Hello World or more like… Hello Cloud?

It’s been a minute since I last wrote and decided to publish my thoughts out there. So I’m feeling all the feels of uploading a picture to a story (yes, I’m an Instagram millennial) and typing felt cute might delete later.

If you know me from before (by before please reference the time before COVID) you know I'm a Sustainable Development Engineer that worked for almost 10 years in the startup space, more specifically in the social enterprise sector. I was a UN Women's Empower Women Champion for Change, launched incredible programs for women’s economic empowerment, and therefore I just couldn’t think of a better day to write my first entry.

If you don’t know me, which will most likely be the case: My name is Nelly. I’m the Head of Developer Relations for LATAM at AWS. I lead an ✨amazing✨ team in the region to connect, learn from, and build exciting things with developers in the cloud.

I summoned my courage to write today because March 8th is a date that always makes me feel powerful. It’s a day where we remember all those women that came before us and did enormous sacrifices so that we could have the opportunities we have now. And in my case, it’s been a day where for the last couple of years I’ve been able to celebrate women in tech, by learning together and hearing their stories - all through the AWS Community.

And what is that? Well, I joined AWS almost 3 years ago as the LATAM Community Programs Manager and it was in that role that I met super talented builders creating technical content, organizing events, and launching initiatives - all as volunteers - to help their peers grow, and help others learn about the opportunities that exist in the cloud.

Today, I’d like to focus on the 13 women-focused AWS User Groups in 10 countries that exist in LATAM: AWS User Group Embajadoras Cloud 🇲🇽 Mexico, AWS User Group Girls Perú 🇵🇪, AWS User Group Women Colombia 🇨🇴, AWS User Group Girls Chile 🇨🇱, AWS User Group Girls Uruguay 🇺🇾, AWS User Group Women Ecuador 🇪🇨, AWS User Group Women Bolivia 🇧🇴, AWS User Group Guatemala 🇬🇹- Women’s Chapter, AWS User Group Girls Argentina 🇦🇷, AWS User Group 🇧🇷Brasilia - Women’s Chapter, AWS User Group 🇧🇷 Rio - Women’s Chapter, AWS User Group 🇧🇷 Minas Gerais - Mulheres nas nuvens, and AWS User Group 🇧🇷 São Paulo - Mulheres nas nuvens.

Beyond March, these communities host virtual and in-person sessions, workshops, mentoring opportunities, certification challenges, among many other initiatives such as the AWSome Women Community Summit LATAM and Brazil. They’ve inspired me, as many other women to challenge myself and do things even when they seem scary and out of my comfort zone. To me that looks as beginning to write, and openly sharing my progress in what will be me dusting off my coding skills after a decade of being away.

So, during the upcoming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing more about each of these groups, trying to showcase some of the inspiring and impactful stories they have to share. And, most importantly, remembering and celebrating this Women’s History Month surrounded by these communities. Because, what better way to celebrate this WID25 than creating something new, learning new things, and connecting with more women?