Best of ELEVATE: Land Your Next Job in the AI-Forward Future with Ethical Automation, Agent Public Education Use Case, Architecting the Future of Autonomous Innovation, & More on Promotions, Management & Impact
On April 21, 2026, Girl Geek X founders Angie Chang and Sukrutha Bhadouria hosted over a full day of career and tech talks with folks tuning in from across the globe.
This annual free online event was an extraordinary blend of inspiring talks, insightful sessions, and invaluable networking opportunities, designed to foster growth, innovation, and community among women in technology in celebration of World Creativity & Innovation Day!
At Sierra, we’re helping businesses build better, more human experiences with AI. Our team works at the forefront of AI, combining research with a focus on real-world impact. That blend of innovation and practicality drives everything we do, and we’re always on the lookout for thoughtful, mission-driven people.
We are guided by a set of values that are at the core of our actions and define our culture: Trust, Customer Obsession, Craftsmanship, Intensity, and Family. These values are the foundation of our work, and we are committed to upholding them in everything we do.
@angiechangcal ✨ Still buzzing from the energy at this month’s Sierra Girl Geek Dinner! From the lightning talks to the new connections made over good food & even better company! ❤️ our host/emcee Kelly Kitagawa & everyone who showed up to network & learn – a night to remember! ICYMI: girlgeek.io/attend – don't worry, videos will be going up on our YouTube channel, so please subscribe to youtube.com/girlgeekx to be first to know when insights from Alice Alvarez, Linden Schrage, Kimberly Patron, Beth Nakamura, Sachi Shah, Erin Rudwall & Kelly Kitagawa are available. Sierra is hiring for open roles! 🔗s to jobs @ girlgeek.io/company/sierra In true geek fashion, we've ditched the business cards for something more interactive and modern. The recruiting team at Sierra has built a bespoke recruiting agent just for Sierra Girl Geek Dinner attendees! It’s designed to handle your inquiries in real-time, giving you a seamless way to engage with their recruiters and learn about the culture and jobs. Alishan, Alice & Eleni are excited to chat with you thru their custom agent (the gigantic QR code behind Alice Alvarez onstage in the pictures) – agentic AI in action, check it out: https://sierra.chat/agent/l_EQ4lIBmELMv74BmELMv_xjuFFY9VTpHr7sVMBVvoQ/chat?feedback=1&variable=EVENT:girlgeek-spring2026 ICYMI: Kelly Kitagawa gave a talk about architecting the agentic shift at ELEVATE.GIRLGEEK.IO conference earlier this week (it's also on youtube.com/girlgeekx to learn more) #womenintech#womeninstem#tech#womenempowerment#womeninAI♬ original sound – Angie Chang
Take a look at these job opportunities from ELEVATE (March 6-7, 2025) sponsors:
Voxel51 is a fully-remote Series B startup building a platform that empowers machine learning teams to create more accurate, less biased AI across a number of exciting fields (healthcare, security, self-driving cars).
From an open source project to an enterprise product, Voxel51’s visual AI is used worldwide in academic research labs, startups, and Fortune 10 companies. The engineering team is growing, and looking to hire skilled engineering managers to help us continue to build out the organization and culture. Please consider applying! If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot Josh an email (josh@voxel51.com) or connect with him on LinkedIn. You can also meet Voxel51’s hiring managers at ELEVATE!
18C Partners is a boutique engineering search firm specializing in connecting exceptional technical women leaders with transformational opportunities. By blending strategic executive recruitment with passionate advocacy, we’re creating more equitable environments at the top companies in tech. Check out 18partners.com and tune in to the 18C employer intro at ELEVATE!
Over 100 girl geeks attended the SOLDOUT Rippling Girl Geek Dinner featuring networking and panel discussions on February 6, 2024 at Rippling’s San Francisco office.Learn how to sponsor a Girl Geek Dinner!
Girl Geek X brings together thousands of women technologists, innovators and tech leaders from around the world to share the latest in tech and leadership with fellow mid-and-senior level professional women.
Since our inaugural International Women’s Day virtual conference in 2018, dozens of leading brands have leveraged our virtual events to drive top-of-funnel candidate diversity and build more inclusive Engineering, Product, and other technical teams.
