I recently logged into LinkedIn to find yet another spammy InMail message from someone trying to sell me something. Shocker. Unlike most that go straight to trash, however, this one caught my attention: it was a free invitation for the Girl Geek X team and our community to attend a local tech conference!
Sounds pretty cool, huh? We love having the opportunity to share relevant networking opportunities with the Girl Geek X community, and as a team tasked with hosting and selling out 40+ tech events every year, we’re naturally curious about what others in the event space are doing — especially when it comes to showcasing diverse perspectives on stage!
But once I clicked over to the site and saw the male-dominated speaker list, and manel after manel on the agenda, my interest and excitement quickly turned to disappointment.
Among the 14 speakers, the lone woman stood out like a sore thumb, and the totality of the situation spoke volumes about the priorities of the company producing the event. They clearly wanted women to attend (hence the comped tickets), but they weren’t willing to put them on stage.
Yuck.
For perspective, several members of the Girl Geek X team helped build the SaaStr brand, home to the leading conference for the cloud, hosting upwards of 10,000 founders & execs from SaaS companies at their annual event in addition to multiple smaller events throughout the year. While working together at SaaStr, we shared a team-wide mission of making our events as inclusive as possible. Our first event was pretty sad from that perspective, but once we prioritized it, the diversity both on stage and in the audience improved each year, achieving a ratio of about 30% women speakers in 2016, over 45% in 2017, and 50% in 2018.
We know it’s possible to be inclusive at scale without sacrificing content quality — because we’ve done it.
Here at Girl Geek X, we very much depend on our mission-aligned partners and event hosts to invite women of diverse backgrounds to speak at their events, and we aim to keep the events we produce ourselves as balanced as possible. The ratios aren’t always quite where we’d like them to be, but during the planning of each event, we encourage our partners to prioritize diversity and give the mic to women who aren’t often invited to hold it.
Over the past 10 years, Girl Geek X has provided a forum for more than 1,000 women and non-binary tech innovators to speak at our events. Accomplished and experienced women leaders are out there. They’re ready to share their learnings with the world, and the world WANTS to hear from them!
It’s time for event planners and speakers across the industry to make inclusivity and speaker diversity a priority, so that we all have the opportunity to learn from and celebrate their accomplishments.
The next time you’re planning an event, consider inviting speakers from varied backgrounds, aim for a gender-balanced speaker lineup, and ensure that you’re including people of varying levels of experience. Racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, and ableism all rear their heads when we look at the speaker lineups we’re accustomed to seeing, and each deserves consideration.
As an individual, when you are invited to speak or are applying to speak at an event, think about which of your colleagues might make a good co-panelist, and take the initiative to include them.
Below, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite female and non-binary speakers from our database to help make your job of building a diverse speaker lineup just a little bit easier.
Here are 240 women leaders, managers and experienced senior technologists you can invite to speak at your next technology event, conference, or webinar… which means that content strategists and speaker managers have NO MORE EXCUSES for all-male panels!
240. Citlalli Solano
Director, Engineering
Palo Alto Networks
239. Claire Hough
VP, Engineering
Apollo GraphCLV
238. Kelly Vincent
VP, Product
Intuit
237. Lisa Q. Fetterman
CEO & Founder
Nomiku
236. Laura Adint
VP, Operations
Workday
235. Arquay Harris
Director, Engineering
Slack
234. Jenny Ji
VP, Design
BuildingConnected
233. JJ Tong
Technical Enablement Program
Okta
232. Margaret Reeves
VP, Product
SquareTrade
231. Angie Chang
CEO & Founder
Girl Geek X
230. Elena Verna
229. Elizabeth Eady
Infrastructure Engineer
Truss
228. Sruthi Gottumukkala
Network Operations Center Engineer
Box
227. Vanessa Aranda
Security Analyst
Gap
226. Shirley Wu
Director, Product Science
23andMe
225. Minette Norman
VP, Engineering Practice
Autodesk
224. Jennifer Anastasoff
Founding Member
U.S. Digital Service
223. Minji Wong
Leadership Development
At Her Best
222. Jessica Egoyibo Mong
Senior Software Engineer
SurveyMonkey
221. Amanda Wixted
Software Engineer & Founder
Meteor Grove Software
220. Arshia Khan
Senior Software Development Engineer
Amazon Music
219. Estelle Weyl
MDN
Mozilla
218. Jin Zhang
Director, Product Management
Amazon
217. Mitchell Baker
Executive Chairwoman
Mozilla
