Queens in Tech

“Starting in clinical embryology, I had no way to compare my clinical decision making to people who had many years in the field. I had no way to easily know if my judgment in grading embryos was correct, or even close”

Dr. Carol Curchoe, Former Utah State Science Advisor is a Senior Embryologist & the CEO & Founder of ART Compass—the first to deliver artificial intelligence systems at the point of care for IVF Practice Management.

ART Compass is the first mobile app built by IVF professionals for IVF professionals—for IVF Lab Management and Fertility Software guiding physicians, administrators, lab staff and patients on their IVF journey.

*ART = Assisted Reproductive Tech

*IVF = in vitro fertilization: (from egg sourcing to making embryos)

Learn more here: https://artcompass.io/

While, ART has contributed to “millions of IVF babies born, however, across the industry, 2/3 of all IVF cycles still fail our patients. That is a lot of room for improvement.” That’s where ART Compass comes in.

Here’s what Dr. Curchoe shares in our convo:

✨Her journey from dropping out of high school to getting her PhD

✨What does an Embryologist do? What is IVF again?

✨Why she transitioned to entrepreneurship

✨ How ART Compass is different in the IVF industry using AI deep learning & how she’s serving her market

✨One barrier of entry that she’s facing when scaling ART Compass

✨2 business challenges she’s currently navigating as a startup founder

✨What she sees as the future of #IVF & #Embryology

✨Advice for womeninSTEM womenintech

The first African American woman to earn a PhD in Electrical Engineering with a focus in Computer Engineering in the US, Dr. Sandra Johnson is a Blockchain ambassador, global tech leader, master inventor with over 40 issued & pending patents.

She’s the founder & developer of fintech startup, geeRemit, a blockchain global remittance mobile app using mobile money. geeRemit has a global focus with an initial market in sub-Saharan Africa.

Learn more here: globalmobilefinance.com/lpo

A former IBM tech leader and CTO for Central, East and West Africa with a passion for tech in Africa & mentoring future African technology leaders, Dr. Johnson gracefully offers us a glimpse into her world.

Here’s what she shares in our convo:

✨Growing up in the newly integrated era in the U.S (in Southwestern Louisiana)

✨Her transition into tech in IBM’s research team (working on Vulcan’s I/O subsystems—a supercomputer preceding Watson)

✨ How her visit to one of #Ghana's Slave Castles triggered her going from Corporate CTO to tech entrepreneur

✨2 business challenges she’s navigating as a startup founder

✨How she invents & patents

✨What she sees as the future of Blockchain

✨Advice for women in STEM (women in tech)

Alifah Achmad is an Electrical Engineer, MBA & Leadership Training Expert.

Born & raised in Indonesia, Alifah is a coaching professional with 15+ years of improving business processes & efficiencies.

She's an expert in developing leaders & teams through sustained behavioral changes & effective communication.

Learn more here: discandbeyond.com

Alifah coaches & guides you in developing & understanding your own leadership style.

Leadership development is in her wheelhouse because she's been there & done that.

Having held herself back as an engineer, she not only witnessed, but supported, less talented bosses & co-workers move up the ladder.

She second-guessed her decisions. Stayed silent when she knew (she knew!) the business decisions being made were wrong & would work against the company.

Here’s what she shared in our convo:

✨What her upbringing was like in Indonesia

✨Why her startup DISC & Beyond is different & what sparked her start

✨Transforming from a people-pleaser into an audacious leader

✨Starting out & using THIS one strategy she feels aligns with her strengths

✨Going from leading large engineering teams to being a solopreneur

✨What electrical device she would be & why

✨Advice for womeninSTEM (womenintech)

Emigrating from Venezuela to the US, Enith Morillo, CEO & Founder of Cadoret Global made one of the biggest sacrifices in order to finish her studies as an Electrical Engineering major at WPI.

Leaving her family, doing whatever it took—even working as a pizza delivery driver & barista at a coffee shop at one point—to live the life she knew she could have.

