E is for Eskwelabs Issue 72 - Inspiring Figures on the Future of Work 🙌

Issue 72 is here to reflect on Q1 of 2023 and beyond! 🌃

Apr 04, 2023

Ciao! This is Meg speaking, hoping that this newsletter reaches your inbox in good spirits at the end of the month. 🤗 We’re powering through with you as we wrap up Q1 of 2023! 🏋️

Here are some questions to reflect on at this time of the year:

🏆 What am I most proud of in Q1?
👍🏼 What were my biggest blockers and how did I overcome them? What can I do to move past them?
🌱 What did I learn? What new knowledge or skill did I acquire?
✨ What could I have done better in Q1? What changes could I make going forward?
🥲 Did I take care of myself physically, emotionally, and mentally in Q1? What self-care practices worked well for me?
🌈 What opportunities do I see for growth and development in Q2?
🎯 What are my priorities for Q2? What specific goals do I want to achieve?

While I give you time to answer those questions, let’s get on with issue 72! 🤩 Brace yourselves for impact, because this letter contains:

✅ Powerful data on Women in Leadership
💖 Significant efforts by Women in STEM
⭐ Endless possibilities in the AI revolution
🙌 Lucrative opportunities to upskill

Happy reading!

Reading time: 8 minutes

Erratum

First, I would like to apologize as I have misinformed you in a section from Issue 71 of this newsletter.

As we were discussing women in tech in the Philippines, I wrote Reina Reyes as current Analytics Head at Ayala Corporation, well in fact, she held that position from 2019 to 2020. She is now an Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines and the Head of Research at the National Institute of Physics at the same university. Nevertheless, her contributions to the field of analytics and data science remain exceptional!

Women in Leadership 📈

Continuing our discussions on women in tech, let's take a look at the current state of women as leaders. To achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, women should have equal participation and leadership in political and public life. 👩🏻‍💼 Unfortunately, statistics reveal that women are still inadequately represented in decision-making positions globally and there is still a long way to go before gender equality is realized in political spheres. ✒️

Let’s take a look at the facts and figures below, which are from UN Women.

⚖️ As of 1 January 2023, there are 31 countries where 34 women serve as Heads of State and/or Government.
🧠 The five most commonly held positions by women Cabinet Ministers are Women and Gender Equality, Family and Children Affairs, Social Inclusion and Development, Social Protection and Social Security, and Indigenous and Minority Affairs.
🗣️ Only 26.5 percent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women, up from 11 per cent in 1995.
🚩 Only six countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates.
⚒️ Data from 136 countries shows that women constitute nearly 3 million (34 percent) of elected members in local deliberative bodies. Only two countries have reached 50 percent, and an additional 20 countries have more than 40 percent of women in local government
🔑There is established and growing evidence that women’s leadership in political decision-making processes improves them. In India, a study found that areas with women-led councils had 62% more drinking water projects compared to areas with men-led councils. In Norway, a direct causal relationship between the presence of women in municipal councils and childcare coverage was found.
💯 Women show political leadership by collaborating with other parties through groups like women's caucuses in parliament, even in very challenging situations. They also advocate for gender equality, pushing for changes like ending gender-based violence, providing parental leave and childcare, offering pensions, creating laws that promote gender equality, and reforming elections.

With this data, an increase in the representation of women in decision-making positions globally would create a more equitable and inclusive society. ✅ It is now up to the collective efforts of individuals, organizations, and governments to ensure that women's voices are heard and valued in shaping our shared future.

Asian Women in STEM 🔝

Despite challenges, women continue to prove to be resilient and steadfast in their pursuit of leadership positions in various industries, including STEM. 💻 Not only are women who work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields spearheading crucial advancements, but they are also serving as inspiring figures for young girls to look up to. 💜 Let’s take a look at some of Tatler Asia’s Most Influential Women of 2023.

🔬 Nancy Ip, neuroscientist, and president of HKUST (Hong Kong)

Nancy Ip is a renowned molecular neuroscientist who made history by becoming the first female president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in October 2022. Since 1993, she has held several positions, including Vice President for Research and Development, Dean of Science, and Head of the Department of Biochemistry. 💼 In addition, she is the Morningside Professor of Life Science and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience. Ip's contribution to fighting Alzheimer's disease is noteworthy, as she directs global research on the disease and has received access to a database of 10 million Alzheimer's patients in China. 🧠 Moreover, her team is developing a blood test that will detect the disease accurately, early, and affordably. She vows to work tirelessly to build upon the university's foundation of excellence, as they embark on HKUST 2.0, the next chapter in the university's development.

🩺 Ivy Ng, CEO of SingHealth (Singapore)

Prof Ivy Ng has been the group CEO of Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd (SingHealth), the nation's largest healthcare group, since 2012. SingHealth supports healthcare professionals and partners by providing patient care, advancing medical knowledge, and enabling academic research. ❤️ In January 2023, SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) received substantial donations that will support the AMC Health Discovery District, SingHealth's ecosystem of innovation centers. 🏥 She emphasizes the importance of healthcare transformation to provide effective and affordable care that is patient-centered, values-based, and effective.

