Last year, we announced the first cohort of #AiCstories Ambassadors, who graciously shared their personal tech journeys and provided encouraging advice for the #AiCcommunity in a first-of-its-kind series sponsored by MatchGroup.
Now, the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) Community is proud to introduce the second cohort of the #AiCstories Ambassadors! This dynamic cohort will share their unique stories to galvanize the next generation of tech leaders that look like them and beyond. Over the next few months you’ll get to know — and be inspired by — Gia, Hope, Ashley Marie, Kaylie, Bryn, and Neith.
We’re honored to introduce: first-generation Ivy League graduate, Kaylie Sampson; mental wellness advocate, Ashley Marie Lardizabal; proud citizen of The Chickasaw Nation, Hope Chambers; and Puerto Rico’s very own, Gia Ramos!
Meet Kaylie Sampson!
In June 2025, Kaylie graduated as a first-generation college student from Dartmouth where she majored in Computer Science and minored in Digital Arts. While Kaylie may have been the first person in her family to attend college, throughout her journey she’s created pathways into technology for others like her to follow. From leading student organizations at Dartmouth to expanding tech education as a Software Engineer at Duolingo, Kaylie’s journey has been a masterclass in resourcefulness, career intentionality, and lifting as she climbs!
While she enjoyed an active childhood of outdoors sports between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Kaylie’s interest in technology was sparked in high school. After taking a programming class with her then teacher, Mr. Fogarty, she learned that she could create code that positively impacts the world. “He is one of the most passionate teachers I’ve met, and his enthusiasm for teaching technology was a huge inspiration for me. While he taught me the basics of programming, the most important lesson I learned from him was to think outside the box about how I could make an impact with the code that I write” recalls the #AiCstories Ambassador. As an independent study project with Mr. Fogarty, Kaylie created Testnode, an app that made the process of being tested for COVID-19 more efficient during the Pandemic.
Due to limited computer science education opportunities in her school district, Kaylie continued pursuing her interest in programming by leveraging resources beyond what her high school could offer. These included: taking online courses, self-directed learning, and participating in local regional programming competitions. Her tenacity in somehow finding a way when there wasn’t a clearly defined path paid off — in 2021, she received the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award for the New Hampshire affiliate due to her efforts and accomplishments.
“Winning the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award was a huge moment in my CS journey. It was the confidence boost I needed to continue pursuing my passion and seeing how far it could take me.”
With new-found confidence and support from the #AiCcommunity in tow, Kaylie became an AiC Campus Rep as a freshman at Dartmouth. As a first-generation college student, connecting with others on campus with shared backgrounds was paramount. According to The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine in 2021, “First-generation students are generally more likely to be female, older, Black or Hispanic, have dependent children, and come from low-income families compared to their continuing-generation counterparts.” Although Kaylie understood that she may be an outlier at an Ivy League institution, she was determined to have a full college experience and succeed no matter the odds!
In addition to her Campus Rep duties, Kaylie also explored new opportunities and spaces that excited her, finding community along the way. Being active in coding-related student organizations like HackDartmouth and Women in Computer Science — where she eventually became president— gave her personal support. Joining these organizations not only broadened her exposure to all that computer science had to offer but also allowed her to network with other students and mentors who shared her passion for technology. She facilitated events, started new initiatives to help improve on-campus support, and even brought 30+ WIT org members to attend WECode: Women Engineers Code Conference, the world’s largest student-run undergraduate tech conference, at Harvard University.
While being involved in student organizations filled her communal cup, working at the Digital Applied Learning and Innovation Lab (DALI) helped to give Kaylie professional purpose. The DALI Lab at Dartmouth College is an innovative experiential learning program where students act as digital designers, software engineers, and project managers to build technology tools — giving students real-world experience and confidence. During her time there, Kaylie worked as a software engineer and built websites, mobile applications, and AR/VR applications using React, React Native, and Unity. Throughout this impactful experience she was exposed to the beauty of designing, building, and shipping tech products in a short amount of time — skills necessary in the tech workforce.
Her minor in Digital Arts allowed expressive freedom, says Kaylie, “from the start of my coding journey, I was taught to build with my own creative liberties so alongside learning the basics of computer science, I wanted to keep creating art.” As a result, art became an ideal complement to her technical STEM skills in studying what, why, and how to build tools.
While many first-generation students may lack access to career preparation and mentorship on campus, Dartmouth’s The First Generation Office (FIGO) empowers first-generation undergraduates to thrive academically and professionally. “I was incredibly grateful for the resources dedicated to first-generation college students at my university. Not only do they focus on supporting us outside the classroom, but also advocate to professors for additional support in the classroom,” reflects the Alumna. Due to this vulnerability, Kaylie was able to foster deep, meaningful relationships with her professors, even encouraging a few to adjust their teaching style to be more accessible to students like her. Mentorship, particularly from Elizabeth Murnane — Assistant Professor of Engineering and Empower Lab Director — inspired Kaylie to gain valuable industry experience through off-term internships so she could continue building her post-grad marketability. Her support system’s wisdom and guidance was essential in interview preparation, understanding networking, and confidence building. As a result, Kaylie was able to complete varied internships at Amazon, Pegasystems, and Duolingo — where she currently works — and mastered soft skills like cross-communication, peer-to-peer learning, and collaborative problem solving.
