Experience a bit of what Yahoo! employees celebrate from this look back at our 2011 Employee Events. From Lunar New Year, Gay Pride, Oktoberfest, Diwali and more ... our Yahoos embrace their individuality and cultures.

by Jessica Roland

On March 20, Yahoo!'s Women in Technology group held its 2012 kickoff. We're a global group that, with 1100 members, is Yahoo!'s largest Employee Resource Group. We welcome Yahoo! women and men from across all company functions. Building on the successes of 2011, such as our Girl Geek dinners and partnership with the Anita Borg Institute, we enter 2012 with a great new executive sponsor, Yahoo! VP of Engineering, Cloud Services Elissa Murphy, and a full slate of planned activities. Co-presidents Kim Capps-Tanaka and Niru Anisetti opened the kickoff and introduced the keynote speakers, Tim Parsey, SVP of Design and Jessica Jensen, VP of Yahoo! Shine and Yahoo! Health.

Both speakers have a fabulous sense of humor and an easy way with the audience - it was very enjoyable and informative. We started out with some background: Tim talked about some highlights of his amazing design career, which has even included designing bobsleds for the US Olympic team, in addition to his well-known stints at Apple, Microsoft and Motorola. Jessica, whose current role puts her at the heart of creating vision, strategy and innovative content for women's initiatives, also talked about her experiences as a BCG consultant and as an entrepreneur.

Q: Why is it great for women to be in Technology today?

Tim: Industries get commoditized, so I try to always see what's next. As technology brings the power of personalization, the idea of one fit for all is fading. Yahoo! brings the power of big data to the game. This new frontier of consumerism requires empathy - listening, learning, responsiveness, inclusiveness. These qualities, which many women have in abundance, allow us to not only innovate things that enable feelings but then to elevate to meaning-based innovation, that aligns people in groups.

Jessica: During my years at BCG, I had a view into many different industries. The US technology sector today truly is a meritocracy, where the sky's the limit. Women can have a rich and varied career in technology companies - engineering, product management, marketing, finance, you name it. Color your own rainbow!

Q: Why is Yahoo! a great company for women?

Tim: Talking specifically about Design at Yahoo!: we cannot achieve our goal of radical personalization by designing in the traditional way. We need to innovate both the design context AND the concept, which requires understanding mindsets and hopes. Women have natural strengths that enable them to operate well in this new reality...and there are plenty of opportunities for them to exercise those strengths in our Design team.

Jessica: When I joined Yahoo! 3 years ago, I went through an interview process with 24 people, including lots of senior women. At a another company I considered, there were zero women in the interview process. Yahoo! is full of strong, successful women. It's important to look around the company and see if there are senior women there, women you'd like to resemble...and whether there is support for parenting, for both moms and dads. I've found Yahoo! to be such a place.

Q: What qualities have made you successful at Yahoo!

Tim: In my career, I have had to go through failure and shock and just pick myself up...these things help you empathize with others. Another key is to always think forward. I focus on next-gen design strategy and on building a work culture that allows the team to get into a "flow state".

Jessica: So much is serendipity and timing! From back when I was in college and basically made up my own degree to combine my interest in Japanese, art and history, I've known that you have to go after what you love and what excites you, focus on your strengths , and be open to serendipity.

Q: What do you do to coach and inspire women in your team?

Tim: I try to coach and inspire ALL my team , and show sensitivity to their values. In the overall business landscape, though, I do think women have not been encouraged to lead, except in imitating men, and this has led to a kind of suppression. I work to avoid this in my own teams.

Jessica: I encourage them to get a good support system. As Sheryl Sandberg has been pointing out in her recent speeches, women need partners that will meet them at least halfway on the housework and childcare front. When you have this, you can then "lean in" to your career, to show you can take on more responsibility. "Life is short but work is long" - you have to have a lifestyle that makes your pace sustainable and keeps you from burning out. And while I require top performance from all my team members, I am very flexible with where the work happens, to accommodate family needs.

Q: What's your advice to new employees on how to get things done at Yahoo!?

