Jamila Parham: Innovation and Inclusion with the Tech Unicorn
HerSuccessApril 17, 2024x
5
00:27:5525.56 MB

Jamila Parham: Innovation and Inclusion with the Tech Unicorn

Jamila Parham's fascination with technology ignited in childhood when she played video games with her brother. Raised on the south side of Chicago, Jamila attended DePaul University School of Computing. However, she soon realized that STEM lacked diversity and inclusion, reflecting a disparity Jamila wanted to change for the better. Thus, The Tech Unicorn was born. The Tech Unicorn embarked on a quest to empower 'unicorns'—those hidden figures within STEM communities. Through mentorship, impactful projects, and strategic partnerships, The Tech Unicorn paves the way for aspiring individuals from diverse backgrounds to thrive in STEM-related industries. Jamila Parham's brainchild isn't merely about breaking barriers but building bridges and fostering a community where everyone can shine. This episode explores: • Jamila’s discusses her journey from growing up in Chicago to becoming the founder of the Tech Unicorn. • Importance of DEI in the tech industry and creating inclusive environments • Jamila’s experiences of overcoming challenges and advocating for underrepresented communities. • Jamila’s insights and advice for careers in tech • AI and technology policy to ensure inclusivity and accountability

hersuccesspod.com


About Jamila Parham Jamila Parham, affectionately known as "The Tech Unicorn," has harbored a deep-seated love for technology since her formative years, where she found solace in video games and the realms of science fiction. Hailing proudly from Chicago, she has emerged as a prominent figure in the tech community, recognized for her leadership acumen and unwavering dedication to civic technology. Throughout her illustrious 15-year career, Jamila has garnered acclaim as an award-winning tech leader and a fervent advocate for STEM education. Driven by her commitment to public service, she tirelessly endeavors to cultivate a more inclusive and diverse tech landscape, advocating tirelessly for underrepresented communities in STEM fields. Central to her mission is The Tech Unicornâ„¢, a groundbreaking initiative she spearheaded to drive social impact through STEM engagement. With a focus on amplifying voices and empowering marginalized groups, The Tech Unicornâ„¢ is dedicated to narrowing the opportunity gap in STEM for youth, women, and people of color. Through mentorship and comprehensive development programs, Jamila aims to dismantle barriers and foster the next generation of STEM leaders and entrepreneurs.

www.jamilaparham.com/ About Engtal HerSuccess is brought to you by Engtal. Engtal is a US-based staffing agency specializing in engineering and technology, with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Part of our mission is to balance the diversity scales in our industry.

We are so tied to this mission that we donate a thousand dollars from every underrepresented placement made to our nonprofit, Diversify the Future. We then use that money to fund scholarships for underrepresented groups to help them obtain a STEM degree. If you are an engineer or a tech professional looking for a new position, or you are hiring talent in this space and want a recruitment partner, please get in touch. engtal.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | Youtube

diversifythefuture.com | LinkedIn | Instagram


[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this episode of the HerSuccess podcast. We are the podcast that interviews

[00:00:06] highly successful and aspirational women with the view to inspiring the next generation of

[00:00:11] leaders within the tech and engineering space. The podcast is brought to you by Aintal. We

[00:00:16] are an engineering and technology recruitment firm. If you are in the market for a new position

[00:00:21] or you are looking to partner with a recruitment agency that truly cares about diversity,

[00:00:27] equity and inclusion, please get in contact. Today I am delighted to interview Jamila

[00:00:33] Parham. Jamila is an award-winning STEM advocate and entrepreneur. Her day job she is an information

[00:00:39] technology governance manager at Microsoft. She's also the founder of an organization called the

[00:00:45] Tech Unicorn. They're a STEM social media impact company created to amplify voices,

[00:00:51] advanced marginalized communities and inspire careers and entrepreneurship in STEM-related fields.

[00:00:58] She's the proud daughter of Chicago, local to us here. She has a fantastic energy, a fantastic story

[00:01:04] and I think you guys will really like this episode. So without further ado let's get to the show.

