Episode 1: Sustainability and Tech with Zolboo Dashmyagmar.
SHOWNOTES:
Zolboo Dashmyagmar is pursuing an MPA degree concentrating on Sustainability as a Fulbright scholar. She has worked in multicultural teams in the technology, international development, and hospitality sectors. Zolboo is also the lead intern on the Center’s Sustainability & Tech Alliance Team! She is passionate about contributing to global climate action, technology for good, and women's empowerment.
The Center of Excellence for Women & Tech is a welcoming community on Indiana University’s campus that strives to empower women students, faculty, and alumni to expand their leadership skills, build confidence about technology, and foster community and collaboration between all fields of study and industry. **Correction: the Center’s NEW Instagram handle is @IUwomenandtech. Please follow us there!
Check out Sustain IU to explore degree and career paths in sustainability, and to find out ways to get involved on campus.
Big thanks to Rebecca Ramsey at IU's Center for Language Technology whose work makes this podcast possible! Since 1959, CeLT has overseen the language and computer labs in Ballantine Hall, with the mission of providing the highest quality services to support language teaching, learning, and research at Indiana University. Find out more about their services and resources here.
IU recently presented a Climate Action Plan that establishes a pathway for IU to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Learn more about IU’s Climate Action Plan and the Climate Action Planning Committee here.
TRANSCRIPT:
Madeleine Jurkiewicz: Hello and welcome to the Women of IU podcast, the show that highlights and celebrates the important work women do every day at IU and hopes to inspire future women leaders. This podcast is brought to you by the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology. I'm your host, Madeleine Jurkiewicz.
Today, my guest is Zolboo Dashmyagmar. She is in her second year master's program of Public Affairs in the O'Neill school with a concentration on Sustainability. And she's also the lead intern at the Center ‘s Sustainability & Tech Alliance Team. Zolboo, welcome! Thank you so much for being here today.
Zolboo Dashmyagmar: Yeah, thank you for having me.
Madeleine: Before we begin, I just want to explain what the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology is, and maybe inspire a couple of you listeners to get involved at the Center. The Center of Excellence for Women & Technology is an organization here at IU Bloomington. We believe that technology is relevant and important to all areas of studies and industries. And so, what we try to do is empower women on campus, and around all campuses of IU, to build their tech skills and their career building skills to set them up for success after graduation. We focus on workshops and events. We also offer paid internships for women all around different areas of tech. So, no matter what you're studying, or what you're interested in, you can find your place here at the center.
Before we dive into the conversation, please rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts and follow the center on Instagram @iu_cewit.
I'd love to know how you came to IU and how you came to find the Center and join the Center.
Zolboo: I've been like looking at different schools like what they offer. And I chose IU because I found a very interdisciplinary curriculum. So, like when choosing master's degree, one of my mentor was telling me like, oh, you should fall in love with the curriculum like that's what I've been also looking at. And then I saw IU had this MPA with the like concentration of stainability. And also there are some aspects you can do...I don't know maybe taking a class with the business school, like things like that. So, I kind of fell in love with that idea. And Bloomington is a very calm and very green city. It is very, it is a very small town compared to where I'm coming from like urban capital city Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. So, it was very different in the beginning. Now I'm kind of like getting the pace of how different, and it's very lively, because it's majority, like over 50 percentage of the population is students, yeah, with Indiana University. So yeah, that's how I ended up IU.
And when I came here having the meeting with Sustainability Office of IU, I was talking with like them, like how many stainability courses out there? And I was also thinking, coming from like technology background “oh, like there's a certain intersection.” Especially with now this acceleration of like, really, people, organizations need to do a faster move with all this changes in technologies like and innovation is the one part of it. And I was thinking, “yes, then polity and technology needs to be together. I want to explore more about that.” I went to like several events with CEW&T. And then I had an idea of sending an email to Michelle, who is our Director of CEW&T at the time, I thought CEW&T should be the ones who will be trailblazing in this intersection that I'm interested in. And then she was open to meet me.
