Over one-third of students in Oakland Unified didnât have internet at home before the pandemic, according to EdSource. With distance learning beginning this fall, underserved students will fall behind without Internet connectivity to learn and do homework!
If you have benefited from having a computer and Internet at home growing up, please consider helping underserved students participate in distance learning during this pandemic.
Here are local San Francisco Bay Area initiatives bridging the digital gap for under-served students, and how you can help:
Donate $300to provide a low-income student a computer, Internet & support with Oakland Tech Exchange. Get your employer to double your contribution to Tech for All — the program runs under Oakland Public Education Fund, a non-profit 501(c)(3). #TECHFORALL#OAKLANDUNDIVIDED
Donate $500 to provide a low-income student a computer, Internet & support with StreetCode Live in east Palo Alto. Get your employer to double your contribution to StreetCode Academy, a non-profit 501(c)(3). #STREETCODELIVE
Many of today’s calamities feel beyond our control — a global pandemic, a recession (and bonkers stock market), but the Black Lives Matter movement — we can actually DO SOMETHING about this!
We asked the team at Girl Geek X to share a good resource, or something we are doing right now, and loved the range of actions we raised:
Eric recommends watching Sister Warriors (he helped produce the short documentary on YouTube about formerly incarcerated women and girls in California working to shape policy and transform the systems that criminalize).
This journey is ongoing and we are excited at the broadening coalition participating in the forward momentum for change!
“Techâs inability to diversify its workforce as it defines the future puts all of us in danger. Racial representation and equity means creating the economic, physical, psychosocial, and social conditions at your workplace where Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people can thrive.”
The framework provided includes stages from acceptance to action and advocacy — for example, building “budgets that include financial commitments to recruiting and hiring Black, Latinx, and Native people, as well as training so that they are not hired into abusive organizations and managed by people who have not done the work to unpack their racism and anti-Blackness.”
For employers looking to support #BlackLivesMatter, executive Laura Silva has solid advice:
I want to see a picture of your Executive Leadership Team and company board. I want to see your HR sanctions against micro-aggressions. I want to read about your diversity guidelines and promotion policies. I want to see the numbers on company hiring of Black people and people of color and your retention results. I want to see the funding for your affinity groups. I want to read about your community outreach. I want to read about your accessibility efforts and guidelines. I want to read your immigration assistance programs. I want to read your family paid leave guidelines and child care assistance. I want to read your health care plans and mental health assistance programs. I want to see your political donations.
Iâm not giving out participation trophies; DO the actual work and then post a picture.
The 3rd annual Elevate virtual Conference in March 2020 hosted over 3,000 people from 42 countries around the worldâthe largest gathering yet of mid-to-senior women in tech (48% of attendees have 10+ years of work experience, 28% have 15+ years) celebrating International Women’s Day via Zoom web conferencing. By the numbers, Elevate hosted four keynote speakers, 17 sessions, 32 speakers, seven sponsors. Check out their jobsâthey are hiring!
Watch the Top 10 Highest-Rated Sessions on YouTube!
Based on the votes of attendees in the post-event survey, here are the top-rated talks:
Military Transition: Vets in Tech – Claudia Weber of Intel AI, Mellisa Walker of Workday, Molly Laufer of HomeLight, Theresa Piasta of Puppy Mama, and Tiana Clark of Microsoft
Girl Geeks Gone Gov – Lisa Koenigsberg and Martha Wilkes of United States Digital Service
The Girl Geek X Team livestreamed 2020 Elevate virtual conference: Gretchen DeKnikker (COO), Rachel Jones (Podcast Producer), Sukrutha Bhadouria (CTO), and Angie Chang (CEO).
Special Thank You To Elevate 2020 Sponsoring Companies
Thank you to the warm folks at Intel AI, Checkr, Workday, United States Digital Service, Intuit, Splunk and The Climate Corporation for supporting Girl Geek X: Elevate 2020 virtual conference!
We have been excited to bring Girl Geek Dinners virtually to sheltering-at-home girl geeks globally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Similar to Elevate, we are looking for sponsors for virtual Girl Geek Dinners on Zoom. In the sponsorship prospectus, please note the sponsorship benefits grid on the final page for “REACH Webcast”.
We have hosted three virtual conferences successfully and are excited to partner with companies on virtual Girl Geek Dinners with our community of over 20,000 women in tech.
Email us atsponsors@girlgeek.ioto learn more about sponsoring a virtual Girl Geek Dinner in 2020!
It’s been a few weeks of shelter-in-place and your cooking skills are stretched. Give yourself a break and order some food for takeaway, and support your local female entrepreneur/chef!