[00:01:08] Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of the HerSuccess podcast. I am delighted to be

[00:01:14] joined today by Jamila Parham. Jamila is an award-winning STEM advocate, founder, speaker

[00:01:22] and tech unicorn. She has a really varied background currently working at Microsoft but

[00:01:29] also has various other initiatives and things that she's involved in. I think a lot of the

[00:01:34] work that she does is really aligned with our mission here at HerSuccess. So Jamila thank you

[00:01:40] so much for chatting with us and welcome to the show. Thank you Chris I'm excited to be here.

[00:01:45] Awesome first things first I would love to just get an overview of your journey. So would you

[00:01:50] mind just telling us where you came from and your career over the last few years?

[00:01:55] Yeah born and raised in Chicago, South Side of Chicago. I grew up in Morgan Park,

[00:02:00] Beverly went to Morgan Park. I'm a Chicago public school student and there can be challenges

[00:02:04] there about access and resources and so I always joke around about the extent of my computer programming

[00:02:10] was Mavis Beacon. Learning how to type fast and so it wasn't really anything around coding and

[00:02:17] I ended up getting exposed to tech by playing video games with my brother and he would battle me

[00:02:22] and we would say whoever wins or loses will have to do the chores and so I became really

[00:02:27] good at that but it just really sparked the interest in technology and video gaming

[00:02:33] and computer graphics and so I wanted to know like was there a future or is there opportunity

[00:02:38] or pathway to pursue that. So I attended DePaul University, I stayed in Chicago,

[00:02:43] Go Blue Demons, so State Local it was a wonderful, I loved DePaul, proud alumni and so I attended

[00:02:49] their computer graphics animation program and when I went there I didn't see many reflections

[00:02:55] on myself. I didn't see many black women, I didn't see many women period and a lot of the coding

[00:03:00] graphics and special effects classes and so it was very challenging to one not see many reflections

[00:03:07] of yourself and two to get the curriculum and try to figure out okay how the heck do I do this

[00:03:13] and so I spent a lot of time and like tutoring trying to nail down those concepts and so

[00:03:18] it was really a challenge and then it was just something that I saw as I even navigated

[00:03:24] career-wise and even going through college and graduating that there were not many black women

[00:03:30] and seeing representation when it came to technology and so that even represented itself

[00:03:35] when I went for my first job in technology and I walked in and looked like a frat house,

[00:03:40] I mean like a Bros Club and I'm like oh my god like am I joining a fraternity here

[00:03:45] and so that was a little bit discouraging for me and so I wanted to speak up about it and

[00:03:52] I just said hey how can we get more representation, how can we create more rooms where everyone feels

[00:03:59] welcome and they see reflections of themselves and so I just started to kind of talk to people on

[00:04:03] campus go to networking events and I found out that it was really some work to be done there and

[00:04:09] so the name of my company is the Tech Unicorn and so a lot of folks asked where did you get

[00:04:15] the name from? I know I can have many meetings but it's about being in those spaces and

[00:04:19] really being you know whatever background you're from not seeing representation of yourself and so

[00:04:26] I was graciously enough able to climb the ladder become a tech lead and I would walk in a room

[00:04:31] and they would say hey we're waiting on a tech lead and I'm like well that's me and they're like wow

[00:04:36] it's cool we haven't seen many black women in Tech Unicorn and I'm like hey let's roll with that

[00:04:41] like there's a lot of folks who are having that similar experience of there were many

[00:04:46] barriers in the way you had to really focus and overcome that adversity to excel in these industries

[00:04:53] and it's magical with something to be celebrated and so I created the Tech Unicorn because a lot

[00:04:59] of folks have that same story a lot of black and brown communities underrepresented communities

[00:05:04] like the south and west sides of Chicago not just Chicago but all over the United States and

[00:05:08] the world where there are students from these demographics that want to pursue these careers

[00:05:13] but don't necessarily have the training tools access and opportunities and so that has put me on the

[00:05:20] journey of being an ecosystem builder being a daughter of Chicago a voice of the community and

[00:05:25] just finding something that I'm very passionate about which is being a STEM advocate.

