Meet The Wi3DP Ambassadors, Part 1

Women in 3D Printing now spans the globe {Source: Fabbaloo]

The Women in 3D Printing phenomenon has grown significantly in the few short years it has been in existence.

The group, founded by Nora Toure in 2014, hopes to promote the role of women in the technology of 3D printing, where currently women are a minority among participants. Our current readership surveys indicate only 14% are women, which broader industry surveys reveal is close to the same amount in the overall workplace.

Women in 3D Printing’s strategy is to showcase the success of women in a variety of 3D printing roles worldwide to lead by example. They do this through social media, interviews, industry insiders’ contributions — and also through events held around the world hosted by local “ambassadors”. These highly motivated volunteers coordinate activities in cities across the globe, and contribute to the larger organization’s goals.

What’s indicative of the strong support for the project has been the extremely rapid growth of Women in 3D Printing’s global network of ambassadors and events. Here we list some of the ambassadors for Women in 3D Printing, organized by country.

Note that I say “some”, because the organization is adding new ambassadors all the time, and no doubt by the time you read this list it will be obsolete.

But the concept and goals will not be. Please look up your city below and attend a meeting and provide support, whether you are female or not. And if you can’t find your city, consider starting up operations by applying to be an ambassador yourself!

This is part one of a two-part series; part two, focusing on North American ambassadors, is here.

Argentina

Buenos Aires: Meet our Buenos Aires ambassador Sol Belén Colqui! Ask her about her 1st print, for which she refused to build supports, but also about #womenintech since she runs #MujeresqueHacen!

Australia

Brisbane: Brisbane ambassador, Michelle Du Toit’ is the co-founder of the Gizmo 3D printer. She also owns a laser tag business in Brisbane called Laser Commando whereby they host birthday parties on weekends! How cool is that?

Melbourne: Melbourne ambassador, Alex, is an Apple person (vs android). She owns a motorbike but doesn’t ride it enough. She’s also a big fan of permaculture gardening. You can meet her every month during our Happy Hours!

Sydney: Sydney ambassador, Jo Sommers is the owner of the 1st Apple computer in Australia. Thanks to her Mac, she learned about CAD. After working for several #3dprinting companies, she co-founded Maker Sense, a maker-ed platform.

Brazil

Sao Paulo: Sao Paulo co-ambassador, Mayra, is the 1st woman in Brazil to have a PhD in A.M! She’s so passionate about the technology that she went to the USA to buy an SLA printer as those are unavailable in Brazil. She’s running the group “Meetup 3D tech in Health”. You can meet her every month in Sao Paulo during our #Womenin3DPrinting Happy Hours!

China

Shenzhen: Shenzhen co-ambassador, Vicky Wei, has always been interested in drawing but it’s only when she first touched a 3D pen that her passion for it started. Her work has been exhibited several times. She’s also interested in talking about marriage issues in China.

Xi’an: Xi’an ambassador, Miaomiao Zhao, told herself one day she would go to Iceland and see the Northern Lights. And she did it in October 2013!

Europe

Asturias (Spain): Asturias ambassador, Mariel Diaz Castro, believes the future will be shaped by 3D Printing. She is truly passionate about this AMazing technology.

Berlin (Germany): Berlin ambassador, Angela’s 1st 3D print wasn’t a Yoda head, but a Pikatchu. She also used to play American Football, and you can meet her every month in Berlin during our Women in 3D Printing Happy Hours!

Bolzano (Italy): Bolzano’s ambassador, Abeer, does fashion illustration during her free time. She is into horror, mystery & thriller and loves Harry Potter. 3D printing is her area of research.

Dublin (Ireland): Dublin ambassador, Sylvia Leatham, was a journalist and a podcaster before getting into 3D printing. She loves classic hip hop but also knows all the lyrics to ‘Ice Ice Baby’ by Vanilla Ice. She is currently teaching herself, and her 3-year-old daughter, how to bake.

Helsinki (Finland): Finland ambassador, Heidi Piili, started in 3D Printing as a coincidence in 2009 when she visited EOS Finland. But this coincidence was very strong, as it lead her to work in field of AM. Heidi has her background in laser technology, so powder bed fusion of metallic materials was a continuity of that.

London (UK): London ambassador, Kadine James’s middle name is FUN – she absolutely adores music and relishes going to gigs and music festivals. Kadine also loves swimming in the sea, and exploring the wonders of nature.

Madrid (Spain): Madrid co-ambassador, Elvira Leon, loves watching and playing basketball since she’s 14. Still playing in a local female veterans’ team. Loyal supporter of Real Madrid Basket Club, she declares to be absolutely in love with Sergio Llull (@23Llull). Elvira loves dancing, any kind of music.

Madrid (Spain): Madrid co-ambassador, Andreina Martinez, is an Aeronautical Engineer specialist in Aviation Safety and Project Management who also loves 3D printing in jewelry and fashion design. If you find her name difficult to pronounce, then you can call her “Nina”.

Munich (Germany): Munich ambassador, Monica Smith, is originally from the US East Coast, but has spent the last 3 years in Germany for EOS. When she’s not consulting customers on additive manufacturing projects, she’s in the mountains hiking or skiing! Munich makes for a pretty great place to explore the Alps!

Rotterdam (The Netherlands): Rotterdam co-ambassador, Vanessa Dreier, likes the smell of metal, obsesses about colours, and dreams of experiencing living in Japan.

Meet our #Rotterdam ambassador, Nadia Yaakoubi! She learned the advantage of #3dprinting vs. traditional manufacturing while building a 3D printer!

Singapore

Meet Eve Tan! She is a moderator for the 18K members’ Original Josef Prusa Facebook support group. She also created her own 3D Home Desk Machine! For the past 2 years she has been teaching #3DPrinting.

South Africa

Johannesburg / Pretoria: Meet our #Johannesburg ambassador, Malika Khodja! Not only does she knows about #3dprinting, she speaks French, Arabic, English and Afrikaans! Also, her name means “queen” in Arabic. How cool is that?

This is part one of a two-part series; part two is here.

Via Women in 3D Printing