Our Team
We cover powerful narratives of Nepali women in technology and their journey of hard work, perseverance, and achievements.
Advisory Board
Executive Board
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Advisor
Shreeya Dhakal
Shreeya is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at NC State University. Her research interest lies at the intersection of Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Machine Learning. She is currently working on computational modeling and analysis of arguments in written texts, under the supervision of Dr. Collin Lynch.
Shreeya is passionate about developing linguistics tools for her native language, Nepali, and has an experience of working in the research and development of linguistic resources for Nepali. She was involved in the development of Nepali Stemmer, which is a part of the Snowball library and Nepali Full-Text-Search Support for PostgreSQL.
Shreeya attended Gracehopper for the first time in 2019. There she got to learn about different Systers Affinity groups supporting women in tech from their communities. She also got to learn that there isn’t one for Nepal, and that is when she decided to start Nepali Women in Computing. She got various opportunities through Gracehopper, including an internship at Apple and meeting other NLP researchers. She wants to create such opportunities for other women from her community through Nepali Women in Computing.
Advisor
Irina Sthapit
Irina Sthapit is an Engineer, Educator and UX Researcher who loves to watch the shooting stars in the night sky. She graduated from Stanford University’s Learning, Design and Technology program and did her undergraduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering in Nepal.
She is the co-founder of a social enterprise called Aji’s that empowers elederly to live healthy and happy lives by providing a platform to showcase their skills and knowledge. She was also an International Visitors Leadership Program participant at U.S. Department of State where she represented Nepal in ‘Hidden No More: Empowering Women Leaders in STEM’.
Irina has worked at Microsoft, Stanford University and Karkhana as an STEM Educator and Program Manager.
Advisor
Dr. Nihit Pokhrel
Dr. Nihit Pokhrel is a solution architect at AWS. Nihit primarily works with partners in the High Performance Computing domain providing them cloud architecture related support. Prior to this, Nihit was attending University of Washington, Seattle getting her Ph.D. in Chemistry. Her Ph.D. work was in computational chemistry where she used and developed various High Performance Computing techniques to answer fundamental biological problems.Dr. Pokhrel is an advocate of science communication; as such, is devoted to promoting science and technology to young girls and minorities from all over the world.
Advisor
Pragya Neupane
Pragya is an undergraduate student at Alcorn State University pursuing her degree in Computer Science. She has worked on web app development and machine learning projects in the past. She is passionate about coding and problem-solving. After accomplishing her degree, Pragya sees herself leading a project that has real-world impact on people through technology.
In 2019, Pragya received a scholarship to attend the world’s largest gathering of women in tech, Grace Hopper Celebration. The experience not only helped her land an internship at Deloitte, but also facilitated her to network with some amazing women. It further motivated her to co-found the first ever women in tech organization at her university. As a diversity in tech advocate, Pragya believes that inclusiveness holds the power to bring radical changes in society.
President
Dipti Gautam
Dipti is a fresh-out-of-college CS student, currently waiting for her results to get published before officially graduating. She loves making wise use of her time, and indulges in learning/building activities in her free time.
She is currently working remotely from Nepal as a software engineer for Magnet, a software company based in Spain. Her other involvements include: Rising Star at Wedu, Volunteer at Women Who Code Blockchain, General Member and Alumni at Women Leaders in Technology etc.. among others.
Dipti loves exploring opportunities that she can find around herself, and makes the most out of these. During such a course, she received an opportunity to attend the ApacheCon EU 2019 Berlin, in October, which was also her first international conference. This was where she got introduced to a pool of developers and nerds where everyone was passionate about Open Source, where she learned how important it was, to contribute to open source projects, while also being cathartic while giving back to the community. Because of the same, she is starting a #100DaysOfCode Challenge on the same, contributing to Open Source, as well as learning about the Linux Kernel parallelly, starting this March.
Learning new languages (both programming and non) is also one of the many hobbies that Dipti has, and she obsesses over fictional characters a lot; Arya Stark of Winterfell, and Phoebe Buffay, to name the two that she considers himself the best mix of.
Vice-President
Aachal Thapa
Aachal Thapa is a Software Engineer. She earned a master’s degree in Software Engineering from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from St.Xavier’s College, Nepal. She is currently working as an Application Engineer at GSTV, Michigan, USA.