Madeleine: That's awesome. I'm so glad that you reached out to Michelle and thought to join the Center because we did not have a Sustainability & Tech team until you came. So thank you so much for spearheading this new team. And I would love to know what your plans are for this year in the semester with your team.
Zolboo: Yeah, thank you. So, I have like two interns right now. And our main goal with this team is we want to build this like learning space because I want to learn too. Like to explore how technology and different technology and innovations are out there to help us like really find out how we can use this natural, social, and environmental resources more. I really liked the concept of being on campus. And people who are interested in sustainability should be there because now every job can be sustainability. And it's really to explore through speaker events, bringing industry experts to share. And also, we want to help build this expertise for a women through workshops, for example.
Madeleine: Oh awesome. I can't wait to see what workshops you put on this year. And I encourage our listeners to definitely keep an eye out and to attend some of those workshops, I'm sure they could learn a lot. What do you see women doing in the industry of sustainability in tech right now?
Zolboo: Because I'm pivoting my career right now, I'm in a learning phase. I feel like it's too early to say, “Oh, this is like women's role and sustainability.” But I see many women leaders in sustainability field right now, when I go to different events and workshops where sustainability professionals coming in, it's great to see like the room over 50 percentage of women that I've seen so far, so it was very encouraging to see. And seeing great leaders, taking this Chief Sustainability Officer roles, that's been very inspiring to see. I feel like the sustainability and just as environmental changes and climate change and climate, because it's a very complex topic that involves, like different sectors and different experts into the room to everyone doing the small step at a time. So I think it's really about like, collaboration.
Madeleine: Yeah, collaboration is key, isn't it? Especially when you have such a big goal of sustainability and climate action. And I'd like to know more about that intersection. Sustainability and tech, how do they work together?
Zolboo: Because we know that there's so many technology companies, right. And then there are so many intersection. For example, like how we used to do like, let's say gas engine cars, and then now EV cars coming in. So that's also one part of how the technology coming into play to accelerate.
Madeleine: That's a great example, yeah.
Zolboo: And also when it comes to like how we stay informed, like making an informed decision, let's say there are like different models, projections on the climate change, for example, that is also a great way of we can see the past information data and see the projection of how it might change. It's not 100% sure, but we can still anticipate something how things might change. So that is also another intersection that we can see.
It is interesting to like hear from like sustainability professionals who have been in the field for many years, saying that we have all the necessary technologies right now.
Madeleine: Oh, interesting.
Zolboo: I mean, with all the EVs and then like everything like changing, like blockchain, machine learning, and now AI, and everything is there. But it's also really about how we collaborate and how we talk about, like bringing this change to our current system, because we have all the technologies available. And it's been like going accelerating and making some of the things that are a little cheaper, for example, like solar panels are like changing and carbon like capture, and sequestering is like changing, like, all those things are happening. So, we have all the technologies available. But it's also about how we communicate and how we collaborate these things within stakeholders and within community members to really understand the foundation of what's going on, and how we can do some things little differently to adapt to it, to mitigate it. And there are so many different technologies out there that are giving more automation to the things that we used to do.
Madeleine: Yeah, it's so true. We have so many tools available to us, right? It's really kind of the human element of how do we use those tools to benefit us and to collaborate? That's really interesting. I would love to ask, what advice do you have for students or women early in their careers, maybe who are interested in sustainability and tech and that intersection? What advice would you have for them to succeed and their studies and in their careers?
Zolboo: Yeah.
Madeleine: Like, what do you wish that you had known? What do you wish someone had told you?
Zolboo: Yeah. Now I'm thinking back. I've seen students are going to their master's too soon.
Madeleine: Oh, that’s interesting.
Zolboo: Because now I'm in the master's program after six, seven years. And I think having work experience to really find out what area you would want to go, that time, that giving yourself time was very important to see hands-on experiences with different fields that you're interested in changing and trying different things. Because I believe that things happen for a reason that the same time that it's happening.
Madeleine: Yeah, absolutely.
