Postgres Women India – August ‘26 Newsletter

Welcome to Postgres Women India monthly newsletter, August 2026.

We are excited to highlight several key initiatives and events aimed at empowering women in #Data, #AI, and #Postgres ecosystem.

Postgres Women India at Hyderabad PGDays 2026

Postgres Women India (PWI) was proud to be part of Hyderabad PGDays 2026 for the third consecutive year as a Partner Sponsor.

The 3rd edition of Hyderabad PGDays 2026, held on August 20–21, 2026, at JNTUH, Hyderabad, brought together 350+ PostgreSQL enthusiasts, professionals, speakers, and community members for two days of technical learning, networking, and community engagement.

For PWI, Hyderabad PGDays was more than a conference. It was an opportunity to connect with women from the PostgreSQL, data, and AI communities, introduce them to PWI, and create meaningful connections within the community.

A big thank you to organizers Hari Kiran, Ameen Abbas, and Rajesh Madiwale for including PWI in the event and supporting our initiatives.


PWI had a strong presence at Hyderabad PGDays 2026 with activities focused on community, connection, and collaboration.

PWI Booth, managed by Lavanya and Vaishnavi, provided a space for attendees to learn more about Postgres Women India, connect with the community, and engage with fellow PostgreSQL enthusiasts.

Aarti delivered a lightning talk titled “A Look Back: Jan–Jul 2026 & Beyond,” highlighting PWI’s journey, key initiatives, and what lies ahead.

The conference also brought women together through #PWIKitty,

PWI Kitty: Beyond Tech, Building Connections

One of the highlights of Hyderabad PGDays 2026 was the PWI Kitty, a dedicated space for women in the PostgreSQL community to come together, connect, and enjoy an evening beyond technology.

There were no presentations or technical discussions. Just conversations, laughter, fun activities, shared experiences, and an opportunity to get to know the person behind the professional profile.

The evening became even more special with a pizza dinner sponsored by OpenSource DB.

A heartfelt thank you to Hari Kiran and the OpenSource DB team for supporting the PWI Kitty and helping us create this space for women to connect.

And thank you to every woman who joined us and made the evening special.

More conversations. More connections. More friendships. A stronger community.


PWI & OAPE

Building Pathways for PostgreSQL Education

PWI is proud to collaborate with the Open Alliance for PostgreSQL Education (OAPE) to support global PostgreSQL education through open, vendor-neutral learning and certification pathways.

This initiative helps community members build their PostgreSQL skills, validate their expertise, and discover new opportunities across the ecosystem.

Our appreciation to Jan Karremans, Cornelia Biacsics, Hari Kiran, and the entire OAPE team for building this valuable PostgreSQL certification mechanism and including PWI in this initiative.


Community, Conversations & Connections

From the conference floor and Community Hub to the PWI Kitty, Hyderabad PGDays gave us many opportunities to meet women, hear their stories, and build new connections.

For PWI, community is about more than technology. It is about creating a space where women can connect, share, learn, support one another, and feel that they belong.


Thank You, OpenSource DB

We are always thankful to OpenSource DB for being a strong and constant partner in supporting the Postgres Women India community.

Your continued support helps PWI create more opportunities for women to connect with the PostgreSQL ecosystem and participate in community initiatives.


PWI Core Team & OSDB Team

A heartfelt thank you to the entire PWI team for your teamwork, dedication, and support in making Hyderabad PGDays 2026 memorable.

Aarti NR · Kalyani M · Keerthi Seetha · Kranthi Lavanya · Praveena Sivasankar

OSDB Team: Chandini Kurada – Deevena Ande – Lahari Giddi – Swarna Teja – Vaishnavi Vadapalli  

Every contribution helped make the PWI experience special.


Relive Hyderabad PGDays 2026

Conference Ebooklet
Explore the complete two-day conference experience.

Event Photos
Revisit the moments from Hyderabad PGDays 2026.

Watch Hyderabad PGDays 2026
Catch the sessions and highlights from the event.

Watch the PWI Kitty Video
A glimpse of the conversations, laughter, and connections from the evening.

Share Your Feedback


Until the Next Community Gathering

Hyderabad PGDays 2026 reminded us that a strong community is built not only through technology, but also through people, conversations, relationships, and opportunities to connect.

From the PWI Kitty to our conference interactions and collaboration with OAPE, every moment added another chapter to the growing PWI community.

Thank you to all the Organizers, Speakers, Trainers, Volunteers, Attendees, Partners, OAPE, OpenSource DB, and the PWI community for making Hyderabad PGDays 2026 special.

Here’s to more women, more connections, more conversations, and a stronger PostgreSQL community.

See you at the next PGDays!

