EPISODE 14: Diversity & Inclusion Q&A with Juliana Araujo, Head of Product Development

EPISODE 14: This month, I had heaps of fun speaking with the inspiring Juliana Araújo who is Head of Product Development at Kambi.

Juliana is a passionate product leader with over 8+ years of experience leading analytics, data, and product teams to build data-driven products. She is all about coaching leadership and helping people find their motivation and grow in their roles. She believes a mentorship is a tool of transformational change and her heart beats for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the workplace. Juliana is a social entrepreneur and founded her first Non-profit Organization in 2021, Beela is a support network that empowers immigrant women in Sweden to join the tech world.

Check out our full video interview here: https://youtu.be/65KilXZCfKY

In our Q&A, Juliana share’s fantastic insights on:

🌟 Product & Data: We explore the life of a ‘Head of Product’, the hands-on and soft skills required to succeed in a Product role and Juliana shares her predictions on what the next few years has in store for all things AI, ML and data-driven products.

🌟 Leadership: We discuss the values that truly make an influential leader. The importance of having a human touch, showing vulnerability, passion, joy, empathy and key pieces of advice for anyone wanting to become a leader: “Set a great example, and lead by example”

🌟 Mentorship has played a powerful tool of empowerment and transformational change in Juliana’s life. We dissect the role of a mentor, the importance of feedback and how you can find the best match to help you reach your goals.

🌟 Relocation: Juliana breaks down the process of moving from Brazil to Sweden, her challenges faced, re-adjusting to new cultures and life as an immigrant. She shares powerful tips on how you can best settle into a new location, begin to establish a new support system and build effective relationships.

🌟 Work Life Balance: We share strategies that you can implement to maintain a healthy attitude towards work and manage anxiety through social media cleanses, exercise, meditation and beyond.

🌟 Game changing personal development resources.

& so much more!

PART 2: Check out the full PART 2 video interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROdjZRTG40M&t=68s

Juliana share’s extremely valuable insights on:

🌟 The Importance of Representation: Juliana shares the challenges of navigating a career in tech as a woman of colour, the concept of “First Only Different” (FOD) and how WE can become better allies to create a safe, inclusive space for historically minoritized groups.

🌟 The Role of Tech in the reproduction of racism and structures of social exclusion and how technologies can contribute to building a fairer and more equitable society for women of colour.

🌟 Setting up a Nonprofit (Beela.se): Juliana talks us through the inspiration behind establishing Beela.se, the process from conception to launch, her lessons learnt so far and how you can get involved with volunteering and mentorship opportunities.

🌟 Increasing Women Engagement: Juliana is currently writing her Master Thesis in IT Project Management, focusing her research on how gender diversity affects the nature of managing IT projects, she shares with us her insightful and eye-opening findings so far.

🌟 Supportive communities:🇸🇪 EMMSTechnology, Pink Programming, Beela.se 🇸🇪

& so much more!

Who’s story would you like to hear from next? What questions do you have for women in the tech or advocates of diversity and inclusion? If you would like to get involved in this initiative, I would love to hear from you! Please contact me on LinkedIn 💌

By Ellie King - Principal Talent Partner - Data / AI - Nordics