Last year, over 7,000 women signed up to attend – tuning in from 42 countries around the world – to be inspired by speakers on the latest in tech trends and leadership.
Session content typically covers the following topics:
Lightning Talks – Dive deep into an area that’s unique / critical to your business or role, from engineer to product, from strategy to a lightning tech talk.
Technical Skills & Tactics – Tutorials, walkthroughs, or deep dives into a skillset (e.g. technical interviewing), product, or tactical approach to how you solved a real-world challenge.
Learning & Development – Topics include negotiation, mid-career job searches, interviewing tips, managing up, self-awareness, ageism / return to work bias, mental health, etc.
We are currently seeking speaker proposals for Girl Geek Dinners in San Francisco Bay Area and virtual ELEVATE Conferences!
Girl Geek X invites women technologists, innovators and tech leaders from around the world to apply to speak and share the latest in tech and leadership with fellow mid-and-senior level women in technology!
Work on a unique technical project or have interesting insights you’d love to share? We want to hear from you! Both first-time and experienced speakers are welcome to apply.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, so there is no hard deadline to apply… but earlier is always better! You may resubmit or submit multiple proposals at any time.
If it has been more than 6 months since you’ve applied, we recommend resubmitting.
Personal development – courage / vulnerability / identifying & preventing burnout
Networking – networking skills + tips / maintaining connections long-term / getting a referral without a network
Negotiation – pay / severance / understanding options and equity
Finance – investing / real estate / fintech / crypto
DEI – working in DEI roles / building inclusive teams / fostering a psychologically safe culture
Pride – transitioning at work / making LGBTQIA+ folks feel welcome + considered / building inclusive teams / leveraging allyship
How your company does X – code review / gen AI / DEI / dev productivity / architecture / etc. Tell us how you’re doing things differently, and share examples or insights other tech leaders can implement in their own orgs.
What you’re most passionate about! – tell us what you are excited to geek out!
Don’t see your team / department represented? That’s OK – Tell us about your expertise, from TPM to customer success, operations to lab research, etc. Please do submit a talk about your unique domain expertise!
How to write a speaker submission, from our friends at Autodesk:
Speaker Bio Template:
[name] is [job title] at [company]. In this role, she is responsible for [key activities]. Previously, she was [role] at [company] -OR- She has worked in this industry for [number of years]. She is passionate about [what motivates you]. She volunteers / leads [organizations and/or employee resource groups]. She studied [focus area] at [school].
Talk Title / Abstract Tips:
There are three parts to writing a talk title and abstract. Structure your thoughts around them to tell a short and complete story.
Talk Title – Keep it simple and straightforward. Use terms that others might use to search for it.
Problem Statement – Explain briefly the challenge you will help others address and the different perspective or experience that you can share with them.
Benefits / Takeaways – Tell others clearly how they will benefit by spending time with you (e.g. the insights or skills they will learn). This can be a simple list of takeaways for conference attendees.
These visionary women aren’t just launching startups — they’re building well-capitalized companies shaping the future of AI, cybersecurity, climate and health tech. Backed by billions in funding and ambitious roadmaps, these companies are scaling rapidly.
Most of these women are building well-capitalized companies shaping the future of AI, cybersecurity, climate tech, and health tech. Backed by billions in funding and ambitious roadmaps, many of these companies are led by women founders you should know.
Recognizing women leaders in tech isn’t just about representation — it changes outcomes. Highlighting women who lead technical teams reshapes perceptions of who can be a world-class technology leader. And when visibility builds credibility, it directly influences hiring, investment, and builds the pipeline of technical women leaders.
We highlight 30 visionary Female Founders to Watch in 2025 tackling some of humanity’s most complex challenges, building successful companies, and inspiring the next generation of innovative brands leading AI, cybersecurity, health tech, climate / energy, and more forward-looking industries!
Recognizing women leaders in tech isn’t just about representation — it changes outcomes. Highlighting women who lead technical teams reshapes perceptions of who can be a world-class technology leader. And when visibility builds credibility, it directly influences hiring, investment, and buildsthe pipeline of technical women leaders.
Intelligent energy storage provider Caban, led by CEO Alexandra Rasch Castillo, deploys Energy-as-a-Service solutions for customers across Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Caban has raised $50 million in funding in 2025, bringing the total funding raised to $86 million. Caban is headquartered in Burlingame, California.
