Google Data

My most memorable moment of my summer was my first day at Google Japan during Noogler (new Googler) Orientation. There were a dozen people starting that day, and 8 of us were women! I was even more excited to find out that they were still in college, starting an engineering internship through the Google BOLD Internship program.

In 2010, I became actively involved with the Technovation Challenge, a mobile app development competition for high school girls. Technovation Challenge is a mentoring program and an opportunity for females to explore the world of engineering at a very young age by use of the Android App Inventor.

The biggest hurdle of the program was attracting mentors that were invaluable to the success of the program to connect with the high school girls. When I called out to females in technology, Women@Google had an overwhelming support for the program, bringing over a dozen mentors!

My summer at Google was filled with events that brought women together, from formal dinners to a casual breaks over ice cream, to share their experiences, and help one another. To have the opportunity to work at Google this summer, meant working at a company that supported in the cause to increase mentorship for those that were underrepresented in tech. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend my summer in an organization that celebrates diversity and inclusion and constantly encourages Googlers to support one another.

Over the last two months, I have had the opportunity to meet many successful female Googlers in all levels of the company. Each and every one of them, offered me career advice, and periodically checked in to see how my internship was going. As a Business Marketing Intern for the APAC Mobile Ads team, I constantly felt a strong support network, and was provided with many opportunities to challenge myself. In just eight weeks, I was given the support and resources to build two presentation narratives, publish an info-sheet, and create an internal webpage.


I have had an unforgettable summer experience, and want to thank all the Googlers, both men and women, that have mentored me during my internship. Thank you to my manager Taka-san, Mobile Ads Team, APAC Marketing, and the Boston Forum Team - Yayoi-san, Yuko-san, Jay-san and Brad-san. I have been fortunate to have amazing mentors in my life, and want to return the same to others. I hope that one day every female in every occupation will have a strong mentor that can support them to achieve anything that they desire and work towards.

My summer is over at Google, but my hope to increase mentorship for those that are underserved has just begun.

Posted by Miho Goto, Intern, Google Japan