Aachal is the Vice President of NWiC and thoroughly enjoys leading NWiC Educate sessions every month as well as designing contents for social media. She is a sucker for anything related to design be it graphic design or acrylic paintings. Aachal has previously worked at George Mason University as a research assistant as well as a graduate Teaching Assistant. Before coming to the USA she was working at Golchha Organization as a Senior Digital Marketing Executive. She feels fortunate enough to have gained all sorts of experience in different fields from IT to Marketing, from Teaching to Research which has helped her where she is right now.
She loves watching anime or any random shows on Netflix, designing graphic content, traveling, spending time with family and friends. Aachal is a huge animal lover, she is helping her mom indirectly as a volunteer at SPCA Nepal.
Public Relations Manager
Rabina Shrestha
Rabina Shrestha is currently an Associated software developer. She has experience in website design, building, customization, and research skills. Her interest lies in the field of Software Development, Designing and Analysis, Artificial Intelligence. She likes to work in the community and wants to enhance women’s participation in a technical field. She enjoys learning, working on case studies, plus exchanging ideas with people. She has experience as a Sub-trainer organized by the Nsdevil team for the 7th U-Learning training program, Six months of working experiences in the Digital learning Research lab as well as Teaching Experience. Plus, she has conducted an awareness program on Baylor Int’ school at Banepa on “Safer internet for children and young people” being a trainer through ChildSafeNet(NGO). She is always energetic and eager to learn new skills. Being a part of Nepali women in computing, she hopes for learning herself as well as contributing to the field of technology.
Creative Head
Shiraz Shrestha
Shiraz Shrestha is a graduate student in Computer Science from Maharishi International University, Iowa. He is currently working as a software developer at XTIVIA Inc. He is a Java developer and has expertise in back-end technologies, including Java and Spring framework. He is an experienced WordPress developer as well and has developed websites for several organizations and individuals in Nepal, including Laser Therapy Nepal, InfoKoNN Nepal. He has also facilitated several WordPress workshops for high school students, undergraduates, and working professionals in Nepal.
Shiraz is also a skilled UI/UX designer and is proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, and XD. He is passionate about photography and has facilitated several photography workshops in Nepal. He has been using his passion and design skills to support different Nepali communities, including Girls in Technology Nepal and Art of Living Nepal. He has been supporting these voluntary organizations with his innovative designs and creative input.
At NWiC, Shiraz is leading the design team and has been helping the community up to its social media and marketing game with his modern and trendy designs.
In his free time, you will find him singing along with his guitar, taking pictures, learning stuff, working out or sleeping.
Treasurer
Manwi Acharya
Manwi Acharya is an Engineering student currently pursuing BE-IT from NCIT college, Pokhara University. She completed her high school from St.Xavier’s school, Jawalakhel. She has basic skills in C, Object Oriented programming, Java, Database. She has an interest in Artificial Intelligence.
Manwi is a member of Women Lead Nepal. She attempted one month long training program YWPLI (Young Women Political and Leadership Institute) in 2017. She is a member of Rising Star, Wedu. She is a travel enthusiast and loves working for social welfare, especially for
women.
Stories Series manager
Ila Adhikari
Ila Adhikari is an Engineer, Writer, and Educator who likes being around plants. Having worked as a Software Developer, she has a special interest in Human-Computer Interaction, Behavioral Technology, and Data Visualization.
Storytelling has always been Ila’s priority, whether through writing, teaching, or data. And she delves into topics that interest her by exploring and developing new projects. She feels fortunate enough to have been part of fantastic tech communities that have helped her grow.
An advocate of diversity and inclusiveness in tech, she loves to share inspiring stories about women in tech through NWiC.
Internal Communication Coordinator
Rashika Karki
Rashika is an undergraduate student at Kathmandu University. Her interest lies in the field of Data Science and Machine Learning. She is currently working as a researcher in Digital Learning Research Lab, Kathmandu University and also being a Microsoft Student Partner, she works closely with Microsoft and other MSPs, introduces students to various technologies and student benefits from Microsoft.
Rashika is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion in tech and being a part of Nepali Women in Computing, she hopes to empower herself and other minorities in the field of computing.