Tim: Create hope, focus and urgency in that order. Many people do the opposite. To get started on this myself at Yahoo!, I traveled to visit teams and customers, listened, detected excitement...and used that to get to the first step of building hope. We're also really feeling the energy from our team's new cross-functional project studio, created to bring that sense of focus and urgency to everything we do.

Jessica: Particularly for women employees, you need to make sure you speak up, that you voice your opinions. You also need to be analytically rigorous -it's not enough just to have a good idea; you must bring solid data on what the benefits are for Yahoo!. And if you're trying to fit in with a primarily male team, you don't have to be a sports expert, but you do have to learn to use humor and find pockets of shared interest to create camaraderie. It also really helps to understand different parts of the business; for example, by "job mirroring" where you spend a day with an employee in another department.

Q: What sources do you draw inspiration from?

Tim: I learn most from people, not books. I watch what's happening in politics, for lessons on how to build hope on a bigger scale. I also am inspired by the jujitsu idea of little changes that let you leverage a greater force. As a designer, I'm poised in the middle between artist and engineer. What I've found as my experience has deepened over the years is that I'm able to intuitively sense what to do, rather than having to think through step by step. I listen carefully, pick up the essence of the issue, broaden it, and then see the gaps and the potential for hope. It's a lot like my flute playing - when you have practiced enough, you stop thinking through each step and start sensing.

Jessica: Women's networking groups provide a level of professional camaraderie, feedback and partnership that is priceless. When I was based in Southern California, we had a very active BCG women alumni group. When I moved up here, there wasn't a chapter, and I missed the support so much I had to start one! It's very important to seek out networking opportunities, and WIT is a great vehicle for that at Yahoo!.

Q: How do you think about Yahoo! on the global front - what lens do you use for your global view?

Tim: As part of Yahoo!'s focus on personalization, we need to reflect the essence of different cultures around the world. We need to understand what's magical about each place. When I go to visit my India team, one thing we always do is take a motorcycle ride together, out of the city and into new and wonderful places. I get so enriched by this immersion. This is the feeling we want to bring back to our customers.

Jessica: Having studied and worked abroad, I definitely agree on the importance of a global view. I would encourage you all to get some kind of international work experience. It helps your career, and at Yahoo! it definitely helps us understand our customers better.

Thanks to Tim and Jessica for a wonderful session!

Editor: please visit our Yahoo! Women in Tech blog for the original article and more!

by Jessica Roland

Yahoo! Women in Tech gals were very pleased to be invited to Applied Materials' annual Women's Professional Development Network external event on the evening of March 1st. What a classy soiree! It was held at the beautiful San Jose Museum of Art, and the theme was, naturally, Network and Artwork! In addition to excellent food, drink and prizes, we were treated to talks by the museum's executive director, as well as the curator of the current exhibit: This Kind of Bird Flies Backward: Paintings by Joan Brown. After the introductory talks, we were able to wander the exhibits, admiring this beloved local artist's work. Joan Brown started painting in the '60s, and her abstract expressionist themes were proto-feminist, reflecting how she viewed herself and her role as a woman, a mother, a "cosmic nurse", a person seeking inner evolution. Here's a link to the exhibit website. Hurry and look, because the exhibit is almost over! This was a really excellent networking event. It was a pleasure to meet our Applied Materials sisters, their Community Outreach team, and their other guests. We're looking forward to continuing the connection!

Original post from the Yahoo! Women in Tech Blog here.

by Jessica Roland

Yahoos were out in force at the Feb 13 TechWomen briefing, held at Microsoft's Mountain View facility, after a similar session earlier in the day in San Francisco. TechWomen is a program sponsored by the US Department of State, in conjunction with the Institute for International Education and the Anita Borg Institute. Its purpose is to bring talented technical women from the Middle East and North Africa regions to the US for a life-changing professional and cultural mentoring experience.

