Reminder: Leadership, Tech and Career Conversation with Melissa Slaymaker, Global Partnerships Director and Africa Regional Director at Women in Tech® Global

Let's have a conversation about how we can do more to open the field up and encourage more women to stay the course in STEAM.

Women make up only 35% of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education fields globally. In some countries such as Germany, this figure is even lower (around 20%), despite the almost free access to education afforded there.

Melissa Slaymaker, through her work with Women In Tech is opening up STEAM to current and future generations of women. The Women-in-Tech goal is to do this for 5 million women and girls around the world by 2030. Melissa is leading this mission across Africa.

In South Africa, Women In Tech boasts 11k members, has supported more than 5000 skills programme beneficiaries, set up 2 IT Learning Centres, held 2 robotic fairs, donated more that 150 computers and facilitated more than 200 mentorship matches amongst other achievements.

In fact, you can get involved in one of the key programmes that Women-In-Tech drive by nominating women that are moving the needle in technology around the world.

As a woman in STEAM who, when graduating in the field almost 20 years ago, had hoped that we‘d be further along on equality in STEAM and particularly equality in tech, I’m extremely passionate about the Women In Tech mission and goals. I am also delighted that someone of Melissa’s leadership capacity, passion and dedication is part of leading the drive for greater inclusion in technology. It is my fundamental belief that we can’t have enough leaders focused on making the world a better place and, indeed, a more equal world where every child and person, regardless of gender, can realize their full potential is a better world. Because this is not always true for girls and women, I consider the work that Women In Tech are doing, some of the most important work in the world right now.

It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I invite you to the Leadership, Tech and Career Conversation with Melissa Slaymaker, Global Partnerships Director and Africa Regional Director at Women in Tech® Global next week.

The conversation titled, Unlocking Tech: Enabling Access to Opportunities in Technology, will take place on 25 July 2024 (19:00 PM SAST | 19:00 PM CET | 13:00 PM EDT)

About Melissa Slaymaker

Melissa Slaymaker is a seasoned technology talent strategist with more than 2 decades of experience in the field. Having directly experienced the inclusion gap when it comes to women in the technology field during her talent search and placement activities, she co-founded the Women in Tech South Africa chapter, a registered NPC in 2020 which now has over 11 000 members and has impacted over 38 000 women via their programs’ computer donations and IT learning centers. As the Global Partnership Director and Africa Regional Director for the Women in Tech Global Movement, Melissa plays a pivotal role in driving initiatives that support and elevate women in technology.

Melissa has built an impactful career rooted in empowering women, fostering connections, and forging lasting relationships. She is passionate about Blockchain and to this end has dedicated the past four years to mastering the field and promoting women's education and involvement in same.

She is the Co-Founder of NFTy-Art, an innovative educational platform that demystifies Blockchain, the Metaverse, and AI through art. Melissa's academic background includes a BSc in Psychology, Genetics, and Physiology from the University of Stellenbosch as well as postgraduate studies in Business Management, Blockchain, and AI Fundamentals from the European Business University in Luxembourg.

A sought-after speaker, Melissa frequently presents at events, sharing her knowledge and advocating for greater female representation in the Tech and Blockchain industries.

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