For current college students interviewing in today’s job market, in addition to aforementioned support, the intern-turned-employee also emphasizes the importance of experience coupled with being authentic, persistent, and enthusiastic when interviewing: “If you are really passionate about a company, make sure they can see that. I didn’t know anyone else who worked at Duolingo to help me get the job, and it took a lot of effort on my end to show them my enthusiasm.”
Kaylie has been resourceful and intentional about creating the career of her dreams — while also helping others achieve their aspirations along the way! When asked about her future, Kaylie says, “I’m most excited to establish myself as an engineer so I can be in a position to mentor and lead others” — safe to say she’s already done that, and Duolingo is lucky to have her!
While Kaylie’s story is one of significant inspiration, it is vital to continue to transform educational spaces, workplaces, and communities so they don’t require so much resilience for low-income, first-generation students to persist and thrive. Supporting them requires a multi-pronged approach and according to Harvard Business Impact, here are a few practical strategies that educators, mentors, and supporters can implement to help empower first-generation students to succeed:
- Strive to understand students’ backgrounds
- Be minďful of their financial pressures
- Find new ways to keep students engaged
- Prepare students to navigate their post-college careers
- Demystify college
Meet Ashley Marie Lardizabal!
Being a student is challenging, but being a student and working full-time is no small feat — Ashley Marie Lardizabal juggles these multiple priorities daily. From 9-5, she’s an Engineering Operations Specialist at Everlaw — an advanced technology firm empowering legal teams — and at night, she’s a part-time student at the University of San Francisco set to graduate in 2025.
While many young professionals would boast about their non-stop demanding lives as a rite of passage to the career of their dreams, Ashley Marie rejects this traditional path. Instead, the #AiCStories Ambassador’s openness around her mental health struggles is refreshing. She’s no longer tethered to the perfectionistic pressure that often comes with being a first-generation, ambitious woman of color. Instead, she’s charting her own path with her well-being at the forefront.
“Mental health isn't the easiest topic to talk about but being vulnerable about what my journey has looked like so far has helped me grow closer with my family members, and also helped reground me in my personal values of humility, joy, responsibility, and grit.”
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Filipino American immigrants, Ashley Marie was the go-to tech person in her mutli-generational household. During her adolescence, she participated in an all-girls robotics team — where she led programming, coding, and eventually became team captain — and was also the web master of her school newspaper. Both of these achievements led her to receive the The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award in 2017 for the Hawaii Affiliate.
Despite her many childhood achievements, Ashley Marie recalls always struggling with an unhealthy inner critic. “Growing up Filipino, I thought shame was always a good thing, but that’s not entirely true, and ended up leading me to champion perfectionism more than my authentic self, ” she says. After moving from Hawaii to California for college, her mental health began to deteriorate due to the pressures of being a first-generation student, coupled with her loved ones being scattered across the country. In 2022, she was unable to graduate. Despite the immense shame and guilt of feeling like she let her parents, and all of their sacrifices, down she listened to herself and what she needed — which included taking a leave from college.
Figuring out what was next was a process, recalls Ashley Marie, but with the love of her friends — especially her bestie Shelly Anne — family, community, and therapists she reflected on what she truly wanted for herself, her career and passions. “I’m truly grateful that I have access to such great mental health professionals, and talk therapy, regularly. In the same way that my weightlifting routine builds muscle, talking about my mental health helped me build a muscle to overcome unhelpful thinking patterns,” says the #AiCStories Ambassador.
During her mental health sabbatical, she was able to leverage her multi-hyphenated skillset and experience. Throughout her first few years of college, rather than boxing herself into one space, she opted to pursue all of her interests by taking both STEM and social science classes. As a result of her interdisciplinary studies, she was inspired to pursue technical operations internships at the intersection of people, technology, and process. Due to her prior internship experience, she landed a full-time role at Everlaw. As an Engineering Operations Specialist, she works alongside technical subject-matter experts on how to best support engineers’ work in diagnosing issues and promoting better coding practices. She also chairs Everlaw’s AAPI resource group, and is interested in learning more about best workplace practices and representation.
"I hope my journey in tech continues to take me down exciting paths, especially ones where I get to expand my technical project and program management skills!”
Ashley Marie’s journey — across oceans, juggling many life priorities, and going against the status quo — is not in vain. Not only does she graduate in 2025, but she’s also building an app for Filipino American mental health. Tools such as moving her body; reading books that helped her name her emotions like Gifts of Imperfection and Atlas of the Heart by Dr. Brené Brown; as well as following mental health advocates that shared her identity, like the Asian Mental Health Collective, were instrumental during her journey. Now, she’s giving back to her community so they too can have access to healing: “The project I feel most passionate about is the app I’m building for Filipino American mental health, alongside wonderful peers who believe in mental wellness the same way I do.”
