photographer: carly wollaert © | make-up artist: dirkje visser from art of colors
hella haanstra
machine learning engineer at xomnia
about
i’m hella, 32 years old and i’ve been working in ai for the past 7 years. when i was younger, i envisioned myself as a therapist, psychologist and definitely not as an engineer. not because i wasn’t drawn to the field of engineering and mathematics, but because it’s hard to see yourself as a young woman in a role that’s mainly represented by men. fortunately, i overcame this uncertainty quickly and i’ve never regretted the move to ai. now, as a senior machine learning engineer and career mentor at xomnia, i enjoy combining the exact sciences with “gut feeling”. i try to teach my mentees that not everything has to be written in stone, and it’s okay to sometimes just feel what’s right.
what or who inspired you to pursue your chosen career?
i enrolled in the minor programming during my bachelor’s on a whim, which turned out to be a pivotal point in my life. i enjoyed the way it combined “creating something” with analytical thinking, and the way it challenged me more than my other studies ever did. although most master’s programs wouldn’t accept a student with a bachelor’s in child studies, the master’s in ai was, back then, open to all kinds of backgrounds, and i was able to pursue my favourite line of work: solving practical problems.
xomnia
for the fourth year, xomnia is proud to partner with equals amsterdam in their role model campaign, an initiative dedicated to inspiring women and girls to embrace careers in technology. this collaboration shines a spotlight on our commitment to diversity and celebrates the remarkable achievements of our team members. as a company committed to solving real-world challenges with data and ai, we believe that fostering an inclusive community is essential to driving true innovation.