Today's Role Models

Catharina Due Bøhler

Catharina Due Bøhler, from Norway  is the CEO and co-founder of the indie game company Sarepta Studio. 

She has been working in the game industry for many years, primarily within the fields of management and game design. 

Catharina was the lead game designer of BAFTA award-winning My Child Lebensborn and she was resently awarded a place in the Women in Games Hall of Fame (also see twitter feed).  

Christina Myers

Christina Myers co-founded, the Omnis Institute, an independent non-profit organisation committed to challenging critical global issues through the empowerment of emerging local leaders.

She is a PhD researcher at the Open University UK (Knowledge Media Institute), focusing on research withing the use of Video Games for inclusive education and to raise awareness on gender inequality. 

Christina was also awarded a place in the Women in Games Hall of Fame in 2019. Read more about her at her LinkedIn page and at the Omni Institute Webiste.   

Katie Bouman

Katie Bouman is an American computer scientist. Her field is computer imagery. In 2019, at the age of 29, she played a key role in a team that developed of a computer program that made the first-ever image of a black hole. Although the famous black hole image is the result of the combined efforts of over 200 scientists from all over the world, her crucial role in the project is what has made her famous. 

Prior to this breakthrough, Bouman had been a successful student, winning the Ernst Guillemin Award for best Master's Thesis in electrical engineering in 2014 - and a noticeable scientist, among other things delivering a TEDx talk; How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole, in 2017. 

More information here: https://people.csail.mit.edu/klbouman/ and here: https://interestingengineering.com/katie-bouman-the-brilliant-mind-that-brought-us-the-image-of-a-black-hole 

Lyndsey Scott

Lyndsey Scott is an American software developer, as well as a model, actress, and entrepreneur. This multi-talented lady has challenged the stereotypes of software developers (and models!) in so many ways. She graduated from Amherst College, a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, in 2006 with a joint degree in theatre and computer science.

After graduation, she has had a successful career as a Victoria Secret model, an actress, and, maybe first and foremost, as a software developer. She has developed several noteworthy iOS apps, as well as being an active contributor to Stack Overflow, a site where software developers can seek expert advice on all aspects of programming, earning her a top-ranking contributor status there. Furthermore, she is passionate about inspiring and educating others ---especially young women--- to program and has received numerous prestigious recognitions for that work.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndsey_Scott and https://www.lyndseyscott.com/ 


Astrid Undheim

Astrid Undheim is a Norwegian scientist, the vice president of Analytics & AI in Telenor Research. Telenor is a Norwegian multinational telecommunications company and Telenor Research is Telenor's corporate unit for research. 

Astrid has a PhD in artificial inteligence, AI. Along with her team, she has taken part in establishing the Norwegian Open AI-lab at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Her team is working with researchers and students at NTNU, aiming to advance AI methods and making it applicable to industry.​

Her research involves the use of artificial intelligence for public health purposes. Her team uses  artificial intelligence data to predict who is predisposed to specific types of diseases, which means that preventative measures can be put in place to prevent the disease from developing. 

More info in Norwegian: https://www.telenor.no/bedrift/aktuelt/2018/kunstig-intelligens.jsp

Nora Helen Engelsvold

Nora Helen Engelsvold is a young Norwegian game designer, who runs the indie game company Shyfoox Studios AS. She was born in 2002 and started developing her own games at the age of 12. Since the age of 14 she has been financially independent, thanks to the revenue from her games. At the age of 16 she started working full time for her own company, developing games for the online platform and storefront Roblox. She is completely self-taught and -trained in the art of game making.

Nora grew up in Ogna in the Hå Municipality, as well as Sandnes, in South-Western Norway, where she lives now, in her own house, which she shares with friends who rent rooms from her. She grew up in an artistic family, and although her mother, who is an artist, was sceptical towards Noras‘ playing habits to begin with, she soon changed her mind when she realized how creative Nora was. Today she runs her company, Shyfoox Studios AS, from her own house.

The popular game Dragons' life on Roblox is Nora‘s creation and has gained her recognition among players and professionals alike. In the game the player makes their own dragon avatar to then go play around in the game‘s world. The essense of the game lies in the interactions between players. She prefers working alone, although she sometimes hires professionals for parts of the development process. Her success story is a rare one, but goes to show that for a young girl with a creative mindset, the world is full of opportunities.