WIT Love Podcast

In this first episode of Season 12, Cassi-Ann Hutchinson interviews Adijat Akinsipe, a Talent Acquisition Strategist at RBC with an avid passion for technology and a strong background in keyboard programming.

Having transitioned her career focus from infrastructure to people, she discovered a distinct passion for diversity and inclusion in the tech sector. Her perspective on this subject is grounded in the belief that diversity of thought is as important, if not more so, than traditional diversity factors such as race or gender.

Adijat emphasizes the necessity for diverse perspectives and experiences to drive innovation in tech and believes that diversity and inclusion should be at the forefront of all aspects within the industry. This includes sourcing candidates, fostering career growth, and mentoring individuals. She argues for the importance of diversity of thought leading to a wider range of ideas and solutions, ultimately better serving a diverse customer base. Her belief is that prioritizing diversity and inclusion is crucial for a successful technology talent acquisition process.

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Find them online:

Cassi-Ann Hutchinson:https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Adijat Akinsipe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adijatakinsipe/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

In this episode, Cassi-Ann Hutchinson interviews Octavia Howell, for part 2 of their discussion that began in episode 7. Cassi-Ann, a math graduate from the University of Waterloo and a security strategy analyst at Sunlife, and Octavia, an experienced security leader and the founder and CEO of Augustus Redefined, are both passionate advocates for women in the tech industry.

Cassi-Ann believes that women often internalize the belief that they are not technical enough for certain technology roles, a self-doubt that she works to dispel by encouraging women to recognize their own skills and aptitudes. Similarly, Octavia emphasizes the importance of women recognizing their own analytical and problem-solving abilities, and criticizes the outdated notion that women do not belong in the tech industry.

Listen through this episode, as both Cassi-Ann and Octavia share how they are dedicated to challenging stereotypes and advocating for women in the tech industry, using their experiences and backgrounds to help others realize their potential.

Find them online:

Cassi-Ann Hutchinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Octavia Howell:https://www.linkedin.com/in/octaviahowell/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

Our host, Cathlyn Ngonge, is a fourth-year Health Science student. She is pursuing a specialization in Population and Public Health, with a desire to pursue a career promoting public health research or public policy analyses. She is passionate about advocacy, especially through volunteerism and currently committed to a role as the co-president of a nonprofit responsible for promoting educational opportunities for youth in Kenya as well as a member of the Feminist resource research team at the University of Ottawa. In all things, she looks forward to expressing her interests and sharing them with others.

In this episode, Cathlyn interviews Ashley Wright, the creator of the Crypto Strategy Academy, a 7 week Crypto and Blockchain coaching program, author of “The Crypto Strategy Workbook for Youth” an interactive workbook that teaches youth about Crypto, NFT and Blockchain, co-founder of Crypto Babes, a global community for women in the Blockchain and the Blacks on Blockchain, an initiative to increase the representation of the Black community in Crypto and Web3.

Get ready for another insightful and information rich discussion that will encourage you to explore more about the world of Cyptocurrency, Blockchain, and NFTs.

Find them online:

Cathlyn Ngonge:https://www.instagram.com/cathlynngo/

Ashley Wright:https://linktr.ee/thewrightsuccess

Find us online: https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

In this episode, Cassi-Ann, interviews Julie Smithson, an experienced Businesswoman, Wife, Mother and Woman in Tech. Together the explore the exciting world of the Metaverse.

Julie Smithson's personal mission is to inspire others to create and design with special technology for good, and think and act in a socially economical and environmentally responsible way. 

It is through this lens as co-founder & COO at metaverse, a 3D web game engine for business and XR studio. Julie is leading enterprise companies to digitally transform and educate and use spatial technologies.  Julie guides her team to translate instructional language interaction behaviors and curate knowledge testing gamification for businesses.

Julie is also co-chair of XR woman.com a global group of women who meet every Wednesday and learn about the applications of extended realities.  The group works to advocate, inspire and build communities aimed at inclusivity of gender equality, race and ethnicity in the digital sector and beyond.

This is a very insightful and engaging discussion that will encourage you to explore more about this technology and how you may leverage it in your business.

Find them online:

Cassi-Ann Hutchinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Julie Smithson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-smithson/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

Meet our host, Sandra Nnaji. One of her favourite things to do is help others. Sandra love giving compliments, and seeing people happy. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, listening to music and watching movies. She also enjoys graphic design. She is passionate about personal growth and development and always reminds herself to continue making progress in her journey. She knows it’s okay to make mistakes and fail along the way. So, you can count on Sandra to try again until she gets "it" - whatever "it" is - right.