The goal of the TechWomen briefing was to inform potential Silicon Valley mentors about the benefits of the experience and how to apply. The briefing event began with a stellar line-up of officials from the Department of State and IIE, and a personal video plea for involvement from Hillary Clinton. The main event was a panel discussion led by Sheila Casey of the State Department, with former mentor panelists from NetApp, Juniper Networks, startup Survivify, and our own Yahoo Fabiola Addamo, who was a cultural mentor last year. As Fabi says: "From my own experience as an immigrant, coming to this country with a bagful of dreams, I wanted to share (with mentees) that here it is possible to create your career."
There are 1500 potential mentees currently completing applications for the program, in 8 MENA countries. They will go through a rigorous selection process with expert panels and their local US embassies, getting checked on their educational and professional background, their communication skills (via essays) and whether they are "giving back" to their communities and cultures. 84 women out of the 1500 will be selected, and then paired with local mentors for a transformational 5-week program of professional projects and cultural immersion, starting September 10. The mentees have generally moved heaven and earth, in cultures where women's paths may be limited, to be able to take time from their jobs, their startups, their theses, their spouses and children to be part of this experience. They are carefully matched with the most compatible mentors in order to create the most fruitful and productive mentor-mentee learning partnerships.

Yahoo had 5 mentor participants in 2011, and one mentee, Rayya Abu Ghosh, a Yahoo! employee in Jordan. Rayya says: " TechWomen gave me great exposure to people, references and tools to use in my career. TechWomen was explosively filled with inspiration and positive energy that spread from the mentors and organizers to the mentees and right back!... (It's a) great cultural exchange... where Arab women meet American women from different cultural backgrounds and share each others' personal beliefs and traditions".

What do the mentors get out of the program? That was an easy question for the panelists, who universally spoke of the mentee's contagious energy and desire to learn, their camaraderie, their amazement at our freedoms and variety of lifestyles. Because they are paired with these high-profile mentees, the mentors also benefitted from exceptional networking opportunities both within and outside their companies. On a larger scale, our country benefits from the people-to-people relationships created by the program, which helps inspire the mentees to be professional pioneers in their home countries and trailblaze a brighter future for women everywhere.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please visit the TechWomen website to learn more.

Editors note: Blog post originally posted in the WIT blog here.

by fabiolaa

Few women know their true worth. Their potential for power, their upstanding place in society. But for a few days, in Egypt-- a place of current revolution -- women decided to speak up. Ebele Okobi opened up the Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit on Women and Social /Digital Media in Cairo with a powerful statement – “A determined woman is a force of nature.” These simple, yet eloquent words touched me deeply. It is funny how emotion and fact can move women to action. That is just the sort of character trait that I found in the women I met in Cairo. The summit displayed a carousel of progressive voices. Women from across the globe (Egypt, Middle East, North Africa, the U.S., Europe) gathered and spoke about human rights/social justice activism, blogging, journalism, entrepreneurship, safety online, and shared views on how to use technology and media platforms to support virtual communication without borders. The speakers had different backgrounds and stories, but the audience could clearly map a common denominator, that is the questions raised out loud to make everyone think critically.

• What is a woman? What is your own definition?
• Should we move away from the false fear driven equation women=loss of honor in society?
• What about transforming fears into a renewed energy for women empowerment and adopting a changed perspective in everyday life?
• What about women who bring honor to society and win a Nobel peace prize?
• What about women who understand who they are and are driven by motivation and strong will?

The summit moved from panel to panel and I kept hearing the same message over and over, “Women need organizational structure” and the question, “What triggers a paradigm shift in many women’s lives?”
Here is my summary in 3 steps:

