Tuesday, March 8th from 6-8pm
Join us for an Empowered Women Series + Diversity & Inclusion moderated discussion about women and girls in STEM with Daniella Tchana, CEO and Founder of Be Smart-Edu and the French Female Math Olympics and Elena Sinel, Founder of Teens in AI.
We will explore the issues of why girls and women are underrepresented in STEM studies and professions in France, how there is a need to demystify math and science, and the importance of encouraging girls to pursue STEM studies.
This event will be hosted by AAWE members, Pamela Combastet and Pauline Lemasson via Zoom.
About Elena Sinel
Elena Sinel is the founder of Teens in AI, an initiative with a mission to create pipelines for underrepresented talent, thereby improving diversity and inclusion in artificial intelligence.
Teens in AI empowers young people to change the world through artificial intelligence for social good. Prior to this, Elena worked as international specialist consultant with 9 years of experience in poverty reduction strategies, rural livelihood development and poverty alleviation with a specific focus on creation of small and medium enterprise development, product design, marketing and fundraising in Central Asia, the Balkans, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
About Daniella Tchana
After studying physics and chemistry, Daniella Tchana won an excellence scholarship to study in France. Even before obtaining her doctorate, Daniella was committed to helping young girls who want to orient themselves in mathematics by demystifying this fascinating and intimidating discipline. It was during her doctoral thesis that Daniella took stock of a serious reality: not only was she the only woman, but she was also the only black woman. For her, it is above all a cultural and educational blockage: “We make women believe that they are not strong enough for science subjects, we mystify science. They don’t hear the motivational phrases, ‘you’re going to do it’, ‘you can do it’ often enough.”
Daniella will go on to become the CEO and Founder of Be Smart-Edu, the first online interactive preparing class for entrance examinations into the French Grandes Ecoles, and the French Female Math Olympics.
About Pauline Lemasson
Pauline Lemasson is a contributing writer on culture, history, and current affairs for Inspirelle and Untapped Paris. She was formerly the Strategic Partnerships Manager at the American Library in Paris.
About Pamela Combastet
Pamela Combastet was born in New York and raised near Paris. After getting her Bac and spending a year at Sciences Po, she moved to Washington, DC to attend the Foreign Service School at Georgetown U. She worked in the development departments at several New York City museums. In 2004, Pam moved back to Paris. She serves on the Board of the American Aid Society.