Jessica Dowdall
One of the Tech Women Celebration 50 - women changing the ratio of the tech workforce
A self-described Millennial Welsh Woman, living in Bristol and working flexibly for Amazon Web Services as a Senior Customer Solutions Manager, Jessica Dowdall has a passion for driving Innovation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Like so many before her, Jessica wasn't exactly encouraged down a technical path.
"I was told not to do technology even though I was one of the top performers in my A-level class. I studied social sciences and defied the odds and made the change to technology after landing a role at Apple which fuelled my passion and energy into the technology world."
Some of Jessica's achievements outside of her main role reflect a clear commitment to enhancing the diversity of Amazon's workforce. These include:
- Leading International Women's day for Amazon which achieved a 334M global reach, 98% positive sentiment with UK audience, ran 27 events (internal and external), worked with Princes Trust, Comic Relief and Solace charities. All campaigns around "Embracing Equity"
- Helping deliver a project to help the Wheelchair football association stream their games through AWS project
- Leading the RISE Academy 2023 summer Bootcamp (organisation for Media & Entertainment Diversity and Inclusion) to upskill 800 children over 5 days July 2023 around AI/ML technologies + How to do live production in the cloud.
- Active mentor for six young talents in 2023
Jessica has: "Mentored women and underrepresented groups through career moves, promotions and even some of the hardest decisions people have to make in their career and life."