Shine’s first Illuminate scholar

Supporting diversity with career transition scholarships

September 27, 2023

Shine’s Illuminate program is a demonstration of our commitment to driving diversity in Australia’s tech community, by offering scholarships and mentoring to people from diverse backgrounds wishing to make a career change.

On October 2nd, our first two scholars begin their new career journeys as they embark on General Assembly’s 3-month ‘Software Engineering Immersive’.

Not only is Shine sponsoring their courses, we have also paired each of our Illuminate scholars with a Shine mentor who will be supporting them through their journeys and offering introductions to a range of industry events and Guild meetups.

“In a rapidly evolving technology landscape, nurturing diversity enriches our industry’s innovation potential and resilience. I’m extremely proud that at Shine we are helping to develop tomorrow’s leaders and can’t wait to meet and support our first cohort.” said Danny Jenkins, Shine’s General Manager of Cloud Migration & Modernisation.

Shine’s first two scholars are:

Annabelle Blum is a PhD biochemical and molecular biologist.
Shima Rad is a former biochemist interested in UX/UI.

They have each been paired with a deeply experienced Shine mentor:

Pegah Khaleghi – a full-stack Software Engineer with more than four years of experience consulting to Shine’s major enterprise customers.
Loki Martin – a Senior Software Engineer with 15 years of experience in IT.

Faye Aylward, Shine’s General Manager of People & Culture, said, “It is a privilege being associated with Shine’s Illuminate Program, which not only supports new skill and talent development in the tech industry but also promotes diversity and career transition opportunities for people from different backgrounds.”