1. Understanding who you are and what inspires you.
2. Aligning with other like- minded women.3. Connecting without borders and standing for each other according to your own comfort level (front line or behind the scene).
There was no shame during the summit, women felt free to express themselves: public female figures (and not) shared their dreams and spoke out loud their revolutionary minds. Can just having a voice beat fear? Yes! Fearful people usually hide behind other‘s widely accepted ideas. I listened to Manal Al-Sharif, a professional Saudi woman, who is leading the campaign to support women’s drivers and it just hit me, how is it possible that some women in 2012 have limited freedom of movement? I said to myself stop arguing with reality and accept it; it is what it is and only action can make a change. Manal acted and she was jailed for 9 days. She gained my respect for acting upon her belief. She helped me believe that Facebook campaigns, youtube videos, social and media platforms are the foundations we can use to support the global virtual alignment between women involved in social justice and human rights causes.
The Internet is virtual power. The Egyptians are a great example of how to use the internet to gather like-minded people and ideas, and make a real impact on issues that oppress their people. Women are powerful because we are a main voice of society. Ideas and modern minds will continue to expand as long as we keep sharing our realities, even if we risk punishment and peril. Experience sharing is infectious because it creates a sense of belonging in other women’s minds around the globe – if facts and emotion combine, we cannot shake the pain of truth. I am convinced that creating awareness and sharing stories must be a duty for all women without regard for geographical borders.

I participated myself as speaker in the last panel “What’s next” and I conveyed 3 important messages:

• Who I am.
• Why I was in Cairo.
• My dream for the future.

I ask you: what is really next? 
I have decided: 
Next is to continue a respectful conversation with an audience made of men and women; Next is creating new mentorship programs while growing existing ones (see Techwomen); Next is breaking away from the concept of communication based on physical vicinity; Next is spreading art among youth as powerful communication tool; Next is Yahoo! leading discussions and creating action items from this Cairo summit.
I believe that the internet, women, and curiosity are key ingredients to an explosive but peaceful change in society!

Editors Note: Click here for the original post on the WIT blog.

Spotlight on women’s use of technology and the Internet to create positive change.

The Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program, along with Yahoo! Maktoob, and in partnership with Vital Voices, is hosting a summit on January 18 at the Fairmont Nile City. Change Your World! Cairo 2012 will spotlight how women across the Middle East and North Africa are using technology, the Internet, and various social and digital media platforms to create positive change in the world.
Moderated by award-winning journalist and human rights activist Mona Eltahawy, the summit will focus on four primary areas: women's leadership in governance and politics, women's rights/human rights and social justice, journalism, and entrepreneurship.
Confirmed participants include:

• Maria Al Masani, social media pioneer and founder of Yemen Rights Monitor;
• Fida Ouri, deputy director of NISAA FM in the West Bank, one of the first all-women, non-political radio stations in the Arab world;
• Shereen Allam, Egyptian entrepreneur, co-owner of Eco-tek and founder, Association for Women's Total Advancement and Development;
• Lara Ayoub, Jordanian digital media pioneer and digital media director, Al Ghad and Al-Waseet
• Dalia Ziada, Egyptian women’s rights activist and blogger who has been hailed by the international media as one of the most influential women in the world;
• Lamees Dhaif, Bahraini journalist and human rights activist.

"Women across the Middle East and North Africa are using the Internet, technology and social media to learn, lead, inspire, connect, and change the world. We are hosting this summit to shine light on extraordinary women, facilitate an ongoing exchange of ideas, and identify areas where companies can use their technology and platforms to amplify women’s voices,” said Ebele Okobi, director of Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Program.

Follow the event on #changeyourworldcairo and @YahooBHRP.

Imagine an event centered around people with disabilities that has absolutely nothing to do with charity! Imagine that same event being completely fun, engaging, enlightening (And did we mention fun?). Such was Independence 2011 (http://y.ahoo.it/independence), an event created specifically for the Yahoo! community (including family members and friends). Independence 2011 had one primary goal: to open your eyes to the reality of disability...which is likely different from the stereotypes many of us carry around.

For more disability related content: Visit the Yahoo! Accessibility Blog: http://accessibility.yahoo.comLike Yahoo! Accessibility on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YahooAccessibilityFollow Yahoo! Accessibility on Twitter: http://twitter.com/YahooAccess

Purple, Yahoo!’s official brand color, already runs deep in the veins of every Yahoo—but on October 20, 2011, the second anniversary of Spirit Day, Yahoos across the nation went “purple” for a very different reason: to speak out against anti-LGBT bullying.

