April 4, 2021 / Source: The Bizz USA By Haarika Kalahasti Although COVID-19 has negatively impacted many small businesses, individuals have begun to step up to promote change. Another organization that emerged during this pandemic to promote change is Command Tech. Command Tech is a fiscally sponsored non-profit that aims to empower female and non-binary students through technology. As part of their mission, they want to provide opportunities to help people explore the field of tech through their unique mentorship program, partnerships, a club program, and interviews with tech professionals! This innovative organization was founded by Belle See, a 16-year old from Malaysia passionate about web development & design and empowerment, this past July. As a student interested in tech, she noticed that no one ever really provided a way for her or others to explore technology, as it’s generally aimed more towards men rather than women. “In Southeast Asia, the issue is much worse. Women usually don’t get into the field at all, although they might be interested. We wanted to help change that and provide a resource to them, specifically female and non-binary students in South East Asia, to help them explore computer science and technology in general”, Belle says. Although female and non-binary students in South East Asia are their primary focus, they are not limited to them; in other words, all people are free to join! Command Tech is a user-focused company, meaning that they create products or services they wish they had. One of these services is their Connect Mentorship program. If a student is interested in tech, they can fill out the application for the program and will be eventually paired with a mentor with the specific background they are looking for. In a sense, they act as the intermediary, or middle man, between the mentee and mentor. However, this program is currently restructuring, so it will relaunch in May. Another unique program is their Command Tech Clubs, in which they will help you run a computer science club at your school if interested! Even if you don’t have a lot of technology expertise, Command Tech will provide you with a project-based curriculum, extra resources, and access to tech/CS professionals! Interested in being a Command Tech Club leader or bringing tech to your school? Apply here! As mentioned earlier, they provide a curriculum for their clubs. If you’re not interested in starting a club, but are interested in the materials they provide, lucky for you, you can request access to their curriculums (ex: Computer Science Principles, Introduction to Python, and more). These are thoughtful and free resources compiled by the Command Tech team that you can use to learn more about technology and use as a resource booklet. Another essential aspect of Command Tech is their interviews and events with Computer Science Professionals. On their Instagram, they post a summary of their interviews as posts, which include a bit about the professional, advice, resources, challenges, and more, to help you get insight on the field. Apart from that, currently, they are planning on hosting a 3-part series web development workshop Big Sister to cover the basics of HTML and other programming languages to help you build a website by the end of it! If interested, sign up here. Love it already and want to join their team? Well, great news because they have a few spots available! If interested, check this out to learn about their available positions as well as job descriptions. The Bizz USA recommends that you check out Command Tech and get involved! Their passion for technology and advocacy is something the world needs a bit more of, and it’s impressive to see young leaders like Belle See make a difference. Check out Command Tech here:Extra Segment: Entrepreneur’s CornerA mini excerpt from the interview with the Command Tech Founder, Belle See (B.S), interviewed by Haarika Kalahasti (H.K), the Founder of The Bizz USA. Q (H.K): “What has been your biggest reward and challenge in creating Command Tech?” A (B.S): “My biggest win has been being able to partner up with really cool organizations. We’ve recently developed partnerships with larger, women in tech-focused organizations that aim for a job search market. They basically help women find jobs and stay in tech. It’s just a huge boost for us because it’s a good sign that we’re on track. And if we keep at this and gradually improve ourselves, we’ll be able to reach more people easily and have a wider reach. The biggest challenge has been launching our club program. We’re very specific as to because we want the clubs to be in Southeast Asia and in schools that don’t have these programs because those are who we are targeting, as we feel like that’s where we would develop the most impact. It’s hard reaching students there because I’m not there and my team isn’t primarily from there. So, we solved that by going directly to schools in Southeast Asia and we’re trying our best to have the best impact we possibly can. “ Q (H.K): "If you had to give advice to aspiring, young entrepreneurs, business owners, or creators of an organization like yourself, what advice would you give?" A (B.S): “Care about what you’re saying and advocating for. One thing that has been really monumental for me is being able to get more people on our team, partnerships, and convince people to help out with our mission because they see that I really care. If they see that you’re just doing it just because, then they’ll lose motivation to actually care. If they see that I care, then it kind of motivates them to be able to care as well and work together to advocate for our cause. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help. When I started, I had no knowledge at all. I found people on LinkedIn and reached out for help on advice and it was really beneficial for me.”
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