Episode 5: with Mona Obedoza

We interviewed Mona Obedoza from The Philippines to hear about her inspiring journey.

Mona started learning to program when she was about five years old, first using block-based programming language like Scratch, and she then advanced to text-based programming languages like Python, C#, and Java.

Even though she knows various programming languages, Python remains her favorite, not only for the programming language itself, but because of the Python community. Her first public speaking engagement was in the Python Philippines when she was 10 years old, and the support from the Python community has encouraged her to continue. She has now spoken at many Python events and conferences, including at PyLadiesCon 2023.

Mona has been teaching other kids to code through workshops and hackathons. Being young makes her in the best position to connect with other kids.

Mona created Project TEDDY, an AI powered-program that helps school counsellors detects signs of distress in students, so that the counsellors could reach out to the students in time and prevent mental health concerns from escalating.

Mona was encouraged by her mom since young to pursue tech and coding. Even though she is still in highschool, she has big dreams and aspires to study abroad in the future.

Be sure to listen to the episode to learn all about Mona’s inspiring story!

Topic discussed

• Introductions
• Python Philippines
• Learning to code after kindergarten.
• Learning Block-based programming like Scratch, then text-based programming like Python, C#, Java.
• Her favorite programming language.
• Using Python for data science, AI, teaching workshops to kids.
• Dinosaurs
• Speaking at Python Philippines at 10 years old
• Teaching and encouraging other kids to code, conducting workshops, and hackathons
• What inspires her to start teaching other kids to code
• How being young is an advantage to her
• Project TEDDY: Text-Based Early Distress Detector for Youth
• Her aspirations to speak at more Python conferences
• How her mom encouraged and supported her with programming and technology
• Other hobbies
• Her goals for the future, going to school abroad

Links from the show

• Purposeful Mochii: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulmochii/
• PyLadiesCon: https://conference.pyladies.com
• Project TEDDY talk at PyLadiesCon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB7xxXHH-mo

Get to know Mona Obedoza

Mona Obedoza

Mona Obedoza is a Filipino high schooler and aspiring AI engineer who advocates teaching kids how to code through her roles as a student ambassador for Women in AI PH, co-leader of her school's Girls Can Code club, and founder of The Purposeful Mochii. In her free time, she enjoys watching anime, reading manga and fantasy novels, and baking cookies.

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