PWiC: Meet Team Toronto!
PWiC’s Toronto Chapter was formed in October, 2019. Since then it has hosted 4+ events in the Downtown and Greater Toronto Area and has attracted over 60+ techies.
In December 2019, the chapter opened applications to recruit it’s leadership team and it received a great response. Today, we’re proud to announce that the following professionals have joined us as leads for the Toronto Chapter.
Please join us in welcoming this amazing group of smart & driven team members of PWiC Toronto!
Mariam Hussain, Chapter Lead
Marketing Manager, Afiniti | Social Entrepreneur @ Shaoore| AMA Member | YWiB, Canada |Lean In, Canada
Mariam has 5+ years of experience in the IT industry. She started her career in Tech Talent Consulting and overtime moved into B2B Marketing Management. Mariam is passionate about Technology, Diversity and Women leadership. She’s one of the founding members as well as the current head of PWiC’s Toronto Chapter.
In 2018, Mariam was the youngest, self-sponsored FSWC Pakistani immigrant to Canada. Her personal journey inspired her to support tech ecosystems that drive inclusion, promote digital skills & women empowerment. Mariam deeply cares about girl’s education, a particularly neglected area back in her homeland, and she feels technology along with education are very impactful mediums to drive change in this area. She’s setup a digital space called ‘Shaoore’ — a project that links young girls with tools and opportunities to drive careers in STEAM.
Mariam is associated with the American Marketing Association, AIESEC Global, Young Women in Business Canada and Lean In Canada.
Connect with her: Twitter — @MariemHussain
Maryam Yousaf, Connect Lead
Brand Communications, Digital & Social Media Expert | Founder, The Rack Couture
Maryam has been working in the Advertising and Digital Marketing world for over 9 years. Having worked for multiple global brands, she is a state-of-the-heart storyteller who channels her energies in creating powerful and impactful brand stories on conventional and digital media platforms.
Maryam has a Masters in Advertising and Public Relations, with a passion for creativity in the simplest of ways. She is also the Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at The Rack Couture — Pakistan’s first body positive, plus size clothing brand. Reaching to a vast audience in North America as well, the brand empowers women to break the typical body stereotypes and embrace their true shape and self.
In her free time, Maryam loves to try new restaurant and is obsessed with desserts. She is passionate about traveling and volunteers for multiple children’s organizations.
Sara Farrukh, Co-Connect Lead
Data Scientist, Telus | Electrical & Computer Engineer | Lead, Telus Girls in STEM | Hiker
Sara Farrukh is currently working in Telus as an aspiring Data Scientist and ML Engineer. She has a MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Canada.
She has around 2 years of industry experience in software development and wireless networks. As a professional who is early in her career, especially in the field of data science and ML, she aspires to improve end to end network experience using her background in wireless networks and Machine Learning.
Sara is also a big enthusiast for women empowerment and more women representation in STEM. She has started an initiative in Telus for Girls in STEM, where they provide support and mentorship to school girls, motivating them towards STEM early on.
Other than work she loves to hike, play board games, post Google reviews (for everything) and share memes.
Ambreen Shahid, Growth Lead
Microsoft Consultant | Board Member, Conestoga College | Member, IAMCP Women in Leadership and Technology
Ambreen is a Senior Consultant for Office 365 and SharePoint, currently working with 2toLead, a generous consulting company. Over the last 15 years, Ambreen has helped many organizations in healthcare, education, law, finance, insurance, real estate, government, natural resources, energy, regulatory authorities, consumer products and food industry.
Along the way, Ambreen has obtained several Microsoft certifications, attended the prestigious Microsoft Certified Master program in Redmond, and also has been in attendance at SharePoint conferences and Microsoft Ignite events. Ambreen is a member of the local SharePoint community and has also spoken at SharePoint Saturday in Toronto. An active advocate for women in STEM fields, Ambreen has been a member of IAMCP Women in Leadership and Technology, the WIT Network and often attends local Women in Communication and Technology events.
Ambreen is also a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Conestoga College, focused on Enterprise Content Management and Business Systems Analysts programs.
Ambreen is a very involved parent. In her free time, Ambreen and her daughter may be found doing STEM projects, discovering new worlds in juvenile fiction or biking around the town.
Farah Noman, Learning Lead
Technical Project Manager | Tech Evangelist | Advocate, Women Empowerment
Farah Noman is currently working as Technical Project Manager in Greater Toronto Area. She started her career as a software engineer and transitioned into Product Management from the past 9 years.
Farah is a Computer Science graduate with a masters degree in Software Project Management. She comes with an overall 14+ years of technical experience in system analysis, design, development and overall product life cycle management for enterprise level large scale applications. Over the years, she has taken pride in working with a global clientele thus gaining multi-faceted experiences.
She’s also an avid advocate of women empowerment and has keen interest in networking with women from diverse backgrounds, to not only support them unconditionally but also learn and grow from their experiences.
Farah is a mom to two beautiful boys and strives to raise them as compassionate individuals. In her free time, you would find her being an absolute home maker who loves spending time with family and friends and throwing parties as a means of bringing everyone together over a bunch of home-made meals.
Go team Toronto! We wish good luck to all team leads.
