Doina Oncel: Founder, hEr VOLUTION
Create Community in Quarantine with Doina Oncel
Doina Oncel is the Founder of "hEr VOLUTION", a charitable organization inspiring young women from underserved communities to pursue STEM careers. hEr VOLUTION exists to create opportunities for the next generation of women, advance 21st Century Skills, and connect this community with leaders in the industry for career support.
Doina talks about the barriers young women from underserved communities are facing and a LinkedIn campaign she started to support local business heroes. She also shares how she’s maintaining her personal sense of community during this difficult time.
“Unfortunately, so many people do not have the basic internet needs. That breaks my heart and it really keeps me up at night.”
- Doina Oncel
Listen to the episode:
Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
(Tune in at the 20:35 mark for Doina)
Connect with Doina:
Learn more about hEr VOLUTION:
Website | Donate | Instagram | Twitter
Donate a used laptop to Sky’s The Limit here.
A huge thank you to Origins Media Haus for producing this podcast. You can find them at:
Website | Linkedin | Instagram | Twitter
Connect with Marsha:
LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Website
Transcript:
Marsha Druker 20:52
Hi, Doina, thank you so much for joining me today on Create Community. Super excited to chat with you.
Doina Oncel 20:59
Thanks for having me.
Marsha Druker 21:00
So to kick things off, let's start off with getting you to introduce yourself and the organization that you're working on.
Doina Oncel 21:05
My name is Doina and I am the founder of an organization called hEr VOLUTION. We are a charitable organization that focuses on inspiring girls to pursue STEM careers. And we do this through STEM programs for mainly high school girls. And we also do this through partnering with companies that are able to support the future of work in Canada.
Marsha Druker 21:30
It's such an incredible organization and you've made so much progress over the last few years.
Tell me a little bit about how this whole COVID-19 situation has impacted you and how it's impacted your organization as well.
Doina Oncel 21:41
On a personal level, it's hard for me to take all of this in. I wasn't really prepared for everything that's happening and I don't think anybody really was. On a professional level, I'm very, very heartbroken. Our program focuses on supporting girls with various barriers. The main barrier that most of the girls in the community are in low income households. So most of the girls that we work with do not have a computer at home, or they don't have internet. And it makes it very, very hard for us to first of all reach out to the girls and second, for them to participate in the programs.
The model that we've had was for us to take the young women and bring them into a company or inside a post secondary school so they can have that firsthand experience, and learn what it's like to work in a tech company, for example, or what it's like to actually have the college life or the university life. But now, with everything that's happening, all this online learning is going to be very, very hard for us to support this community. Online learning is not created equal for everyone.
It's going to be tough. We're working to provide laptops to the young women, to secure some funding, and to provide internet for them to at least have access to the internet and laptop while in the program, hopefully for the rest of the year. We're changing the way we do things like a lot of people are these days.
Marsha Druker 23:22
I think so many of us take the technology that we have at our fingertips for granted and even just being able to access the internet. There's a lot of people who don't have that luxury.
Doina Oncel 23:32
For example, last year, in our program out of 30 girls 12 girls did not have a computer. So that's 40% of the women who do not have a computer. People are surprised to see this in Toronto, Canada. We take it for granted and we are considered to be a rich country. But unfortunately, so many people do not have the basic internet needs. That breaks my heart and it really keeps me up at night.
Marsha Druker 23:55
Absolutely. Before we get to the community side of things, is there anything that we can do to help support? Is there somewhere where people can donate? Maybe some of our listeners have an older laptop that they're not using.
Doina Oncel 24:11
We work with this organization called Sky's The Limit. So if you can, you can donate laptops to them, and they provide them to our organization to distribute. If you want to make a financial contribution, our website (hER VOLUTION) has a Donate button.
Marsha Druker 24:24
That's really great. And I'm sure that some people will definitely get involved in that.
So now on the community side of things, how have you been able to maintain your sense of community through all of this? Your personal sense of community and then also, with your organization.
Doina Oncel 24:39
I started a #LocalBusinessHeroes series on LinkedIn. I figured, there are so many local businesses that are going to be impacted by what's happening. I wanted to create a space where I can share those local businesses with my LinkedIn contacts.
So almost every day, I have a story of one of someone in my network and what they do and how they cope with what’s happening. I think it's a really great way for people to be exposed to those local communities and find a way to support them and to support each other. I figured that it may be a way to inspire others to buy local and from small business first.
Then in terms of professional community, I'm contacting as many girls in our program as possible. I try to have a one on one conversation, I'm reaching out to the ones that I know may not have a computer, just trying to collect that data, reaching out to see how some some of the girls are impacted with the internet and also at home. Do they have the space for online learning? What does that look like for them? Then trying to figure out how we can help them support them.
Another way that I am maintaining a sense of community is collaborating with my internal team one on one. My community is my students and partners who I work with to make technology and learning accessible. Now, during the COVID-19 isolation, we are all working via online video calling, Slack and email.
With the support of some amazing young women from our team, I am looking forward to bringing our community online showcasing them via "a day in the life of", a social media campaign rolling out soon. We hope to inspire young women and motivate them to see life beyond isolation.
Marsha Druker 25:40
Outside of the professional things that you're doing to stay connected, how are you staying connected with your friends? How are you staying social in times of social distancing?
Doina Oncel 25:51
I find that now it's the time to reach out. At first, I had this moment when I felt like, "oh my god, this is the worst thing ever". And, you know, being selfish for a minute, I thought I need to connect and talk to people. But then I realized that the more we connect with each other, the better we all feel. So I've been checking in with people, making sure that everyone is okay. I'm also a single mom. So I'm reaching out to some parents, seeing if they have some tips. How do we do this online learning? Because the school board is not ready for this and you're trying to figure out, how can we help and support each other?
I'm being real with everyone I talk to, I'm expressing that I feel really sad right now. This is a HARD time. I'm asking how they (truly) feel. And then we get to have honest conversation. It helps.
Marsha Druker 26:53
I think that's so key. You can't just go on and pretend that everything is perfect. Everybody's struggling and I think it's great that you're being so open. I think it helps your kids see you not as just their mom, but a human who is going through the same thing that they are.
My last question for you is, what is something that you're grateful for right now during this crazy time?
Doina Oncel 27:16
I'm grateful for the technology that I have. I'm grateful that I'm able to connect with people in a way that would have been impossible if I didn't have a computer or if I didn't have internet access. I'm grateful for people that reach out. I'm grateful for people that I get to reach out to, and I'm grateful that I'm able to stay connected, even though we are disconnecting in some ways.
Marsha Druker 27:40
I couldn't agree more with you on that. Doina, thank you again for joining me.
Doina showed that physical distancing does not have to mean social isolation! Stay safe. Wash your hands. Don’t hoard toilet paper. And keep creating your community.
Check out interviews with other guests at createcommunitypod.com/quarantine
