Member Highlight: Milena Araujo

What do you do as a woman working in the tech industry?

It sounds cliché, but I’m a problem solver. I’ve dedicated most of my professional life to staying as close to the user as possible, ensuring they can achieve whatever goal they have when they enter the app, the page, or whatever interface they have access to. So, my title is front‑end engineer, but I’ve been doing things across the stack: backend logic, data, and the science around it.

I’m also an advocate for women’s and neurodivergent voices wherever I am. I’m a mentor, speaker, and an avid documentation writer.

What does the Women in Tech initiative mean to you?

To me, it means community and belonging. It’s the reassurance that you aren’t alone, connecting with people navigating the same challenges, and finding the confidence to use your voice.

It’s about learning from role models, lifting each other up, and claiming our rightful space in the industry.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring woman in tech, what would that be?

AI is not going to steal your job, period. But I think the way we do software engineering is definitely changing. The change is constant: I can feel a shift from when I started experimenting with my blog’s layout when I was a teenager to when I started working my first job to now. When I started, most interactivity we had on the web was written in something like Flash. Web “development” was basically getting a drawing in Photoshop and transforming it into HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using FrontPage or Dreamweaver. Now, look at us: we can have an operating system inside a browser if we want to.

AI is not here to make your life harder. Quite the opposite. It’s a tool that humans made to actually make our lives easier, more practical, and faster. I don’t think tech, and in particular, software engineering, is going anywhere.

So my advice is to keep an open mind, read a lot, and pay attention to what is happening around you. That will be the way to follow the right direction.

Fun fact: Do you have any pets or hobbies? Tell us about them!

I definitely have hobbies. I’m actually a stationery collector, and in particular, fountain pens. I have hundreds of fountain pens and countless inks to pair them with. I also have a huge collection of mechanical keyboards, most of which I built myself, all categorized and cataloged in a spreadsheet. I’m fascinated by anything that you can use to put words together in a way that makes sense, so you can imagine how those two hobbies fit well with my passion for writing.

For me, writing brings a real sense of peace. I’ve been documenting my life, thoughts, and the world around me since I was a kid. It’s just a fundamental part of who I am. Maybe there’s a book in the future? Who knows!

I also love dancing, going out with my friends, and, of course, video games. I love my Nintendo Switch. I play every day, and I love cozy games, like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and even Terraria: those cute, cozy games that make you feel warm inside.