Trust and compliance management leader Vanta is led by CEO and co-founderChristina Cacioppo. Vanta has raised $150 million in Series D funding in 2025, bringing the total funding raised to $500 million. Vanta is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
The observability platform Honeycomb.io, led by co-founders CEO Christine Yen and CTO Charity Majors, is built by a team passionate about technology to augment what humans bring to an investigation, not replace them. Honeycomb has raised $50 million Series D funding in 2023, bringing the total funding raised to just under $150 million. Honeycomb is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Co-founded by Cristina Junqueira, Nu is fostering access to financial services across Latin America. Nu is one of the world’s largest digital banking platforms, serving more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Nu is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.
Co-founder and President Daniela Amode is leading Anthropic, an AI safety and research company. The company raised $11.8 billion in funding in 2024, one of the most well-capitalized AI startups in the world. Anthropic is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Led by Latina founder Davida Herzl, public benefit corporation Aclima translates billions of scientific measurements into analytics for companies, governments, and communities to reduce emissions, improve public health, and deliver clean air for all. Aclima has raised over $100 million in funding, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Scalable feature management platform LaunchDarkly is led by co-founder Edith Harbough. She co-authored “Operating Continuously” which was published by O’Reilly Media in 2023. LaunchDarkly has raised $200 million in Series D venture funding in 2021, bringing the total raised to $330 million. LaunchDarkly is headquartered in Oakland, California.
Workload isolation tech startup Edera, led by CEO and co-founder EmilyLong, addresses a universal security problem for cloud infrastructure, according to WIRED. The company has raised $15 million in Series A venture funding in 2025, bringing the total raised to $20 million. Edera is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
“Grandmother of AI” Fei-FeiLi co-founded and leads WorldLabs, a spatial intelligence company developing “large world models” for professionals (artists, designers, developers, and engineers). World Labs has raised over $230 million in fundingin 2024. World Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
The first-and-only platform to focus on permanent employees rather than contractors, Incredible Health, led by Iman Abuzeid, used by 1500 hospitals, surgery centers, and home health orgs nationwide, and over 1 million nurses and technicians in the Untied States. Incredible Health has raised $80 million in Series B funding in 2022, bringing the total raise to $97.3 million. Incredible Health is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Co-founded by CRISPR pioneer and Nobel laureateJennifer Doudna, MammothBiosciences is technically led by CTO Janice Chen. Mammoth Biosciences is building out a pipeline of therapeutics, and raised over $150 million in Series D funding in 2021, bringing the total financing to $195 million. Mammoth Biosciences is headquartered in Brisbane, California.
Healthcare software companyEpic is founded by mathematician Judy Faulkner. Epic hires smart and motivated people from all academic majors to code, test, and implement healthcare software that hundreds of millions of patients and doctors rely on. Epic has 42% of the acute care EHR market share, never took venture capital, and is headquartered in Verona, Wisconsin.
Led by co-founder Kanjun Qiu, Imbue empowers humans in an age of AI by creating powerful computing tools for people, making reliable software creation accessible to all. Imbue has raised over $200 million in venture funding, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
The largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, Maven Clinic is helmed by CEO Kate Ryder. Over 2,000 employers and health plans trust Maven’s end-to-end platform to improve clinical outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and provide equity in benefits programs. Maven Clinic has raised $125 million Series F funding in 2024, and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Led by founder Katherine Kostereva, Creatio is an AI-native no-code platform for industry workflows and CRM. Creatio raised $200 million in funding in 2024 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
A clinical-stage biotech company, BioAge is developing a pipeline of treatments that treat age-related diseases. Led by CEO and co-founder Kristen Fortney, BioAge has raised over $170 million in Series D funding in 2024, and went public in 2024. BIoAge is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
Alpine Bio makes molecular farming the third pillar of biomanufacturing. Led by founder Magi Richani, the company will bring their non-animal mozzarella cheese to market via Nobell Foods. Alpine Bio has raised $75 million Series B funding in 2021 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Email marketing platform Flodesk helps small business owners create beautiful emails. Co-founded by Martha Bitar, Flodesk is a bootstrapped startup and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
