We are so excited to introduce our new Women Who Mule Meetup group! This group is dedicated to providing a space for women developers and architects to network, share their MuleSoft expertise, work on career development, and more. Their first event was on February 4th and it was a huge success! We can’t wait for more events in the coming months. Since this Meetup group is the first of its kind, we wanted to introduce you to the Meetup Leaders and external team who brought this group to fruition. Let’s meet our founding ladies!
Meet the Meetup Leaders
Alexandra Martinez, MuleSoft Ambassadress
Alexandra is a MuleSoft Ambassadress and Meetup Leader for the Toronto, Online-Spanish, and now Women Who Mule groups. She also works as a Sr. MuleSoft Developer at Bits In Glass and runs ProstDev – a community-led technology blog. She attends and presents at Women Who Code Monterrey meetups as an evangelist.
“I strongly believe we need more women in any of the STEM careers. From my perspective, I see some of the problems that women in technology have to face to be able to thrive in this environment. I give back to the community in my own way – creating content, presenting at meetups, organizing events, or even mentoring whenever I can! With this group, we want to focus on all the women that are currently working with MuleSoft and create a safe space to hear and be heard. We want to help you become a speaker, a content creator, a developer, an architect, whatever you want. We are here for you.”
Amy Olthouse, Partner Director at MuleSoft
Amy Olthouse is a Partner Director on our Global Systems Integrator Alliances team. She works with MuleSoft’s strategic partner community to develop and drive joint go-to-market strategy inclusive of solution development, enablement, and marketing. Amy is based in Atlanta and enjoys exploring the world (pre-COVID-19), hiking, and learning new things.
“I have been in high tech for years and have met so many amazing women that would find value in having a community such as this one. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and excited to contribute to a forum that gives women a platform to find their voice, share, and connect.”
Aysha Qureshi, Sr. Technology Analyst at Accenture
Aysha is a Sr. Technology Analyst at Accenture, based out of New York City. She attended Columbia University where she majored in Computer Science. For the past year, Aysha has been working on a project as a MuleSoft Developer. In her free time, she enjoys doing puzzles, playing board games, and volunteering in her community.
“I am extremely excited about being a part of the Women Who Mule Community. I hope that this community becomes a place to network with other Women Who Mule and creates a safe space for people to grow in both personal and technical skills.”
Nisha Sharma, Managing Director at Accenture
Nisha is a Managing Director at Accenture and leads Accenture’s MuleSoft practice globally. Nisha started her career at Accenture 22 years ago after graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in Computer Engineering. Her experiences have spanned across security, enterprise mobility, and cloud technologies with a focus on innovative offerings, solutions, and practice capabilities. Nisha leads a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives in Accenture, and is especially passionate about supporting women in tech.
Soon after taking on her MuleSoft role, she was determined to do something for the MuleSoft women practitioners and launched the Women Who Mule virtual meetup group. “I’m really excited to establish a network that brings MuleSoft women together. I wanted to create a space where we could share experiences, learn from one another, discuss topics that are top of mind, and just get to know each other – no matter where we live or work. And I really hope that this group can provide some inspiration and support to help our women grow both personally and professionally (technical and non-technical).”
Maria Chinwala, Sr. Manager at Accenture
Maria Chinwala is a Sr. Manager at Accenture. She is focused on APIs, integration, digital, and cloud technologies and co-leads Accenture’s API management community in North America. She has a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Georgia.
“I am excited to be a leader of the Women Who Mule group because it is an opportunity to meet and connect with other women in the technology industry. I am looking forward to learning about and sharing personal and professional growth topics.”
Sanjna Verma, Sr. Product Manager at MuleSoft
Sanjna Verma is a Sr. Product Manager for the MuleSoft/Salesforce COVID-19 Data Platform as well as Mule 4 Runtime, Anypoint Studio, APIkit, and MUnit. She has experience leading and collaborating with international software development teams to merge the voice of the customer with qualitative and quantitative statistics. Sanjna enjoys piano, painting, and trying Instant Pot recipes in her spare time!
“I’m thrilled to be a part of the force uniting technology communities together because of the sheer speed of growth that comes from being a part of a community. I love seeing, uplifting, and cheerleading for other people and learning with them along the way.”
Recap of the first event
On February 4th, the Women Who Mule group held their first event featuring presentations by Alexandra, Aysha, and Maria. Attendees listened as Alexandra shared her journey from individual contributor to MuleSoft Ambassadress including how she motivated herself to take the initial leap into sharing her MuleSoft expertise with the broader Community. Aysha and Maria followed with a great presentation on being “truly human” to encourage women to bring their best selves to work. They shared tips on how to be mentally present, physically energized, and finding a sense of purpose. One of the best parts of the Meetup was the lively group chat where attendees could connect with others, voice their opinions, and encourage each other.
What’s coming up?
The Women Who Mule Meetup group will be hosting a special panel for International Women’s Day on March 4th, 2021! This Meetup will feature women from MuleSoft and from the MuleSoft Community sharing their experiences with MuleSoft, career journeys, and much more. All panelists and the entire agenda will be posted shortly, but you can register today and join the group to be the first to know! In addition to this special Meetup, the Women Who Mule group will be hosting monthly events.
If you have a specific topic you would like our Women Who Mule Meetup Leaders to consider or are interested in presenting during an upcoming, reach out to the Meetup Leaders by choosing “Contact the organizers” here.
