Annalisa Arcella, a scientist based in London, spent her career working in data science, using her technical expertise to work alongside people in different sectors with different backgrounds. But a project in March 2021 led her in a new direction — working with cloud technology and ultimately becoming a Women Techmakers Ambassador.

She started working on a project for the Public Sector in London. The goal was to analyze thousands of responses to public policy consultations. She was collaborating with a customer engineer from the Google Cloud Platform team on the project, as it was her first time using the technology. After the two worked together, he suggested she participate in the Women Developers Academy, an intensive program for women in tech to develop their public speaking skills and confidence.

Annalisa was accepted to the Women Developers Academy a few months later. “For two months, they taught us how to contribute to the community via technical public speaking and writing blog posts, as well as how to prepare technical video content,” she says. After graduating, Annalisa was inspired to do more for the community of women in tech around her. “Joining the program motivated me to share my experience and inspire like-minded young women who want to pursue careers in tech,” she says. “I worked and lived in different countries between Europe and the U.S. and women are still a minority group in tech, especially in non-European countries.”

In December 2021, Annalisa became a Women Techmakers Ambassador, joining a global group of leaders around the world passionate about impacting their communities and building a world where all women can thrive in tech. Additionally, her first experience using Google Cloud Platform sparked her interest in new areas of technology and led her to a new role as machine learning engineering manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers. “I have always worked closely with engineers in high-performance computing environments, on the boundary of science and tech,” she says. “Now, I’m excited to move to machine learning engineering, spending most of my time on the cloud.”

Since becoming an Ambassador and getting a new job, Annalisa has kept quite busy. As an Ambassador, she’s been able to share her knowledge about Google Cloud, and is planning learning sessions in MLOps and Tensorflow. “I am meeting really inspiring people from all over the world,” she says. This role has also allowed her to mentor other women who are interested in getting into the tech industry, as well as participating in training sessions to help her grow her own skills.

In June — almost a year after she first participated in the Women Developers Academy — she took center stage to give a talk about the advantages of using fully managed Google Cloud services at the DataLift conference in Berlin. “The talk attracted many people, and the room was full,” she says. “I was talking about the challenges of a small team in machine learning operations, which is one of the hottest topics in data science right now.”

Google Developer Experts (GDEs) are tech enthusiasts from around the world who are skilled in Google technologies, actively sharing their knowledge in talks, workshops and online content. Road to GDE, geared toward developers from historically underrepresented groups in tech, supports participants on their path to becoming GDEs. The three-month program pairs them with mentors — current GDEs — to learn new content development strategies and prepare for the GDE application and interview process.

The Road to GDE program launched in 2021 with 58 mentors and mentees. At the beginning of 2022, it had grown to 140 people — 70 mentors and 70 prospective GDEs — from around the world.

“We heard so much positive feedback about Road to GDE from both mentors and mentees that we decided to scale it up,” says Pati Jurek, a program manager for Road to GDE. “It was amazing to see how it sparked connections among people in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, all working toward a shared goal to become Google Developer Experts.”

Sharing knowledge with the community

Kensy Ayala from Honduras taught a workshop at the Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) Latin America conference and regularly gives talks to Google Developer Groups about technologies like Angular and Firebase. She joined Road to GDE to get new content ideas and walked away with a reaffirmed passion for teaching others to code: “I love software development, and I love Angular, and I feel more inspired than ever to share that knowledge.”

Ezekias Bokove from the Republic of Benin joined “to become part of a community of passionate and experienced people” and improve his content production skills. “Thanks to the program, the quality of my content has improved significantly,” he says.

Road to GDE also helps mentees connect with even more communities. “Through this program, I was able to reach more developers around the world,” says Ahmed Tikiwa from South Africa. “I started giving virtual talks to audiences in France, Croatia, Norway, Germany and the U.S. My network has grown tremendously.”

Supporting prospective GDEs

The mentors behind Road to GDE play a key role in the program, and their mentees’ success.

Dart and Flutter GDE Anna Leushchenko from Ukraine helped her mentee build up their confidence and learn more about the GDE program and application process: “My mentee applied for the GDE program before the Road to GDE program ended,” says Anna. “I was so happy to learn they’ve already successfully passed the first step!”

After completing the Road to GDE program, which included mentoring sessions with Debbie O’Brien, Dominika Zajac from Poland became a Web Technologies GDE. “Debbie helped me improve my articles, lectures and social media content,” says Dominika. “With her guidance, I also understood the application process better and gained the confidence to pursue my path as a GDE.”

Join us on the Road to GDE

Interested in the Road to GDE program? Applications are now open for the next cohort, happening August 31 to December 1. Apply by July 22!

Growing up, mathematics was not one of Jade Lee’s favorite subjects. “I was absolutely terrible at it!” she says. “But when I got older, I recognized there are very few of us who are naturally good at mathematics.” With time and effort her skills improved, so much so that today she is pursuing her undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics at the London School of Economics. There, she also volunteers her time as a Women Techmakers Ambassador and Google Developer Student Club Lead.

While she enjoys math much more than when she was younger, Jade still believes that it is a “ruthless subject.” Since there is typically a right or wrong answer, it’s not uncommon to make mistakes or experience failure. And since Jade was often one of the only women in her classes, she was anxious about making these mistakes in front of her classmates, and felt she generally lacked the confidence of her male counterparts. “For me, there was always a doubtful feeling at the back of my head that I didn’t belong there or that I was only fooling myself to continue down this route,” she says.