Here are 4 women chefs — alumnae of La Cocina — that are still cooking and serving up food for curbside pickup / delivery in the San Francisco Bay Area during COVID-19 shelter-in-place:
Gujarati chef Heena Patel is offering several options for pickup — from alooo gobi to chicken makhani, and khara lamb! Check out her menu online and call 415-580-7662 to order for pick-up in San Francisco.
Nepalese momos are sold in bags of 50 or 100 for curbside pickup — your choice of lamb, turkey, and vegetarian — comes with a generous side of spicy tomato-cilantro sauce. Text or call Bini Pradhan at 415-361-6911 to order in San Francisco’s SOMA district.
The award-winning Nyum Bai hawks delicious Cambodian cuisine from chef Nite Yun. Check out her menu online and call 510-500-3338 to place an order for curbside pickup in East Oakland.
Arab Muslim Palestinian chef Reem Assil runs several locations of the popular Reem’s California’s — her newest location in San Francisco’s Mission district. Her first storefront is in Oakland’s diverse Fruitvale neighborhood. Check out her menu online and schedule delivery/pickup at both locations.
Snacks for delivery? Some La Cocina alumnae operate…
Monica Martinez is the mastermind behind planet-friendly protein snacks, featuring delicious edible insects in savory and sweet flavors like Dandelion Chocolate-covered crickets. For the less adventurous, there are granola bites powered by cricket flour. Check out her products online.
Iranian immigrant Aisan Hoss runs her family food business Oyna Natural Foods to financially support her passion for dance. There are several kuku options for the Persian herb frittata. Check out her products online.
Here is a quick guide to help you hostyourown viewing party of Elevate virtual conference celebrating International Womenâs Day on March 6th, 2020!
Elevate viewing parties are an excellent opportunity to bring folks together to celebrate women in tech within your organization! Taking the initiative to organize an event to celebrate International Womenâs Day is a great way to raise your own visibility and meet more womenin your company.
Get started with your Girl Geek X: Elevate “Lift As You Climb” Viewing Party:
Get the word out. Tell your friends and co-workers about Elevate conference livestreaming on March 6th. In addition to emailing the colleagues you work with directly, consider creating a calendar invite, posting on Slack and to your internal bulletin boards, ERG groups, Chatter, LinkedIn, etc. We welcome all genders and allies â this event is relevant to everyone! Please help us spread the word about Girl Geek X: Elevate virtual conference on LinkedIn, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Download the official promo image for use in your posts and emails here.
Familiarize yourself with the Zoom webinar attendee guide. Youâll be joining the virtual event as a Zoom webinar attendee, so you can mute/unmute your audio, virtually raise your hand, and send messages to others.
Put it on the big screen. Connect your laptop to a projector or HD television. Youâll need a VGA Cable to connect to a projector. Use an HDMI Cable to connect to your HD Television. Crank up the sound. Connect speakers to your computer so your audience can hear the broadcast clearly. Youâll want to test this in advance to be sure everything works as expected.
Share the conference link (elevate.girlgeek.io) with those who arenât able to attend your viewing party IRL can still tune in from their home or office and soak up the learnings!
Take notes during the conference. Start a discussion about topics relevant to your team and your company, and make a note of any that arenât addressed during the webinar. You might decide to host an internal event to dive deeper into those topics at a later date.
Have fun and make sure everyone feels welcome.
Tips to make your viewing party an even bigger hit:
Provide snacks and drinks in a convenient location so people wonât miss any of the content!
Invite women on your companyâs leadership team to kick off the viewing party.
Host an internal Q&A, roundtable, or lightning tech talk after Elevate ends onscreen.
Make it fun! Encourage attendees to mingle and discuss the sessions or ask each other questions.
Have name tags and markers available if youâre hosting an event in a larger organization where attendees may not have interacted previously.
Play networking bingo to help attendees meet each other! Printable cards are available here. Attendees mark off words/phrases as spoken onscreen. The game will restart with a fresh bingo card every time we get a winner. The first person to tweet a picture of their winning bingo card to @girlgeekx using hashtag #girlgeekx during each round will get a gift bag of Girl Geek X swag!
Take group pictures and get retweeted! Show us your viewing party so we can share in the excitement! Tweet @girlgeekx using hashtag #girlgeekx and weâll retweet your team! On Instagram, tag girlgeekx in your photo and we’ll share in our Instagram Stories!
We hope to see you and your team online with us on March 6th!
Elevate showcased 22 amazing speakers and 7 mission-aligned sponsors at our virtual conference in celebration of International Women’s Day for the past two years. We received rave reviews for the content and accessibility of the online program, and are looking forward to another in 2020!
GIRL GEEK ELEVATE TALKS IN 2019 – TOP RATED VIDEOS
Here are the most popular talks from past Elevate virtual conferences based on attendee ratings of the sessions:
We invite the Girl Geek X coommunity from around the world to participate in Elevate to share the latest in tech and leadership with fellow mid-and-senior level professional women.
