"Leap, and the net will appear." -- John Burroughs
In October 2007 I phoned Deanna Kosaraju and said, "I'm thinking about quitting my job and doing a service year at a nonprofit. Can you use me?" I started going in to the Anita Borg Institute office after the 2007 Grace Hopper Celebration, and five months later I was hired as their Communities Program Manager.
For the last four years it has been my honor to work for the Anita Borg Institute. I've learned so much from the exceptional staff, volunteers and community. It was fun to build the Institute's social communities on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and to see them fill with inspiring technical women and diversity champions. But a few months ago I started thinking about moving on. And then I started preparing: updating profiles, looking at job listings, talking to a few friends.
In that wonderful way fate has of giving us a nudge when the time is right, yesterday I was laid off. I feel extremely fortunate and grateful that my volunteer service turned into a four year paid position. I'm enjoying some time off for rest and play, and I'm excited by the possibilities of this new adventure.
As I did in 2007 when I started this blog, once again I leap into the unknown trusting that the net will appear.
Showing posts with label gracehopper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gracehopper. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Goin' Back to She's Geeky
In October of 2007 I left my software industry job and went immediately to two back-to-back conferences for technical women. The first was the fabulous Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC), presented by the nonprofit Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). The second was a fiesty little unconference for technical women organized by Kaliya Hamlin, also known as Identity Woman. I had a fabulous time at both of these very different events and got to know many very smart, accomplished, interesting and, yes, geeky (and I mean that in a good way!) women. I now work at ABI and get to help produce GHC, and I'm totally looking forward to this fall's conference in Tuscon, AZ, Sept 30-Oct 3. But that's months away, so I'm glad that She's Geeky is returning to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on January 30-31.
If you're scratching your head and wondering what an unconference is, it's a facilitated, participant-driven event. The attendees put together the agenda at the unconference itself, based on their interests, expertise and needs around the event theme. It's a popular format for technical conferences in the Open Source, Linux and Web 2.0 spaces. I've been to a few now and found them to be fun and productive networking and learning experiences.
As with any other technical conference, at technical unconferences women often find themselves in the minority. Enter Kaliya Hamlin, an experienced unconference organizer and facilitator, and the She's Geeky, the technical unconference for women who self-identify as geeks. She and her friends have created an event for women with a wide range of interest or experience in using or creating technology to gather, share, and learn from each other. Not only do I consider She's Geeky worth attending for its own sake, but I think it would be a great place to get familiar with the unconference format if a woman was a little shy about diving into the Bar Camp scene.
Registration is open now at http://shesgeeky.org/. I'm geeky, and I'm goin' ... how about you?
If you're scratching your head and wondering what an unconference is, it's a facilitated, participant-driven event. The attendees put together the agenda at the unconference itself, based on their interests, expertise and needs around the event theme. It's a popular format for technical conferences in the Open Source, Linux and Web 2.0 spaces. I've been to a few now and found them to be fun and productive networking and learning experiences.
As with any other technical conference, at technical unconferences women often find themselves in the minority. Enter Kaliya Hamlin, an experienced unconference organizer and facilitator, and the She's Geeky, the technical unconference for women who self-identify as geeks. She and her friends have created an event for women with a wide range of interest or experience in using or creating technology to gather, share, and learn from each other. Not only do I consider She's Geeky worth attending for its own sake, but I think it would be a great place to get familiar with the unconference format if a woman was a little shy about diving into the Bar Camp scene.
Registration is open now at http://shesgeeky.org/. I'm geeky, and I'm goin' ... how about you?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Power of 1600 Screaming Girls
"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."
— Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
Still basking in the afterglow of Grace Hopper and She's Geeky, today I made this a three-week estrogen spree by volunteering at the Girl Summit. There is nothing like the energy of 1600 preteen and teenage girls screaming and dancing to wake a body up in the morning! The girls gathered at the San Jose Convention Center to share, have fun, and learn about creating social change together.