GenAI platform for the enterprise Writer is helmed by CEO May Habib. Writer has raised $200 million in Series C funding in 2024, bringing the total raised to $326 million. Writer is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Global design platform Canva is led by CEOMelanie Perkins. Canva has raised $200 million Series F funding in 2021, bringing the total funding raised to around $589 million. Canva is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
Co-founded by President Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare is a Internet safety and security company helping build a better Internet. Cloudflare has raised over $332 million in funding before going public in 2019, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Formerly CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati leads ThinkingMachinesLab to develop next-gen multimodal AI systems with the ambitious goal of achieving human–machine collaborative intelligence. Thinking Machines Lab raised a $2 billion seed round, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Democratizing access to affordable, high-quality genomic sequencing, Element Biosciences is led by CEO Molly He. Element Biosciences has raised over $277 million in Series D investment in 2024. Element Biosciences is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Physical AI that begins with autonomous trucks, Waabi is led by CEO Raquel Urtasun. Waabi has raised $200 million in Series B funding in 2024, bringing the total raised to over $280 million. Waabi is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Reimagined student transportation companyZūm is led by CEO Ritu Narayan to serve over 4000 schools and districts. Zūm raised $140 million Series E funding round in 2024, bringing the total raised to $350 million. Zūm is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
Formerly the founder of Care.com, Sheila Lirio Marcelo continues her goal of lifting the invisible mental load of caregiving and unlocking real economic impact with Ohai. She talks to Forbes about scaling impact andInc about invisible labor. Ohai has raised over $6 million in funding, and is headquartered in Pembroke, Massachusetts.
Wildfire detection tech for governments, utilities, and customers, Sonia Kastner leads PanoAI. The full-stack solution is deployed across dozens of states in the United States, Australia, and Canada to monitor over 30 million acres of land for wildfire. Pano AI raised $44 million in a Series B funding round in 2025, and I is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Enterprise software company BlackLine develops cloud-based services is founded by Therese Tucker. BlackLine had no outside funding until 2013 when a private equity firm invested over $200 million in the company, and then BlackLine went public in 2016. BlackLine is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Toyin Ajayiis building Cityblock Health for people living in lower-income neighborhoods, transforming the way that health services are delivered in previously underserved communities across the United States. Cityblock Health has raised $400 million in 2021, bringing the total fundraise to almost $900 million in venture capital funding. Cityblock Health is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
A dating app that emphasizes women making the first move, Bumble is led by Whitney Wolfe Herd in an entrepreneurial story that will be told by Hulu’s SWIPED movie starring Lily James as the billionaire female entrepreneur. Bumble went public in 2021 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Thought leadership and publishing packages that bring women’s voices to the forefront because your expertise deserves the spotlight.
Partner with the Girl Geek X team, led by Angie Chang, to publish content with visibility packages for women at the forefront of technology, business, policy, and entrepreneurship.
Created by Girl Geek X, SPOTLIGHT is a platform for elevating women’s voices and thought leadership in tech. We put you at the forefront of innovation with published proof of impact.
Your voice matters — and it deserves to be heard. That’s why we built SPOTLIGHT: a platform to elevate women’s thought leadership in tech, amplify your impact, and publish your story where it counts. Because the main character doesn’t wait for permission.
SPOTLIGHT: Publishing & Visibility Packages for Women in Tech
We help women shape and share their ideas through collaborative thought leadership writing — where your insights lead the way, and we help refine the message for maximum impact. You bring the vision — we offer strategic editorial support to get it published.
At Girl Geek X, we help women get seen, get heard, and get recognized. Whether you’re leveling up in your career, fundraising for your startup, demonstrating extraordinary talent for a visa application, or building your executive presence outside of your workplace — we’ve designed packages to help you share your story, establish credibility, and grow your influence.
✨ Expertise Building Kit
Perfect for emerging leaders, specialists, entrepreneurs, and investors who want to start building their professional reputation.
We will strategize about your professional online presence. Your “About me” refresh will include a LinkedIn polish and discussions about your online presence to stand out, whether as an expert in your field, or for a promotion / new job. We will work toward getting your first article published.
Ideal for executives, founders, investors, and senior managers aiming to share insights and grow visibility.
We will partner to design this package (e.g. 2 articles published, 1–2 podcast guest placements, and media kit with strategic bio) uniquely for your goals and desired impact. We will discuss how new professional headshots and editorial pictures can best share your story.
