SheLeadsTech Bursary Winner: Yuanyuan Maxine Liu

Winner of a 2021 SheLeadsTech Bursary: Yuanyuan Maxine Liu

Maxine's Message:

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Hello, everyone!

This is Yuanyuan (Maxine) Liu, A 2020 Cyber Security of master’s degree student at The New - York Institute of Technology. At present, I have completed 12 courses with a GPA3.95/4. I am a wife, a daughter, and a mother of two little boys.

As a Chinese mainland Muslim female, in my age, quitting my job to pursue my dreams is quite incomprehensible to many of my friends. Most of them sacrifice their own dreams and aspiration to earn time helping their children pursue dreams.

Fortunately, my family supports me to pursue me dreams and my decision to study in NYIT Vancouver. Before, I planned that I could quickly find a job, and study while working in Canada. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I have not been able to find a job related to my major Therefore, I hope to relieve some pressure of life by applying for a scholarship.

Rent and living costs are so high in Vancouver that I don't even have enough money to buy a slightly better laptop. The computer crashed so frequently that sometimes I had to interrupt the presentation
of my homework in ZOOM class. Sometimes I even had to beg my professor to kick me out of Zoom, in front of the class, to turn off the screen I was sharing. That's a lot of difficult for a CS student, like a marathon runner who can't afford shoes. Fortunately, THE ISACA - SheLeads Tech bursary directly helped me. When I learned that I was the first confirmed choice among the three winners, it made me believe that nothing is impossible in our life if we are determined to work towards our dreams.

I'm grateful to THE ISACA She Leads Tech bursary helping me pursue my dreams. At the same time, I am also grateful to you who are reading this in front of the screen, for giving me the opportunity to use my personal experience to influence female and minorities around me to pursue their dreams. Perhaps, just like me, you've faced some similar inequities that have hindered the pursuit of higher education. However, my dear sisters, please to believe that one day, someone will be there for help you, even if now you are walking on the rocky path to your dream.

If you also want to use your own experience especially in cybersecurity to influence and empower women, minorities, and other groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education to overcome the barriers they face, please join ISACA.
Thank you for your time.