The Next Leap Forward
2021 is a year of radical change for us.
With so much going on in the world and all around us after a year like 2020, we knew something special was in store for us all in 2021. How can there not be? The pandemic has created an unexpected pivot for organizations across the globe that had to come up with innovative ideas to thrive in this period of unknowns. For us at Women in Data, this pivot came at a great time and it made a few things obvious for us. Staying indoors allowed us the cocoon to rethink how we want to present ourselves in the world and ultimately, what we wanted to do most for our members.
We found creative ways of reaching out to our communities and experienced tremendous growth. We went live with 30 new chapters globally, completed an amazing five years as an organization and all our chapters were busy bees moving from in-person events to online webinars. Rather than having quarterly symposiums, we moved to the more nimble virtual meetings. This allowed our members to hear from active members of their local communities while they stayed home, and we actually got to see (and hear) more of each other online!
We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done so far and 2020 was spent carefully listening to our community, the areas our members expressed most interest in, and we are delivering. 2021 is giving us the opportunity to keep what we think works really well and create new ways of connecting and nurturing our community.
What are our top priorities for Women in Data this year?
Community: We will continue to make sure our chapters and our members are growing and creating the bustling community we can all benefit from. Getting a coffee with someone in your area to have an informational interview or connecting with people you might want to co-create with in your local area has its advantages and people like having local chapters. Our members’ ability to engage with other folks local to them will continue to be a benefit that’s received from the membership.
Check out our membership packages here!
Outcomes: Growing a community is not the same as delivering results to that community and while we endlessly enjoy hosting events and learning from each other, we want to hold ourselves to a higher standard and tie results and outcomes back to our continued success. One of the ways we will continue to measure our performance is by seeing how many members we can help get hired and advance in their careers. Our mission is to increase diversity in data careers and we are committed to creating pathways to success for our community this year. Now the fun part: how we get there!
What is the Next Leap Forward?
Here’s an overview of the programs you can expect this year:
Awareness: Our local chapter meetings will focus more on building community within the local chapter and offer networking opportunities virtually. This was a big priority for our members and building this community more in-depth will continue to be a benefit of membership. We will also continue with our online global webinars, blogs, and resources, many of which are already online in our youtube channel here.
Education: We have a lot of people that come to our organization that is looking for education paths into the field and we want to be a trusted advisor for people coming into the field that are looking for guidance on what education they need to get started on their path. We want to help guide them on that journey along with virtual study groups as well as our residency programs.
Advancement: Last year we started offering life and career coaching which we will be continuing this year, along with legal support and referrals, leadership training, job board, and mentorship. We want to offer resources for professionals in the field so that they continue to grow and thrive in this ever-expanding field! Whether they are looking for inspiration and guidance to advance in the direction of their dream role or they need help in facing discrimination or their lifestyle circumstances change, we want to be there for you. Look out for our mentorship program coming out this month!
We are updating our internal systems and integrations this year on our career tracks platform so that we can unify our programs and measure success. This platform will be available to everyone, whether you’re at a job, a student, or a working professional that’s looking to scale up. This is where the residency programs, job board, referral, and mentorship programs will come in. We understand that not everyone is starting at square one, so no matter where you are in your journey you can step into your path to advancement within the industry.
If you are a part of Women in Data, we want to lift you up, make sure you have the support you need and give you the best resources possible.
Thank you for an incredible five years. We couldn’t have done it without you and we’re wishing you a new year full of success and growth.
We rise by lifting others.