Tech - Women of Rubies

In Inspiration March 5, 2024 By Esther Ijewere

Chekwube Uchea: Charting New Frontiers In Human Resources, Tech And Sustainability

Chekwube Uchea epitomizes versatility and resilience in the professional arena. With over a decade of experience across Media and Tech where she has forged a distinctive path and made a lasting impact at every turn.

Professional Ventures

Currently serving as the Founder and Lead Career and Transition Coach at CLUDIVE, a tech-enabled company facilitating professionals’ transition into the Tech industry, Chekwube also holds the role of Founder and Product Manager at GEMMA CLEANS. This sustainable development company operates in Nigeria and the UK, providing innovative cleaning solutions.

On January 1, 2024, Chekwube initiated The Career Path Mentor (TCPM) community, dedicated to inspiring and assisting career professionals facing challenges in their current paths, fostering growth for those feeling stuck or unfulfilled.

Professional Journey

Her professional journey includes a stint as the former Senior HR Manager at VerifyMe Nigeria, a tech company offering digital identity and verification services. Academically, she holds a second-class upper degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in industrial Sociology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Additionally, she earned a master’s in human resource management from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Thought Leadership

A thought leader in Human Resource Management, Chekwube shares insights and expertise through LinkedIn, boasting a substantial following (28K+ on her profile and 78K+ on her business page). She advocates for Mental Health, Vulnerability, Empathy, and Sustainable Development Goals while championing Diversity and Inclusion.

Personal Triumphs

Beyond her professional achievements lies a compelling personal story. In 2020, Chekwube faced a setback with her Canadian visa application. Despite the initial disappointment, she redirected her focus to relocating to the UK. The journey was challenging, involving survival jobs ranging from cleaning to caregiving in various roles. Yet, this adversity shaped her perspective and fueled her determination.

Lessons Learned

Chekwube’s relocation story serves as a beacon for those planning similar journeys, highlighting the importance of preparation, resilience, and the understanding that each path is unique. Her experiences underscore the challenges of finding employment in a new country and offer valuable tips for those navigating similar landscapes.

Through networking, building confidence, and embracing rejection as redirection, Chekwube emerged stronger. Her story, a testament to the transformative power of determination, serves as an inspiration for those seeking to navigate career transitions, overcome obstacles, and achieve personal and professional growth.

As Chekwube Uchea continues to empower careers and enrich lives, her journey stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of resilience and the pursuit of excellence.

In Career Gems October 14, 2023 By Esther Ijewere

7 Companies Providing Work-from-Anywhere Jobs with Salaries Over $100,000

Work-from-anywhere jobs employees have the freedom to work from any location, independent of time zones or geographic boundaries. While some companies are urging their employees to return to the office, those in marketing, tech, and video game design are doubling down on remote work, prioritizing flexibility and location independence.

If you’ve ever dreamed of working from a beachside cafe in Toronto or a cozy cabin in Bali, your dream could be closer to reality than you think. A recent study by FlexJobs has revealed that careers in marketing, tech, and video game design continue to offer some of the most flexible remote job opportunities. This trend, which began with the onset of the pandemic, shows no signs of slowing down.

FlexJobs identified the top companies currently hiring for work-from-anywhere positions by analyzing its database of job postings from January to June 2023. These companies offer both full-time and part-time remote positions with no location restrictions, meaning you can work from anywhere you desire. Here are seven companies with a high volume of work-from-anywhere job openings:

You can exploremore remote jobs here

The growing popularity of work-from-anywhere jobs is driven by the increasing demand for flexibility among professionals. According to Flexa Careers, the percentage of job seekers interested in “work from anywhere” roles has risen from 80% in April to 88% in June—a significant increase since tracking began last year.

Many work-from-anywhere positions come with competitive salaries, often exceeding $100,000. For instance, a job posting for a senior site reliability engineer at the Wikimedia Foundation offers a salary range of $105,309 to $163,646. Similarly, a payment operations manager position at Cash App guarantees a minimum salary of $156,400 to $184,100, depending on the employee’s location.

Black woman working remote — Image: SamsonKatt

Several companies on FlexJobs‘s list have reported that offering location-flexible jobs has allowed them to attract top talent from around the world. Approximately half of the Wikimedia Foundation’s staff is based outside of the U.S., and Invisible Technologies boasts employees on six continents.

As the demand for flexible work arrangements continues to rise, the prospect of working from anywhere in the world is becoming increasingly attainable. Whether you’re in marketing, tech, video game design, or other fields, the opportunities to work remotely and on your terms are more accessible than ever. So, pack your laptop, choose your dream destination, and embark on your work-from-anywhere adventure.

In Inspiration November 2, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

#WCW| Claudette McGowan,The Canadian Tech Guru Creating Room For Other Women

Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 18 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service experiences.

She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank.

Claudette began her career at BMO in 2000 and held multiple senior leadership roles including Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Technology Employee Experience. In 2020, she joined TD Bank as Global Executive Officer for Cyber Security.

In her spare time, Claudette writes books for children, builds robots and is the founder of the Black Arts & Innovation Expo. Claudette holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lakehead University and a Master of Business Administration from Athabasca University.

