Description
Did you know that recent statistics suggest it would take 108 years to balance the gender equilibrium in the tech industry?
Within the next decade, millions of jobs will be replaced as there is a global epidemic looming that has yet to be solved: The global tech talent shortage.
In an age where humanity is struggling to keep up with such a labour demand, isn’t even more daunting to know that over half of the able workforce is limited to opportunities in sectors where talent is scarce regardless of gender? To put it in perspective, currently only 22% of AI professionals globally are women.
If we are to tackle such goliath problems facing humanity, than we need to start with ensuring jobs within the tech industry are gender neutral… but what is it that is stalling such progressive development?
This panel not only aims to help shed light on gender equality in tech from an equality standpoint, but also why it is imperative for humanity in general.
Panelists:
Payal Shah - CEO, L’Dezen
Payal Shah is a Hong Kong Indian who founded her international fine jewellery and lifestyle brand in line L’ Dezen in 2011. Her designs are inspired by of art, architecture and culture and adorned by Hollywood stars on the red carpet. Since then, she has added different collection labels such as Oly+Pie and the newly launched The Jewel Thief under the brand. Payal also launched two apps in the past years; Masterplan It and Instajewel which led her becoming a start-up adviser and co-founder and VC at The APE fund where she seeks to invest in businesses in the luxury lifestyle sector as well as tech and service-based industries.
Kathy Wen - Chief of Staff & Transformation Office, Customer Experience APJC, Cisco
Kathy is the Chief of Staff of Customer Experience (CX) in Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China at Cisco Systems. In this role, Kathy is responsible to lead strategic planning and drive the CX transformation to deliver greater business outcomes for Cisco’s customers on their digital transformation journey.
Kathy has been in the hi-tech industry for over 10 years and has served in multiple business functions, including Engineering, Marketing, Supply Chain Operations, and Customer Experience in the US and Asia Pacific regions.
Prior to Cisco, Kathy was a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked on strategic, operational, marketing, and organizational engagements across the consumer goods, retail, and finance sectors in the Asia Pacific region.
Kathy holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Washington and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Kathy is also a Co-Founder of the Chi Sigma Alpha National Sorority, a volunteer hip-hop dance instructor for kids, and a professional-level singer on YouTube, StarMaker, and at local Hong Kong gigs.
Lavine Hemlani - CEO, Xccelerate
Lavine is passionate about eliminating the financial barrier between education and opportunity for motivated learners to unleash their potential. Prior to Xccelerate, Lavine co-founded FLYR and worked with deep learning start-up Thread Genius. Lavine began his career in investment banking in NYC at Lazard M&A and held roles at the following funds: Atlas, Marwar Capital and Union Park Capital.
Lee Williamson - Editor, Generation T Asia
Lee Williamson is a Hong Kong-based journalist with a decade of experience in the Greater China region. Formerly in the editor’s chair at Time Out Beijing, he now heads up editorial for Generation T, Asia Tatler’s content and events platform for the leaders of tomorrow.