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Ready. Set. Accelerate!: Announcing the 5.0 Cohort of the WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator

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The Women in Cloud team is immensely happy to announce Cohort 5.0 after four successful cohorts which is designed to give access for female technology founders to win enterprise cloud opportunities. We launched the 5.0 cohort on Feb 26, 2021 with 17 companies from 4 countries. Lets welcome them to the WiC Cohort of Successful Female Tech Founders.

Women In Cloud’s Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is designed as an immersive 6-month program to assist women-led tech companies to build stronger together co-sell plan with Microsoft and their distribution channels . This program is expertly designed to help women tech entrepreneurs win enterprise opportunities, get access to Azure credits, an advisor community, and a global stage to showcase your business.

The 5.0 Cohort Immersive Kickoff session held on on Friday, February 26, 2020. The first session featured curated speakers, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-Founder and President of WiC; Kim Smith, Global VP, Cloud Innovation Services of IBM; Brea Starmer, Founder/President, Executive Consultant, Lions + Tigers, Digital Enterprise, IT & Digital of Boeing; Ellen Feaheny, Founder & CEO of AlohaCloud Digital Networks; Martha Montoya, CEO of agTools, Inc.; and Patti Dobrowolski, CEO & Creative Activator of Up Your Creative Genius. The speakers consisted of founders, industry leaders and previous cohort entrepreneurs who set the tone for the new class about the current industry landscape, how to vision their cloud businesses, along with deliverables and takeaways by the end of 6 months. 

This kickoff focused on helping founders develop their future vision and this experience was led by with Patti Dobrowolski, 3 Times TEDx speaker and inspired the founders to design their co-sell plan.

Here is output of what a vision of equitable equity and access looks like for women founders.

Women In Cloud Accelerator

The cohort 5.0 will be digital accelerator with built in benefits including azure credits, listing on marketplaces, participating in global UN focused campaigns, bi-weekly office hours, monthly live chats with industry leaders, and continued access to industry stages, has elevated our programming to an unmatched scale.

Going digital has let us expand our horizon and open this program to people from around the world rather than just a region. Cohort 5.0 boasts a diverse participation of companies from the United States, Canada, India and United Kingdom.
This year’s WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is more than just an effort to make economic contributions to the system by empowering entrepreneurs. It is about embracing the new normal and moving forward with a sense of community. It is about adopting self-empowerment and finding comfort in knowing where to turn for support with a community at your side. Most importantly, it is about collective growth and learning.

Presenting the Women in Cloud Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Cohort 5.0:

  • Jacqueline G Schafer, Clearbrief
  • Pradnya Desh, Advocat Technologies
  • Rachel Hankerson, International PROOF Systems, LLC
  • Sonal Malavia, Cloud 9 Infosystems
  • Sinmi Adeoye-Esene, Daniola Corporation
  • Cheryl Ingram, Inclusology
  • Sherisse Hawkins, PageDip
  • Sophia Stone, Indie Tech Ltd.
  • Sanjana Govil, Unseen Insight
  • Steph Locke, Nightingale HQ
  • Padma Subramanian, Fyrii.ai
  • Kerry Schrader, Mixtroz,LLC
  • Agnes Lan, Kinderdrop Inc.
  • Sonali Jha, Cunomial Technologies Private Limited
  • Bhavya Aggarwal, zipBoard Tech

This year, Global Affairs Canada underwrote 50% of the accelerator fees for two Canadian companies that were approved to participate in the 5.0 cohort. Their previous generous support has allowed 8 of our 4.0 entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to scale their businesses to become co-sell and co-market ready with enterprise partners.

Economic Access is the tide that lifts all boats. Together we rise.

Interested in joining the 6.0 cohort? Applications are open now: Click here to learn more

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Purchase Your WiC Branded #BeCOME T-Shirt and Enter to Win Executive Mentorship with Gavriella Schuster.

Women in Cloud has partnered with Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft to underwrite 50 women to get free access to the WIC Digital Summit 2021 by giving a total of three one-on-one executive mentorship sessions.

What is the catch?

Nothing. Just buy a T-shirt!

As a C-level Microsoft Executive and Thought-Leader, Gavriella leads a global portfolio of channel partners that have influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. She brings over 20 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of the business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales, and partner development. Gavriella currently leads global recruitment, enablement, and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. As a builder and change agent, she has built and turned around businesses by inspiring a vision for future customer relevance and engaging teams in developing the roadmap.

In December 2020, Gavriella delivered a powerful TEDx talk on the topic, ‘BeCOME an Ally: How to Achieve Gender Equity?’ Her TEDx speech highlighted the need to create opportunities for women in technology and the role all of us, men, and women play in the process. 

Gavriella Schuster was also awarded the ATHENA Global Leadership Award – previously bestowed upon icons like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Condoleezza Rice, and Christina Koch, just to name a few – for her contribution to technology, and supporting equality and equity in technology. The Insight Success Magazine also recognized Gavriella as the ‘Top 10 Most Influential Women in Cloud 2020.’

