IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - 17

Leaving Educated Women
in its WAKE

w

Amplifying the work of those
leading global change
When asked, many women credit a former teacher, mentor, relative, or friend
with giving them the confidence to pursue a career in engineering despite a hesitation of some kind. Whether it be that
the way forward would require being one
of few females in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) classes,
community pressure to take a different
path with one's career and family life, or
other concerns, challenges arise. Nevertheless, they followed their passions into
rewarding, fulfilling careers. Perhaps this
sounds familiar to some of you reading
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2016.2603585

Date of publication: 9 November 2016

right now. Now, how often have you considered becoming that support system or
role model for someone else?
The Women's Alliance for Knowledge
Exchange (WAKE) offers that opportunity through its Tech2Empower program.
The organization's mission is to "amplify
the work of women leading change globally." What that means in practice, says
cofounder Trish Tierney, is that, "Women
all over the world know best what the
women and girls in their community
need; we don't have to come in and
tell them how to solve their problems.
Instead, WAKE's purpose is to bring
them the additional skills and tools they
feel they need to do their work better and
on a bigger scale."
A secondary-but just as important-
component of WAKE's work is to create
life-changing opportunities for women in
the tech industry who want to give back
and connect with other women globally.
"So many women in STEM have come
through experiences where they were in

the minority and have
faced challenging
work or study environment s," says
Tierney. "We want
to encourage them
to see themselves as
role models because they
Trish Tierney
have incredible experience and so much to share."
However, the team recognizes that
even the most well-intentioned person
can have trouble figuring out where to
focus time and resources. "We get caught
up in our daily lives and you might want
to give back in some way, but it's hard
to design a volunteer opportunity yourself," says Tierney. "At WAKE, we see ourselves as a matchmaker between leaders
in developing communities and women
who have the skills and passions to help."
Founded in 2014 by Tierney and
Heather Ramsey, WAKE is still technically
a startup, but its leaders have more than
30 years of experience between them in



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016

IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - Cover1
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - Cover2
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - 1
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IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - Cover3
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - Cover4
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