From Sunnyvale to Santa Monica and New York to Hillsboro, Yahoos came to work sporting their best purple gear—the color of “spirit” on the rainbow flag—to stand side-by-side with millions of Americans to show their support and compassion for bullied LGBT youth who sometimes feel like suicide is the only answer. Spirit Day participants aim to give these young people hope that, with strength in numbers, we can stop senseless bullying from taking away innocent lives.

Spirit Day is a nationally observed day when people speak out against anti-LGBT bullying by wearing anything and everything purple. It started last year when 16-year-old Brittany McMillan asked her friends to support the cause by wearing purple. The movement quickly became viral. And now, in its second year, it’s supported by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)—along with its celebrity, corporate, and non-profit partners—to amplify the impact of the initiative.

To celebrate, the Yahoo! Pride employee resource group organized photo shoots around the country to capture true Yahoo! pride in action. Check out the pictures from our offices below.
Sunnyvale

Santa Monica


Hillsboro


Burbank


New York


For more information and to see how you can take a stand against anti-LGBT bullying, visit http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/now/stars-celebrate-spirit-day-230415075.html.And to keep up with the latest in LGBT news, current events, and entertainment, join Yahoo! Pride on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/yahoopride.

As the regional director of public policy in APAC, I have many conversations with regulators on best practices in the Internet space. During these conversations, I am always proud to profile the leadership that Yahoo! plays in the area of Internet safety and the websites we have launched around the world.  As a team, there are many of us working hard on this and the results in APAC are world-class.
One of the most important projects that has happened this year was the launch of Yahoo! Safely in Vietnam, to promote online safety among children and young people in Vietnam. The launch roped in Vietnamese celebrity Ha Anh (also Unicef’s local Ambassador) and up-and-coming local boy-band “365” as Yahoo! Ambassadors to help spread the word. Leveraging the Yahoo! Safely website and plans to extend to offline activities such as a “train-the-trainer” programme, road shows and school visits, the initiative is the first of its kind in Vietnam.
Yahoo! is the first Internet company to establish a presence in Vietnam when it entered the market in 2007 and enjoys a very positive brand image. The launch of Safely in Vietnam, to me, was testament to Yahoo!’s commitment and responsibility to the market. Vietnam is a burgeoning new-to-net market brimming with huge potential and business opportunities – and everyone wants a slice.  31% of the population is currently online, and Vietnam has experienced the fastest growth in Internet in the region in the last 10 years. Yet, online safety is largely overlooked.
While online safety is important all across the world, it is critical in emerging markets in Asia as the majority of new users are youth aged 15 and above, where the Internet is an uncharted landscape, not just to them, but to their parents and educators.
Yahoo! has robust online safety programs in every major market. Above Yahoo! Safely which has been launched is in most markets, there are also online safety initiatives in the region outside the umbrella that push strong similarly strong agendas.
In India, the online safety programme led by colleagues from Yahoo! India comes under Learn with Yahoo!, an initiative to educate users about the Internet, and like Vietnam, targets new-to-net users. In Taiwan, a mature market where Yahoo! enjoys a 98% reach, the Internet Security Program for Children aims to educate users as early as elementary school.
Reaching out in India
India’s online safety program kicked into high gear when its school program, upon travelling to 27 schools in Delhi last year, found that while 98% of this school’s growing audience knew about the Internet and considered it a destination for learning, fun and entertainment, net safety was not a feature on the kids’ radar. Awareness about Internet safety was virtually non-existent.
This insight shaped a new focus for the team, who took the safety message outside of the original program framework. Harnessing the reach and popularity of animated cartoon characters, Yahoo! India aired vignettes on Internet safety on kids’ channels such as Cartoon Network and Pogo, with the characters sharing tips, along with an interactive quiz on TV through SMS, to effectively get the message across to kids and parents.
Now, Yahoo! India reaches 82% of the Internet audience in India and is a market where users are growing exponentially. Today, above leveraging kids channels and school programs, Internet safety tips are shared across 2,500 Internet cafés in 50+ Indian cities, helping a brand new audience make smarter, safer choices online.
Keeping Kids Safe Online in Taiwan
In Taiwan, Yahoo!Kimo’s partnership with the government and academy brought to bear its Internet Safety Program for Children in 2009. It is estimated that 1.6 million Taiwanese children under 12 use the Internet. The project addressed kids aged 12-14 and touched on three main areas: managing time spent online, befriending strangers on the Internet and giving out too much personal information.
The campaign started in Taipei with camps, blogs, online material and an ambassador programme, and extended islandwide the following year. Materials were developed for classroom use, and Yahoo!Kimo travelled to 2,650 elementary schools across the country to spread the message. This year, teen idols were invited to speak on the program together with the launch of fun videos and competition. And the kids noticed – making over 100,000 downloads of the material. Yahoo! Kimo’s efforts have seen them win the Taiwan PR Awards- Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year, and  the Outstanding Award – Education, in the annual CSR awards presented by Global Views, a leading current affairs publication in Taiwan.
And the online safety push isn’t over in Vietnam. In July, the PC for Life campaign, in partnership with Dell and Intel, saw 2,000 youth journeying across the country on foot to spread the word on internet safety, and educating villagers along the way on how to use the Internet. The Yahoo! Safely partnership with Unicef also saw an MOU signed, partnering on various children issues.
To say the least, I’m very proud to be working for a company which understands the need to better the community it serves.
Kuek Yu-Chuang, Yahoo! APAC’s regional director of public policy