DFW PostgreSQL Meetup Improving (Plano, TX)

Kalyani M attended the DFW PostgreSQL Meetup, featuring Daniel M. Farrell’s session on “Scaling pgvector AI Workloads with YugabyteDB.” The session explored challenges that emerge as vector workloads scale and how distributed, PostgreSQL-compatible architectures can address them without changes to SQL or application code.

The DFW Postgres community hosts monthly meetups for PostgreSQL enthusiasts to learn, share, and connect.

Postgres Women India Upskill Program 2026 July Highlights

🏅 Recognizing Excellence

Postgres Rookie of the Month – August 2026

We’re delighted to feature Shruti Rawal, Software Engineer at #Google, as our Postgres Women India – Rookie of the Month for August 2026! 🐘

Shruti Rawal’s journey is a great example of how curiosity and a willingness to explore beyond the surface can open new doors. From starting as a Product Intern and growing through full-stack development to working with database systems, her journey reflects continuous learning and evolution.

Her interest in PostgreSQL came from a simple but powerful curiosity — to unpack the “black box” and understand how systems deliver reliability and performance at scale.

💡 Her message to fellow learners:
“Don’t be afraid of the database ‘black box’—open it up! Play around with it as much as you can.”

Shruti Rawal’s journey from application development to database systems is truly inspiring, showcasing the power of curiosity, continuous learning, and exploring new possibilities with PostgreSQL.

Congratulations, Shruti Rawal! 🎉 Keep exploring, keep learning, and keep inspiring the PostgreSQL community!

Check out this link to know more about her: https://lnkd.in/gcGspFbx

Postgres Woman of the Month – August 2026! -Divya Bhargov

Postgres Women India is delighted to spotlight Divya Bhargov as our Woman of the Month for August 2026!

Divya is a Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft, leading the PostgreSQL engine team for Azure Flexible Server for PostgreSQL. Her journey reflects a transition from application development to database engineering, with a strong commitment to PostgreSQL. She has contributed to the community through talks at PGConf India, POSETTE: An Event for Postgres, and #PGSummitNYC, while also supporting community events through talk selection and hosting. Through her journey, she encourages learning, curiosity, and meaningful contributions to the PostgreSQL ecosystem.

Divya‘s message to the PostgreSQL community:
“There is room for you in the Postgres community. You do not need to know everything before joining the conversation or making your first contribution.”

Thank you Divya for inspiring others and contributing to the growth of the PostgreSQL community!

Read her full journey here: https://lnkd.in/dD9Wn9cE

Postgres Women India is delighted to feature Cornelia Biacsics as our EnableHER of the Month!

Meet Cornelia Biacsics – Principal Program Manager for PostgreSQL at hashtagMicrosoft, an active member of the hashtagPostgreSQLAdvocacyCommittee and a passionate community builder.

From starting as a mother of two working as a Head of Marketing to becoming a prominent leader at hashtagMicrosoft, Cornelia Biacsics’s journey is a powerful testament to the value of community and showing up. Over her years of involvement, she has driven growth through public speaking, organizing events and building vital connections, hitting one major PostgreSQL milestone at a time. She is also the proud founder of the hashtagViennaPostgreSQLMeetup, an initiative she built from scratch to show everyday users the vibrant ecosystem waiting beyond just downloading the database.

Her inspirational quote:
“Change and growth often happen at the edge of your comfort zone.”

She strongly believes that open source grows through starting, not waiting. Through stepping past her own initial doubts about belonging, she has found her true place creating spaces that the whole global community can collectively own.

EnableHER for Cornelia Biacsics is – Focuses on helping more women discover that they belong in the PostgreSQL community. When we share our stories, attend conferences, and build supportive environments, we show others that there isn’t just one single path to contribute.

Read about her inspiring journey and experiences:
https://lnkd.in/dPr34E4G

📘 Learn & Share Series:

Aarti Nadekar – Sharing insightful articles about PostgreSQL community

📅 Upcoming Events:

📌 September 4, 2026101 of DBA Career Graph: From Aspiring to Exceptional DBA | Hosted by Postgres Women India
Time: 5:00–7:00 PM | Luma Registration: https://luma.com/mi3c1psn

📌 September 10, 2026: Hari Kiran attending this event — BRICS – Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability, New Delhi

📌 September 26–27, 2026Hari Kiran speaking at FOSS, Bangalore
How India’s Largest G2C Platform Migrated to FOSS and Broke Free from Oracle

📌 September 30–October 2, 2026Postgres Summit US 2026
Conference that brings together Postgres contributors, finance and technology industry leaders, engineers building high-scale systems, and newcomers eager to run their first query.

Schedule — Postgres Summit US 2026

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