Sandra is paired up with Geraldine Esemezie, a leading woman in technology. Geraldine is blazing a trail and boasts of an illustrious career in technology services and operations delivery. She has solid work experience spanning almost 2 decades across multiple organizations in Africa and North America. In her current role, she is the Director for Application Support GDS and Authentication services in the Global CyberSecurity team at RBC where she leads and manages the Enterprise-wide Identity and Access management services, teams, partners, and operational processes.

In this episode, Sandra interviews Geraldine around her experience of navigating the numerous hats that she plays in her life; mom, wife, and career professional. The pair share beautiful energy with each other, as they cover ground on what it takes to thrive in the corporate IT space, knowing when to pivot in career, standing ground in the spaces you occupy, and how to go about educating oneself in the space of tech.

This is episode that we are sure you will enjoy and find inspiration.

Find them online:

Geraldine Esemezie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldineesemezie/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

In this episode, Cassi-Ann, interviews Octavia Howell, an experienced Security leader who specializes in Governance, Networking, Cyber Security, and building operationally excellent, motivated cross-functional, multi-cultural teams.

We learn in this episode that Octavia was into security before it became an imperative in running good business. Her passion in this space is evident as she shares her journey to becoming a CISO.

She is focused on career growth and helping everyone she encounters reach their career goals. She is a highly technical leader and prides herself on understanding, solving problems, and discovering secure solutions for her business partners. Octavia believes that a security leader should mentor, motivate trust, and lead their teams to act with integrity and openness. She often says, “A team is only as strong as their leaders and each leader casts a shadow that they will be held accountable for.”

Octavia received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Spelman College and holds CISSP, GISP, GCWN and GSLC GIAC certifications. Octavia is the Founder and CEO of Augustus Redefined, an organization focused on the advancement of Black Women in Cyber.

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), where she leads the CISO Forum, ISACA, ISC², the Executive Women’s Forum (EWF), Forte, and Cyversity (formally ICMCP).

In her spare time, Octavia enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, and mentoring. She truly believes that we are placed on this earth to help each other achieve greatness (whatever that may be).

Find them online:

Cassi-Ann Hutchinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Octavia Howell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/octaviahowell/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

Our host Lordslove Ngonge is a third-year political science student at uOttawa, who is very interested in social justice issues, with an entrepreneurial mindset. She is a writer for HerCampus Uottawa Magazine and an avid contributor to her university’s many clubs. She one day plans on going to law school after her undergraduate studies among many adventures.

In this episode, Lordslove interviews Emma Todd, CEO of MMH Technology Group, a member of the Crypto Sustainability Coalition at the World Economic Forum, Chair of the Canadian Blockchain Consortium’s Mining Committee, and a board member of the Canadian Blockchain Consortium and a board member of Tokens.com.

She is also past Chair and Executive Board Member of Blockchain for Impact, which works alongside the United Nations. As a seasoned speaker, Emma has spoken on a panel at Parliament in Ottawa, Canada, the United Nations Headquarters, the United Nations General Assembly, and shared the stage with various heads of state, U.N. Ambassadors, Al Gore, Edward Snowden, members of the U.S. Congress, and Senate, and more.

Emma has helped some of the world’s largest banks succeed including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and HSBC. She has also amassed a string of accomplishments including being named Crypto Royalty by Toronto Life magazine in its annual Top 50 influential list, and a winner of the Harry Jerome award for Professional Excellence. Emma was also awarded one of the Top 100 Black Women to watch in Canada.

Find them online:

Lordslove Ngonge: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lordslove-ngonge-b43b21250/

Emma Tood: https://www.emmavtodd.com/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

Our host is, Reyanna Lambie, also know as Rey, is a young and vibrant self-starter, foodie, athlete and traveller.

Rey interview Dini Wickneswaran Lalindini Wickneswaran, also known as Dini or Laly.  Her pronouns are she/her/hers.  She is a gay brown woman who is also a mother, a wife, an aunt, a sister, a daughter, a wellness coach and technology professional.

She was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka and came to Canada when she  was 13 years old due to the Sri Lankan civil war.  She has been living in Canada for 32 years, calling Canada her home and is forever grateful to her mom for bringing her to this beautiful country.

As an Information Technology professional she have over 20 years experience.  She started as a Junior Help Desk/Service Desk Technician at an IT Solutions and Services Provider and moved to different financial institutions holding various positions in IT for growth, fulfillment and success currently holding a Senior IT Manager position.

