Remarks as prepared Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch Girls in Tech Dinner December 14, 2019, 7:00 PM The Herdmanston Lodge
Thank you to the Honorable Sandra Granger, First Lady of Guyana, for honoring all of us with your presence this evening, and for your dedication to the success of women and youth in technology.
Thank you to Managing Director, Evie Kanhai, for your efforts in launching this Guyana chapter of Girls in Tech, and to the chapter for organizing this event.
Thank you Girls in Tech supporters for being present at this dinner and for recognizing with your actions and financial support the importance of this project.
I would like to acknowledge Ms. Kanhai as an alumnus of the U.S. Embassy’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. Evie, you are part of our extended U.S. Embassy community in Guyana; we are so pleased to see you thrive as a businessperson and entrepreneur in Guyana, and even more gratified to see your personal work in supporting the success of your Guyanese sisters.
We are here to support the effort of mentoring the next generation of female leaders. And I applaud Girls in Tech for focusing like a laser on this aspect of personal and professional development. I was excited to learn that the Girls in Tech Mentorship Program we are here to help launch will facilitate relationships and support networks for the young women in Guyana pursuing STEM fields.
With reflection we can see that mentorship underlies most of our professional successes. Somewhere along the way, a mentor might have given us advice about how to channel our particular skills or told us which fields – like science and technology – abound with the most opportunities for us. A mentor might have worked on our resume with us, introduced us to those people we need to know, or helped us overcome all kinds of personal obstacles. And very often, mentorship is the missing piece for young ladies who would thrive in science and technology fields.
More women and girls should be involved in tech fields. Nations and companies that do not accept this truth fail to take advantage of one-half of the creative energy and ingenuity available in a society. STEM fields belong to a handful of professions that are already becoming the core of a new economy. But nothing will change for our girls without working to reprogram the structure of support networks that very often keeps young women out of certain fields. The Girls in Tech Mentorship Program does that. I believe this mentorship program will make a difference and I am glad to be here to show support!
The Girls in Tech Guyana chapter is new. They need our support, not just today but going forward, to succeed.
Thank you.