Yahoo! Safely around the world - click the link for your region to learn more:
Argentina : Asia : Australia : Brasil : Canada : Chile : Colombia : Deutschland : España : France : 香港 : India : Indonesia : Italia : Malaysia : México : الشرق الأوسط وإفريقيا : New Zealand : Perú : Philippines : Québec : Singapore : 한국 : 台灣 : ประเทศไทย : United Kingdom : United States : en Español : Venezuela : Việt Nam

Imagine an event centered around people with disabilities that has absolutely nothing to do with charity!   Imagine that same event being completely fun, engaging, enlightening (And did we mention fun?)
Such is Independence 2011, an event created specifically for the Yahoo! community (including family members and friends). Independence 2011 has one primary goal: to open your eyes to the reality of disability…which is likely different from the stereotypes many of us carry around.

Local Yahoo! Employees and their families near the Sunnyvale Campus will get to enjoy this event!

Activities planned for Independence 2011:

Able Gaming
See how gamers who can’t use traditional controllers still play the same video games as you.
Art of Possibility
Artists with disabilities will exhibit their work. Phenomenal paintings, fabric, photography, and more.
Cooking Without Looking
Learn a culinary thing or 2 from a well-known chef who happens to be blind.
Institute for Human Centered Design
Exhibit of non-technological designs for accessibility
Wheelchair basketball
Think you’re a player? Get on the court with these guys and find out for real.
Local Resource
Organizations and Associations that provide helpful information to individuals and families with disabilities.
Mobile Apps
Mobile applications that make life easier for people with disabilities
MoPix
Personalized captions for first-run movies that only you can see and which you can place anywhere on the screen.
No End in Sight
A band headed by Yahoo! Superstar Victor Tsaran who will reunite with 3 other blind musicians to come together to rock the Yahoo! Sunnyvale Campus
Press Here
Look out for sound chips throughout campus. “Press Here” to hear audio descriptions of where you are.
Yahoo! Accessibility Lab
Simulations of online experiences of individuals with disability
Independence 2011 is a first for Yahoo! and promises to be sensational!

Original article with more details is posted at the Yahoo! Accessibility Blog by Alan Brightman.

Originally posted in the WIT blog.  By Kelli Lane.

Women In Tech had lunch with some extraordinary Yahoo! leaders: Fay Hellal and Yvette Martinez-Rea. Guests enjoyed Portos and some amazing insight. 

