From Kyrgyzstan to Silicon Valley: Kanykei Omurzakova’s Journey to Building a Career in Tech

🔊 #20 - From Kyrgyzstan to Silicon Valley: Kanykei Omurzakova’s Journey in Building a Career in Tech.

In the following episode of the Femmes Finance Podcast, we welcome Kanykei Omurzakova, an inspiring immigrant from Kyrgyzstan, who shares her extraordinary journey of building a career in tech in Silicon Valley.

Kanykei (Kani) Omurzakova is a Global Automation Team Lead at Cisco Systems and a Stanford GSB MSx/Sloan Fellow, making history as the first student from Kyrgyzstan in the program. She co-founded the Central Asian Women Initiative (CALI) and serves as a Board member of the Femigrants Foundation; both are non-profit organizations dedicated to helping female immigrants build successful careers. Kanykei is also a mother of three, maintaining an incredible balance between all these roles.

We discuss Kanykei’s immigration journey from #Kyrgyzstan to the #US, her life in Silicon Valley, studies at Stanford University, and leadership in the Central Asian Ladies Community. We also explore her role in managing a global tech team at Cisco, the essential soft and hard skills needed in the #AI era, and lastly effective strategies for achieving work-life balance.

Timestamps:

(00:04) - Journey of Resilient Female Engineer

(07:22) - Stanford MSx Program and Opportunities

(20:32) - Maximize Your University Applicants' Success

(22:49) - Balance Career and Family

(24:27) - Important Skills to Thrive in the AI era

(34:19) - Career Advice

Follow Us:

Assel Altayeva:

• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/asselaltayeva/)
• Instagram (@femmesfinance)

Kanykei Omurzakova

• Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanykeiomurzakova/)
• Telegram channel (https://t.me/kaniomurzakova)
• CALI - Central Asian Ladies Initiative (Insta: @cali.initiative tg: @CentralAsianLadiesInitiative)