Designed for senior leaders ready to make a high-impact presence in top-tier publications and industry events.
We will work toward publishing you in prestigious outlets (Forbes, HBR, WSJ). We will design a custom visibility strategy aligned to your goals, with 2-3 articles placed in top-tier outlets, 1-2 podcast guest bookings, Executive LinkedIn + speaker bio refresh, with keynote/panel pitch support. We will establish executive presence and get invited to keynote, advise, or join a board.
1. What is Spotlight and who is it for? Spotlight is a curated editorial and visibility service for women in tech and leadership. Whether you’re a founder, executive, or subject-matter expert, we help you share your insights, publish in the right places, and build a public presence that opens doors.
2. What results can I expect? Clients have landed bylines in major publications, invitations to speak on panels, podcast guest spots, and increased visibility with decision-makers in their field. While results vary, every Spotlight engagement is designed to expand your reach and amplify your authority.
3. What’s included in the packages? Each package includes strategy sessions, editorial planning, content creation, media outreach, and personal branding support — scaled by package level. All packages include a professionally directed photo shoot and guidance on wardrobe, setting, and styling to align with your brand story.
4. Do you include the professional photo shoot? Women’s expertise is too often discounted. A high-quality, editorially guided photo shoot ensures your authority is seen and not overlooked. It’s the single most powerful credibility signal we can add to your published work, and it consistently boosts engagement, shares, and speaking invitations.
While the Spotlight packages provide expert guidance on how to plan your shoot—including wardrobe, style, shot list, and messaging—the actual photo shoot is not included. We can recommend trusted photographers to ensure you get the best results.
5. How does the process work?
Book Your Discovery Call – We’ll learn about your goals, expertise, and audience.
Create Your Spotlight Plan – We map your story angles, targets, and visibility opportunities.
Track & Celebrate – We monitor results and share wins.
6. How long does it take? Timelines depend on your package and goals — from crafting standout content to creating editorial-ready photos that make it effortless for journalists to feature you.
Expertise Building Kit: ~2–3 months
Thought Leader Launchpad: ~2–3 months
Executive Visibility Accelerator: ~4–6 months
7. Who will I work with? You’ll work directly with Angie Chang — serial entrepreneur, speaker, and founder of Girl Geek X — along with the Girl Geek X editorial and media outreach team. We’ve helped women in tech share their stories for over 17 years. In a previous life, Angie co-founded and served as editor-in-chief at Women 2.0 (now Switch) for over 7 years.
9. Why is Spotlight so expensive?Do you offer discounts?
While Spotlight is a premium service, we understand timing and budget matter. We sometimes have seasonal offers or flexibility in pricing — just ask, and we’ll see what’s possible.
What if a Girl Geek Dinner was at your office / space?
We’re looking for sites to host Girl Geek Dinners in the greater SF Bay Area, or virtually in 2026! Past hosts include Genentech, Grammarly OpenAI, Rippling, SoftBank, and hundreds more.
Want to connect with experienced women in tech? We deliver hiring ROI, product visibility, and brand engagement — all in one unforgettable experience.
Partnering with Girl Geek X puts your brand, roles, and speakers in front of 40,000+ mid-to-senior women in tech — with:
▪️45% have 10+ years in the industry
▪️ 39% are senior level or higher
▪️ 49% in Eng, 23% in Product, 17% in Ops
▪️ 90% interested in hearing about new job opportunities
▪️ Over 40% open to relocating
Host a Girl Geek Dinner at your office to highlight your women leaders, showcase company culture, and connect with technical talent in a relaxed, authentic setting. Let’s brainstorm a custom event that puts your team — and your mission — in the spotlight.
Whether you’re hiring for mid-to-senior technical or leadership roles, or marketing dev tools, AI/ML, security tech, or consulting services, our community is full of decision-makers and doers.
This September, Girl Geek X ELEVATE Virtual Conference is happening and your brand has the chance to be featured!
This is your chance to partner on a high-impact gathering — whether a networking mixer or a hands-on demo experience, expertly position your brand in front of 3,000+ women technologists!