The speakers answered audience questions such as:
“How do you deal with difficult people?”
“What are the benefits of having an MBA?”
“As a mother, how do you practice work-life balance?”
“How do we nurture a woman’s ambition?”
Here’s what our speakers recommended:

Know your manager’s, manager’s goals and help your boss to achieve those goal
Know your boundaries at home and at work
Know your priorities for excellence
Manage your guilt, set appropriate expectations
Set clear objectives when dealing with difficult people
And last, "Redefine difficult." Remember people process information differently
Key Insights on career development:

1) Create a board of directors for your life compiled of the following types of board members from varied professions: a person two levels higher (mentor level), a peer, and a person two levels lower (mentee)2) Think about the expectations placed on your boss3) To better understand work politics read the book: It’s All Politics
Dealing with difficult people: There is a difference between a difficult superior and a difficult client or peer.

1) Peers/clients: Find ways to influence peers towards a common goal-- do not dictate the path.2) Bosses: Take a step back and figure out the root issue, then apply that to your next encounter.3) Take the Meyers Briggs Test to find out more about personality types: here (the test costs money)
Nurturing Ambition/MBA FAQs
1) MBA's can be helpful to show the mosaic picture, using other’s experiences in the business world, we can learn a lot.
2) The more you see the “big picture” the more you will know how you can make an impact.3) Give yourself permission to learn.4) Learn how to “manage your guilt” as an ambitious person.5) Give yourself permission to get less than an “A” on the unimportant parts of life: <br/> (Make your time with your kids “A+” time, and time spent on after hour work calls "F")

Originally posted on the WIT blog. By Kelli Lane.

An elite group of young ladies from the YMCA came to visit Y! WIT here in Burbank. Many of the girls were Seniors in High School who are working out their futures with careful planning. The Y! WIT team, led by Yolanda Person-Collins, spent time with the ladies in a true mentor fashion; conveying the reality of the hardships of life alongside the excitement for their future. Many women from Yahoo! spoke, some with hard-knock lives and others successful with no degree to speak of, showing the girls that each person has their own path. The WIT team reinforced the unique path idea by assisting them with personality tests. The Meyer’s Briggs test showed them in which areas they may be best suited for a career. All in all, the girls responded well to the ideas. Three Seniors in High School cited Christine Del Muro as an inspiration to follow their dreams. Many girls that age admit to feeling lost. We hope the little time we had with them could promote confidence to reach out to older women and seek wisdom and advice.


The Girls

Rather than read from us how it went from our end, we asked Lexy Folkes, an aspiring writer from the program to tell us about her experience.

"It was the day after I graduated high school and my YMCA Adviser asked me to go to Yahoo! Women’s Career Day. Get up at 7 and drive a car full of girls? No thanks. I was finally bribed and persuaded but it was well past worth it when I stepped through the doors of the Yahoo building and was dazzled by all the high tech lights. Five minutes later and I’m being greeted by a room full of inspirational women. I catch wind that there is free coffee and I almost cried. I return to the room, free latte in hand, and hear testimonials from women who play key roles in the functioning of the Yahoo! business. The tour had a full showing of the Yahoo campus, which is surely modeled like a giant child’s playground. The entire show was met with another deliciously free meal and more words from the Yahoo! representatives. Questions ensued with valuable pieces of advice dealt left and right. It wasn’t until the whole shebang was through that I came to fully appreciate the entire experience. I gravitated towards the woman who was the representative for the field I wish to pursue: writing, journalism and the arts. Her advice was invaluable and I took her challenges seriously. I’ve been presented with an opportunity to use my skills and exhibit my talents for Yahoo! and it is through the willing, collaborative parts of the Yahoo women that presented this chance. The bribing and free coffee was a plus but the knowledge and guidance was far more appreciable."


Girls and WIT

Lexy, it was our pleasure. We look forward to updates about your life in the future. And to all the girls in the program who attended, WIT hopes to hear more about you in the future. We were the ones who were "dazzled" by your brilliant futures!