GLAM Event with Cisco and iTalent Digital: June 2024
Cisco’s Building 11 was buzzing during the recent in-person GLAM event held on 26 and 27 June in San Jose, CA! ⚡Attendance was high, the energy was palpable, and the C-suite speakers were fantastic. Our special thanks to Meghan Donohoe and the Women of Cisco group for their incredible event support behind-the-scenes. It takes a committed, community effort to deliver a GLAM event!
We welcomed over 70 8 to 12 year-old registrants, with over 25% from underserved and underrepresented communities. We had 17 volunteers from various companies and organizations, including our premiere event sponsors Cisco and iTalent Digital. Teams of girls were supported by 22 wonderful female mentors and assistants, from 14 to 18 years old.
GLAM Operations Specialist, Stephanie Luna-Lopez, was the program host for both days. She did a wonderful job of keeping the girls on task while also ensuring they were enjoying themselves. Smiles were seen, laughter was heard, and jokes were shared throughout the two days!
The female speakers and breakout session leads for this GLAM event gave great presentations and led engaging Q&A sessions. Many speakers generously stayed afterwards to answer additional questions from the attendees.
Our tremendous thanks to these incredible speakers and session leads:
Leslie McKnew, Cisco
Apoorva Panidapu, Apoorva Panidapu’s Art Gallery
Maitri Chattopadhyay, Disney Streaming
Christelle Mombo-Zigah, Cisco
Megan Bazan, Cisco
Chelsey Baker, National Mentoring Day
Renée La Londe, iTalent Digital and Girls Leadership Academy Meetup
Ashwini Vasudeva, ASTUTE
Carolyn Herzog, Elastic
Dorian Webb, Dorian Webb
Christina van Fosson, Cisco
Sara Morales, Cisco
During the coding breakout session, pairs of girls created virtual gardens incorporating several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals using the Scratch coding language. During the vision boarding session, attendees painted individual wood butterflies with colors, phrases, and symbols that are meaningful and empowering to them.
We are so proud of all the attendees for creating team business pitches and presenting their ideas to a professional panel of judges, judge facilitators, and families. Through individual team business plan development with Renée La Londe and Tracy Adams, as well as 1:1 team mentorship with Chelsey Baker, all teams were fully prepared to deliver their business pitches on the stage!
Special appreciation to the judges and judge facilitators for undertaking this task and for implementing our new online judging form:
Dorian Webb, Dorian Webb
Emma Polster, Cisco
Jane Adams, CoachVille
Karen Clarkson, Ricoh USA
Meghan Donohoe, Cisco
Tina Chin, Cisco
Renée La Londe, iTD and GLAM
Tracy Adams, Greetr
Uma Achutha, GLAM
All nine teams presented business pitches on stage to a professional panel of judges and an adult audience. The girls certainly brought their optimism, energy, and enthusiasm for the future! Three teams were awarded trophies for their outstanding business pitches. Honorable Mention medals were awarded to the remaining six teams. In addition, one attendee earned the Chelsey Award trophy for demonstrating the most growth and courage in public speaking.
Honorable Mentions:
Team 2 with Mentors Vaishnavi Raghu and Lakshmi Kathiresan - “Acclimate Thermoblanket”
Team 3 with Mentor Aarna Priya - “Infinite”
Team 5 with Mentors Shruti Raghu and Sandra Haridas - “Sous Chef”
Team 7 with Mentor Aahana Vasudeva - “Forever Foodie”
Team 8 with Mentors Arushi Mani and Jessica Mathew - “Eco Style”
Team 9 with Mentors Varshi Amara and Nikita Kanike - “My Health Shelf”
Finally, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our premiere event sponsors, Cisco and iTalent Digital, for making this STEAM education and leadership program accessible to so many girls. We appreciate additional sponsorship from National Mentoring Day, Black Lamb Media LLC, JP Graphics Santa Clara, Heavenly Designs Event Rentals, Minuteman Press San Jose, and Tooli-Art. We couldn’t hold these events without financial support, amazing volunteers, and incredible mentors! Thank you all for supporting the June 2024 GLAM event with Cisco and iTalent Digital.
Volunteers:
Anita Narang, Cisco
Carly Shelar Prado, Cisco
Heidie Mathew, Cisco
Kelly Haan, Cisco
Meggan Molinaro, Cisco
Saranya Narayanan, Cisco
Ernie Arboles, iTD
Ethan McCarthy, iTD
Kevin Yee, iTD
Silvia Quintanilla, iTD
Iviema Bernal, Sacred Heart Nativity Schools
Marisol Martinez-Sigala, Sacred Heart Nativity Schools
Michael Serranía, Sacred Heart Nativity Schools
Raul Tornel, Sacred Heart Nativity Schools
Andrea Lopez, UC Merced
Christina Donati, Santa Clara Unified School District
Isela Lopez, Merced CC
Jyothi Nagali, eBay
Mark Doree, Blue Earth Training Ltd
Samrithi Baala Saravanan, Lead Volunteer
Mentors:
Aahana Vasudeva
Aarushi Shrivastava
Anusha Vasudeva
Anushka Shrivastava
Jessica Mathew
Lakshmi Kathiresan
Saniya Pazhyannur, Lead Mentor
Seerat Dang
To become more involved and help us reduce gender bias, bridge the gender gap, and build female self-confidence to pursue STEM, leadership, and business goals, engage with us! Explore our website, watch program content on GLAMtv, read our blog posts, encourage your business partners to sponsor a GLAM event, donate to support future GLAM programs, follow @GLAMReadyToLead on socials, and/or email Team GLAM.