MANILA, Philippines – Gina Romero, founder of social-impact tech start-up Connected Women and 10 others, have been awarded as The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) 2022, held at Dusit Thani Manila last October 25, 2022.

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Held every three years, the TOWNS awards aim to identify outstanding Filipino women aged 21 to 50 years old who, in their various capacities, serve as good role models and contribute significantly to the improvement of society.

The 2022 TOWNS 11 awardees are: Ani Rosa Almario (Education and Entrepreneurship), Rubilen Amit (Sports), Dr. Pia Bagamasbad (Molecular Biology), Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho (Medicine/Public Health), Dr. Erika Fille Legara (Data Science), Keisha Alena Mayuga (Transport Planning), Ana Patricia Non (Community Service), Anna Oposa (Marine Ecology Conservation), Patricia Marie Ranada (Investigative Journalism), Georgina Romero (Women Empowerment Through ICT), and Dr. Aletta Yniguez (Marine Science).

The eleven awardees were selected from a list of 70 women, the final 20 were interviewed in person by distinguished panel of judges: Philippines Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo; Rogelio Singson, president of the Management Association of the Philippines; Dr. Eugenio Jose Ramos, president and CEO of Medical City Philippines; Fortunato de la Pena, former Department of Science and Technology (DOST) secretary; Senen Bacani, former Department of Agriculture Secretary; lawyer Lilia de Lima, former director general of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA); Dr. Esperanza Cabral former Department of Health (DOH) secretary; and Ces Orena Drilon, Broadcaster and TOWNS president.

Romero founded Connected Women, a Philippines based, socially responsible AI and Digital Task outsourcing company. The vision was to improve the lives of women through meaningful online work. Connected Women launched Elevate AIDA (artificial intelligence data annotation), its flagship training program, in 2020. Together with UN Women, it teaches low-income and displaced women for AI work through modules. The program has been awarded by UN Women’s WEPS (Women Empowerment Principles) Awards and the ITU Digital World in Geneva. Romero was also shortlisted as a finalist in the Women in AI Leadership Awards 2022 by VentureBeat in the AI Rising Star category.

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