WIT February 2025 Newsletter

Happy February! There is so much news revolving around data in the world this year – probably more than we’ve ever seen, but we’re going to keep our heads down and focus on you, our Data Platform Women In Tech community.

What have we been up to?

We had a great February meetup with Andrea Rosales presenting “Unlocking Smarter Document Processing with AI Tools”. It was a fascinating session where Andrea showed how she used various AI tools, including Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence, to read data out of documents as well as determine if documents had been edited as part of fraud detection. If you haven’t had a chance to join us, you can find the session, along with all of our past sessions on our YouTube channel.

What are we looking forward to in March?

We have two great sessions lined up next month:

First up, Surbhi Pokharna will be presenting “Unleashing the Power of Azure SQL Database Hyperscale” on Tuesday, March 11th at noon Eastern US time. Surbhi will discuss the architecture of Hyperscale in Azure along with practical information on how to set up and manage the database.

Next, we have our quarterly meeting set for a time to make it easier for those who are not US or Canada-based to join. Maria Bermudes will be presenting “Latin-presenting Women of Colour: How I’ve Navigated My Success in Technology” on Monday, March 17th, at noon CET time.

We’re excited about both of these sessions, and we hope you are, too. Please make sure to register for these on our Meetup event. Also, make sure to join our group on LinkedIn and follow us on BlueSky for reminders and updates.

News from your co-leaders

We have some sad news and some good news. Starting with the good news: Kristina (Kristy) Mishra will be joining us as a co-leader for our group. The sad news is that Josephine Bush has decided to step down as a co-leader:

I came to the difficult decision that I needed to step down from the WIT leadership team to focus on other areas of my life. During my time here, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Tracy and Deb. It’s also been a real privilege to help figure out how to best serve the community. I’m formally leaving the leadership role, but I’m not disappearing. My commitment to supporting women in tech remains and always will. You can still find me blogging at https://sqlkitty.com. I look forward to seeing all the amazing things that Tracy, Deb, and Kristina will do with WIT!

– Josephine

We know what a hard decision this was for Josephine so we wish her the best. As she said, she’s still going to be around and we’re looking forward to seeing what she does in the future. But at the same time, we are looking forward to working with Kristy and welcome her on board.

Celebrating Women Friendships

In the US, Valentine’s Day seems to take over February. There’s always a running joke about how February 15th is one of the best days in the year to buy candy because it’s now on sale, with November 1st – the day after Halloween, being the other.

A show called “Parks and Recreation” came up with its own joke holiday based on Valentine’s Day. In it, Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, celebrated Galentine’s Day, where she celebrated her female friends the day before to make sure that no one felt alone if they weren’t in a relationship for Valentine’s Day. As I say, this is one of my favorite made-up holidays.

Women in society are often made to feel like their worth is attached to their relationship status. We’re always asked from a very young age: do you have a boyfriend yet? As we grow up, the question becomes when are you getting married and when are you having kids, and not: Do you want to get married? Do you want to have kids? If you don’t want to have kids, the assumption is that you will change your mind. It was assumed that you would work until you got married and had kids, and then you would leave to be a full-time parent. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with it if this is something that you want in your life. Not to mention that this only acknowledges the cisnormative worldview of man and woman. If you’re anywhere in the LGBTQIA+ community, you have a whole other host of incorrect stereotypical prejudices that you’re fighting against. The problem is that your worth to society is tied to your relationship. With all of this societal pressure that was ingrained in you from an early age, you were made to feel even more alone when Valentine’s Day came around, and you were not in a relationship.

There are too many studies out there that talk about the harm that this does to women in general. And we know the problems of trying to change the world – and specifically the workplace – to adapt to the new idea of what our society and realities are. But that is a different topic for a different time.

So why bring up Galentine’s Day – a silly made-up holiday from a TV comedy? Because there is something important about celebrating something as simple and basic and as important as our friendships. I know I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of my friends. It has nothing to do with their relationship status or how successful their career is or what challenges they have had to overcome in their lives. It just has to do with who they are. It’s about appreciating my friends.

Yes, it’s silly and it’s made up from a TV show. But I also appreciate the excuse of telling my friends how much they mean to me if I don’t say it on a regular basis. I appreciate all of you who have become more than just someone in my network but a friend through the Data Platform WIT Community. If I haven’t said it, to quote another favorite sitcom of mine that celebrates women friendship (the Golden Girls), Thank You for Being a Friend!

– Deborah

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With that, we look forward to working with all of you. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to help support your Women In Tech initiatives. Remember to sign up for our Meetups and we’ll see you in March!

– Deborah, Tracy, and Kristy