Zolboo: So because like, three, four and two years ago that I was thinking about, “Oh, I want to go do this master's.” And that master's program has been so far from what I'm doing right now.
Madeleine: Oh, no way.
Zolboo: So then I did, I wasn't accepted to that program. And I’m kind of like glad that it didn't work out. I mean at the time it was painful to see it not working out.
Madeleine: Of course, very disappointing at the time, yeah.
Zolboo: But um, now I'm glad that, but I think it's just time that hasn't come yet at that point. So I think not rushing to the master's program, because now there are so many resources that we can learn going through online events or online courses, for example. So it is a lot of time and it is a big investment of time that we are giving into our lives to pause and then learn. It is a very joyful process and it can be also a very demanding process. So I would say taking some time to really figure out what you really want to move towards.
And I think another point that I always embed in my life is trying different things like just trying different things. Before, like having this path of like stainability and like doing my master's and MPA degree, I was thinking like, like starting working in like technology fields, like without knowing anything. And I was thinking like, after a couple of years, like, maybe I should become a coder, that I should be like a programmer so I can earn a lot, I can work in those big companies. And then I started meeting with different professors, different schools and going to coding class. And I figured out, that's not really for me, I'm not the person who's like sitting behind the screen. And then there are so many examples that I've done that way, like dancing or like singing in the crew, like so many different things. So I think giving ourselves that chance of like, learning different things, putting yourself out there and see if that works for you or not. I think that really helped to connect dots.
I think lastly, because I don't want to say it's only for a women, but I think for young women, like people like us, I feel like it's also okay not to be okay. There are times that I would feel like “oh, it's, oh, I'm not doing enough like, oh, like maybe, maybe I'm not in the right path,” because especially now I'm not coming from science background to that I wants to like go into sustainability field. And there's so many other women who wants to change their career to technology or like environmental or sustainability for example. So like, like, I always feel like I feel so behind of others.
Madeleine: I can relate. Thank you for saying that. I can totally relate. Yeah.
Zolboo: But I feel like it just, it just takes time for us. Because I like to think that we are not, not everyone is starting from the same starting line.
Madeleine: That's so true.
Zolboo: Some people might have their background in the science or it's just they might be starting from somewhere. I don't know, like coming from developing country, developed country, coming from English-speaker, or non English-speaker, and like it's everything that how we are studying and where we are studying is so different. So I think acknowledging that and being little easy on ourselves. And then having those good friends to tell you, “I'm proud of you!” I think I think those things are yeah means a lot.
Madeleine: That's so good to remember. And it's true. Everybody's coming from their own background, their own perspective, and they're bringing their own approach to the field that they're in. That's really important when working on a team, when pursuing a goal that everybody has, like their own things that they're bringing to the table and that you don't need to beat yourself up. Because you're not, you know, quote, “good enough or doing enough.” You know, you certainly are. To our listeners out there, I'm telling you right now, you're doing enough, we’re proud of you.
Zolboo: Yes, we're proud of you. We're just in the process all the time. It's just, yeah, finding that joy from the process, which is difficult, which I practice a lot. But yeah, it's the process.
Madeleine: Yeah. All about the process.
Zolboo: And yeah, be plugged into CEW&T which will be, there's like not only Sustainability, we have Ethical AI, and Media, Black Woman & Tech. We have so many great programs that people can find. So I think yeah, that's my last words.
Madeleine: Absolutely. We certainly encourage listeners to find out more at our website, please get involved at the Center. We will have lots of events and workshops all year. You can find out more on our website: womenandtech.indiana.edu. Please come out. We would love to see you at an event.
We're out of time but it was so lovely to have you here, Zolboo. Thank you.
Zolboo: Yeah, thank you very much for having me, Madeleine. I’m very excited to be here.
Madeleine: Thanks for listening to the Women of IU podcast. Before we go, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow the Center on Instagram @iu_cewit. This podcast was recorded by the Center for Language Technology here at IU. So, we want to give them a big thank you for their support and hard work. Then stay tuned for the next episode of the Women of IU podcast!