OUR SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY HUB

<p>Blessing Adogame, a global citizen raised in Nigeria, Germany, Scotland, and the United States, draws on her diverse upbringing to empower individuals worldwide. Her nomadic life instilled a profound appreciation for learning and adaptability. Each transition between countries became an opportunity for self-discovery, fostering resilience in the face of challenges. She is a community builder, author, keynote speaker, and educator.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dr. Marianne Charaf, Partner at itopia AG, holds a PhD in Business Informatics. Marianne grew up, lived and worked in several countries. As a woman in IT and a mother, she brings a unique perspective to her leadership roles. With extensive experience in strategy and transformation across diverse industries such as financial, public services, and life sciences, Marianne is dedicated to fostering synergy between business and IT domains to drive data and digital transformation initiatives and customer experience. Marianne was a panel member at our WID Zurich event 'From Diversity to Disruption: Shaping the Future of Swiss Tech'.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Jaipal joined 3M in 2019 after working as a process engineer and project manager for Procter &amp; Gamble, and before that, he studied chemical engineering at Imperial College, London. Today he is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (a black belt in science, rather than taekwondo!). His job involves working with the engineering, quality, and maintenance teams to run projects on the Six Sigma methodology. He identifies as a Gay Cis-Male and when choosing the engineering route, there was a distinct feeling that science and engineering weren&rsquo;t for queer people.</p>

<p>​Victor is the Head of Engineering at HER App. He knew two things from a very early age: That he wanted to work in Tech and that he wanted to make the world a better place. Working in diverse teams in new countries made Victor even more aware of his sensitivity toward discrimination in our society - something he felt passionate about since his teenage years when he realised his bisexuality. Having endured discrimination and on so many occasions stood against it, led him to be part of various pro-equality organisations in Spain and the rest of Europe. Victor often gives back his time by doing public speaking as a queer person in leadership and is also a committee member of the London Bi network which looks for ways to reduce the discriminations these groups face.&nbsp;</p>

<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">Dean is Chief People Officer at Avado, a tech-enabled learning provider of apprenticeships, professional qualifications and organisation-wide development programmes across agility, data, digital, people and marketing. As Executive facilitator of Avado&rsquo;s culture of success and belonging, Dean works with all Avado people to co-create the experiences that Avado people have of working there. As part of his focus on the overall Avado people plan, diversity, inclusion and belonging have begun to underpin the overall culture of the company, and this is brought to life through education, awareness-raising, and ongoing, radically open conversations across the business.</span></p>

<p><span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> was studying English Literature at Uni when she decided to drop out to&nbsp;work in the NOC for one of the first ISPs in the US. This somewhat rash decision&nbsp;kick-started her career in tech and she&rsquo;s never looked back. Over the last 25&nbsp;years, <span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> has held an astonishing number of different roles within&nbsp;Networks and Infrastructure, from physically racking and stacking routers&nbsp;to architecting global backbone networks. Her career includes a 6-year maternity leave break where she gained some of her most valuable skills&nbsp;in leadership and communication. She is currently a Senior Platform&nbsp;Engineering Manager for Vodafone Business, leading a team of Systems and&nbsp;DevOps engineers. In her spare time, <span class="outlook-search-highlight" data-markjs="true">Prakriti</span> runs a taxi service for the inhabitants of her house and plays board games.</p>

<p align="left">​Oge is the Head of Developer Experience &amp; Operational Excellence at 10x. Oge comes from a strong software engineering background with over two decades of experience. Oge currently leads 3 functional areas around CICD, Enterprise Tooling &amp; Engineering Excellence. She is passionate about empowering engineering teams to deliver capabilities quickly, with minimum friction &amp; to optimum quality.</p> <p align="left">​Oge has supported our community groups, Women in DevOps and Pride in Tech, through the years on several panel sessions. Recently, joined us for a panel session 'Belonging in DevOps: The Importance of Intersectionality' with us at DevOps Live.</p>

<p><span data-slate-fragment="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">​Barbara Lisa is the Change and Transformation Direction in Beyond Gravity. She brings two decades of transformation experience, particularly in the digital context. She worked in leadership positions driving transformation for global businesses like British Petroleum, World Health Organization, and Roche to name a few, as well as set up an international business at the age of 24 which she later sold to pursue a consulting career.</span></p>