How diverse is the tech sector when it comes to diversity of age? What factors discourage women and girls from a career in tech? How can we improve the representation of women in a growing digital economy? In this episode, I chat with my close friend Ilse Alejo on her story and how she started her own business at a very young age, drawing inspiration from leading women in her life. We talk about the challenges stemming from the perceived stereotypes in the professional environment, the reasons for underrepresentation of women in a growing digital economy and the age diversity gap in the tech sector.  We discuss diversity trainings and the need for more empathy and personalization to make them effective. We end the conversation with Ilse’s favorite pieces of technology that improve her life, the importance of having a network of women to learn from their experiences, and future plans for her professional career. Ilse Alejo is from Mexico and now lives in California. She is a software engineer currently working at Facebook. Before joining Facebook, she was running her own company in Mexico where she developed software for companies, mostly MVPs for entrepreneurs. Ilse is passionate about travelling and enjoys reading. Links and mentions: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilse-alejo-guti%C3%A9rrez-581b5b51/ Listen to the podcast on other platforms: https//adyakumar.com/links Connect with me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.dd.podcast