Last week, nearly 22,000 women technologists and our male allies gathered in Houston to celebrate. The Anita Borg Institute hosts this amazing event, where the tickets are as hot and hard to come by as a major concert. Microsoft sent over 900 employees to speak, work the booth and be inspired.
As always, my fellow women geeks (er, technologists) and our male allies never fail to inspire me. The highlights:
- The singing bowls meditation.
- Jessica Walters showing how jumping rope in high heels can bring light to home-bound girls is her native Nigeria.
- Mentoring so many women during the Mentoring Circles. The statistics show that most women don’t have a mentor. Still, I was shocked by coming face-to-face with women who don’t have anyone to help guide them.
- My presentation on being the Only Woman in the Room resonated as much with the men in the room as with the women. I had not given much thought to the men in the room, and yet they responded positively having learned a bit what it is like to be in the gender-minority.
- Smaller events and dinner with other senior women gave me such insight and energy.
- Meeting people at the Microsoft booth, telling them about this amazing company.
- Learning about being an angel investor. Women control half the wealth in America. We can swing the VC funding issues and get on boards early.
- No matter what your politics, having Dr. Anita Hill with us on the day of the Kavanaugh hearings gave an eerie resonance of history.
- Just bathing in the energy, walking the floor of the Expo, seeing all the companies seeking to hire us.
Houston, you treated us well. Orlando, here we come!