Today, Enith & her team support start-up, early-stage, & small-size pharmaceutical companies in taking their investigational drug through development and clinical trials

Dependable & versatile, Enith is a Quality Assurance Expert & CGMP Auditor with 12+ years of experience in the FDA & DEA regulated pharmaceutical field.

Here’s what she shared in our convo:

✨The biggest sacrifice she had to make emigrating from Venezuela to the US & why she never gave up

✨Being the daughter of the first authorized service provider for Sony in Venezuela

✨Going from employee to entrepreneur

✨Starting out as a referral-based startup

✨Is being an entrepreneur a skill or something you’re born with?

✨Why having fun in your career is important for your sanity

✨2 business challenges she’s navigating as a startup founder

✨Her leadership style & what electrical component she would

✨Advice for womeninSTEM (womenintech)

“You are techY is more than a learning platform. It's a movement” that Ellen Twomey is leading to help women and moms enter the tech industry.

Ellen is a Tech Learning Coach, Computer Scientist, & UX Design Expert with years of experience—an effective leader, an innovator with energy and passion for people and her work.

Learn more here: youaretechy.com

In the UX world, Ellen set the bar for user-centered design, using proven methods based “on human learning and neuroscience, as opposed to mutable interface trends that promote aesthetics over usability” raves a colleague.

The movement grew organically from a local Raleigh, NC MeetUp where mostly moms would share their life and work story at the corner coffee shop.

Now, Ellen and her team bring women into the meaningful, flexible, well-paid work of tech through education and inspiration—fully committed to furthering the presence of women in the tech industry

Ellen continues to help women get the skills and confidence they need to secure the tech job of their dreams!

Here's what Ellen shares:

✨ How she became an entrepreneur after working as a consultant & software developer in corporate

✨ Why she’s leading the You Are TechY movement

✨ Her role as CEO & her leadership style

✨ What programming language she would be :)

✨ How she integrates being a mom and an entrepreneur

✨ Actionable entrepreneurial advice for women in STEM

She said “Platform as a service.”

“Platform as a service?” I thought “what is that?”

Recently, Marie Smith, Data Architect & Chief Information Officer of Data360 Solutions from Los Angeles, CA shared more about her PaaS venture & her experience as an inventor.

Marie knows data backwards & forwards; she lives and breathes it as a hybrid CIO/CTO for Data360.

So what is Data360 Solutions?

According to Marie, it’s a low-cost alternative to Google ads and Facebook ads; it is decentralized—meaning you as a company/organization can set up your own custom infrastructure to attract your ideal clients.

Learn more about Data360 Solution here: https://www.data360.solutions/

Systems designs, tech stack choices, protocols & everyday workflows are part of her main responsibilities in her current role.

Marie and her co-founders have bootstrapped Data360 into a medium sized company and on their way to a Series A round.

As a deep tech company, they're partnering with tech giants among which are Google & Microsoft; currently as a PaaS, Data360 reaches about 1.5M people per month.

Marie's ambitious entrepreneurial spirit has led her to be a founding contributor in her 20 year career to nearly 50 media, tech and wellness companies and projects which have contributed to over $100 million in transactions.

As an Adtech developer for Facebook and Twitter, Marie was part of the teams that prototyped ad products we interact with these days; she was among those who prototyped ad pages and offered campaign best-practices on ad units & how the units should be technically developed.

At the start of her entrepreneurial journey, Marie had already been in the Media & Entertainment industry in various roles. She ventured into entrepreneurship, specializing as a Media Tech Expert consulting for companies as a seasoned software developer and data scientist

This is when her eyes opened to a different world, a world where she created her own projects and created value for her clients in way that hadn't been done before!

During our chat, Marie confidently stated that you should "create your life—don’t passively wait to be found"....and most importantly, "learn about how money works" in our world if you want to live the life you truly want.