Sessions may reflect the theme of this yearâs conference â âLift As You Climbâ â and content typically covers the following topics:
Lightning Tech Talks â Dive deep into an area
thatâs unique/critical to your business or role (i.e. machine learning,
security, usability, UX/UI, ethics in building product, data analysis,
etc.)
Technical Skills & Tactics â Tutorials, walkthroughs, or deep dives into a skillset or tactical approach to how you solved a real-world challenge.
Learning and Development
â Topics include negotiation, job search, interviewing tips, being a
better leader, self-awareness, career growth, management, etc.
Inclusion, Equality, and Allyship â Topics include being a better ally, lifting other women up, and actionable advice for individual contributors or managers.
Interesting Life/Career Journeys/Distance-Traveled Stories
â Did you overcome socioeconomic challenges (i.e. first in family to go
to college, raised in poverty/rural area/etc.) while giving back or
contributing to the greater good?
Work on a unique technical project or have interesting insights youâd love to share with other other women & allies? We want to hear from you!
Tip: The best proposals include 3-5 key takeaways â what attendees will learn from your talk!
Submit your proposal for a talk and/or panel here by December 24, 2019 11:59PM PDT for Girl Geek Elevate virtual conference.
For conference sponsorship inquiries, please contact sponsors@girlgeek.io
MORE GIRL GEEK DINNERS IN 2020
We would love to have more Girl Geek Dinners at med/health companies, biotech companies, consumer-facing companies… We are interested in partner more with the scientific and ethical-minded companies out there in addition to our slate of tech companies hosting Girl Geek Dinners.
We’ve hosted 27 Girl Geek Dinners, of which 60% were located in San Francisco and 40% were located in the Silicon Valley. These dinners were attended by over 4,000 women this year and we are thrilled to continue to host Girl Geek Dinners for the 12th year.
Missed a few dinners? Don’t worry, we share videos of talks on the Girl Geek X YouTube channel. Subscribe to watch the latest videos!
GIRL GEEK DINNER TALKS IN 2019 – MOST-WATCHED ON YOUTUBE
Maybe youâre wondering where to start watching.
Here are the most popular Girl Geek Dinner videos in 2019, ranked by most YouTube views:
We would love to have more Girl Geek Dinners at med/health companies, biotech companies, consumer-facing companies… We are interested in partner more with the scientific and ethical-minded companies out there in addition to our slate of tech companies hosting Girl Geek Dinners.
Looking for a last minute Halloween costume? Here are some of our favorite women worth talking about – and dressing up as for inspiring STEAM Halloween costumes!
Katherine Johnson – Mathematician
Katherine Johnson.
NASA Research Mathematician Katherine Johnson calculated trajectory for spacecraft missions. She verified results made by electronic computers to calculate the orbit for spacecraft.
Her work was made famous in the book and movie “Hidden Figures” about African-American women mathematicians who fought against segregation, discrimination and sexism to work and excel at NASA. Go watch it if you haven’t already!
Grace Hopper joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and was assigned to program the Mark I computer.
She was at Harvard as a research fellow when a moth was found to have shorted out the Mark II, and is sometimes given credit for the invention of the term “computer bug” â though she didn’t actually author the term, she did help popularize it.
She also popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL. Check out this professor’s great Grace Hopper costume!
Maggie Gee – Pilot
Maggie Gee in her pilot’s uniform.
Did you know that not a single major airport in the United States is named for a woman?
There’s a campaign to rename Oakland Airport for Maggie Gee. A physicist and researcher, she was one of the first American women trained to fly military aircraft, and was one of only two Chinese-American women to serve as a pilot in Women Airforce Service Pilots in WWII. As a WASP pilot, she helped male pilots train for combat, as female pilots were not allowed to serve in combat at that time.
A children’s book based on her life “Sky High” has been published. You can easily buy or make an “Amelia Earheart” costume and share the story of Maggie Gee!
Frida Kahlo – Painter
Frida Kahlo, circa 1937.
Known as one of Mexico‘s greatest artists, Frida Kahlo is remembered for self-portraits, pain and passion, and vibrant colors. Having suffered from polio as a child, she then nearly died in a bus accident as a teenager and endured 30 operations. She has created approximately 200 paintings, sketches and drawings. In 2006, her self-portrait went for over $5 million at Sotheby’s auction.
Neha Narkhede began her career as a software engineer, working at Oracle and LinkedIn. She was a co-creator of Apache Kafka, a popular open-source stream-processing software platform that was created at LinkedIn. She spoke on a panel Girl Geek Dinner while she was still in engineering there. She saw a big opportunity with Kafka and convinced her fellow Kafka co-creators to start Confluent as a B2B infrastructure company in 2014 – Kafka’s event streaming is used by 60% of Fortune 100 companies today.
