Women in Cloud - Final Event of 2025

Note: This event will be hosted at the REA Office in Richmond
___
Join us for our final Women in Cloud meetup of the year! We’re closing out 2025 with two insightful and practical talks that dive into real-world cloud adoption, architecture, and cost optimisation. Whether you're early in your cloud journey or shaping large-scale platforms, this session will leave you inspired, informed, and better equipped to navigate the cloud with confidence.

Talk 1: How much is too much? Crunching the numbers —by Jane Tran
Summary: We’ll dive into keeping AWS bills under control by monitoring spend per service, tagging resources to identify owners, and setting budgets with alerts before costs blow out. We’ll explore proven cost‑saving strategies like reserved and spot instances, right‑sizing compute, smart storage choices, autoscaling for non‑prod, and serverless for low‑traffic workloads. Finally, we’ll look at avoiding pricey pitfalls such as end‑of‑life products and ensuring capacity is regularly reviewed and optimised.
Speaker: Jane is a Systems Engineer in REA Group’s Cloud Governance team, helping enable cost‑efficient and compliant cloud operations by empowering teams with clear information, guidance, and automation. With a career that began in tech support in the education sector, Jane has made the shift from fixed‑cost, on‑premises infrastructure to the dynamic, and sometimes unpredictable, pay‑as‑you‑go cloud model. Drawing on experience in AWS, GCP, FinOps, and cloud cost optimisation, they are passionate about creating a culture of accountability for tech spend across REA and ensuring teams get the best value from the cloud.

Talk 2: The cloud that’s all yours: Explore VMware Modern Private Cloud — by Divya Gowda
Summary: Join us for an engaging journey into the world of VMware Modern Private Cloud. Explore its architecture, key components, and why modern private cloud remains essential for everything from critical business workloads to cutting-edge innovation.
Discover how private clouds deliver secure, scalable, and high-performing enterprise applications — supporting both business-critical workloads and innovative projects.
Don’t miss this interactive session, packed with real-world examples, polls, and quizzes!
Speaker: Divya is a Senior VMware Consultant and Cloud Technology Enthusiast with over a decade of experience. She helps organizations strategically embrace cloud solutions and is passionate about making technology simple, impactful, and accessible, while inspiring the next generation of women in tech.

Agenda
5:30pm — Arrival, food & networking
6:00pm — Talk 1. How much is too much? Crunching the numbers
6:45pm — Talk 2. The cloud that’s all yours: Explore VMware Modern Private Cloud
7:30pm — Open conversation & networking

Thanks to our sponsor REA group for making this event possible!
Join us for an evening of insightful discussions, networking, and great company. We can’t wait to wrap up the year together.