She is the recipient of several prestigious awards: In January 2020, she was selected as an honoree at the Jamaican Canadian Association’s 20th International Women’s Day event for her groundbreaking work in STEM. In 2019, Toronto Life recognized her as one of the city’s Top 50 Most Influential Torontonians, Women’s Executive Network recognized her as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, AdWeek Magazine heralded Claudette as a Toronto Brand Star, and the Digital Finance Institute honoured her as one of the Top 50 Canadian Women in FinTech.

In September 2019, Claudette also had the honour of moderating what is being hailed as ‘the most insightful one-on-one conversation’ with Former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000-plus at Elevate, Canada’s largest technology festival.

Claudette was recently honored by Afroglobal TV as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Canadian , she also received the Science and Technology Excellence Awards

We stan a queen!

In Career Gems October 11, 2018 By Editor

INSTAGRAM INTRODUCES NEW FEATURES TO DETECT BULLYING IN PHOTOS

You may remember that last June, the social media platform introduced advanced comment filters intended to wipe out hurtful remarks. Instead of just filtering out words and phrases that are seen as offensive, Instagram uses machine learning to take context into account, both helping to erase more offensive comments while flagging fewer false positives.

Now, that technology is expanding, just in time for October’s National Bullying Prevention Month. Here’s a rundown of the new features:

Detecting bullying in photos

Instagram will now apply that advanced machine learning to photos and captions so its Community Operations team can more “proactively detect bullying,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a release. He also expressed concern for protecting the platform’s youngest users, since teens experience higher rates of bullying online than others. (A 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 14.9% of high school students were electronically bullied in the 12 months prior to their survey.)

This new feature is rolling out to all users in the coming weeks.

Bullying comment filter on Live videos

The advanced comment filtering techniques mentioned above, which previously were only used to hide bullying comments in your feed, profile page, and Explore tab, are now globally available on Instagram Live as well.

(INSTAGRAM)

Kindness camera effect

If you’ve played around on Instagram Stories recently, you’ve probably found yourself LOLing to a funny face filter-and now you can share the good vibes with all your friends. Instagram partnered with Dance Moms phenom Maddie Ziegler to launch a new camera effect all about spreading kindness.

In selfie mode, you’ll see hearts filling up your screen, and you’ll then be encouraged to tag a friend to show them some love. Your friend will be notified, and they can share it to their own story or spread the kindness to someone else. When you switch camera views, you’ll get an overlay of kind comments in languages from all over the world. (If you follow @maddieziegler, you should have the camera effect automatically. If you aren’t a follower but you see someone else using the effect, tap “try it” to add it to your camera.)

Credit: Pulse

In self development October 11, 2018 By Editor

AGGREY MOKAYA’S NGO IS HELPING FEMALE INMATES BUILD THEIR FUTURE WITH TECH

The latest feature in BBC Innovators series is 31-year old Aggrey Mokaya who runs an NGO – Change Hub – bring tech training to women in Langata maximum-security prison, Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

Mokaya, who is also a tutorial fellow at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture, has through his organisation, trained 21 women so far and hopes to expand to every prison in Kenya.
“It’s all about giving people a second chance. It’s all about giving them a chance to tap into the economy they were not a part of before,” he said in the feature by Tamasin Ford and Suzanne Vanhooymissen.

60-80% of all inmates in Kenya will reoffend and land back in jail, according to Kenya Prisons’ statistics from 2014.

Mokaya’s organisation is working to reduce this.

“An ex-convict and a person who has never committed a crime, in the eyes of the law they are the same. So I think they should also be the same in the eyes of the economy, in the eyes of entrepreneurship or opportunities.
“If they are denied opportunities and chances to actually get into a space where they can make something of themselves we are basically setting them up to fail,” Mokoya said.

One of the beneficiaries, Dorcus, 44 who is due to be released later this month after serving half of her 3 and half-year sentence fr forgery had this to say:
When I came to prison I didn’t know computers. Now I can do anything. I can even create you a computer.

I have five children and I’m a widow, so going back to those children is the most important thing to me.

I won’t be moving around having dust on my feet as I don’t have a car.
It will change my life. I will be saving time and money.

Another beneficiary Rahab Nyawira, 35, who was released this year and now runs her catering business is also thankful and grateful she’s making her three children proud.
“There’s nothing you can compare with prison. Prison is the worst place to be but for me it was my turning point.

My website, I can say, it is my superpower in my business. It helps me meet new clients online everywhere in Kenya.

I learnt so many things through Change Hub. I was introduced to HTML, CSS and Javascript. For my website I coded everything myself.

When my daughter sees me now, I feel so proud,” she said.

On why he chose to start with a women’s prison, Mokaya said:
There’s a gender bias when it comes to technology.
If I’m able to impact the life of one woman it means you know there is a knock-on effect. It’s even a chance for her kids to get exposed to that programming early on.
When you talk about wanting to do a technology project everyone says why don’t you go to the men’s prison, or the juvenile prison?
I look at that and say yes it’s important, but it’s secondary. We will get there once we get it right at the women’s prison.

Credit: Bellanaija