Speakers

Sowmya Ajay Kumar is a Senior Technical Program Manager at Amazon Web Services and passionate advocate for democratizing access to technology careers. With over a decade of experience driving enterprise digital transformation across EMEA, Sowmya has made youth tech education and community outreach a cornerstone of her professional mission. Beyond her day role managing complex technology programmes for global enterprises, Sowmya dedicates significant time to breaking down barriers for underrepresented youth entering tech. She has led 12+ STEM education events over the past couple of years for young people aged 14-16 from underrepresented communities. She creates tangible bridges between young people and tech careers that often remain invisible until university or beyond. Her initiatives span cloud certification coaching, hands-on technical labs, mock interviews, and speed networking sessions—creating tangible bridges between aspiration and opportunity. Sowmya’s approach is deeply personal: as someone who navigated her own path from India to becoming an AWS TAM of the Year (2023) a transitioning from a non tech to tech career, she understands firsthand the transformative power of early exposure, mentorship, and demystifying technology careers. She holds an LLM from University of London (British Council Scholar), and professional certifications including PMP, AWS Solutions Architect, and Six Sigma Green Belt. Her philosophy is simple: talent pipelines aren’t built through job postings alone—they’re cultivated through sustained community engagement that shows young people they belong in tech long before they ever apply.