Gavriella is a powerhouse of knowledge and drives impact every step of the way! 

Now is your chance to qualify and win a chance to be mentored by Gavriella Schuster; you have to buy an exclusively designed Women in Cloud Allyship T-shirt. These t-shirts are designed to drive awareness about economic inclusion and allyship in the technology industry. 

What are the Entry Rules?

  1. Every purchase gives you an entry for the executive mentorship opportunity
  2. Drawing of the lots will happen on the closing day i.e., 30 January 2021 of the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021.
  3. Executive mentorship sessions will be scheduled on a mutually agreed date.

Buy a T-shirt today and win an exclusive executive mentorship opportunity while contributing to underwrite Summit passes for women! 

Buy Your T-Shirt Today!

This January 2021 at the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021 learn about the Technology Industry at the opening plenary with Former Prime Minister of Canada, Rt. Honorable Kim Campbell, and Corporate Vice President Gavriella Schuster.

We also highly recommend Interactive Experiences for you to participate in to expand your network:

  • 28 January: Explore Cloud Jobs at #CloudJobs Fair & Recruitment Lounge
  • 28 January: Meet Black Founders
  • 29 January: Master your pitch at #RockYourPitch Experience
  • 29 January: Get access to mentorship from Cloud Industry leaders
  • 30 January: Get your kids to participate in Youth Mentorship Circle
  • 30 January: Make New Friends at Scavenger Hunt 

Join WIC Digital Network to be part of the global economic access movement.

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IdeaGen/United Nations Summit: Enabling Women To Access $1 Billion In Cloud Opportunities

Women in Cloud, Microsoft, and UN through IdeaGen partner to drive economic empowerment for Women and Girls through Cloud-based technologies.
We live in a rapidly changing world. Technology is disrupting almost every aspect of our lives at breathtaking speeds. We are at the onset of a profound period of transformation all centered on the Cloud. Women in Cloud has partnered with IDEAGEN, Microsoft and the UN to advance gender equality and empowerment for Women & Girls by supporting economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and innovation.

UN General Assembly

The Cloud opportunity topples $1B and yet while 40% of all new businesses are started by Women only 5% of Technology Start-Ups are global.

We all the know the statistics far too well – 20% of C-Suite leaders are Women buy fewer than 3% are Women of Color, 2% of Women Tech Entrepreneurs access the Cloud Opportunity and only 1% or less are awarded corporate contracts.

Many studies findings highlight the benefits of diverse organizations in both growth and impact to overall growth and Country GDP. The path to these opportunities is not without challenges, but by working together we can better and more rapidly overcome.

Women in Cloud is wholly aligned to the UN and Microsoft Goals for closing the Gender Gap.

Gretchen O’Hara (Vice President, Go-To-Market Strategy, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft), Karen Fassio (Director of Marketing, World Wide Partner Group at Microsoft) and Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-Founder & CMO, Meylah are part of a larger co-founding team for Women in Cloud (Carrie Francey, Wendy White, Linda Lowry and Jacqueline Touma).

This delegation at UN Idea Gen shared their stories, lessons and the focus of Women in Cloud in supporting diversity to drive innovation and disruption.

Women in Cloud Mission:
1. Provide and supporting access to customers, funding, and resources
2. Accelerate business through policies resources and readiness
3. Drive action to create innovative solutions, partnerships, and communities

Gretchen explains that for her this is about making a lasting impact and having the GRIT to see it through, “We cannot be competitive without Women, and we need diverse perspectives in business which drive innovation and disruption”.

As Chaitra adds, “Without access, you cannot create opportunities. With the help of Microsoft and the UN, we are thrilled to be able to support empowering Women and Girls to reach their goals and dreams for the benefit of themselves, their families, their communities and their countries”

That’s why we are here at United Nations Idea Gen, states Karen Fassio “to inspire Women & Girls to pursue careers in technology and to support them in their careers whether as entrepreneurs or as corporate leaders. This work, for me, is rooted in Microsoft’s broader mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

Jill Angelo, a tech exec turned women’s health care advocate and CEO of Genneve recently graduated from the Women in Cloud Co-Sell/Co-Market Accelerator, sponsored by Microsoft. Jill represented the Women in Cloud delegation at UN IdeaGen. She is developing the first Women’s health solutions that use the power of AI and telehealth to empower women to take control of their health and well-being in the latter half of their lives. Plus Jacqueline O’Hara represented the need to bring more girls into the STEM.

Beyond UN Idea Gen, the Women in Cloud team host an Annual Summit (Jan. 26th,2019 Redmond WA) brings together women leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, community groups and public organizations, to provide access and the right environment for opportunities to thrive. A new Accelerator for 2019 will be announced shortly, along with a new event series and speaker participation in several communities leading events.

To learn more about Women in the Cloud and opportunities available to you, visit www.womenincloud.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Annual Summit Jan26th, 2019, learn more! Early Bird Discount ($30 off the retail). Use code “WICEarly”

 

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