Advancing Women in Tech Collaborates with U.S. Department of State's Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Indo-Pacific Summit

Advancing Women in Technology (AWIT), a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing women and underrepresented groups into tech leadership roles by upskilling its members, announced today its continued collaboration with the U.S. Department of State's Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) program and associated events.

Working with the State Department, AWIT developed a three-part Masterclass titled: "Future-proofing Your Business", which served as the lead-up workshop for the AWE Indo-Pacific Women in Tech Summit, which took place November 13-16 in Taipei. The in-person AWE Summit was organized by the American Institute in Taiwan with support from Taiwan's Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

AWIT board member Shanti Punukollo gave the keynote speech for the summit as part of the U.S. Speaker program, a State Department program which connects foreign audiences with U.S. experts. AWIT board members Nancy Wang, Wayne Duso, and Pranava Adduri also spoke and led core skills workshops for AWE alumni, alongside additional speakers including representatives from the Department of State; the American Institute in Taiwan; Taiwan's Ministry for Economic Affairs; as well as U.S. Speaker Holly Liu, co-founder of gaming unicorn Kabam; and Chai Lee, General Manager of Uber Eats Taiwan.

Launched in 2019 by the U.S. Department of State, AWE is a women's economic empowerment program that provides enterprising women with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch or scale successful businesses. AWE connects women with experts to advance business acumen and build stronger ties among women entrepreneurs in different markets.

The AWE Summit in Taipei featured talks on the role of women leaders at the forefront of tech revolutions, the impact of technology on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and more. The Summit brought together over 75 women entrepreneurs representing cohorts from Brunei, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Representing AWIT, Wang, Punukollu, Duso, and Adduri together hold decades of experience within market-leading tech companies including Amazon, Axon, Rubrik, and Microsoft, as well as key venture capital firms like Felicis.

"It's energizing to see AWIT's mission of accelerating more women into leadership roles being recognized on a global stage, through collaboration with the American Institute of Taiwan and the U.S. Department of State. We're continuing to expand our work with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to equip women entrepreneurs abroad with the resources to drive momentum for their ventures," said Nancy Wang, Founder and Board Chair of AWIT, a Venture Partner at Felicis, as well as a former General Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Catherine Muller, Team Lead for the U.S. Department of State's Academy for Women Entrepreneurs stated: "The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Women in Tech Summit is a public-private collaboration that demonstrates global American leadership in the technology and startup sectors. It is a vehicle for the United States to tap into American subject-matter experts to engage women entrepreneurs and elevate key U.S. foreign policy goals to expand economic opportunity and equity and societal inclusion around the world, especially in the Indo-Pacific region.

AWIT supports women and underrepresented executives and founders in the tech industry through partnered programs like the AWS Impact Accelerator for Women Founders, skills resources including more than 100 hours of Coursera content, and extensive work with leading technology companies like Google, Amazon, and MongoDB.

About Advancing Women in Tech

Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit curating a community of tech executives who catapult high-potential, diverse talent into leadership roles through upskilling and mentorship. Founded by Nancy Wang, one of Entrepreneur's 100 Female Founders, AWIT's mission is to solve the gender gap at all levels of tech leadership by teaching real-world skills, mentoring the next-generation of diverse executives, and advocating for more diverse representation in the management office, C-Suite, and the boardroom.

AWIT has accelerated the careers of more than 21,000 women and underrepresented groups through partnerships with AWS and Coursera to teach the real-world skills required of product and engineering leaders by companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. AWIT also partners with top tech companies to mentor senior talent to become executive-ready. Visit www.advancingwomenintech.org.