In this latest series of articles, we publish interviews of women working as professionals or students in the technology sector. The objective is to highlight their work and contribution to the industry and the community.
In these interviews, you will find women working in technology to solve real-world problems, break stereotypes, and create the next big impact on the tech industry. This series of interviews shows that even with the lowest rate of women participation in the labor market in Pakistan, there are still many smart women who are creating and using technology to work wonders.
Today, we are featuring Salwa Abdul Hayee. Read on to learn more about her work and get inspired.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, your education, and your work.
I am an Architect by education, a Creative by passion, and a Product and Data Professional by employment. I’ve been working at my current company from when we were just 15 ‘mole people’ in a basement in E-11 Islamabad, working on animation and writing content that is now highly regarded by various organizations who have worked with us over the years, including World Bank, Teach for World Foundation, The Citizens Foundation, PTV, etc. Growing the company has been about wearing many hats and constant learning. I started in content creation but created more than just video lessons; I devised systems, guidelines, and processes to scale our learning and standardize our content as the team grew. My work so far has equipped me to take a project from ideation to launch and set it up for success.
2. What are your future plans/aspirations? How will it impact the community/society/your team/your project?
I’m definitely working on a startup idea of my own, but I’m keeping it under wraps for the time being as it hasn’t been fully cooked yet. Let’s just say it will be a whole new direction for me, something that more wholly aligns with my values.
3. Please brag about your career accomplishments. What are the things you are proud of?
The fact that I’ve been able to learn and lead in domains I did not have a conventional background in, purely based on my ability to identify core problems and employ creative thinking, is, above all, my greatest achievement. I am also very proud of the literacy program I conceived and piloted, which included editing 200 illustrated lessons for children of all reading levels. In data, under a valued mentor, my team drastically improved how we tracked feature performance and, therefore, how the product was developed. We uncovered core insights about what teacher actions were correlated with long-term retention, and this helped the organization redefine our roadmap and deprioritize features that seemed valuable but weren’t. It is, to date, some of the most valuable work we have done for the organization.
4. What has been your best education/career decision, and why?
I love delving into new areas, and I’ve done that many times over the years, moving from Architecture to Content to Data and Impact and so on. Even though at times I agonize over these choices and, as a habitual worrier, wondering if it would have been better had I locked down on a single path and racked up a decade there, I ultimately am very grateful for the pivots I have been able to make. The important thing is that there is no right or wrong here. I felt called to different paths, and while the tasks may change, so much of the underlying principles remain the same. It’s always good to focus on how you are developing as a professional for breadth in certain domains and depth in specific sub-domains.
5. What are the best lessons you’ve learned?
My most important lessons have been:
- Your job is not your purpose; do not over-identify with what you do for a living;
- Enrich your life with activities that no one pays you for,
- If you suspect you are lost or have walked too far down a path you do not align with, first, just find a way to stop and breathe. Second, do not be afraid to start from scratch, learn something new, and build yourself up again.
6. Which woman inspires you and why?
I’m terribly lucky to count some amazing women among my friends and mentors. I will mention two here, but I recognize so many more as my lighthouse. Baneen Mirza, who is the founder of Khanabadosh Baithak, which is only a part of all the value she brings into the world, and Shazia Mohamed, founder of a unique holistic healing Qigong practice. I admire and love them for their resilience, gentleness, and ability to step outside the lines where necessary to hold firm to what they value.
7. Do you think Pakistan has changed as a society in terms of accepting career-oriented women? What needs to change to help more women come forward?
I enjoy a certain amount of privilege, relatively speaking, so I feel attitudes around the importance of financial empowerment of women are improving. However, to bring more women into the workforce, we need to start early, help girls see themselves as self-sufficient, and encourage them to have ambition. Having said that, it’s never too late to start seeing ourselves as whole and capable of providing for ourselves. In the end, it does take a village, and if every woman can guide just one other, we will see a lot more women rise to their potential.
8. What will be the biggest challenge for the generation of women behind you?
Conquering our own fears and challenging our own stories and assumptions about ourselves is always the biggest challenge for anyone. Understanding this makes everything else a whole lot easier.
9. What would it be if you could change one thing about the tech industry/business?
While men and women work together in the industry, nuances of male dominance are sometimes hard to see, but they have a long-term impact on women and their growth paths. For example, so much mentorship and advising happen in casual interactions outside of workspaces and times, making it inaccessible to women. Until societal expectations from men and women remain different, special effort needs to be expended into mentoring women to navigate the corporate world and rise to leadership levels.
10. How can WomenInTechPK help you and other women?
Continue to speak about the value that working in tech can allow women to add to the world. Just like in any other field, equal representation in tech is instrumental to creating equitable technologies. Women have far less access to experienced advisors in tech who can help them think strategically and learn how to rise to leadership positions. WomenInTechPK is well-positioned to facilitate this.
You can follow Salwa Abdul Hayee using her profile(s) below, and please do not hesitate to hire her for your next project.