• Network directly with 3,000+ attendees • Branding opportunities online and in person • Quality leads and curated moments for connection
Here are five unique events a sponsoring company crushed their event goals with:
#1 – Confluent Girl Geek Dinner
Confluent partnered with us to host a Girl Geek Dinner kicking off Kafka Summit, their developer conference for developers, IT, and data engineers. Confluent invited girl geeks to attend Kafka Summit for FREE. Summit passes were valued at $1,195.
At the dinner, Girl Geek X founder Angie Chang speaks with Confluent co-founder Neha Narkhede in a fireside chat about how she built the billion-dollar infrastructure startup. Neha helped develop Apache Kafka to handle all the data at LinkedIn before she left to start Confluent.
Confluent Girl Geek Dinner speakers included Neha Narkhede (Co-founder and CTO, Confluent), Bret Scofield (UX Research, Confluent), Elizabeth Bennett (Software Engineer, Confluent), and Priya Shivakumar (Senior Director, Product Marketing, Confluent). (Video & transcript)
#2 – OpenAI Girl Geek Dinner
Before OpenAI became a household name with GPT, OpenAI hosted Girl Geek Dinners to invite girl geeks to learn about their Residency program. OpenAI Residency is a six-month program as a potential pathway to a full-time role at OpenAI for researchers and engineers who don’t currently focus on artificial intelligence.
The program is ideal for researchers specializing in fields outside of deep learning like mathematics, physics, or neuroscience. The program can also work well for software engineers looking to transition into AI.
OpenAI Girl Geek Dinner speakers included Elena Chatziathanasiadou (Talent Programs Lead, OpenA), Christine McLeavey (Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI), Alethea Power (Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI), Tyna Eloundou (Member of Policy Staff, OpenAI) – (Video & transcript)
#3 – Microsoft Hardware Girl Geek Dinner
When you think about Microsoft, hardware may not be the first thing you imagine.
Microsoft Hardware Girl Geek Dinner hosted interactive demos of their products and innovations in Silicon, HoloLens, and Azure Stack Edge.
Microsoft Hardware Girl Geek Dinner speakers included Aaratee Rao (Group Engineering Manager, Microsoft), Safiya Miller (Strategic Account Executive, Microsoft), Elene Terry (Partner, Silicon and System Architecture, Microsoft), Carolyn Lee (Mechanical Engineer, Microsoft), Shivani Pradhan (Product Manager, Azure Stack Edge compute, Microsoft). (Video & transcript)
#4 – MosaicML Girl Geek Dinner
A startup in a startup co-working space, MosaicML Girl Geek Dinnerwas the first IRL event since the pandemic lockdown.
The networking and dinner was held outdoors on the enclosed patio, and talks were hosted indoors with the microphone and AV for hosting 120 girl geeks for lightning talks on efficient machine learning training, reinforcement learning, ML-based drug discovery, evaluating recommendation robustness, turning generative models into products, seeking the bigger picture, and more.
MosaicML Girl Geek Dinner speakers included Julie Choi (VP and Chief of Growth, MosaicML), Laura Florescu (AI Researcher, MosaicML), Amy Zhang (Research Scientist, Meta AI), Tiffany Williams (Staff Software Engineer, Atomwise), Shelby Heinecke (Senior Research Scientist, Salesforce Research), Angela Jiang (Product Manager, OpenAI), Banu Nagasundaram (ML Product Leader, AWS), Lamya Alaoui (Director of People, Hala Systems). (Video & transcript)
#5 – Atlassian Girl Geek Dinner
Atlassian Girl Geek Dinner speakers included Aubrey Blanche (Global Head of Diversity & Belonging, Atlassian), Lori Kaplan (Head of Design, Cloud Migrations, Atlassian), Ashley Faus (Senior Manager, Integrated Media, Atlassian), Dominique Ward (Design Operations Lead, Atlassian) Ritika Nanda (Mobile Developer, Atlassian) (Video & transcript)
This year’s ELEVATE virtual conferences will be bigger and better than ever! We’ve added:
More sponsorship tiers for more options for brand activations, recruiting, networking
New a la carte sponsorship activations for sponsors interested in unique brand recognition and engagement opportunities.
Virtual career fair for recruiting and talent brand
VIEW SPONSORSHIP PROSPECTUS FOR 2025
Girl Geek X brings together thousands of women technologists, innovators and tech leaders from around the world to share the latest in tech and leadership with fellow mid-and-senior level professional women.