Changing the face of the “superstar developer” matters for all of us
With only 2% of venture capital going to women entrepreneurs, Neha beat the odds and demonstrated that it’s possible to thrive as a technical leader. She served five years as the company’s Chief Technology Officer, and recently became Chief Product Officer to continue growing the brand. Confluent’s founders recently raised Series D venture funding for the company at a valuation of $2.5 billion, and they employ over 900 people.
Silicon Valley needs more Neha’s
In the 21st century, tech companies have made entrepreneurs cool again – an acceptable career path with ambitious MBAs heading to tech instead of finance. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff have started billion-dollar companies, with press coverage of their every sentence. Hospitals are named after them. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang’s name is on the newest Stanford engineering building. These highly visible entrepreneurs impact the next generation of inventors and engineers.
The women of Silicon Valley haven’t made the same impact, with the exception of famous spouses. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg has a strong chance to make an outsized impact outside her current professional role, we shall see what she does in the future. Many accomplished, super-smart women of Silicon Valley don’t gloss nearly as many magazine covers or present as many conference keynotes. What is the story behind Amazon’s MacKenzie Bezos and her hand in building the world’s biggest business?
It’s time to stop hiding behind humility and enable the mechanisms to lift up technical women leaders, entrepreneurs and investors. That means, have a marketing/PR budget to power the promotion of your women leaders and ensure their press coverage. We need more buzzy business magazine covers with diverse faces:
Magazine covers starring (from top left): Meg Whitman, Limor Fried, Yoky Matsuoka, Katrina Lake, Audrey Gelman, Arlan Hamilton
Neha is tracking to be the next cloud computing leader. VMware’s Diane Greene sat on Alphabet’s board (she’s also on the boards of Intuit and Stripe) and led Google Cloud as CEO until 2018. In her final Google blog post, she wrote: “I want to encourage every woman engineer & scientist to think of building their own company someday. The world will be a better place with more female founder CEOs.“
The adage “You can’t be what you can’t see” means we need more women leading at the highest levels, and more technical women in the spotlight, gracing magazine covers, giving talks and interviews. We need to invest in their startups, buy from women-led businesses, and hire and retain more women in male-dominated industries.
Shining a spotlight on women in tech
Just as Grace Hopper Celebrations fill employers’ recruiting university pipelines, we need technical women to succeed at mid and senior levels as well – to be retained in addition to being hired, encouraged and recognized, paid fairly and promoted.
Melinda Gates recently told Harvard Business Review: “Go to your company and say weâre going to open more internships at different levels. How do we create pathways in?”
At Girl Geek X, we have been putting women onstage for over a decade at their companies’ dinners for networking and learning.
We love watching women progress in their career journeys, whether it’s working in big tech company, or at a startup.
Sponsora Girl Geek Dinner to organize one at your company / employer!
Watch the video from Confluent Girl Geek Dinner featuring Neha Narkhede, Bret Scofield, Liz Bennett, Priya Shivakumar, and Dani Traphagen on YouTube. Please subscribe to our Girl Geek X channel on YouTube for videos from our events.
La Cocina is a non-profit working to solve problems of equity in business ownership for women, immigrants and people of color, launching their career in food.
New cookbook “We Are La Cocina: Recipes In Pursuit of the American Dream” holds 120 recipes accompanied by 200+ striking photos of dishes — and shares the stories of immigrant + women of color who have launched successful restaurants + businesses.
Bookmark this for holiday gift-giving — all proceeds go to non-profit La Cocina to launch more women chefs and their businesses!
Authored by Caleb Zigas & Leticia Landa.
From Nite Yun’s Kuy Teav Phnom Penh to Rosa Martinez’s Oaxacan Cholito de Puerco and Fernay McPherson’s Rosemary Fried Chicken, this cookbook offers 200+ vivid photos and 120+ recipes — a glimpse into the world of La Cocina, and the world around all of us.
You can find Nyum Baiâs famous Cambodian Chicken Salad (Neorm Sach Moan) recipe is one of 120 recipes shared in the new La Cocina cookbook.
Nite Yun is 2019’s Chef to Watch in 2019, raved Eater. Images were taken by award-winning food photographer Eric Wolfinger.
“For most La Cocina entrepreneurs, a few recipes handed down from mothers and grandmothers were their only capital when they came to the United States. It seems almost magical that they can use those recipes as a means of self-expression, making a living, supporting their families, and preserving their culture. Through food, they too can aspire to the American Dream,â writes Isabel Allende in the forward, an early supporter of La Cocina.
THANK YOU for supporting women-owned businesses + chefs!
If your organization is interested in sponsoring the conference, featuring your viewing partyâs webcam during the break, and 
