Articoli

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.

Today’s post is all about Nikhil Nerkar, who started at Google as an MBA intern and eventually found a home and passion on the YouTube Creator and Artist Development team in Mumbai.

What’s your role at Google?

YouTube has millions of creators, and it’s a number that will keep on increasing in the coming years. As a strategic partner manager, I work directly with emerging creators to ensure that they achieve success on the platform and have a great experience. We help the creators build their channels, grow their audiences and turbocharge their reach through the platform.

At the Google News Initiative last month, we felt the love for new publisher tools, training programs and newsroom success stories. See February updates below.

One World Media Fellowship opens for applications

The One World Media Fellowship is a year-long, GNI-supported program aimed at aspiring journalists and filmmakers who seek to report on stories from countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Working in film, print, audio or multimedia, fellows’ projects bring together integrity and creativity to present underreported stories that break down stereotypes and build cross-cultural connections.

Applications are open until April 7, and we particularly encourage submissions from underrepresented ethnic groups, applicants who identify as women, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities ands people from and based in the global south.

Fostering diversity in Latin American newsrooms

We supported the Diversity in News and in Newsrooms course, developed by the Knight Center. More than 1700 journalists from 12 countries participated in the four-week course, which addressed the challenges of diversity, equity and equality and how to cover these issues. Special guests Keith Woods, NPR’s Chief Diversity Officer, and Krissah Thompson, Diversity Editor of the Washington Post, among others, shared their experience and best practices.

In 2015, Myriam Sandler had a problem many moms face: Her baby daughter Nicole refused to eat solid foods. Spaghetti, soup, rice … she wouldn’t have any of it. “That was driving me crazy as a first-time mom and I was determined to find a solution,” recalls the Venezuelan-born Myriam, who grew up in Miami.

Fortunately, Myriam had an educational  background in psychology and, prior to becoming a mom, had worked with kids that had ADD and ADHD. She eventually realized that baby Nicole likely had “texture sensitivities,” which makes some foods seem unappetizing. So she began to create play activities to help her daughter experience things that felt squishy, slimy, wet or rough. Through feeling the textures, Nicole became accustomed to the sensations and started eating. 

“I felt like I had a parenting breakthrough,” Myriam says. This experience inspired her to record short videos of her sensory play activities to share with other parents on social media. What began as an experiment has developed into a booming social media and web presence, as herMothercould brand has attracted more than 640,000 followers on Instagram and 40,000 monthly visitors to her website, along with business partnerships and other opportunities.

Here’s how Myriam went from being a young learning mother to a full-time social media and web creator, promoting her growing, family-friendly brand across multiple online platforms. 

Launching on social media

After creating her Mothercould websiteand a brief foray onto Instagram in 2016, Myriam paused  content development to focus on her family. In late 2018, after giving birth to her second daughter Emma, she relaunched herMothercould brand on Instagram, featuring kids’ play activities and recipes. “There were no videos out there bringing play into food and activity recipes,” she recalls. “It just exploded and the feedback from other parents and educators was so rewarding. It inspired me to keep creating.”

^{Kübra speaking at Women Techmakers Ambassadors North America Summit.}

Growing up in Turkey, it felt like women were meant to do one thing: Take care of their children. When I was younger, people always told me I should become a teacher, for the “work-life balance,” so I’d be able to spend more time with my kids. I had an ex-boyfriend who asked me to quit my job to take care of our family, and we weren’t even married yet. 

I didn’t realize technology was my passion until after I graduated from college. I noticed that I was on the computer all the time, downloading things, reading about tech. So I went to a digital conference in search of a job. One of the speakers gave a particularly inspiring talk, and I approached him afterward — I was so nervous. He told me to send him my resume, and I ended up with an internship at his company.

That simple action taught me to go after my dreams, even if I didn’t have the right background. Still, as I continued to pursue my career in Turkey’s tech sector — first as a marketing specialist and then as a product development specialist focused on UX design — I noticed how challenging it was for women to make their voices heard. All of the companies I worked for had male leadership, and I constantly felt like I needed to prove myself, to study really hard and perform to a specific standard.

In 2013, I helped organize a women’s conference (DevFest Women by Women Techmakers Istanbul) in Istanbul to help lift up marginalized voices. We brought together almost 1,000 people and provided a platform for dozens of female speakers. This was before programs like Women Techmakers were the norm, and I was able to connect with so many other women who, like me, dreamed of making an impact in the technology space. I didn’t know then that one of those women I met at the time would end up changing my life forever. 

After a few more career moves and a brief stint studying business administration in the U.S., I wound up back in Turkey working for a startup building a chatbot analytics platform. I loved being able to help build a product from scratch. But I also knew I wanted to return to the U.S., and I was lucky enough to win a green card lottery. My San Francisco-based company was supportive of the move, and in early 2018, I moved to New York. Five days later, I was fired. 

Alone and unemployed in a new country, I immediately turned to the network of women who had supported me in Turkey. One of the women who helped me plan the conference in 2013 was in a contract role at Google and looking for someone to replace her. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I landed the job, and soon after, I relocated to Silicon Valley. I worked as hard as I possibly could, and almost two years later, I became a full-time employee.

It’s time for another update to our Stadia Savepoint series, recapping the new games, features and changes for Stadia.

So far in 2021, players have traveled the world over in the spy thriller HITMAN 3, and they’ve gone long for touchdown passes in Madden NFL 21. They’ve brawled in 16-bit action in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World™: The Game, and they’ve discovered the dark secrets of an ominous world in Little Nightmares II, available now in Stadia Pro. Subscribers to Stadia Pro also gained instant access to play new games like Hotline Miami, Figment and Enter the Gungeon on top of the existing library of Pro games available to play as soon as you sign up.

State Share launched in January — the newest platform feature available only on Stadia — and it lets you capture playable slices of supported games and share them with friends. It’s as simple as taking a capture in-game and a game state will be automatically attached. Share the state via link to give friends the chance to try the same mission or custom level, beat your high score or experience new in-game content. Try it now across the entire HITMAN – World of Assassination trilogy as well as PixelJunk Raiders (play for free in Stadia Pro). State Share will be coming to more games soon.