[00:05:30] Nice love man a lot of our guests will be listening rather than watching but if you are

[00:05:34] watching you can see yeah I'm gonna to be the house unicorns behind there as well which which

[00:05:38] I love and it's interesting my wife is an attorney and she has similar situations where

[00:05:44] someone walk into a room and say when's the attorney getting here assuming that she's the

[00:05:47] receptionist or something like that she's like yeah I'm here so yeah completely see that tell me

[00:05:53] a little bit then about the tech unicorn you talked a little bit about what the purpose was

[00:05:58] behind it but when you launched seven and a half years ago what kind of things do you guys

[00:06:04] do on a monthly basis to try to achieve some of those things?

[00:06:08] Absolutely so I've been fortunate enough to employ interns some of our youth to mentor them one on one

[00:06:16] use my personal network to get them opportunities and internships and really take the time to

[00:06:20] figure out what they're trying to do and then setting them on a path to get there so

[00:06:24] mentorship is definitely a pillar of what we do at the tech unicorn another part of that

[00:06:29] is representation matters right and so we work really closely with universities and schools and so

[00:06:35] I've had the privilege of speaking at University of Arizona also DePaul University has invited me in

[00:06:41] and so there's a lot of programs engineering programs where there seem a lack of diversity or

[00:06:47] students pursuing those careers and so you want to give a voice to that and so keynote speeches

[00:06:52] and workshops are another piece of that we've also done some diversity and inclusion consulting

[00:06:57] with Pearson and so that was a huge accomplishment for the Tech Unicorn last year so we believe in

[00:07:05] workshops and making sure that we give employees the tools to make sure that their workplaces are

[00:07:10] inclusive as well so I think we are really advocating and attacking this on all fronts

[00:07:17] I think a part of it is early access to tools and so you want to make sure that you spark it

[00:07:24] early with students and to create that vision and they can decide what STEM is cool or I want

[00:07:30] nothing to do with it but at least that it's the opportunity there so in regards to the youth

[00:07:35] that engagement is very critical for us as well in the previous year we worked with Blue Laguna

[00:07:41] right here in Chicago in partnership with Microsoft and we did a cybersecurity workshop

[00:07:47] with Minecraft and so the funny story about that is I don't play Minecraft as much so I stayed up to

[00:07:55] like three in the morning getting this curriculum together for this workshop and I'm like oh this

[00:07:59] is a good one hour workshop and I came in and show the students what to do and they were done

[00:08:05] in 10 minutes and I'm like oh crap what are we gonna do for the rest of this workshop

[00:08:11] it just shows how brilliant they are and a lot of the progress that we're making and so

[00:08:16] it focused more on the United States is that a deficit when it comes to information security and

[00:08:22] protecting data as far as talent and so in order to prepare that next workforce you have to spark

[00:08:28] that interest and expose them early to let them know about that and so that workshop was truly

[00:08:34] successful because they were like we didn't know anything about information security

[00:08:38] we learned about being safe online as far as gaming there's chat areas and rooms that

[00:08:43] students are in and we're just talking to them about not sharing information on being safe online

[00:08:48] and how you can make that a career and so those are some of the things that we are focused on at

[00:08:53] the tech uniform. I see I love it I think that the early access buys is absolutely critical

[00:09:00] we as I'm sure a lot of our guys know have a charity called Diversified the Future as we

[00:09:06] talked about earlier and I think one of the challenges with diversity in the STEM world

[00:09:10] is that there's just such a small amount of talent that is diverse in those areas so a lot

[00:09:16] of the companies they want diverse talent like every client that we work with says yeah if you can

[00:09:21] find me a diverse engineer I will bite your arm off however the challenge is only 15 percent of

[00:09:26] the industry is diverse so everyone is competing for the same 15 percent of talent so you're not

[00:09:31] actually going to solve that issue until you increase the amount of people coming into STEM

[00:09:36] so I completely agree I think approaching it at that grassroots level it's like how can we get people

[00:09:43] more access to this earlier so like you said like maybe it's STEM isn't for them but at least they know

[00:09:49] this is an option if you wanted to go down this road this is what it would look like if you do that

[00:09:54] that's how I think you truly influence the DEI because you'll increase the tunnel of people

