WOMEN IN DEVOPS

<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">​Barbara Lisa is the Change and Transformation Direction in Beyond Gravity. She brings two decades of transformation experience, particularly in the digital context. She worked in leadership positions driving transformation for global businesses like British Petroleum, World Health Organization, and Roche to name a few, as well as set up an international business at the age of 24 which she later sold to pursue a consulting career.</span></p>

<p>Batel is a Developer Advocate for JFrog and has a background in DevOps support engineering, web development, and embedded software engineering. Prior to this, Batel served as an Enterprise Solutions Lead on a dedicated team that accompanies and assists large customers through the architectural implementation of the JFrog platform.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dr. Marianne Charaf, Partner at itopia AG, holds a PhD in Business Informatics. Marianne grew up, lived and worked in several countries. As a woman in IT and a mother, she brings a unique perspective to her leadership roles. With extensive experience in strategy and transformation across diverse industries such as financial, public services, and life sciences, Marianne is dedicated to fostering synergy between business and IT domains to drive data and digital transformation initiatives and customer experience. Marianne was a panel member at our WID Zurich event 'From Diversity to Disruption: Shaping the Future of Swiss Tech'.&nbsp;</p>

<p><span data-offset-key="525:0">​</span><span data-slate-leaf="true">Emmanuel is currently a DevOps Engineer for Mintel Group Ltd as part of the Cloud Platform and Infrastructure teams. Prior to that, Emmanuel was a Lead DevOps consultant for ECS (now Globallogic UK) in Edinburgh. Emmanuel has worked in the industry for about 4 years using technology such as AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD and so on. Outside of work, Emmanuel is a big fan of football, professional wrestling, comic books and video games. He also recently started training in Kickboxing.</span></p>

<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">Sola is a AWS Certified Solutions Architect, who currently works as a Cloud Advisory Manager at PwC UK. Through her career, she has garnered vast experience in Cloud Architecture and Digital Innovation, and has helped deliver technology solutions to millions of end users globally. She is also the founder of Cloudboosta Academy - where she teaches Cloud and DevOps Concepts to newbies. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, baking, and spending time with friends and family.</span></p>

<p>Georgina is a digital leader, charity founder and consultant who champions kindness in technology teams. She has led multiple digital and DevOps transformations for some of the UK's biggest brands. All whilst having undiagnosed ADHD. A chance conversation led her on a discovery journey about her ADHD brain which has helped her significantly. She is passionate about creating safe spaces for teams to thrive, solve complex problems, build interesting products and do their best work.</p>

<p>Greta Deats is a Technical Program Management Lead in the Industry Solutions Engineering (ISE) organization at Microsoft. ISE is a global engineering organization that works directly with the largest companies and not-for-profits in the world to tackle their most significant technical challenges. Greata featured on our WID podcast. She is a passionate speaker, volunteering her time and expertise to encourage young women to enter into careers in STEM.</p>

<p><span data-offset-key="549:0">​</span><span data-slate-leaf="true">Jade is a Delivery Manager at Intechnica. She started her professional life as a front-end developer having taught herself a handful of programming languages in order to build websites for local businesses to earn some money in the school holidays. A few years into her first &lsquo;real&rsquo; job as a developer, she discovered an enjoyment for project management and gradually moved over into that field. She has since worked as a website manager, product owner, digital coordinator, and project manager. As an intersectional feminist, Jade is passionate about diversifying the tech industry through the elimination of bias and stigma in favour of accommodation, support, and empowerment.</span></p>

<p class="p1">Jaipal joined 3M in 2019 after working as a process engineer and project manager for Procter &amp; Gamble, and before that, he studied chemical engineering at Imperial College, London. Today he is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (a black belt in science, rather than taekwondo!). His job involves working with the engineering, quality, and maintenance teams to run projects on the Six Sigma methodology. He identifies as a Gay Cis-Male and when choosing the engineering route, there was a distinct feeling that science and engineering weren&rsquo;t for queer people.</p>

<p>Jana is a Senior Writer and People Manager at mobile development studio Wooga in Berlin. Prior to joining Wooga, she worked on game titles such as Assassin's Creed Origins, Battlestar Galactica: Squadrons, and Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. She is the founder of the Pixelles Game Writing Incubator, a specialized training program for women in the field of video game writing.</p>

<p><span data-offset-key="3:0">​</span><span data-slate-leaf="true">Jeevantika Lingalwar is a Cloud Solution Architect in Microsoft. She is a Msc. In Cloud Computing and a B.E in Computer Science Engineering. Jeevantika is very passionate about Women in Technology and Diversity &amp; Inclusion. She founded International Women in Tech group and is leading a community of more than 5800 amazing members. She is a technology speaker and talks about the trending technology like AI and Quantum Computing. Jeevantika is very determined to help and motivate young minds, she is a mentor to 60 young kids aged 8-15 years and teaches them about &ldquo;Future in/of AI&rdquo;. Jeevantika also has her own free mentorship program called as 'Coffee Chat' with Jeevantika.</span></p>

