Technology creates positive change in the world across many industries, from healthcare to communication and education. According to a report from Logitech, 92% of women working in tech and IT say the ability to make a meaningful contribution to society is a primary factor in their career development. Celebrating the good work being done by the industry, especially women, could help close the gender gap that persists in the field.
Logitech MX supports opportunities for women and girls to build the skills they need for STEM careers and honors women working in tech and IT with #WomenWhoMaster. The series has featured many women who are giving back to their community through tech, including the three stories below.
Nelly Cheboi: Gives Back to Sustainably Solve Poverty
As a little girl, Nelly Cheboi’s family barely had enough money for food or shoes, let alone a computer. She dreamed about ending this poverty for her family and others in rural communities.
“I wanted to rewrite what it looks like to grow up in a village like Mogotio [a small village in Kenya].”
After taking an introduction to Java course in college, she saw the power of coding. That moment led her to found the nonprofit TechLitAfrica, which partners with schools in Kenya to provide a technology-based curriculum focused on self-efficacy, troubleshooting, and internet skills. Nelly single-handedly provided the computers for the nonprofit’s early years, collecting discarded computers from the U.S. and transporting them to Kenya. It’s part of the reason Nelly was named the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year. TechLit Africa has reached 4,000 students in 10 schools, and Nelly plans to grow that number to 100 schools.
Yuko Nagakura: Gives Back to Fight the Patriarchy
Yuko Nagakura is proof that someone is never too young to make a difference. By 17 years old, she built two global communities that invite girls into tech and challenge gender inequality in the industry. World Coding Club introduces the basics of coding to young people in more than 30 countries. Through hackathons and digital groups, the club gives young people, with a focus on girls, the opportunity to learn coding skills in a fun way. One of Yuko’s favorite parts of the project is the opportunity to mentor younger students.
Her other organization, SHEQUALITY, is an online platform where female writers from around the world publish articles about feminism from a global lens. Yuko started SHEQUALITY to change the world and combat gender inequality. However, the site has changed her as well, broadening her views on how feminism differs around the world.
“Reading the articles and talking to the other girls has been a really eye-opening experience for me. Because there are girls from so many different cultural lenses it’s changed how I think about feminism.”
Kavya Krishna: Gives Back to Democratize Financial Independence
While working her first job at a major technology company, Kavya Krishna was only one of two women on her team. They started meeting for what they called “women in tech” lunches. The goal was to meet other women in the company but it slowly became passionate discussions about the women’s journeys to corporate America and the lack of support for girls in their home countries to become financially independent. As someone who always saw technology as a path to gain financial independence, Kavya wanted to do something. So she started the Society of Women Coders, a nonprofit that teaches digital skills to girls from underserved and at-risk communities around the world.
“[In the beginning] we called ourselves the Sisterhood of the Traveling Coders, but it wasn’t an organization. We were just a group of women techies who wanted to give back.”
At first, Kavya and her co-founder used their vacation days and savings to travel to different countries to conduct coding camps. Now five years later, Kavya has built a thriving online and in-person community of girls who are empowered to direct their own future. She knows these girls will soon be scientists, top engineers, and heads of corporations. She hopes they too will be inspired to give back to their communities.
Influential innovators like Nelly, Yuko, and Kavya are changing the world and inspiring the next generation of tech professionals. Read more about these difference-makers and others like them in Logitech’s #WomenWhoMaster series.
Ready to help more women and girls make a meaningful contribution to the world through STEM careers? Share the #WomenWhoMaster series on social or submit your own #WomenWhoMaster nominee by tagging them on Instagram with the hashtag or emailing their story to us here.
Women Who Master puts a spotlight on women who have made outstanding contributions to STEM fields. The goal of the series is to celebrate those contributions, inspire future leaders, and help close the gender gap in technology.
