“The thing that brings us together is our interest in technology and the need to make our community a better place,” said Nagham Joudeh, a 16-year-old from Nablus, Palestine participating in the State Department’s TechGirls program. She is one of the 27 young women selected by U.S. embassies in Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and the Palestinian territories to participate in the three week, U.S-based exchange program. An initiative of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, TechGirls focuses on encouraging innovation and providing the knowledge and access to pursue higher education and careers in technology. The girls will then use the skills they develop for community projects to implement back at home. At a luncheon organized by Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) and hosted by Bank of America on July 8, WIM introduced these girls to over fifty women in tech, including Jenn Shaw, Mary Fernandez, and Vivian Maese. WIM wanted to show these girls how they can launch their own mobile companies, and to provide them with the network for doing so.

Administered by Legacy International, the three-week TechGirls program is based in Washington D.C. and New York City. It includes a seven-day technology camp led by iD Tech Camps at Towson University, job shadowing and site visits at technology companies such as Google, DoSomething and AT&T, and peer workshops with Girls Who Code. While at technology camp, the girls learned coding, web development, and game design. Nagham explained how she learned to create a website in only one week at the iD Tech Camp. “I’ve been able to do things and see places in America that I never thought I would have had the chance to do until later in life… I’d like to inspire other girls to believe in themselves and know they can do this.”

One of the women invited to speak at the lunch was Amy Marie Pinto, a fifteen year old from Hunts Point, who shared her story of learning how to code through the Startup Box: South Bronx’s after school program and designing the mobile app, KnO My BOrO. “I created the app to show that there is more than just garbage and violence in my neighborhood…I wanted to show the beauty and creativity of where I live…how people express themselves to try to show who they really are.” During the Startup Box: South Bronx’s after-school program, Amy created a portfolio of five other apps within six months. “The program has provided me with the opportunity to do things and to see places I’ve never seen before.” It was visits to companies such as Google and NYU’s ICP that really convinced Amy to dive into the program.

Michael Dubno, Chief Information Officer, Global Markets, Risk Technology and Operations at Bank of America kicked off the lunch. Mike discussed the importance of investing in women like Amy in the STEM field because he believes this investment significantly increases diversity of thought, and leads to success. “We need to welcome diverse thought because the world has become global and every business in the world is a technological one. We need to move people away from the ‘learn, practice, teach’ method and towards the mindset of ‘we have a new problem, so let’s create a solution to solve it.’”

Suzanne Xie, founder and CEO of Hullabalu, was the next speaker and she is doing just what Mike talked about. Hullabalu is a family media startup based in New York City that uses creative story telling and imagery to provide children with an example of the importance of leadership. Its protagonist is a female heroine in the form of a little purple panda. Suzanne went on to describe her experience as a female entrepreneur and encouraged those in attendance to pursue what their passionate about. “My original company started off as an idea on a spreadsheet. The company grew so much that we sold it and now I’m running Hullabalu, which we’re using to try to equal the playing field by having girls create their own story and destiny.”

The keynote speaker was Debbie Guild, Enterprise Chief Technology Officer and End User Computing Executive at Bank of America. Debbie discussed her career background to highlight the opportunities a career in tech can provide. Debbie also discussed her support of women in technology. “This is my cause and I’m here to support you…you can do so many things to change the world, especially because you have so much more than I had when I was your age. You have communities that are here to support you and you can take your product and share it with the world.”

Kelly Hoey, one of Women Innovate Mobile’s founders concluded the event. “We need more people who look and think like the people in this room do. We need more innovations from diverse thinkers and we founded Women Innovate Mobile because we want to see more women in early stage roles.” Kelly also made sure the girls knew that even though the day was coming to an end, their journeys were not. “The people in this room want to see you succeed fabulously-know that you are never alone…and when you have that idea, call me.”

Kelly then announced that it was time for everyone to get to know each other a little better over some ice cream sundaes. Nadia Ilhai, Program Officer at Legacy International said the girls were blown away when they arrived at the dining room at the Bank of America Tower’s 51st floor. “When Kelly called me at work one day and told me the event was on, let’s just say it was a REALLY good day at work. It’s just such an incredible opportunity for the TechGirls program to be here.”

Many of the TechGirls also expressed how grateful they felt to be at the event. “It was better than we could have ever expected. We’re living our dreams here,” said Safaa Berkani, from Morocco. Amina Chida, from Tunisia expressed how wonderful it was to get to speak with other inspiring women during events such as the luncheon and how attending iD Tech Camp was her favorite part of the program. “When we were in camp, it felt like we were in a real university.” In addition, Razan Marzouqa, from Palestine expressed how much the girls were enjoying their time in New York City. “It’s like what you see in the movies…it’s colorful and diverse and the music and fashion are everywhere.”

When the girls return home, they will focus on projects individually or in groups with the other girls who live in the same country. Safaa explained that she and her new friends from Morocco are planning on conducting a series of seminars to share what they have learned with others. “This is the best opportunity we’ve ever had. We want to share what we have learned with those who didn’t have the opportunity to come here.”

This post was created by Raine Dalton, WIM’s editorial and community innovation intern. Raine is passionate about finding creative ways to empower women globally through tech. In addition to WIM, Raine has written, tweeted, and posted for the Global Banking Alliance for Women, WITNESS, and 90.7 WFUV News. You can find her work at www.rainedalton.com or get in touch with her through Twitter @rainedalton, or by emailing raine@wim.co.