<p>Jessica Chappell is a DevOps Engineer at Epistemix, Inc. Prior to her current role, she was the lead support and operations engineer at Cisco for a container orchestration platform used by internal engineering clients. She&rsquo;s worked in the DevOps realm since May 2018, getting her start at Informatica as a DevOps Engineer for a data governance project. She was able to start her role at Informatica with no formal certifications or training. Prior to working at Informatica, she was a US Marine, personal trainer, line cook, and food truck manager.</p>

<p>Jessica is a Developer Advocate, speaking about change and writing about the human implications of engineering decisions. She writes for a selection of tech publications and works as a co-organiser of DevOpsDays London and the regular meetup group DevSecOps London Gathering.</p> <p>Jessica has supported our community group, Women in DevOps, through the years on several panel sessions. Recently, joined us for panel session 'Belonging in DevOps: The Importance of Intersectionality' with DevOps Live.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Jessica started at Capgemini on the Degree Apprenticeship 5+ years ago, originally in Data and Analytics department for a few years, before moving into a DevOps/Platform Engineering role through Capgemini's DevOps academy. Jessica worked with the operations team for a year, and went on to achieve her degree, before moving into her second role in Platform Engineering to build a brand new platform.</p>

<p>Jo is a Solution Owner at Slalom Build, where she has been a delivery leader for the Slalom brand for 12 years, focusing on all aspects of product, project and program delivery excellence. When asked to provide her elevator pitch, she will simply say &ldquo;I build teams that build products&rdquo;. Recently, Jo has been enjoying her new role as &ldquo;lola&rdquo; (grandma) to two girls, by reflecting back to her personal lessons learned as a parent to bring in new ideas for raising a woman in the modern world.</p>

<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">​Julissa Mackey is an international tech leader who has dedicated her career in engineering to mission-driven organizations in the renewable energy sector in New York City. She is currently the DevOps Team Lead at CleanChoice Energy. A strong advocate for the importance of female representation in STEM, Julissa has partnered with organizations such as Power To Fly, focusing on empowering women to pursue, advance, and excel in their technical careers.</span></p>

<p>Meet Ky Kyler, somebody who has been involved in our Women in DevOps community, particularly in the US! Recently, she participated in our panel session 'Achieving Lasting Diversity in DevOps' with JFrog. ​</p>

<p>After completing her IT degree at university, Ngone began working as a Software Engineer. She has always had a passion for exploring new technologies and finding ways to automate tasks, which led her to delve into the world of DevOps culture. Ngone is particularly fascinated by Kubernetes and its ecosystem.</p> <p align="left">Currently, she holds the position of Platform Engineer at NatWest Boxed. In the last decade, she's dedicated her career to specialising in payment systems, banking, and fintech. It's been an exciting journey, and she's had the opportunity to contribute to various projects and gain valuable experience in these fields.</p>

<p align="left">​Oge is the Head of Developer Experience &amp; Operational Excellence at 10x. Oge comes from a strong software engineering background with over two decades of experience. Oge currently leads 3 functional areas around CICD, Enterprise Tooling &amp; Engineering Excellence. She is passionate about empowering engineering teams to deliver capabilities quickly, with minimum friction &amp; to optimum quality.</p> <p align="left">​Oge has supported our community groups, Women in DevOps and Pride in Tech, through the years on several panel sessions. Recently, joined us for a panel session 'Belonging in DevOps: The Importance of Intersectionality' with us at DevOps Live.</p>

<p>​Siobhan is an experienced consultant, with a focus on tech strategy and software development. With a background in education, Siobhan is personally most passionate about creating opportunities for others to learn, grow and break down barriers to achieve their goals. In recent months, she&rsquo;s been exploring the tech landscape in her heritage regions and dipping her toe back into visual art.</p> <p>Siobhan has supported our community group, Women in DevOps, through the years on several panel sessions. She joined us for 'The Rise of Serverless' with Slalom Build in 2022, and 'Black History Month: Diversity in DevOps' in 2020.</p>

<p>Over the last five years, Stefania has spoken at over 100 events globally and virtually including DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES), RSA Conference, OWASP 20th Anniversary, Women of Silicon Roundabout and many meetups including Women in DevOps.</p> <p class="p1">Stefania worked a variety of careers in her 20s, make-up artist, pole fitness teacher, sales, recruitment, HR, python developer and finally a cybersecurity solutions architect - she gave careers talks to teenagers about how it's okay to change your mind! Founded Women at Sonatype, improved diversity from 4% to 11% in two years and helped to shape global recruitment strategy.</p>