🚀 Florence Tan, chair of the NASA Small Spacecraft Coordination Group (Malaysia)

Florence Tan has been working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for over three decades, playing a key role in building mass spectrometers to explore celestial bodies such as Mars, Saturn, and the Moon. 🪐She has a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. She is also the current chair of NASA’s Small Spacecraft Coordination Group which “provides guidance on cross-agency initiatives and strategy for small spacecraft. 🌌 In fact, as of March 2021, there have been 178 SmallSat missions and studies.

Additionally, Tan serves as the deputy chief technologist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, responsible for conducting scientific studies of the Earth and the universe using space observatories. 🔭 Through her work, Tan is helping to answer the ultimate question: Are we alone in the universe? 👽

The increasing participation of women and girls in scientific research and technology is essential not only because it can lead to scientific breakthroughs and essential innovations that benefit humanity, but also because women are already making exciting innovations in STEM. 🌠 As learners, it is our unspoken responsibility to keep up with the trends and demands of these fields so that we can contribute to making a profound impact. ✍

For example, we’re already familiar with OpenAI’s ChatGPT—an Artificial Intelligence language model that can generate human-like text. But, have you heard of Bing, Bard, or Claude? 🤔

The New Kids on the Block 💯🔥

Bing, Bard, and Claude are the latest in a line of AI language models that aim to improve upon their predecessors. ⚙️ Developed by Facebook, Google, and Apple respectively, these models have been designed to be more energy-efficient, have better language understanding, and be able to generate more coherent and fluent text. ✨

A language model uses machine learning to conduct a probability distribution over words used to predict the most likely next word in a sentence based on the previous entry.
Source: https://builtin.com/data-science/beginners-guide-language-models

🛠️ Bing

Developed by Facebook, Bing is an energy-efficient AI language model that utilizes a new technique called "sparse attention" to reduce energy consumption by up to 90%. 🔌 Bing also has a better understanding of language and can generate more coherent and fluent text.

⚙️ Bard

Google's Bard is another AI language model that is designed to better understand natural language syntax and generates text that is more specific and coherent. 📌 It accomplishes this through a process called "iterative refinement," which involves correcting mistakes made by the model as it generates text. This helps it to produce more accurate and useful outputs.

🔗 Claude

Apple's Claude is a language model that is both energy-efficient and capable of generating human-like text. One of Claude's most unique features is its ability to generate text that incorporates knowledge from multiple sources. 🔎 This is achieved through a process called "federated learning," which involves combining data from multiple devices to improve the accuracy of the model.

As these AI language models continue to improve, they have the potential to revolutionize industries ranging from healthcare to entertainment. 🎯 The speed and accuracy of these models can drastically reduce the time and effort required for tasks such as language translation, speech recognition, and content generation.

Have any prompts in mind? 🤓 Leave a comment below 👇 or reach us through our social media pages! You can look forward to experiments using these tools soon!

Talk to us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok!

This new wave of AI models shows how big tech companies Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and Amazon are neck and neck in the AI revolution. 📱 In fact, this article by The Economist says that in 2022, these companies spent about $223 billion on research and development for data and AI—significantly more than in 2019 when they spent $219 billion. 🔋

BUT you don’t have to be a big tech conglomerate to take part in this competitive race. Machine Learning, Web Scraping, Python, and Cloud Computing are just some of the topics tackled in our Data Science Fellowship. 📚 In just 15 weeks, this project-based, mentor-driven, and cohort-based bootcamp will not only equip you with the skills you need to potentially contribute to developments like these, but it will also set you up for success in the future of work. 👩‍🎓

Cohort 12 of our Data Science Fellowship is open for admissions! Mark your calendars for these important dates:

🎬 Demo Day - June 16

💻 Python Code Along - June 29

🏠 Open House - July 6

📕 Review Session 1 - July 18

📝 Review Session 2 - August 3

🎓 First day of classes - September 11

It’s always great to plan ahead—so while you’re waiting for this exciting lineup, you can sign-up for Cohort 12 as early as now! 🗓️

When one door opens, another one closes—or is it the other way around? All I’m saying is, this is the LAST CALL for our Data Analytics Bootcamp Cohort 10 admissions! 😱

You still have time to:

✅ Register for Review Session 2 on April 4 - https://bit.ly/DABC10RS2

✅ Take the Pathfinder Exam until April 7

✅ Apply for a loan with our Study Now, Pay Later partner Bukas until April 21 - http://bit.ly/EskwelabsStudyNowPayLater-Bukas

✅ Sign-up for Cohort 10! Classes start on May 2 - bit.ly/Eskwelabs-DABootcamp

Women have been breaking barriers and shattering stereotypes in various fields, but there is still a long way to go to achieve gender parity, even in the tech industry. 💪🏻 The emergence of continuous developments in AI has the potential to shape the future of communication and technology, and it is crucial that women are adequately represented in their deployment and development. 👏

With that, I hope to see you in our bootcamps SOON. 😍 Remember, it's not just about keeping up with the latest trends and technologies, but also about creating a more inclusive and diverse industry.

See you in our April theme reveal, Eskweloves!

💌 Learning with you,

Meg Ruiz

Junior Content Designer at Eskwelabs

E is for Eskwelabs