In the meantime, for those within the #AiCcommunity who may be struggling with mental health, Ashley Marie leaves you with this:
- Give yourself grace. “As someone who loves to work hard, get a little dirt under her nails, and is often invested in her states of flow (did I mention that grit is a personal value of mine), I get it— it feels good to overcome a challenge especially after you’ve taken it on for yourself. But allowing yourself space to breathe is just as important, if not more so.”
- You are not damaged goods. ”I am a problem solver. Naturally, as a woman in tech I love problem-solving and being solution-driven. (My brain, honestly, probably has a six pack from all the thinking, and even more frankly — the overthinking). This often led me to think that I was broken and that my anxiety and depressive symptoms were things that I needed to problem-solve and find a solution for. But that’s just not the whole picture. Trying to fix myself was never a helpful approach and reinforced this idea that failure is final. You are not damaged goods meant to be fixed.”
Meet Hope Chambers!
Hope Chambers is a woman of many firsts. She went from being the first student from Oklahoma to win a national NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award— then won 3 years in a row! — to being a part of the team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory team dedicated to bringing the first samples from Mars back to Earth.
Early science interest is important for developing a perception of yourself as someone who is capable of doing STEM — and parental or caregiver support plays a crucial role in exposing and supporting this. As with fellow #AiCstories Ambassador Gia Ramos, Hope’s STEM journey also began in adolescence due to her parents’ emboldening. She attended a summer camp program in elementary school and was immediately hooked after witnessing her hard work come to life through hands-on projects.
Another source of endless encouragement for this #AiCstories Ambassador has been AISES – a national non-profit and NCWIT Affinity Alliance member focused on advancing the Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in STEM — from early education to professional career development — through financial, academic, professional, and cultural support.
As a proud citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Hope got involved with the organization as an undergrad, and it changed the trajectory of her life, both personally and professionally.
Hope found securing internships within the competitive STEM landscape daunting before joining the organization. While attending the AISES national conference, she connected with tech recruiters from across the country, including 3M — where she landed her first internship — and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) after that.
With the support of AISES and the #AiCcommunity, and her willingness to put herself out there despite the fear, Hope had a transformative two-year journey at NASA JPL. During her internship, she worked on groundbreaking projects like the Mars Sample Return mission.
While AISES provided necessary ancestral connection and strength, being a part of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing community evolved her confidence as a woman in STEM. Both of their investments allowed Hope to be relentless in the pursuit of her dreams.
A young Hope who loved using her hands to build personal projects could only imagine where her early love for technology might take her. As a recent graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a Master’s in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Hope is ready for the world (and beyond)! While she aspires to have a life-long career working on projects that align with her passion for fabrication and robotics, she also hopes to be a source of guidance and support for others, just as her parents, AISES, and NCWIT have been for her.
Meet Gia Ramos!
Bookmark this video in the NCWIT Media Hub + watch it any time!
Gia was determined from a young age to make an impact on her island — and she has. Now, she’s an award-winning and world traveling technologist, all before she’s walked the stage. Her journey is awe-inspiring!
Gia was the youngest-ever recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing National High School Award.
In 2023, she was named a member of the inaugural Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Puerto Rico. Currently, she’s studying Operations Research and Information Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, an NCWIT Higher Ed Alliance member institution, as well as leading a non-profit organization.
Frustrated by the lack of STEM opportunities, she founded Girl Innovation in 2018: A program focused on teaching young girls the basics of computer science, robotics, and cybersecurity. Through workshops, Girl Innovation Talks, roundtable discussions, and college and career discovery days, this non-profit, Gia is empowering young girls in tech — just as #AiCcommunity member Pooja Chandrashekar inspired her.
After attending a robotics course in fifth grade, Gia participated in a competition hosted by ProjectCSGIRLS, an international non-profit organization founded by Pooja that’s dedicated to closing the gender gap in computing and technology. The program taught her about critical thinking, app design, pitching ideas, and NCWIT — and changed the trajectory of her life!
In the first year of Girl Innovation, two of Gia’s mentees became semi-finalists in the ProjectCSGirls competition. The following year, one of her first mentees, Kamila, became a NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award winner for the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Affiliate and National NCWIT Aspirations in Computing High School Award Honorable Mention recipient.
"It was truly a full-circle moment for me," Gia said about her mentee being recognized by NCWIT.
Through all of her years of service to others and accolades, she has her Dad to thank. Not only for his endless support, but also for enriching her life through travel.
The challenges we don’t expect are the ones that allow us to grow the most.”
From exploring across Puerto Rico, to skiing in the mountains of Spain, and taking on upstate New York, he’s been her number one supporter — and travel companion!
In summer 2024, Gia interned at Wells Fargo in the Commercial and Corporate & Investment Banking Technology team. This year, Gia Ramos — the purposeful girl determined to make an impact within her community — will graduate with a bachelors from an Ivy League institution. Congratulations, Gia!
Find more photos, insights, and share Gia’s story with aspiring technologists on Bluesky | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook!
Watch her story via the NCWIT Media Hub and on YouTube!
More #AiCstories are coming soon! Follow @NCWITAiC using the links above to be the first to see them as they’re released!