<p>​Victor is the Head of Engineering at HER App. He knew two things from a very early age: That he wanted to work in Tech and that he wanted to make the world a better place. Working in diverse teams in new countries made Victor even more aware of his sensitivity toward discrimination in our society - something he felt passionate about since his teenage years when he realised his bisexuality. Having endured discrimination and on so many occasions stood against it, led him to be part of various pro-equality organisations in Spain and the rest of Europe. Victor often gives back his time by doing public speaking as a queer person in leadership and is also a committee member of the London Bi network which looks for ways to reduce the discriminations these groups face.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Violet is currently Head of Platform AI at iProov, leading efforts to build ever more accurate models that distinguish real people from scammer impersonations in online transactions. She has been building image processing algorithms and related software for over three decades. She is a recovering academic, and now directs her teaching skills towards mentoring and coaching her younger colleagues in industry as well as educating broader audiences on the mysteries of AI.</p>

<p>Winna is a founding principal engineer at Syntasso doing some of everything to help deliver Kratix, an open-source framework for building internal platforms on Kubernetes. Previously, Winna worked in engineering management where she helped teams build platform components for Cloud Foundry and back-office retail tools at the online startup Cazoo. Outside of work, Winna mostly tries to keep up with her two young girls whilst maintaining her sanity.</p>

<p>Welcome Cat Starkey to the Women in DevOps Podcast! Cat's engineering career spans the past 20+ years, with experience as a software developer, architect, and engineering leader for SaaS companies large and small.&nbsp;Like many engineers, she thrives on problem-solving &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s technologies, businesses, or people. Her varied experience with different workplace cultures has shaped her leadership style and determination to actively provide a healthy work environment &mdash; particularly in her efforts to support women and other underrepresented groups in tech. She is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Expel, where she works with other leaders to craft a culture of support, respect, self-care, transparency, and humility.</p>

<div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> was studying English Literature at Uni when she decided to drop out to&nbsp;work in the NOC for one of the first ISPs in the US. This somewhat rash decision&nbsp;kick-started her career in tech and she&rsquo;s never looked back. Over the last 25&nbsp;years, <span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> has held an astonishing number of different roles within&nbsp;Networks and Infrastructure, from physically racking and stacking routers&nbsp;to architecting global backbone networks. Her career includes a 6-year maternity leave break where she gained some of her most valuable skills&nbsp;in leadership and communication. She is currently a Senior Platform&nbsp;Engineering Manager for Vodafone Business, leading a team of Systems and&nbsp;DevOps engineers. In her spare time, <span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> runs a taxi service for the inhabitants of her house and plays board games.</p> </div> <div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div>

<div>Mel has been an engineer for over six years, and she currently works as the Head of Continuous Improvement at Barclays. She specialises in Terraform and Azure with a focus on cloud operations, DevOps, and AI. Mel's latest project involves using generative AI to enhance enterprise solutions.&nbsp;Outside of work, Mel is passionate about giving back. She volunteers at a domestic violence shelter and teaches Python to new tech joiners and students from low-income backgrounds. She also runs a tech meetup in Manchester called Doxman, which has grown to over 1,000 members.</div>

<p>Lucia is the Head of Technology at Hitachi Technology. She has a deep love for tech, particularly due to its ability to enable and boost a business. Lucia manages an international team and enjoys the diversity and variation of the role. Lucia was a panel member at our Zurich-based event, 'From Diversity to Disruption: Shaping the Future of Swiss Tech'.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Shannon has previously spoken with us at the Tech Show Frankurt,&nbsp;discussing the power of intersectionality within DevOps and the wider tech sphere.&nbsp;Shannon is the Director of Artificial Intelligence at Cleverbridge, overseeing AI initiatives and strategies.&nbsp;&nbsp;Shannon has worked at companies of all sizes, from fortune 100 firms like The Home Depot and global conglomerates such as Koch Industries, to start ups like troy.&nbsp;&nbsp;In her spare time, she volunteers as Women in AI Ambassador for Germany and as part of the advisory board for Georgia Tech's Masters in Analytics program.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Julia works for GitLab and has previously spoken for WID at Tech Show Frankfurt,&nbsp;discussing the power of intersectionality within DevOps and the wider tech sphere.&nbsp;Julia is driven by her passion for technology, automation, and learning. With a background as a software developer, she's consulting companies on DevSecOps best practices. Before discovering her calling in IT, she worked as a simultaneous interpreter, providing translations at high-level diplomatic meetings, international conferences, and on television.</p>

<div> <p class="MsoNormal">Mel has been working as an engineer for the past six years, and she currently works at PWC as a specialist Engineer. Her specialisms include infrastructure, automation, and continuous integration with a strong focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). In her current role, Mel has been working on using Generative AI to streamline workplace operations.&nbsp;Outside of work, she is passionate about mentoring and empowering more people to get into technology. Mel volunteers at several local organisations teaching introductory lessons about coding and cloud technologies.</p> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div>