[00:09:59] coming into the industry. Absolutely. At the tech unicorn your mission fundamentally is to close

[00:10:06] the opportunity gap in STEM. You mentioned you've done some consulting work if you were to give advice

[00:10:12] to a company looking to do that so maybe they're a tech organization and they are trying to close

[00:10:18] that opportunity gap what advice would you give a company like that? I always say there's a couple

[00:10:26] fronts engagement early on onboarding talent and also retention as far as engagement with

[00:10:32] organizations there is some great work being done as far as curating the workforce and getting

[00:10:38] underrepresented groups the talent and training required to get opportunities at organizations

[00:10:44] and so one that comes to top of mind is ICSTARS which is doing great work as far as curating

[00:10:49] tech talent for the future and so I think partnering with organizations like that really

[00:10:55] increase candidate base right and so when you have those opportunities you can engage in a

[00:11:00] diverse workforce. The second part of that is retention right the culture of your organization

[00:11:06] how are you celebrating and elevating everyone especially maybe some groups that are marginalized

[00:11:12] or underrepresented especially having ERGs or celebrating all cultures and making sure that

[00:11:18] you retain the talent as far as elevation of skills promotions and training so I think

[00:11:25] it's one thing to engage and hire the talent but retaining is another piece of and I think that has

[00:11:30] to be also two fronts that organizations focus on. Yeah no 100% because it can be a little bit

[00:11:38] of a slippery slope and I think we've had a couple of guests on here that's done a very similar thing

[00:11:43] companies will have a big push on diverse hiring they'll sell these targets and they'll

[00:11:47] bring diverse talent to the organization but then their retention rates were incredibly low

[00:11:52] and then 12 months down the road they'd like to square one again because they didn't have

[00:11:56] those mechanisms in place to retain that talent and create a working culture that was able to do

[00:12:04] that. Switching gears a little bit I noticed that last month you were named as one of the top 20

[00:12:09] Black Women Entrepreneurs to watch for 2024 so congrats awesome award tell me a little bit

[00:12:14] about what led to to that award and then from an entrepreneurial perspective what you hope

[00:12:19] to achieve in 2024? Yeah I mean I was so grateful to receive that and the fact that the work that

[00:12:27] the Tech Unicorn is doing is being recognized not just here in Chicago but across the US and

[00:12:32] hopefully across the world so when I received that honor it really was I'm always shocked but

[00:12:40] I feel that I'm doing great and important work and so I think the consistency of what the Tech

[00:12:45] Unicorn has been able to do in the communities and across the US is getting a little bit of

[00:12:50] attention as far as what we've been doing as far as positive impacts and role models

[00:12:55] and so being founded in 2016 we've been doing this for a long time and I think that's enough

[00:13:01] for a couple of eyes set of eyes to be watching what we're doing and so I think a lot of folks

[00:13:07] are excited to see what we are going to do next and I'm super excited for the future.

[00:13:13] I think what we have coming up is working and partnering with a lot of organizations right now

[00:13:18] we're working really closely with DePaul University, my alma mater. We did do a workshop actually it was

[00:13:25] a panel a panel last year about women entrepreneurs and we got an array of women that are leading

[00:13:33] engineering companies and all type of technology firms and it was a real raw conversation it wasn't

[00:13:41] it was a feel good but as a reality check too like here are the things that we're facing

[00:13:45] here's what we need to do and this is where we all need to band together because we're falling

[00:13:49] behind I've been to a lot of panels where oh you feel good and everyone's cheerleading but someone

[00:13:56] has to give the state of the state right and we have to realize the work that we have to do

[00:14:00] is great what we've accomplished but we want to always be looking ahead so what I'm excited

[00:14:05] about is to curate more programming like that safe spaces for young students and women to come

[00:14:11] discuss some of the barriers that they're facing to get inspiration and success stories from

[00:14:15] accessible role models there's a two-sided thing with the internet which is great everyone has

[00:14:21] access and platforms but I'm always big on accessibility as far as like role model someone

[00:14:26] you can meet at an event or pick up the phone even though everyone seems accessible it doesn't

[00:14:31] mean that you can just talk to them and get information and have one on one so

