#ThisLittleGirlIsMe

#ThisLittleGirlIsMe

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This little girl grew up in the south of Sweden in Smaland (Ikea-land..), with dentist father and nurse mother, and an always envie of two year older sister. When the sister started school her life got so empty, she begged her mother to let her start school a year earlier. Already in first class she got instilled a sense of right and wrong, got herself into trouble defending her best boy friend who got bullied, as she went into the ring to protect him. At least they didnt beat girls that hard..

Growing up eventually got her own passion interest in sustainability and environment. The only education including that was Civil Engineering. She joined and learnt new things, things she never new was important as a little girl.

At end of the university years, industry representatives visited the school and told the 6 girls in the class of 157 that there was no point for them to apply for jobs, they were not going to be offered any..

This little girl was devastated, sad and.. angry. With that anger she wrote to NASA applying for a job……and she got it! At the time she made algorithmic calculations on water flooding on some computers, little did she know what that would bring her.

She eventually reverted for a job at a construction company. All kinds of tests was put on her, including managing new building sites with a group of thirty male construction workers double her age. She was later pointed to a job with computer knowledge, reminded of her NASA experience she decided to listen them out. Which resulted in a career change, move and a long stint in the tech industry, first with an American company, later with an Indian company.

She took on increasingly complex jobs, building up new units across Nordic, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and eventually globally. She took on broader responsibilities in IT, strategy, transformation, in business process outsourcing and engineering & product development, and learnt that people buy visions and dreams. She took on billion dollar deals and billion number of problems, and learnt to inspire and develop also her leaders to do wonders on both dreams and details.

She moved on to join boards to work on the most complex issues, with many great teams. And joined an investment company & startup accellerators. But she wasn’t that impressed with the effectiveness. She joined academic research initiatives to figure out why. Considering how that knowledge could be better shared, she was co-authoring books, training and facilitating board networks. Amongst other, engaging boards to increase the ambition and insights on climate change and sustainability actions.

70% of girls feel more confident about their future after hearing from other women role models. I encourage each of the incredible women in my network to participate in this campaign by Inspiring Girls International started by inspiring Miriam Gonzalez Durantez

This blogpost has been shared also as a LinkedIn Post, as a Twitter Post and as a Facebook Post. ThisLittleGirl is feeling immensely grateful for all heart warming comments and encouragement, Thislittlegilr is humbled and so grateful for all generous considerations.

#BeTheChange #InspiringGirls #GiveGirlsRoleModels