Since our inaugural International Women’s Day virtual conference in 2018, dozens of leading brands have leveraged our virtual events to drive top-of-funnel candidate diversity and build more inclusive Engineering, Product, and other technical teams.
Our virtual conferences and career fairs are 100% FREE for attendees. Last year, over 7,000 women signed up to attend – tuning in from 42 countries around the world – to be inspired by speakers on the latest in tech trends and leadership.
Session content typically covers the following topics:
Lightning Talks – Dive deep into an area that’s unique / critical to your business or role, from engineer to product, from strategy to a lightning tech talk.
Technical Skills & Tactics – Tutorials, walkthroughs, or deep dives into a skillset (e.g. technical interviewing), product, or tactical approach to how you solved a real-world challenge.
Learning & Development – Topics include negotiation, mid-career job searches, interviewing tips, managing up, self-awareness, ageism / return to work bias, mental health, etc.
We are currently seeking speaker proposals for virtual ELEVATE Conference & Career Fair!
Girl Geek X invites women technologists, innovators and tech leaders from around the world to apply to speak and share the latest in tech and leadership with fellow mid-and-senior level women in technology!
Work on a unique technical project or have interesting insights you’d love to share? We want to hear from you! Both first-time and experienced speakers are welcome to apply.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, so there is no hard deadline to apply… but earlier is always better! You may resubmit or submit multiple proposals at any time.
If it has been more than 6 months since you’ve applied, we recommend resubmitting.
On March 6-7, 2025, Girl Geek X founders Angie Chang and Sukrutha Bhadouria hosted over 2k women and allies globally tuning in for 2 full days of career and tech talks! We brought together thousands of mid-to-senior-level women in tech from across the globe.
This annual free online event was an extraordinary blend of inspiring talks, insightful sessions, and invaluable networking opportunities, designed to foster growth, innovation, and community among women in technology in celebration of International Women’s Day!
Michelle Bozeman, coach at TBWEnterprises, spoke on reinventing yourself for unstoppable career growth.Re-watch Michelle Bozeman’s talk for details on how to redeem a complimentary coaching session with her!
Participants met with recruiters, hiring managers, and engineers from companies like Voxel51 and 18C. Author of The Silent Networker Elhannah Adekeye delivers her keynote on Networking for Introverts.
ELEVATE attendees left feeling energized and empowered to unify their talents to amplify success in their tech journeys.
Thank you to all our speakers, sponsors, and attendees for making this event truly unforgettable. Let’s continue to #LiftAsWeClimb and uplift women in tech everywhere! 💪 #ElevateWomen
Thank You To ELEVATE 2025 Supporters – They Are Hiring!
Special thank you to our supporters at Voxel51 and 18C for recruiting from the Girl Geek X community of mid-to-senior level technical women. We can’t wait to help another girl geek get her next job in tech.
The conference theme is “Lift As You Climb.” Speakers from Google, Slack, Cisco, Shopify, Splunk, and more companies spoke and answered questions, sharing career advice with attendees during their sessions, often welcoming connections on LinkedIn.
Whether you want to support women-owned companies, or are looking for a way to support a woman in tech or business in conquering her career goals, this guide supports women AND women-owned companies!
From tools for job-seekers and productivity, to mentorship, you’ll be sure to find a handy product or program:
Disclosure: Girl Geek X has partnered with some of the organizations below and may receive a commission on your purchase, at no extra cost to you. We only partner with and share organizations that we believe in and are proud to share with our audience.
The Best Gift for Women in Tech Girl Geek X connects, inspires & elevates women in tech. – $20$16 for mug with 20% savings!
Girl Geek X has developed a dynamic community of over 40,000 women in tech, business, and entrepreneurship, partnering on over 250 Girl Geek Dinners and provided speaking opportunities for over 1,000 women. Founder Angie Chang hosts the popular event series, with free virtual ELEVATE conferences quarterly. The community-favorite theme – “lift as you climb” – is on a mug you can proudly place at your work desk or home office!
