NEW Manufacturing Insights, a joint podcast of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (NEWMA) and Insight on Manufacturing (IOM) magazine co-hosted by NEWMA Executive Director Ann Franz and IOM editor Kate Bruns, welcomed Microsoft’s Michelle Schuler to its Feb. 15 episode, available today wherever you listen to podcasts.
Schuler outlined the myriad ways Microsoft is focused on technology outreach, whether to rural communities with the innovative TechSpark program or to schools with the TEALS program.
Schuler has helped grow TechSpark from a Northeast Wisconsin-specific program to a nationwide digital skilling, digital inclusion and community integration program, with 10 regions nationwide. “Now TechSpark is in all 50 states,” said Schuler, who last year became the program’s U.S. manager.
Schuler has been passionate about bringing technology access and knowledge to underrepresented communities, and that includes also women and girls. In 2015, she founded the organization Women in Technology Wisconsin.
“Women in Technology Wisconsin was actually something I had started before going to Microsoft, and it’s what landed me my job at Microsoft,” Schuler told Franz and Bruns. “I was meeting all these female technology professionals that didn’t know each other, and they were talking about the same problem. So we started gathering, and within a few months WIT Wisconsin was formed as a 501(c)3.”
From there, Schuler explained, the organization began outreach to a broader spectrum of females in tech and developed three pillars: WIT at Work, WIT on Campus (for college students), and WIT for Girls (for K-12 students).
“It’s been a great organization to be part of,” Schuler said. “We started here in Northeast Wisconsin, and now we have four regions throughout the state.”
New episodes of NEW Manufacturing Insights are available every Thursday at www.spreaker.com/show/new-manufacturing-insights, as well as through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Amazon and a variety of distribution platforms.