This fabulous event was the kickoff to the Girls for a Change (GFC) school year program. GFC is another of my favorite nonprofit organizations, with a program that empowers girls to become social change agents who have a real impact in their schools and communities. After the Summit, many of the girls join Girl Action Teams through their schools or other organizations. Last year I co-coached one of these teams, and it was great to see some of the girls from our team at the Summit. Here's a short video clip on the Girl Summit from CBS channel 5 News.
Since my last day on the job I've done several short volunteer stints: Grace Hopper, the She's Geeky registration desk, today's Girl Summit and, last Friday night, the Haunted Lake at Palo Alto's Foothills Park. Thursday, I head over to the Anita Borg Institute to get started over there.
— Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
Still basking in the afterglow of Grace Hopper and She's Geeky, today I made this a three-week estrogen spree by volunteering at the Girl Summit. There is nothing like the energy of 1600 preteen and teenage girls screaming and dancing to wake a body up in the morning! The girls gathered at the San Jose Convention Center to share, have fun, and learn about creating social change together.
This fabulous event was the kickoff to the Girls for a Change (GFC) school year program. GFC is another of my favorite nonprofit organizations, with a program that empowers girls to become social change agents who have a real impact in their schools and communities. After the Summit, many of the girls join Girl Action Teams through their schools or other organizations. Last year I co-coached one of these teams, and it was great to see some of the girls from our team at the Summit. Here's a short video clip on the Girl Summit from CBS channel 5 News.
Since my last day on the job I've done several short volunteer stints: Grace Hopper, the She's Geeky registration desk, today's Girl Summit and, last Friday night, the Haunted Lake at Palo Alto's Foothills Park. Thursday, I head over to the Anita Borg Institute to get started over there.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
I See Tech Women
"Helping one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood."
— Louisa May Alcott
Providing support and empowerment to women and girls is one of my passions, although to date that has not been the work I'm paid for. I scheduled my departure from work so that I didn't have to return to the office after the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) in Orlando. Although I've only been able to attend sporadically, GHC has always been one of my favorite conferences. For starters, there is the sheer pleasure (and rarity) of being at a technical conference where we women are in the majority. Then there are always the great programs (the TechLeaders for Social Innovators workshop was awesome) and the wonderful role models (like the Award Winners and Fran Allen, the first woman to win the Turing Award!).
This was also the first time I've ever moderated a conference panel and with the help of my awesome panelists it was great fun. I came back from GHC with lots of notes, urls to check out, business cards and ideas -- so many that it will take me awhile to process them all. The Grace Hopper Celebration is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. You'll hear more about them in later posts.
On Monday I was off to She's Geeky: A Women's Tech (un)Conference in Mountain View, CA. Again, a great program and more awesome female role models. This conference was much smaller (GHC had 1408 attendees; She's Geeky had an intimate 175-200). The Open Space unconference format on Tuesday, faciliated by Kaliya, was perfect for this group of women. I only wish I had a clone so I could have attended more of the sessions!
— Louisa May Alcott
Providing support and empowerment to women and girls is one of my passions, although to date that has not been the work I'm paid for. I scheduled my departure from work so that I didn't have to return to the office after the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) in Orlando. Although I've only been able to attend sporadically, GHC has always been one of my favorite conferences. For starters, there is the sheer pleasure (and rarity) of being at a technical conference where we women are in the majority. Then there are always the great programs (the TechLeaders for Social Innovators workshop was awesome) and the wonderful role models (like the Award Winners and Fran Allen, the first woman to win the Turing Award!).
This was also the first time I've ever moderated a conference panel and with the help of my awesome panelists it was great fun. I came back from GHC with lots of notes, urls to check out, business cards and ideas -- so many that it will take me awhile to process them all. The Grace Hopper Celebration is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. You'll hear more about them in later posts.
On Monday I was off to She's Geeky: A Women's Tech (un)Conference in Mountain View, CA. Again, a great program and more awesome female role models. This conference was much smaller (GHC had 1408 attendees; She's Geeky had an intimate 175-200). The Open Space unconference format on Tuesday, faciliated by Kaliya, was perfect for this group of women. I only wish I had a clone so I could have attended more of the sessions!
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