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Palestinian Soap Coop distributes Palestinian olive oil soaps hand-made in the occupied West Bank, preserving the oldest soap making traditions in the world. We especially love “الأرض (The Land)” made by Women’s Soap Co-operative of Beita, just south of Nablus in Palestine. Founder Dina Omar enjoys working with the factories in Nablus and building new relationships here in the U.S.
Save 10% with “GIRLGEEKX” on any Palestinian soap order!
The Best Mentorship Programfor Women in Tech Career Accelerator for Women–$750-$1,275$675-$1,120 with special 10% GIRLGEEKX savings at WEST
If you have wanted to gift a mentorship experience for a professional woman, here’s your chance!
WESTsupports ambitious women technologists through 1:1 mentorship and group mentorship. Get hands-on support as you explore your career options, learn to grow your influence, improve your communication, and more through Mentorship and Career Acceleration!
WEST Diversity & Inclusion offers girl geeks 10% off with discount code “GIRLGEEKX”. WEST (which stands for Women Entering and Staying in Tech) is a mentoring community founded by serial engineering leader Heidi Williams along with managing director Karen Ko.
The Best Gift For Technical Job-Seekers New sequel to bestselling “Cracking The Coding Interview” – $44.95 for the 500-page book
After acing her coding interviews at Google, Apple and Microsoft, founder and author Gayle Lakkmann McDowellteamed up with Interviewing.io founderAline Lerner to publish the highly-anticipated update to “Cracking the Coding Interview” – “Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview“. Aline writes about how it’s “not just about interview prep. In today’s job market, the bar is higher but it’s also harder than ever to get noticed and run your job search end-to-end.”
Best Gift For Community-Seekers – Membership to The Ruby Mention that Angie Chang or Girl Geek X referred you to waive the enrollment fee ($75 off)
The Ruby is a collective of Bay Area nonbinary, transfeminine, and woman-identified creatives with range of interests. Owner/directorPeggy Lee runs the arts & letters–focused work and gathering space for those who are passionate about their creative and professional pursuits and want to share them with others, who value community and are interested in new friendships — especially outside of their chosen fields of work.
Save $75 on enrollment when you mention Angie Chang / Girl Geek X referred you!
The Best Productivity Software for Engineering Multitudes for Engineering Teams with 10% Savings
Want to try an AI agent for delivery improvement? Multitudes offers an AI coach to save you time by spotting what work is blocked, who’s at risk of burnout, and more to support teams and their efficiency.
Multitudessupports happier, higher-performing engineering teams. Founded byLauren Peate, the AI coach product spots delivery risks including what work is blocked, who’s at risk of burnout, and more; they then guide teams to take action with recommendations and nudges in Slack.
Save 10% with “GIRLGEEKX10” for your first 6 months after the free one-month trialof Multitudes when you list Girl Geek X as the referrer to get early access!
The Best Training Software for Engineers Formation Engineering Fellows for Interview Prep – $2,500 for a Month of Training
Ace your job hunt with Formation — you get unlimited interview practice with guided interviews and mock interviews with FAANG-level engineers, and unlimited skills benchmarking that powers your hyper-personalized training plan at Formation interview prep. Founded bySophie Novati, Formation is offered at $2,500 for one month – or $10,000 for unlimited access until you land a role – when you apply for Formation here as Girl Geek X!
The Best Gift For Job-Seekers ApplyAll for Job-Seekers Lands Them Interviews – $69$64 for 100 applications, or $89$84 for 200 applications
ApplyAll has intelligent bots auto-applying you to 250+ relevant jobs. FounderTal Flanchraych believes that with the 1-5% industry response rate, applying to jobs manually means unnecessarily restricting your options. Her product ApplyAll helps jobseekers quit wasting time with cover lettersand start winning at the numbers game.
Save $5 with “GIRLGEEKX” on any ApplyAll package – Send ApplyAll credit to a jobseeker. If the recipient doesn’t get at least 1 relevant interview, you’ll get a 100% refund.
What if a Girl Geek Dinner was at your office / space?
Margarita Akterskaia, senior software engineer at Roblox, discusses 
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The conference theme is “Lift As You Climb.” Speakers from Google, Slack, Cisco, Shopify, Splunk, and more companies spoke and answered questions, sharing career advice with attendees during their sessions, often welcoming connections on LinkedIn.
After acing her coding interviews at Google, Apple and Microsoft, founder and author 
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