How to Make a Change
My time with Women in AI
“World Economics Forum: Artificial intelligence is too male” — The headline caught my attention in December 2018, while doing some research for my German AI blog. I extended my investigation, just to find a bunch of pretty disillusioning statistics about the lack of females in the AI industry. From that minute on, I decided to make a change. Or at least support it. So I googled “Women in AI”. And that’s how everything started.
The very first search result was the website www.womeninai.co. Women in AI (Wai) appeared to be an NPO start-up, just two years old but with a continually growing community. The three founders Caroline Lair, Hanan Salam and Moojan Ashgari hit a nerve when they decided to launch their inclusive do-tank in Paris. Their goal was to increase female participation and representation in the AI industry by hosting educational and networking events. I joined the community without any hesitation and was soon connected with hundreds of inspiring, talented women and men working in different fields of AI all around the world.
Change on January 8: Professor Guta Gopinath was appointed to serve as the IMF’s chief economist — making her the first woman to take on the role, which she stepped into in January 2019.
Don’t be afraid to make a change
It was a logical next step to apply as the Wai Ambassador for my hometown Berlin. I was well connected and known as a marketing expert with a passion for AI. It felt natural to organise local events to create a Berlin-based Wai community. My employer would support my voluntary work. Nothing was stopping me to become involved. The application process was as simple as it should be for a start-up: I applied in January 2019, had an interview with Caroline and received the confirmation a few days later. I felt like a pioneer.
Change on July 1: Women win big in Mexico’s elections, taking 51 per cent of the senate and 49 per cent of the house. Mexico is now ranked fourth globally for gender parity in legislative representation and the only country with an elected senate that is majority female.
Small steps can have a big impact
I decided to kick off with a small networking event, just to get a feeling for the female AI community in Berlin. I started from scratch, with no budget and a decent follower count on my private LinkedIn profile to communicate the event. The 1st WaiTime Berlin took place on July 4th 2019 in an Italian restaurant. The American Independence Day seemed to be perfect — because memorable — date, but I underestimated the number of competing events. This was the first of many learnings: An event date has to be chosen with care, to avoid ending up as the only participant. Luckily, I got to know five amazing AI women that evening and we agreed to meet soon again. It doesn’t need a lot of people or resources to successfully organise an event: Our shared passion for technology created a connection that inspired me for the coming months.
Change on September 5: Female pro surfers win their fight for equal pay when the World Surf League announces women will be eligible for the same prize money as men in 2019; in 2018, men competed for $607,800, while the women’s pot was $303,900.
Don’t be afraid to ask for support
Motivated by the first success, I took it one step further and organised an evening conference. That was a new level, as it required a location, speakers, technology and at least some free drinks for the attendees. I asked some of my contacts who worked at larger companies for help. Requesting support was a winning strategy: The 1st WaiTALK took place on September 3rd 2019 at the Berlin headquarter of Facebook. The tech giant was more than supportive, providing a fantastic location, delicious food as well as technology, service and security. 100 attendees gathered in the light-flooded office building at Potsdamer Platz to learn from four AI experts how artificial intelligence was influencing the customer journey. These four experts shared their knowledge voluntarily and flooded the network with learnings.
Change on October 18th: NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch took part in the first all-women spacewalk in October when they ventured out of the International Space Station to replace a power controller.
Voluntary work accelerates your growth
My voluntary work started to pay off: the network was growing, I discussed cooperations with tech companies like Google, Facebook or universities and connected with inspiring AI start-ups. One of those exciting, young companies even offered me a job — which I happily accepted. In parallel, I was already planning a new event project. In November 2019, the Wai founders offered me a promotion to Ambassador Germany. I was over the moon.
Change on December 13: In India, Sub Lieutenant Shivangi, 24, became the first woman pilot for the Indian Navy, fulfilling her life-long dream of becoming a pilot. Two more women pilots also got their Naval wings in December 2019.
Your community will help you win
How can you create an even stronger impact? The answer was simple: With educational events for school kids. The goal was to introduce girls and boys to AI and STEM subjects and spark their curiosity. This was my biggest challenge so far, as I had no experience with kids and wasn’t sure how to explain such complex subjects to them, without losing their attention. Some women from the first WaiTIME joined me for a brainstorming. Together, we were able to organise the 1st Wai2Go, which took place on December 10th 2019. Axel Springer’s AI team was interested in the project as well and sponsored the location, food and some of the educational parts. 20 school children from Platanus school in Berlin Pankow, spent a whole day with a bunch of motivated volunteers and discovered algorithms and deep learning. All my concerns vanished: It was in fact surprisingly easy to explain AI to kids. Never underestimate children.
Change in January 2020: A women’s march was held in Washington, D.C. and across the United States. Many people in countries around the world also participated in the women’s global march.
Don’t hesitate to scale
Being now responsible for a whole country and not just for a city, it was obvious that I needed more women-power. And with a team, structure and new processes became a priority. I focused on these things first and decided to organise events again once the basics had been set up. With the focus on recruiting, I was able to welcome a new team for Berlin by the end of January 2020. It didn’t stop there: At the end of April Wai Germany consisted of nine voluntary team members, located in four different cities: Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.
When COVID hit, we had to be flexible and creative: The first WaiTIME organised by the new team took place online on March 24th. More events followed soon after, as well as our own LinkedIn channel, a Medium page and new partnerships with AI experts, organisations and companies. We made it — despite limitations through an ongoing pandemic.
Organising an all-female crew for the Enerthon20 was the missing element in my personal attempt to make a difference. Five talented women from the German Wai community followed my call to fight climate change with data. It will be my pleasure to see them succeed at the hackathon, hosted by German Energy Agency DENA in autumn this year.
Change on September 1: Never stop learning
Looking back at the past 20 months at Women in AI is emotional and amazes me. Wai Germany wouldn’t be where it is today without my friends, community, cooperation partners and of course the Wai team. My thanks go to all of them!
I had the opportunity to meet so many inspirational women in tech. All of them were incredibly skilled, motivated and smart. They inspired me to continue my journey and gather more knowledge about data and AI. Therefore, I decided to step back from my role as Wai Ambassador Germany, to focus on my spare time studies in data science and machine learning at MITx, starting in September 2020.
I will always be a part of Women in AI. Knowing that we stand together in that crazy world, with the willingness and dedication to make it a better place for women and minorities — gives me the confidence that change will continue to happen.
