PDX Empower

I created PDX Empower as a mentorship program for women in technology based on my own experiences as a mentor and a mentee.

The program focused on building professional confidence and providing mentorship in a cohort. It is designed to help women hone their presentation and communication skills to achieve greater success in their careers. Participants in the program improved their ability to present ideas with confidence in a positive and supportive professional environment.

Based on the success of my program, I want to make the contents available to everyone so that it can help any individual with the intent to improve their professional skills. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions on the training material using the contact form on my website.

Welcome to PDX Empower! We are blurring the geographic boundaries of this program by making it available to anyone anywhere.

Mission

• To provide a safe environment where everyone is comfortable making mistakes and providing feedback to each other so that we can learn from each other and grow together.
• Building confidence in women in technology to empower them to make an impact and help them improve their career growth.
• Help women in tech overcome feelings of nervousness, hesitancy and low self esteem and grow into more confident individuals.
• Improve one’s ability to communicate better

Description

The program followed a structured schedule. In each weekly session, I addressed a different topic with the cohort to train them on specific skills related to that topic which was then followed by a homework assignment (a presentation topic) for the next session. Every week, the 2nd half of the training session, consisted of a brief presentation by every participant to the rest of the cohort. While the cohort provided feedback evaluating two aspects: confidence & content.

Topics

• Building your brand: Learn how developing your own personal brand can enhance your marketability
• Public speaking/ Giving a presentation: Gain confidence in presenting your ideas
• Networking skills: Approach people with confidence and build your own professional network
• Techniques to handle tough situations/conversations: Master the art of difficult conversations
• Situational Role Plays: Practice confidently navigating common workplace situations.
• Being confident in a team with an unbalanced gender ratio: How to use what you learned in this program in a gender unbalanced workplace.

I have added all my materials from each session here for free. My goal is to encourage anyone who wants to hone their skills in these professional areas by providing easy access to the materials covered in this program.

Next Steps

1. Participants were encouraged to pick a buddy/buddies to stay in touch with to help them continue to advance in their professional journeys. (This could be based on friendships formed during this program or someone they admired or someone they wanted to help.) We even had a Slack channel to help everyone stay in touch.
2. Pass it on – Find someone who may come to you for direction and help them on their journey just like this program helped you.
3. Continue to expand your network through tools like LinkedIn, networking events, meetups, workshops, etc.

PDX Empower was conceived and founded by Sejal D'Souza and executed in collaboration with Women Who Code - Portland.