In our full conversation, Marie shares:

✨ How she transitioned into STEM with a Film & Media background

✨ Why she became an entrepreneur after working in Adtech as a software developer & data architect for Facebook and Twitter

✨ What makes a great founder

✨ Her responsibilities as CIO of Data360 Solutions & what her day looks like as CIO

✨ What a PaaS is & how Data360 actually works

✨ Being a mom and an entrepreneur

✨ Actionable advice for women in STEM about entrepreneurship

Katherine N Johnson is a Systems Engineer & Life Coach originally from Rochester, NY - now in the DMV area.

Learn more about her and her business here: https://katherinenjohnson.com/

Katherine’s career started in the military as an Information Systems Technician (IT).

She joined the US NAVY right after high school at 17 years old.

Serving four years on active duty and four years as an active reservist after military service, she continued working in the Information Technology (IT) field.

She held many positions including network administrator, system administrator, and system engineer within both the private and public sectors.

With over 20 years of experience in the field, Katherine has a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Management and a Master’s Degree in Information Technology.

Although she loves technology and enjoys working in the IT field, she’s found greater purpose and calling through coaching and mentoring.

IT is a skill that comes naturally to her, but she considers coaching and mentoring a gift; given to fulfill a greater calling to empower others, guide them on the path of self development,, be of service and impact the world.

In our recent conversation, Katherine shares:

✨More about her 4 years active duty in military, 4 years active reserves being stationed in Bethesda, MD

✨What sparked her transition into entrepreneurship and life coaching: purpose and passion

✨How her life coaching solutions for women in STEM is different from others

✨3 metrics she’s tracking as a startup founder

✨Where she sees herself 5 years from now

✨Actionable advice for women in STEM

Beleicia Bullock is a Computer Science M.S candidate and Coding Interview Expert.

Her startup TechUp helps women—after college or coding bootcamp—walk confidently into coding interviews.

Years back when she first started looking for computer science internships, Beleicia had no idea how to prep for tech interviews.

Reading books and blogs, binging out on coding problems, & doing mock technical interviews helped her overcome feeling like a fraud; she banished imposter syndrome and gained confidence.

40+ coding interviews later, she received several offers each year from Adobe, Qualcomm, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Accenture, Groupon, and Comcast.

With a philosophy as simple as: practice + personalized feedback & support = progress

Beleicia’s committed to working with motivated women to prepare for the tech interview process.

Forbes 30 Under 30 Tech Entrepreneur, Megan O’Connor and her team are developing the technology to recycling critical rare earth elements and metals in electronics and various components (specifically lithium ion batteries) to improve our lives, lower costs for tech manufacturers and sustain the planet.

She’s an Environmental Engineer, a Chemist with a Calling and the CEO of Nth Cycle currently in Nashville, TN.

With a PhD in Environmental Engineering, Megan has eyes set on transforming archaic processes currently used to recycle e-waste (primarily electronics and components, a common one of which is a lithium ion battery).

She and her team are developing future technology for innovative, valuable systems based on nanotech, helping increase environmental sustainability.

Learn more about Nth Cycle’s high-tech processes based on carbon nanotubes and the innovative team working on them at nthycycle.com

Patrice Milos, PhD, CEO of Medley Genomics and I chatted a couple of days ago about her journey as a biotech entrepreneur.

In this episode she shares heartfelt details about her personal experience as a woman in tech for other women in tech to take note of what is possible in life.

Having grown her career at Pfizer and now leading a cutting edge startup in the precision medicine space—in a branch of biology called genomics—Patrice shares more about her life, including:

- Her father passing when she was young & growing up facing financial hardships

- Her passion for science from a young age and as a day schooler at Emma Willard School, a prestigious all girl’s boarding school in Troy, NY

- The turning point in graduate school & continuing an outstanding career in the biotech industry leading a team at Pfizer

- Why she transitioned to tech entrepreneurship and how she Integrates being a wife, mom, and CEO

- Advice for women in tech and those interested in growing tech companies

Visit http://medleygenomics.com/ to learn more about Patrice's current venture and how she and her team are improving lives using precision medicine.