Matt White

Big News: @Amazon Web Services collaborated with Me&EVE at the Girls in Tech conference this year. For the rest of the week I will be sharing what we produced. Thank you again Amazon Web Services for helping me give women an opportunity to be seen and heard. Yes, I realize Matt is not a woman. On occasion here at me&EVE we feature men who are supporting women to be seen and heard and that is exactly what Matt White is doing at Amazon Web Services.

“The people who have predominantly shaped my career have been women. Amazon Web Services has some really great female leaders and I am a product of that. Our culture is set up to harvest ideas from the ground up. Where is the next big idea coming from? AWS is not a tops-down setup and our goal is to foster an environment of diverse thought and diverse background.” –Matt White, Senior Human Resources Leader, Amazon Web Services

Adriana Gascoigne

Big News: @Amazon Web Services collaborated with Me&EVE at the Girls in Tech conference this year. For the rest of the week I will be sharing what we produced. Thank you again Amazon Web Services for helping me give women an opportunity to be seen and heard. “I wanted this conference to bridge tech with emotional intelligence. I wanted to feature powerful and successful women who are relatable. If the audience can relate, reaching their own goals becomes a reality because ‘you can’t be what you can’t see.’ I think the X factor has to do with being inspired. If you find your passion and your purpose, then work won’t feel like work and you will have endless energy.” --Adriana Gascoigne, CEO of Girls in Tech

Christine Adair

Big News: @Amazon Web Services collaborated with Me&EVE at the Girls in Tech conference this year. For the rest of the week I will be sharing what we produced. Thank you again Amazon Web Services for helping me give women an opportunity to be seen and heard. “I don’t feel like diversity should be an initiative – it shouldn’t need to be forced. At Amazon Web Services, the diversity feels natural because we value diversity of thought, which leads to innovation. And that spills over into everything we do. The focus is always the customer.” –Christine Adair, Security Manager, Amazon Web Services

Kym McNicholas

Big News: Amazonweb collaborated with Me&EVE at the Girlsintech conference this year. And, for the next 5 days I will be sharing what we produced. Thank you again Amazonweb for helping me give women an opportunity to be seen and heard.  

“I would tell my younger self not to let what she doesn’t know or has never done before get in the way of her dreams. If you have drive and perseverance, you can do and learn anything.” –Kym McNicholas, “Extreme Tech Challenge" Competition Director

 

Marilyn Adams

"Twenty five years ago my husband was stabbed and killed. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then two years ago my fiance died from diabetes. And then Frank came into my life. He came to help me at my house and now we are married. He keeps me happy, keeps me smiling and brings me to the beach everyday and we collect shells." - Marilyn Adams lives in Los Angeles.

Kara Kelty

"When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines I was assigned to work together with a male Peace Corps Volunteer. At first the Filipino community would only listen to him. They would always ask him the questions first and they would be patient and try to derive meaning from what he was saying even though I spoke Waray, the local dialect, and better than he did. I realized the only way they were ever going to listen to me was if I spoke the language fluently - so I studied the dialect and once I could really speak their language, they took me seriously. The other Peace Corps Volunteer suddenly realized that I had really learned to speak Waray and wanted me to teach him.  This experience made me realize that I had always been doing this, I had always been compensating in my life - working harder to be better prepared in order to be heard." Kara Kelty is the Manager for Candidate Ready Development at Leadership for Educational Equity.

Amanda Tafoya

"Being a teen mother at 17, changed my life. I remember looking into my baby's big blue eyes and I was determined he would have different parenting than I did. I didn't want him to feel unloved or uneducated like I felt. So, I signed up for emotional intelligence classes and I signed up for a parenting class that I went to once a week for many years. And then I sent him off to Duke University where he will be a senior next year.  I have three more children and all of those parenting and education skills trickled down to them as well.  And, after getting my GED I also received my EMT and nursing licenses. And most recently I've become a licensed real estate agent."  Amanda Tafoya is a real estate agent in Taos, New Mexico.