She is passionate about personal growth, learning, mindfulness including overall wellness, helping & uplifting others, mentoring, coaching, giving back to the community, 2SLGBTQ initiatives, women in technology, women in leadership initiatives and travel.

Her personal interests are meditation, reading, playing games with her daughter, yoga, walking, writing gratitude journals, tennis and bike riding.

Find Dini online: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dini-w-3461a628/

Find Reyanna online: https://www.reylambie.com/

Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

In this episode, Cassi-Ann interviews Andrea Stapley. Andreas, is based in Toronto, Canada, and is OANDA's Chief Information Security Officer, responsible for the organizations corporate Security strategy, ensuring appropriate governance and oversight over global security operations.

With 30 years of experience in the financial services and telecommunications sectors, Andrea has been building mature security programs with a recent focus on building a Cloud Center of Excellence for multiple organizations which enabled digital transformation through the journey to Cloud.

Andrea is passionate about encouraging women to explore careers in cybersecurity and IT and is a champion to mentor and coach them on this journey so they feel empowered and capable.

We are all stronger together being cheerleaders for the next generation of powerful women leaders.

Find them online:

Cassi-Ann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Andrea Stapley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-stapley-22bb69a/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

Our host, Cassi-Ann Hutchinson is a Cyber Security Strategy Analyst at Sun Life and mathematics graduate from the University of Waterloo. Motivated by building community and emerging technology, she supports several strategy, financial literacy and diversity initiatives for national and local organizations including ASPIRE, Motivate Canada, the Merit Award Bursary Program and the UW Fintech Club. Outside of work and volunteering, you can find her working towards her fitness goals and staying immersed in the digital culture by advancing her programming skills.

In this episode, Cassi-Ann interviews Jennifer Gibbs, an Executive Coach, Entrepreneur and Data Executive. Using her 25+ years of leadership experience in technology, data and analytics and banking, and over 10 years spent in executive level positions, she offers up a gem of insights.

As the CEO of Jennifer Gibbs Coaching, Jennifer is on a mission to empower women in midlife to love their careers and live their greatness. Her approach is informed by her hard-won experiences, and rooted in compassion, curiosity, and a sense of humour.

The dynamic between Cassi-Ann and Jennifer is truly electrifying and you will find so much to love and learn from this episode!!

Find them online:

Cassi-Ann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassih/

Jennifer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgibbsmba/

Find us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witlovepodcast/

In this inaugural episode of WIT Love, Alisha Arora, a sixteen year-old phenomenom interviews Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson, her mentor and also founder of WIT Love podcast.

Alisha is a force to reckon with! She is a 16-year-old AI for good change maker, philanthropist and women’s health advocate. Serves as the UNICEF youth ambassador for mental health and technology. Currently working on leveraging machine learning to prevent suicide. She is also the Co-Founder of The HopeSisters which is a non-profit organization founded by her sister and Alisha where they strive to spread hope to vulnerable people. Alisha's passion for Female Care and Technology has led her to be the youngest intern at Procter & Gamble where she is working on the Always YOU App and the future of personalized health. Her mission: to help solve the world's biggest problems using emerging technologies. Innovating technologies to disrupt industries including, energy, healthcare & mental health.

In this episode, Alisha seeks to better understand how Nkechi found her way to tech, navigated her career in tech, and what she learnt from the challenges she encountered along the way. Nkechi also happens to be a mentor of Alisha, and the love and admiration between them is very endearing.

Find them online:

Alisha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alishaarora56/

Nkechi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkechinwafor/

Welcome to WIT Love, a podcast founded by women, produced by women, for women in technology. We are after the bigger picture! We exist to help feed the technology pipeline with female creators and leaders who are ready, lead with courage, innovate with purpose, and strive on the daily to sustain impactful and world-changing outcomes.

Through WIT Love, we will connect young women, between the ages of 16-25, with women who have been thriving in the Tech field, with a goal for them to share and learn from each other.

Our desire is that through these interactions, our young hosts will build their self-identity, boost their confidence, strengthen their voice, and further their unique purpose in this world.

Make sure to subscribe to this podcast, and join us as we get into the education of tech, the increasing access to tech careers, showcasing of incredible and visible female role models in the industry, leveling the playing field of talent for women to achieve their full potential, and help to increase the percentage of women in all tech related careers.

We are excited to grow a sustainable pipeline of women, excited to grow their careers in this field.