[00:14:34] I think those in-person events post COVID thank goodness we can all get together in person and

[00:14:41] feel energy in the room like feel the energy of support so I think that's the focus of more

[00:14:45] in-person impact and ongoing into the future. We interrupt this podcast for a quick 30 second

[00:14:52] introduction to Intel the host of her success. Intel is a US based staffing agency specializing

[00:14:58] in engineering and technology we have an insatiable passion for diversity equity and

[00:15:03] inclusion and our mission is to balance the diversity scales in our industry we are so tied

[00:15:08] to this mission that we donate a thousand dollars from every underrepresented placement made to her

[00:15:13] very own nonprofit diversify the future we then use the money to fund scholarships for

[00:15:18] underrepresented groups of people to help them obtain a STEM degree if you're an engineer

[00:15:23] or a tech professional looking for a new position or maybe a hiring talent for this space

[00:15:28] and want a recruitment partner please get in touch. Yeah I mean I do I do agree I think a lot of the

[00:15:34] more impactful events are the ones like that where you know cheerleading is great and I think it's

[00:15:40] very important to big people laugh and make people feel good but I think when you really sit

[00:15:45] around the table and have the honest conversations about some of the challenges people are facing

[00:15:50] and try and tackle some of those that's where you can have real impact and one of the ladies

[00:15:55] that we interviewed a month or so ago she was she was an investor and she was very involved in a lot

[00:16:02] of kind of like seed level startups within the life science industry and she was saying how

[00:16:08] less than 10 percent of investment in life sciences goes to women run businesses and when

[00:16:14] you look at diverse women run businesses less than 1 percent so how and it was even as far

[00:16:21] as I did the questions that investment firms asked female entrepreneurs versus male entrepreneurs

[00:16:27] were completely different because yeah all the screening and stuff that they went through was

[00:16:31] very different so that they had a really impactful round table where they talked about how they

[00:16:37] can shine more light on this and get more visibility and really elevate female entrepreneurs

[00:16:44] that are looking for investment and things like that so yeah I think it's a super important

[00:16:49] topic. One more thing to that Chris before we shift having that round table was really important

[00:16:54] and so one of the shocking moments that came up in our event was one of our panelists said that

[00:16:58] you know she went into an investment meeting in a pitch meeting and there were conversations like

[00:17:04] of reality and she mentioned that she had she had a business manager there was a man but for the

[00:17:09] sake of that meeting he had to pose as the founder or a co-founder to go in because they

[00:17:15] felt that the messaging from a man would be more impactful as far as receiving funding versus a

[00:17:21] woman going in and leading and pitching for funding and it's unfortunate to hear that story but those

[00:17:27] were one of the realities and the stories they had to be shared of like this is where we're facing

[00:17:31] it's not okay but this is what a lot of women have to go through in the past and so I think

[00:17:36] you're really pushing to perspective like the work that is ahead of us. Yeah exactly you've

[00:17:41] got to be honest about where things are at now otherwise how can you really push forward?

[00:17:45] 100% one of my good friends runs a DEI consulting firm essentially and yeah she was the one that

[00:17:51] told me about the different questions that are asked and I think a lot of the time with female

[00:17:56] investors it's a lot more personal. They ask things like do you have the personal life set up

[00:18:03] in order to be successful if it was male those things are just taken for granted. Yeah we

[00:18:09] never be asked those questions and it is something that again I haven't even really thought of. I think

[00:18:13] shining a light on some of this stuff is absolutely critical. You mentioned early in your career one

[00:18:19] of the challenges you had was almost not having those role models coming into an environment that

[00:18:26] looked more like frat house and not having people that look the same as you in your early

[00:18:30] career and I think we've taken probably some steps in the right direction as over but still

[00:18:35] a long way to go and if you want to give advice to someone facing a similar thing so maybe there

[00:18:41] are 2024 grads maybe a black female that is probably going to go into banking or law or an

[00:18:47] industry that is predominantly white. What advice do you think you would give that individual?