Ella Romancito

"Having a child has changed my life. I didn't go to college but I did want to go. Now I am just trying to make it in this town without a college degree. But even if you do have a college degree the options are either working at Walmart or working some job on the Plaza. Rent is expensive and the locals can't afford it. Motherhood is hard and I am just trying to get enough sleep. I still feel like I have bouts of postpartum depression and I am just trying to have enough motivation to get out of bed." - Ella Romancito is a young mother living in Taos, New Mexico.

Arlene Pitterson

"I created and managed a five city tour called "My Black is Beautiful". It was an ad campaign for Proctor and Gamble and was a free beauty event for the audience/attendees. We went to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago and New Orleans. It was great to bring these free performances and beauty events to these communities and if I wasn't a woman of color I wouldn't have had the insight to make the event as successful as it was." - Arlene Pitterson is an executive producer with Digitalflash

Maria Lopez Pega

"I left school in the 6th grade. When I was young I fought with my father a lot and he didn't take care of us. We were 16 siblings in all and we sort of raised ourselves. Ten of us are still alive. I have three sons and two daughters but they don't take care of me. I am just trying to survive." - Maria Lopez Pega is a street vendor in Havana, Cuba and sells candy and chicharrones.

Dominga Lukas Castro

"When I was a teenager and studying to become a teacher I got pregnant and dropped out of school. At the time I thought my work and the rest of my life would be in the house and in the kitchen. But after participating in some community women's groups and raising three children with my husband, I decided to become a health promoter so I could earn my own money and go back to school. I earned Q300 which was enough to pay for my school materials and my uniform. I only had one uniform for all three years I was in school. I had to borrow money from my family so that I could buy the clothing I needed for my graduation. But I kept pushing myself toward my goals. It was hard but I just kept going. While raising 5 children, I became a teacher and now I am the Director of the School." - Dominga Lukas Castro is an educator and business owner in Huitan, Guatemala. She also gives literacy classes to her mother-in-law (yesterday's EVE) and older women in her community.

note: This project is dedicated to Dominga and you can read a longer version of her story on meandeve.com. It is the very first story published.

 

Juan Diaz Velasquez

"As a child I only attended school for two years. Back then the thought was, "Why send a girl to school when she only is going to wind up in the kitchen?" When I was 25 years old the Catholic Nuns came to my village and taught me the value of being a woman. The priest told us that men and women are equal. He said the only ones who say women aren't equal to men are men. The priest built the Colegio Asuncion here in Huitan so that the indigenous people here (the Mams) would be educated. All of my 10 children attended that school and 9 of them went on to become teachers. Now, I go to school every afternoon. My daughter-in-law, who is the director of the elementary school here, teaches a class for older women like me who didn't have the opportunity to go to school when we were young." - Dona Juana Diaz Velasquez lives in El Plan, Huitan, Guatemala and has been a community leader for many decades.

Ana Lucrecia Laynez Escobar

"At first my father didn't want me to continue my studies. He had given that opportunity to my older sisters but they broke his rules which were. NO BOYFRIENDS and ONLY STUDY, NOTHING ELSE. They never graduated. They went to school in the city, had boyfriends, got married and pregnant. I had to convince my father that I shouldn't be punished because they broke the rules. I told him that I was certain I would achieve my goals and become a nurse. I am studying now and my parents are really proud of me, but more importantly I am really proud of myself." Ana Lucrecia is a nursing student and a community health promoter for The Coffee Trust in Chel, Guatemala.

Maria Raymundo Cruz

"During the Civil War, when I was 15 years old, I escaped with my parents into the mountains. We didn't have a house, we lived under a tarp for eight years. We planted corn and beans to survive, but we had no salt, we had nothing. When I was 19 years old and pregnant the army threw a grenade near me, and rocks flew and hit my head and I still have a scar. I was pregnant at the time. My brother was killed. After the war, we settled in Chel and we had to start over again with nothing. My husband left for the United States in January to look for work. He found part time work and hopes to find more work and not get deported." - Maria Raymundo Cruz lives in Chel, Guatemala and participates in The Coffee Trust food sovereignty program. In this photo she is pictured throwing worms to her chickens. Providing the chickens a source of protein will keep the chickens stronger and healthier.