But when she joined the Women Techmakers Ambassador program last year, two big things started to shift for her. First, she says, she was inspired by the “beautiful community of women around the world pursuing technology.” She saw the power of having women role models and a supportive community in a male-dominated industry, and quickly took the initiative to build this community herself — including hosting events that brought more than 500 female students together to become more involved in STEM and learn about technological careers across industries.

Through sharing experiences and challenges with other women in the field, she felt less alone. She also started to see that being one of the only women could also mean new opportunities: “You are breaking new ground, setting new expectations and changing the industry bit by bit for the better,” she says.

After becoming an Ambassador, she also started to develop a new relationship with failure. Bolstered by the support of her community, she started to feel her confidence grow, which helped her speak up more. And instead of being afraid to get something wrong, she recognized she was actually learning a lot more from her mistakes than her successes. “Those who grow and develop as STEM students are those who embrace those failures, learn from their mistakes and reflect on their experiences,” she says. “Failure gives us an opportunity to learn, be challenged and thrive.”

Jade is excited about her future, and wants to continue pushing towards gender equity in STEM. Her advice to other women looking to break into the industry: “Embrace the challenge, learn from the difficulties and be grateful for the experiences you’ve had.”

Subscribe to the Women Techmakers YouTube channelso you don’t miss out on future Ambassador Spotlight videos and more

Growing up, mathematics was not one of Jade Lee’s favorite subjects. “I was absolutely terrible at it!” she says. “But when I got older, I recognized there are very few of us who are naturally good at mathematics.” With time and effort her skills improved, so much so that today she is pursuing her undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics at the London School of Economics. There, she also volunteers her time as a Women Techmakers Ambassador and Google Developer Student Club Lead.

While she enjoys math much more than when she was younger, Jade still believes that it is a “ruthless subject.” Since there is typically a right or wrong answer, it’s not uncommon to make mistakes or experience failure. And since Jade was often one of the only women in her classes, she was anxious about making these mistakes in front of her classmates, and felt she generally lacked the confidence of her male counterparts. “For me, there was always a doubtful feeling at the back of my head that I didn’t belong there or that I was only fooling myself to continue down this route,” she says.

But when she joined the Women Techmakers Ambassador program last year, two big things started to shift for her. First, she says, she was inspired by the “beautiful community of women around the world pursuing technology.” She saw the power of having women role models and a supportive community in a male-dominated industry, and quickly took the initiative to build this community herself — including hosting events that brought more than 500 female students together to become more involved in STEM and learn about technological careers across industries.

Through sharing experiences and challenges with other women in the field, she felt less alone. She also started to see that being one of the only women could also mean new opportunities: “You are breaking new ground, setting new expectations and changing the industry bit by bit for the better,” she says.

After becoming an Ambassador, she also started to develop a new relationship with failure. Bolstered by the support of her community, she started to feel her confidence grow, which helped her speak up more. And instead of being afraid to get something wrong, she recognized she was actually learning a lot more from her mistakes than her successes. “Those who grow and develop as STEM students are those who embrace those failures, learn from their mistakes and reflect on their experiences,” she says. “Failure gives us an opportunity to learn, be challenged and thrive.”

Jade is excited about her future, and wants to continue pushing towards gender equity in STEM. Her advice to other women looking to break into the industry: “Embrace the challenge, learn from the difficulties and be grateful for the experiences you’ve had.”

Subscribe to the Women Techmakers YouTube channelso you don’t miss out on future Ambassador Spotlight videos and more

Growing up, mathematics was not one of Jade Lee’s favorite subjects. “I was absolutely terrible at it!” she says. “But when I got older, I recognized there are very few of us who are naturally good at mathematics.” With time and effort her skills improved, so much so that today she is pursuing her undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics at the London School of Economics. There, she also volunteers her time as a Women Techmakers Ambassador and Google Developer Student Club Lead.

While she enjoys math much more than when she was younger, Jade still believes that it is a “ruthless subject.” Since there is typically a right or wrong answer, it’s not uncommon to make mistakes or experience failure. And since Jade was often one of the only women in her classes, she was anxious about making these mistakes in front of her classmates, and felt she generally lacked the confidence of her male counterparts. “For me, there was always a doubtful feeling at the back of my head that I didn’t belong there or that I was only fooling myself to continue down this route,” she says.

But when she joined the Women Techmakers Ambassador program last year, two big things started to shift for her. First, she says, she was inspired by the “beautiful community of women around the world pursuing technology.” She saw the power of having women role models and a supportive community in a male-dominated industry, and quickly took the initiative to build this community herself — including hosting events that brought more than 500 female students together to become more involved in STEM and learn about technological careers across industries.

Through sharing experiences and challenges with other women in the field, she felt less alone. She also started to see that being one of the only women could also mean new opportunities: “You are breaking new ground, setting new expectations and changing the industry bit by bit for the better,” she says.

After becoming an Ambassador, she also started to develop a new relationship with failure. Bolstered by the support of her community, she started to feel her confidence grow, which helped her speak up more. And instead of being afraid to get something wrong, she recognized she was actually learning a lot more from her mistakes than her successes. “Those who grow and develop as STEM students are those who embrace those failures, learn from their mistakes and reflect on their experiences,” she says. “Failure gives us an opportunity to learn, be challenged and thrive.”

Jade is excited about her future, and wants to continue pushing towards gender equity in STEM. Her advice to other women looking to break into the industry: “Embrace the challenge, learn from the difficulties and be grateful for the experiences you’ve had.”

Subscribe to the Women Techmakers YouTube channelso you don’t miss out on future Ambassador Spotlight videos and more