[00:18:53] Yeah I think it feels wonderful to look back and to give us advice after going so far on my

[00:18:59] journey I don't have a lot further to go but I think it's important even when you're

[00:19:03] navigating corporate America or even if you're an entrepreneur or you're pitching your business

[00:19:08] you really have to curate your community, your support system because every room that you walk

[00:19:14] in may not necessarily be your support system right or the job that you walk in every day

[00:19:19] may not be that support system so I think there's so many different synergy groups that you can

[00:19:25] lean on and get resources from that can provide that mentorship and support so that when you

[00:19:31] do walk in that room you have everything you need to flourish despite what might be ahead of you

[00:19:38] excuse me but I think that it can be challenging you're going to face those rooms where you're

[00:19:44] spoken over I've encountered that even in meetings where you say one idea then a person

[00:19:50] says a little bit differently it's like celebrated and so it's really about finding your voice

[00:19:54] but what I've been grateful for is not only my community outside of some of these rooms like

[00:19:59] some of the synergy groups or volunteer groups or professional development groups,

[00:20:03] wordies and things like that that I've curated there have been allies that have been in these

[00:20:08] spaces that have spoken up for me or they've blown the whistle and they said hey this is not right

[00:20:15] or either Jamila has something to say or everyone hold on I think allies as well recognizing

[00:20:20] the challenges that someone else may be facing and speaking up and using their platform is

[00:20:25] important as well I think everyone has a platform to use to speak up for others to amplify their ideas

[00:20:31] to push them forward for opportunities to celebrate their work so I think that that's

[00:20:36] something that's pretty powerful and I think we all can practice that and so that's what's been

[00:20:41] something that has helped me on my path and so I continue to do that I recommend that I also

[00:20:47] recommend that anyone that is facing those challenges to create a roster or a brag folder

[00:20:54] of everything that you accomplish because sometimes when you walk in a room and you look around and

[00:20:57] you can forget a lot of things that you have accomplished with you when you have that seat at

[00:21:02] the table right and so make sure you keep track of everything you accomplish in a brag folder

[00:21:07] or somewhere that can be celebrated so that you can sit look back and see how far you've come

[00:21:11] and what you've overcome and that yes you deserve to be there and you do belong to be there

[00:21:17] yeah I think that's awesome advice an unreally tangible advice that I think someone listening

[00:21:21] to this can take from that like I think imposter syndrome affects everyone is particularly prevalent

[00:21:28] in gaga communities and I think having again just that awareness of where you've come from

[00:21:34] what you've done your achievements and that you deserve at the seat of the table I think is

[00:21:39] absolutely critical and I think as well one of the things that I've learned just from doing

[00:21:43] this her success podcast over the last year or so is there's there are a lot of challenges

[00:21:48] people are facing in this world and one of the fantastic things that you touched on there is

[00:21:53] there is such a passionate community of people that are allies and that are backing people

[00:22:00] that are diverse and I think that there is there are so many people that I've interviewed and

[00:22:06] I've spoken to that again are just so passionate about this kind of thing I think to your point

[00:22:11] building your roster of mentors building your roster of allies and those people are absolutely

[00:22:17] out there and there's a lot of people that are really passionate about that topic and I think as

[00:22:22] well just find final point that I just pick up on that is you mentioned about people that

[00:22:29] have said Jamila's had a good point and I think there's a leader that's such a critical

[00:22:34] skill being able to amplify people's voices be able to sit in a room and understand that okay

[00:22:39] this person is probably the loudest person in the room they're going to come up with a bunch

[00:22:43] of ideas this person here maybe they're in the middle and this person is going to be the quietest

[00:22:47] it doesn't mean that the quietest person has the worst ideas like sometimes it's the complete

[00:22:52] opposite of that and I think as a leader if you're cognizant of that and you're able to navigate

[00:22:57] those conversations and say okay let's let's pass over to this individual now what do you think

[00:23:02] about this I think it really helps the flow of the conversation and and helps it not be

[00:23:09] dominated by the again just simply the loudest person in the room exactly because we've all been there

[00:23:16] but on your LinkedIn you say I've dedicated much of my life to giving back to the community

[00:23:22] and teaming up with amazing organizations around the world to talk to us about some of the most

