IT community from Central Asia: Central Asian Ladies Initiative

Amina Tushakova, city — San Francisco, co-founder at CALI, Central Asian Ladies Initiative, sophomore student at Minerva University, double majoring in physics and computer science, LinkedIn 

About the Community

Together with Togzhan Ibraeva, Kanikei Omurzakova, and Aknur Abdikarim, we founded Central Asian Ladies Initiative, CALI. Aknur and I are from Almaty, graduated from RFMSH, and currently study at Minerva University in San Francisco. Togzhan Ibraeva, a graduate of UC Berkeley and originally from Kazakhstan, currently works at Esri Inc. Kanikei Omurzakova currently works at Cisco and is studying at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, we actively attended events in Silicon Valley to gain experience and expand our network. One such event was held at the Silkroad Innovation Hub, the largest Central Asian hub in the region, which organized meetings with representatives from Google, Amazon, Tesla, Uber, and hosted national holidays.

Aknur met the founders of the Silkroad Innovation Hub, after which we began receiving invitations to their events. Once, at a pitch competition called Unicorn Battles, we met Aizada Marat, CEO of ALMA, and her co-founder Asel Tuleubayeva.

Previously, Togzhan had discussed the idea of creating a community for women from Central Asia with Aizada. Subsequently, Aizada began looking for other co-founders. However, she later decided not to participate in the project but suggested that Togzhan and Kanikei continue this initiative together with Aknur and me. Thus, the four of us came together and launched Central Asian Ladies Initiative.

Our goal is to support women from Central Asia in Silicon Valley and assist in their professional development.

Community Members

Central Asian Ladies Initiative is a community bringing together women from Central Asia who aspire to develop in the fields of technology, business, and startups.

Initially, the participants were female students and young professionals from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, studying in the US and Europe. Over time, CALI expanded, attracting speakers not only from Central Asia but also from other regions. For example, at one of our recent events, a coach from Stanford Graduate School of Business based in Israel spoke.

The community includes:

— IT specialists: developers, product managers, data analysts, engineers, and designers
— experts in business and startups working with venture capital and technology products
— mentors and advisors supporting new members in their career development.

CALI is an open platform for anyone who wants to learn, grow, and build professional connections. Although the focus is on supporting women from Central Asia, participation in events is open to all interested individuals.

You can join the community through our Telegram channel, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and our own website.

Events for Community Members

We are present on Telegram, LinkedIn, and Instagram, where we post information about events. Events are conducted in English and are open to everyone. After the main part of the event, networking takes place to communicate with speakers and participants. Our events are open to all interested individuals, without age or other restrictions. They are conducted in English, which allows us to attract international participants. CALI actively works in three key areas:

1. Event Organization
   CALI regularly hosts meetings, workshops, and panel discussions with leading specialists from major companies. Topics include product management, software engineering, data science, startup pitches, and networking. Formats range from informal meetings to large conferences.
   
2. Mentorship Program
   Currently, the mentorship program is in the development stage. The community plans to develop a mentorship program by involving experienced professionals. Many former CALI speakers want to support women by helping them find internships and jobs, providing recommendations and referral links. The main limitation at the moment is time, as we are simultaneously studying and working, but we plan to launch this project in the summer.
   
3. Building a Professional Community
   CALI builds a network of contacts that helps members find jobs, learn about the industry, and receive support. Speakers from Google, LinkedIn, Handshake, Uber, and Apple share their experiences, offer advice, and help with referral links to top companies, including Meta.

How the Community Helps with Development

Our events bring not only knowledge from speakers but also valuable connections. The most important aspect is networking. Members can meet experts from Google, Tesla, SpaceX, Uber, and other leading companies.

Speakers are always open to communication, and making contact is easy—just offer to meet for coffee, have a call, or ask for a recommendation. Thanks to such connections, many have received referrals for internships and jobs. We know many examples of successful employment, including at Meta.

Our students actively take advantage of the opportunities we provide. Older members are less active, but students always strive for referrals and recommendations.

The main value of our initiative is direct access to career growth opportunities, internships, and jobs at top companies.

Successful Projects

We have had two successful projects. One of the most important events for CALI was participation in the largest technology conference in Silicon Valley in the fall of 2024 — the Central Eurasia Silicon Valley Conference. The conference brought together about 4,000 participants, 260 startups, and 100 volunteers, including representatives from Central Asia.

CALI was the only organization representing women from Central Asia and had the opportunity to speak on the main stage with a panel discussion. During the session, women discussed the career challenges faced by women from the region and ways to overcome them.

The second successful project was a joint collaboration with dexAI. One of the co-founders, Amina, met the founder of dexAI, who was also interested in promoting women in technology. She proposed organizing a joint event.

We organized a startup pitch competition, in which about 15 startups participated, not only from Central Asia. The event took place in August 2024, attracting more than 100 viewers and 5 volunteers.

The jury consisted of venture investors, whom we invited through Kanikei's connections, our co-founder who studied at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Participants were given 3 minutes for their pitch and 2 minutes for questions from the jury.

Additionally, during the event, guest speaker Aytakin Aliyeva spoke. This event was one of the largest for us: we gathered the maximum number of viewers, successfully conducted the pitch competition, and organized the expert's presentation.

Plans

We plan to actively develop the mentorship program and organize more events with new speakers. Our future events will cover topics related to business, pitch competitions, and presentations by experts from the YC accelerator.