her experience as one of the first scholarship recipients to the Love Circular Bootcamp through Muslamic Makers and The Aziz Foundation.

1. Deepen your learning by putting your lessons into practice (4:00)
2. Product design is just iteration after iteration. There's no end point. You just keep improving (10:56)
3. Reach out to people, get involved in the community and make sure that you are building real case studies rather than just conceptual ones and redesigns (16:38)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/01/nasrien-youness/

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Today on Tech Sisters Stories we're excited to have Alifya Kagalwalla

Alifya Kagalwalla is a VP of Engineering at Tempus Labs in Chicago. At Tempus she leads various engineering operations teams focused on cloud infrastructure, test engineering and developer productivity. Tempus is a precision medicine company that leverages AI to help physicians make informed treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. Prior to Tempus she held various engineering leadership roles at Digital Ocean, Groupon and Citrix Systems. Outside of work, she is a proud mom to two awesome girls and is always looking for fun and educational DIY projects to do with them!

• The importance of having core values and principles that ground you throughout your career (6:22)
• How Alifya builds authentically inclusive environments as a senior leader(12:00)
• How to decide between the tech lead and management pathways (14:00)
• Alifya's advice for dealing with bias at work (17:50)
• The leaky pipeline and how we can prevent women from leaving tech (25:00)

Show Notes and Transcript: https://www.tech-sisters.com/2023/01/alifya-kagalwalla/

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Patreon: patreon.com/techsisters