[00:23:27] rewarding initiatives that you've been part of or any of the real exciting organizations that

[00:23:33] you partner with yeah definitely I've been doing this before I even formally did the work under the

[00:23:41] Tech Unicorn and so creating the path or just pursuing STEM was something that basically is

[00:23:48] in my DNA and I was really excited about being involved with Black Girl Ventures and that focuses

[00:23:55] on getting Black women funding for their businesses and start up at various stages and so

[00:24:00] that was really a game changer for the Tech Unicorn and we placed third in our very first pitch

[00:24:06] competition and so that was a huge accomplishment for us in partnering with that and so I also know

[00:24:12] that as far as the Paul University we have upcoming programming with them to actually speak

[00:24:18] with some students from the UK and so we'll be sharing about being in the community of STEM

[00:24:24] and kind of having like a little bit of a fireside chat for that so that's something

[00:24:27] that's coming up and then also engaging in workshops with the youth we have that coming up

[00:24:32] later this year and also continuing to partner with universities. I love it well yeah you have

[00:24:38] to let me know how that goes good to see yeah yeah you two fellow Brits on the map we're almost

[00:24:44] out of time now so this will be my my last question obviously you're doing a ton of things

[00:24:50] you obviously have a day job at Microsoft and then also the work that you do with the Tech

[00:24:54] Unicorn as well as some other projects tell me something that you're really excited about

[00:24:59] for the future. Yeah like I said Tech is in a DNA we have the age of AI that is happening with

[00:25:06] chat GPT and co-pilot and I think it's very exciting and so I think the next phase is

[00:25:13] technology is always evolving and it can evolve really fast and so some of my background

[00:25:18] is in civic tech and so we want to make sure that technology is something that is to be useful

[00:25:24] and not harmful and so there's a lot of logic that's going into it and we want to make sure that we

[00:25:29] hold AI accountable as far as logic and bias potentially being coded in some of that logic

[00:25:35] and so I think the next front is really making sure artificial intelligence is inclusive of

[00:25:41] underrepresented and undervalued communities as well just to make sure that everyone is

[00:25:46] accounted for in the logic and so I think that looking forward we want to do a little bit more with

[00:25:51] GovTech policy and just to make sure that all communities are included in the conversation.

[00:25:57] Yeah I think AI is obviously an absolutely amazing tool but it will be what we make it and we can

[00:26:04] use it for good like I think there's a huge opportunity to remove bias and just to use

[00:26:11] AI for some of the good work that you do but to your point if we allow our own biases and

[00:26:18] things like that to enter into the logic then it would have the opposite effect.

[00:26:23] Yes, yes. Awesome. Well Jamila thank you so much and that's all we have time for today as I said

[00:26:30] at the start of the show I think the work that you do aligns so well with kind of what

[00:26:34] we're doing and her success I'm sure all of our listeners will have really enjoyed this

[00:26:38] as always Jamila's content details will be on the on the advert like her LinkedIn profile so I'm

[00:26:44] sure she would not mind anyone reaching out and if they want to learn a bit more about

[00:26:48] the tech unicorn but thank you so much and I've really enjoyed this conversation I think we've

[00:26:52] covered some really really critical topics. Thank you so much Chris that thanks for having

[00:26:57] here today. Awesome well I hope everyone enjoyed this show please dial in next week and yeah our

[00:27:03] next episode will be live. Thank you so much for listening to today's her success podcast

[00:27:08] brought to you by Intel we hope you found it inspiring and insightful for more conversations

[00:27:13] with inspirational women why not check out our interviews from season one if you enjoy the podcast

[00:27:19] please take a moment to rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform your feedback

[00:27:24] helps us grow and reach more listeners who can benefit from these empowering conversations

[00:27:29] don't forget to connect with us on LinkedIn at her success and follow us on Instagram at her

[00:27:34] success the community for a daily dose of inspiration want even more her success in your

[00:27:39] lives sign up for a newsletter on our website to receive exclusive information on future episodes

[00:27:44] blogs by our amazing guests special features upcoming events and much more

[00:27:49] thank you for being a part of her success community stay tuned for our next episode

[00:27:54] in two weeks time