Girls In Tech

Last week wrapped up the Grace Hopper Celebration Women in Computing 2011 in Portland, Oregon. 3000 attendees (over 140 companies, 235 academics representation and closed to 90% women attendees) from all over the world flocked to attend this 4 days conference. What if, is the topic of the conference – It is about creating the next generation to be the leader in STEM/Tech (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Telle Whitney opened the conference by introducing an initiative by Anita Borg/Grace Hooper “TechWomen” change agent scholars: 6 women mentees (Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Egypt) selected as up-and-coming leaders who will advance in women’s participation in technology and help support more women in their hometown and expand STEM education. TechWomen pairs technical women in the greater San Francisco Bay Area with their counterparts in the Middle East and North Africa for a professional mentorship and exchange program at leading technology companies.

Keynote speaker, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook gave a career advice for any young woman who wants to move up the ladder in the career of technology:

1. Believe in yourself
2. Dream big
3. Make your partner a real partner
4. Don’t’ leave just yet
5. Start talking about this

The conference sessions range from career, academic, technical, theme and industry track. With Saturday dedicated for an open source day: Codeathon for humanity.

Grace Hopper Aspirations computing by NCWIT took place on Thursday night. More than 1200 applicants applied for and top 30 young women were chosen to attend this conference. The Aspirations award is the catalyst that propels young women into studying computer science in college and ultimately pursuing a career in computing and information technology. Event sponsored by Microsoft, Intel, viawest, Lewis and Clark, puppetlabs and 24Notion

Career fair and exhibitors from Google, yahoo, Microsoft, NSA, Deutsch bank, Lockheed martin, Amex, Intel, Pixar, Facebook, Twitter and hundred others gathered to recruit the brightest STEM young leader to lead their company. (Did you know that STEM jobs paid 20% more than regular career?).

Leaving the conference energized and excited that at Girls in Tech Mentorship Program, we are here to support and developed the next generation to raise them up the top. So, what are you waiting for? Get into it!

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Tags: 24notion, engineering, girls in tech portland, GIT Mentorship, gitpdx, grace hopper celebration, Ivo Lukas, mathematics, mentorship, mssonicflare, Science, sheryl sandberg, STEM, technology, women in computing
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A recent article from Inc noted that women in technology still face an uphill battle. Quite true!

According to the article, “Women make up half of the U.S. workforce but represent only 25 percent of the technology industry. Despite growth in entrepreneurship, women lead only eight percent of technology start-ups.”

Is this a problem of widespread gender stereotypes? Lack of aspiration to the technology sector by young girls? We need to balance the energy of building awareness with keeping more women in tech arenas. 75% of women in technology report “loving their work,” yet women leave technology careers at a staggering rate.

Finding support and guidance is quite a challenging task. Being in this field for some time, I’ve seen many inspired young women/girls have a hard time finding established women and entrepreneurs in tech to help them maneuver within the industry or corporations. We need more families and friends who can embrace and mentor them within the field.

How do we address this issue? My take is that it starts by exposing, educating and engaging girls from an early young age. Many parents continue to say , “Hey, I would love to have my kids become lawyers or doctors” but you hardly ever hear parents encourage their young girls to become a scientist, or explore technical or mathematicians occupations. Especially at a young age, girls are exposed to more traditional games and toys, but why can’t girls play with Legos? Or create a robotic science project at school?

We invite you to make a difference. We have launched the Girls in Tech Mentorship program in summer 2011. There are huge opportunities to build up the next generation of young girls in technology and entrepreneurship. Our goal is not only to inspire, share knowledge and help young girls to take notice of how cool technology can be, but to expose and educate their parents by encouraging their girls to take part in science, math and tech fairs.  We are looking for mentors, mentees, sponsors, media partners and more. If you are interested in learning more or being part of the program, drop me an email: ivo@girlsintech.net

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Tags: entrepreneurship, girls in tech, Ivo Lukas, Math, mentorship, mssonicflare, Science, STEM, technology, women in tech
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Portland | No Comments »

Girls in Tech is proud to be part of the Women@TheFrontier  2nd annual conference tonight: Tuesday August 16, 2011 6-10pm at The Tech Museum of Innovation San Jose, CA. This event is open to public. RSVP here

Women@TheFrontier launched in summer 2009- to inspire, to empower and to link female change-agents currently impacting the world through innovation, entrepreneurship, humanitarianism, policy, science and technology.

At its core, W@F celebrates the accomplishments of leading women that are creating positive and innovative change, global in reach and exponential in impact.

W@F also recognizes top organizations empowering and actively changing the lives of women and girls around the world.

 W@F is also collaborating with Women Go Global

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Tags: entrepreneurship, innovation, Ivo Lukas, Science, tech, Women at the Frontier, women go global, women in tech, women's conference
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Events, Girls In Tech, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, santa cruz, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

The fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 22 February to 4 March 2011. Representatives from Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world will attend the session. There will be a number of activities, including interactive dialogues and panels, during the two-week session. I’m in particular excited about the track panel discussion on Wednesday 23^rd- it is one of the topic that is dearly to my heart. A group of leaders from all over the world will be in discussion over access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. Be sure to watch the live webcast this Wednesday, 23 February 2011, 10am-1pm; Or if you are nearby pls stop by the conference room #3, North Lawn building.

This year following highlights key focus areas of CSW 2011.

• Priority Theme: Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work
• Review Theme: The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child
• Emerging Issue: Gender equality and sustainable development

Panel 1 Track- Key policy initiatives and capacity-building on gender mainstreaming: focus on science and technology

Moderator: Ms. María Luz Melon, Vice-Chair of the Commission (Argentina)

Panelist:

Ms. Sesae Mpuchane, Professor, University of Botswana, Botswana(paper)

Ms. Hagit Messer, President, Open University, Israel(paper)

Ms. Londa Schiebinger, Professor, Stanford University, USA

Mr. Bunker Roy, Founder and Director, Barefoot College, India(paper)

Ms. Anne Miroux, Director, Technology and Trade Logistics Division, UNCTA(paper)

If you are interested in watching day 1 high level round table web live cast, watch now!

Tags: 24notion, CSW, economy, education, entrepreneurship, gender equality, Gender Initiative, Girls, girls in tech, ivo, Ivo Lukas, jobs, justice, Leadership, NGO, Science, technology, training, UN, united nations, UNwomen, Women in Education
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Girls In Tech | 1 Comment »

Don’t miss an exciting party! Come hear insightful stories from the awardees, network with influential leaders in science technology, catch a spectacular view of Boston Harbor, enjoy a ‘Seafood Extravaganza’, and get inspired! Everyone is welcome to attend!

REGISTER NOW

Thursday, May 28th

WHERE: 155 Seaport Blvd, Boston (Across from the World Trade Center.)

TIME: 6:00-9:00pm

COST: Advance reg (until 6pm Tues. May 26th): $45 Members, $60 Non-Members.  $10 more at the door.

2009 Awardees:

Adelene Perkins, President of Infinity Pharmaceuticals 

Beth Friday, VP of WorldWide Client Support at IBM

Beth Marcus, PhD, Founder and CTO of Zeemote

Janet Wolfe, PhD, Founder and President of Wolfe Laboratories

Speaker introductions include:

-Abbie Celniker, CEO of Taligen Therapeutics

-Sandra Glucksmann, Chair of WEST Board, and Sr. VP Research and Business Operations at Cerulean Pharma

-ML Mackey, CEO of Beacon Interactive Systems

-Gwen Acton, President of WEST

Tags: Boston, girls in tech, Science, technology, Women Entrepreneurs, women in tech
Posted in Boston | No Comments »