Staying Optimistic Through it All
How Annie Gul is Introducing Women in Pakistan to a New Vision for the Future
Annie Gul’s story is unlike any other. Growing up in a war-torn region of Pakistan called Peshawar, surrounded by bloodshed and terrorist bombings, career opportunities and professional growth were the last things on Annie’s mind. During that time, Annie was studying to be a teacher, but felt unsatisfied with her path. She knew she wanted to do something more, and dreamt of either going into business or becoming a bureaucrat. When her family moved to a more stable area called Abbottabad, Annie was able to pursue a new career and received an MBA in finance from Hazara University. It was there she decided to become an entrepreneur. As the country became more politically stable, Annie built her own tourism company, with the desire to show the world Pakistan’s beautiful natural terrain and unexplored valleys.
After Annie’s experience with entrepreneurship, she joined CodeMatics, an information technology company based in Pakistan. During her time there, Annie led multiple projects with more than 70 million total users, responsible for overseeing customer relations and product promotion. One of those projects was called Blood Community, a platform that tackles the blood scarcity issue in Pakistan. Annie is most proud of her work leading this life-saving initiative, as she was able to significantly increase the user base of blood donors able to help those in need of a donor.
“We have more than 25,000 donors in the app who are virtually connected, so whenever you need blood you can enter in the blood type and city name and see a list of donors available in that region. We have helped a lot of patients.”
Apart from working for CodeMatics, Annie spent much of her time organizing meetups and other events for women in technology in Pakistan. Through her community involvement and her incredible work at CodeMatics, Annie became the Abbottabad Chapter Lead for Pakistani Women in Computing (PWiC), a Google Women Tech Makers Ambassador in Peshawar, and a consultant for UN Women. At the UN, Annie works on women empowerment and gender mainstreaming initiatives in the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Annie works with disenfranchised women in these areas by providing resources and encouraging them to speak up for their rights.
“The women in KP are confined to their homes, cannot go out, and are not aware of their human rights. They don’t have access to education or health services. We identify the common problems that women are facing and try and educate them so they can improve their lives. We work with women in agriculture that are already doing farmwork for their households, but we encourage them to do it for compensation.”
While Annie has faced intense challenges throughout her life, she manages to stay optimistic through it all. Her vision for her own life and for the women of Pakistan keeps her motivated in the face of personal challenges.
“The first really challenging experience I had was being a woman in a time we were going to war. At that time it was very difficult to speak for women or encourage women. Now as a woman from a developing country in a corporate setting, my aim and vision keep me on track. I have decided I will work to support female empowerment, a cause that keeps me awake at night, so that I can make a real difference.”
In the future, Annie wants to continue her work supporting women in KP and expose more girls to technology and business. She knows there is an abundance of opportunity for women to thrive in spite of a difficult or oppressive environment when they’re simply aware of what options are available to them. Opportunity combined with unwavering optimism is a crucial combination, according to Annie.
“I would like to convey to all women to stay optimistic. You all are remarkable, you just need to stay consistent, passionate, and motivated. That is how you can achieve whatever you want to.”
This story was written by Rina Schiller, Wogrammer Journalism Fellow. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.
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