• Influence of a Secondary School Teacher: Early encouragement can lead to long-term impact of belief and representation in STEM.

• Problem-Solving Approach: Complex challenges are tackled through structured thinking, practical questioning, and a focus on clarity over complexity.

• Making STEM Accessible: STEM is made approachable by connecting concepts to everyday life, encouraging curiosity, and removing barriers of intimidation.

• Shift to STEMAZING and Inclusion: Transition into education and inclusion stemmed from a recognition of systemic gaps and a drive to increase representation in STEM fields.

  Link to Stemazing: https://www.stemazing.co.uk/

  Link to mentioned TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S4ZWYofAdQ

• Mentoring at UofT: Helped students see hidden opportunities (like work-study programs), shaping a mentorship style grounded in practical guidance and empathy.

• Project Coordination at Canada Bread: Learned to simplify data communication by focusing on outcomes, not visuals but answering “So what?” for non-technical stakeholders.

• Adapting Across Projects: Staying curious and doing deep research into each domain helps turn unfamiliar territory into valuable insight.

• Taking a Career Break: Pausing my career to pursue an MBA at Yale was about growing into a strategist who connects data with business impact.

• Supporting Teams & Embracing Challenges at Aize: Data solutions through collaboration and adaptability, ensuring they’re intuitive and aligned with user needs.

• NHIF Internship & Interest in Data Analytics: NHIF spark to explore data’s role in healthcare, blending purpose with problem-solving.

• Short Intensive Courses (e.g. Kaggle x Google Gen AI): Short intensives give you concentrated exposure and momentum for testing new skills quickly without a long commitment.

• Breaking Into Data Science Without a Formal Background: Credibility comes from consistency like personal projects and public contributions.

• Overlaps Between Draco Work and Academic Research: Even across different domains, problem-solving patterns, experimental design, and data fluency often connect the dots unexpectedly.

• Most Rewarding Part of Life Science Research Role at Stanford: The dual impact of advancing human health while constantly learning.

• Consulting to Data Science: Structured thinking and stakeholder empathy are just as critical in data science as they are in consulting.

• Choosing Tools in Evolving Environments: Letting the problem dictate the method.

• Mentoring vs. Judging at Hackathons:The key is timing to guide with empathy, clarity, and fairness during and at the end of the process.

• Personal Interests Shaping Professional Identity: Integrating personal passions into professional life makes your work more authentic, relatable, and impactful.

• Community STEAM Access: Bringing STEAM into community spaces helps break barriers to access and makes learning feel more approachable and inclusive.

• Engaging Young Minds: Making STEAM fun, hands-on, and adaptable across ages keeps young learners curious and engaged.

• Designing for All: Teaching across educational stages informs the creation of activities that are both developmentally appropriate and universally exciting.

• Future of STEAM: The future of STEAM education depends on creativity, accessibility, and community-driven initiatives like Amazelab.

  
  

  Link to Amazelab: https://linktr.ee/Amazelab

• Global Engagement & Leadership: Her work across global orgs like UN Women UK and Code.org is driven by a commitment to inclusive tech leadership and creating accessible entry points for women in STEM.
  

• Lowering Barriers with Visual Tools: Using AppInventor’s visual programming allows beginners to grasp coding concepts without fear, often creating functional apps in their very first session.
  
• Representation on the Global Stage: Being the only Bosnian participant at the Digital Citizenship Forum was a proud moment of advocacy, underscoring the need for underrepresented regions to help shape digital education policy.
  
• Leading with Impact at KiberOne: As CEO of KiberOne Banja Luka, she’s building a legacy of youth-centered digital transformation, aiming to reshape educational access and opportunity for the next generation.
  
• Bridging Gaps in Leadership Access: Staying involved in multiple initiatives is her way of countering limited access to leadership opportunities, especially for young women and those in overlooked communities.

• IT Support Misconceptions: She shares the surprising fulfillment and common misconceptions about working in IT at IKEA.

• Women in Tech: She explains why women-centered tech spaces still matter and how they empower community in 2025.

• Event Impact: She reflects on the feedback and moments that make hosting events like Tech Trivia Night worthwhile.

• Data-Driven Mindset: She discusses how real business outcomes at Costa Coffee reshaped her approach to problem-solving.

• Purposeful Multitasking: Running both a coffee brand and a creative/engineering career requires finding shared values that guide work across disciplines.

• Pivoting with Purpose:The shift from physics to analytics was driven by curiosity and a desire for real-world impact, revealing unexpected similarities like problem-solving and system thinking.

• Creative Data Vision: Creativity plays a powerful role in identifying patterns in data where intuition can complement analysis.

• Cross-Functional Shift: Transitioning from production to a cross-functional role meant learning to balance hands-on expertise with broader team coordination and communication.

• Lessons from a year of transformation: After a year of meeting over 1,000 people, Manik reflects on the most surprising personal and professional lessons that shaped his growth and leadership.

• Scaling beyond courses: Shares how insights from the “Anyone Can Build a Community” course helped him grow Girls Leading Tech from just 5 participants to over 1,900 members, and how intentional community-building fueled that exponential growth.

• Redefining what it means to work in tech: Taking a ‘nontraditional’ path with confidence.

• Creating space and pushing for equity: Through organizing speaker events and mentorship sessions, he offers powerful advice for men seeking to be better allies.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/girlsleadingtech/