216. Ishita Majumdar
Director, Product Management
eBay
215. Shivani Rao
Senior Applied Researcher
LinkedIn
214. Tanya Holland
Chef, Owner
Brown Sugar Kitchen
213. Melissa McCreery Reeves
Founder
The Muse
212. Latha Ramanan
Principal Product Manager
211. Shayani Roy
Director, Product
SurveyMonkey
210. Beth Andres-Beck
Engineering Manager
Long-Term Stock Exchange
209. Donna Boyer
VP, Product
Stitch Fix
208. Altovise Ewing
Medical Science Liaison, Genetic Counselor
23andMe
207. Cynthia Chu
Director, Engineering
MyFitnessPal
206. Bonnie Shu
Product Compliance Manager
Harbor
205. Melanie Tory
Staff Research Scientist
Tableau Software
204. Gretchen DeKnikker
COO
Girl Geek X
203. Vidya Setlur
Engineering Manager
Tableau Software
202. Omayeli Arenyeka
Software Engineer
LinkedIn
201. Kinnary Jangla
Engineering Manager
Pinterest
200. Danae Ringelmann
CDO & Founder
Indiegogo
199. Lori Kaplan
Head of Design, Cloud Migrations
AtlassianCathy Southwick
VP, Engineering
198. Christine Loh
VP, Product
Square
197. Neha Narkhede
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Confluent
C
196. Carlye Bartel
Global Vice President, Solutions Consulting
SugarCRM
195. Lerk-Ling Chang
VP of Strategic Ventures
Guidewire
194. Genefa Murphy
VP, Marketing
Micro Focus
193. Diyang Tang
Data Scientist
PlanGrid
192. Michelle Hulst
VP, Marketing & Strategic Partnerships
Oracle
191. Ruth Mesfun
Founder
People Of Color In Tech
190. Muna Hussain
DevSecOps
PayPal
189. Stephanie Hannon
Chief Product Officer
Strava
188. Wini Hebalkar
VP, Supply Chain & Operations
SquareTrade
187. Carenina Garcia Motion
Technical Program Manager
Netflix
188. Athellina Athsani
Director, Engineering Operations
Qualcomm
187. Jame Ervin
Marketing
Marqeta
186. Liane Hornsey
Chief People Officer
Palo Alto Networks
185. Rija Javed
184. Rashmi Sinha
CEO & Co-Founder
SlideShare
183. Kathy Zwickert
CPO
NetSuite
182. Helen Vaid
CCO
Pizza Hut
181. Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
President
StubHub
180. Susan Gregg Koger
CCO & Co-Founder
ModCloth
179. Renée James
CEO & Founder
Ampere
178.May Bakken
Director, Engineering Operations
BMC Software
177. Viola Olayinka
Manager
Twilio
176. Poornima Vijayashanker
CEO & Founder
Femgineer
175. Liz Howard
CTO
Enki
174. Susan Repo
VP, Finance
173. Liz Allen
Manager, IT Operations
Zendesk
172. Nancy Fu Magee
VP, Product
InVision
171. Diane M. Bryant
COO
Google
170. Nisha Dwivedi
Manager, Sales Engineering
Amplitude
169. Melissa Guyre
VP, Product
Yummly
168. Nupur Srivastava
SVP, Product
Grand Rounds
167. Gayathri Rajan
VP, Product
Google
166. Pavni Diwanji
VP
Google
165. Katelin Holloway
VP, People
Reddit
164. Emerald Maravilla
Director, Sales Development
Sift Science
163. Lyndsey Williams
Solutions Architect
Welkin Health
162. Maria Kaval
VP, Engineering
Oracle
161. Aldona Clottey
VP, Premier Agent Platform
Zillow Group
160. Claudia Gold
Data Scientist
Patreon
159. Shannon Lietz
Director, Engineering
Intuit
158. Natasha Taymourian
Systems Engineer
Cisco
157. Cara Marie Bonar
Offensive Security Lead
Datadog
156. Kate McKinley
Security Partner
Facebook
155. Revathi Subramanian
Managing Director
Accenture
154. Pratibha Rathore
Data Scientist
Autodesk
153. Nan “Iris” Wang
Data Scientist
LinkedIn
152. Niha Mathur
Group Manager, TPM Developer Infrastructure
Facebook
151. Ashley Bradley
Project Coordinator
Restoration Hardware
150. Dipti Vachani
VP, Engineering
Intel
149. Christine Fradenburg
Director, Digital Brand Marketing
Sanrio
148. Sandia Ren
VP, Professional Services
Guidewire
147. Katie Jansen
CMO
AppLovin
146. Mada Seghete
Co-Founder & Head of Marketing
Branch
145. Laurie Cremona Wagner
VP, Marketing
SAP
144. Tracy Young
CEO & Founder
PlanGrid
143. Usha Jasty
142. Raji Arasu
SVP, Platform
Intuit
141. Renée McKaskle
CIO, SVP
Hitachi
140. Brigitte Donner
VP, Dreamforce Conference
Salesforce
139. Dina McKinney
SVP, Engineering
Cypress Semiconductor
138. Stephanie Leong
Director, Marketing
Evernote
137. Sukrutha Bhadouria
CTO
Girl Geek X
136. Laura Miele
135. Suzanne Pilkington
CFO & Head of HR
Yummly
134. Caroline Roth
VP, Engineering
Salesforce
133. Laura Adint
VP, Operations
Workday
132. Reena Mathew
VP, Engineering
Salesforce
131. April Underwood
CPO
Slack
130. Anna Bethke
Head of AI for Good
Intel
129. Jennifer Wong
VP, FPGA Product Development
Xilinx
128. Robin Ducot
CTO
SurveyMonkey
127. Sarah Nahm
Founder & CEO
Lever
126. Miriam Aguirre
VP, Engineering
Skillz
125. Claire Vo
VP, Product
Optimizely
124. Sophia Yen
CEO & Co-Founder
Pandia Health
123. Amy O’Connor
CDIO
Cloudera
122. Aubrey Blanche
Global Head of Diversity & Belonging
Atlassian
121. Julie Shin Choi
VP Marketing & GM
Intel AI
120. Julia Hartz
CEO & Co-Founder
Eventbrite
119. Jennifer Taylor
Head of Product
Cloudflare
118. Aicha Evans
CSO
Intel
117. Leyla Seka
EVP
Salesforce
116. Catia Hagopian
SVP, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer
Xilinx
115. Shawna Wolverton
SVP, Product Management
Zendesk
114. Diane M. Bryant
COO
Google
113. Yinyin Liu
Data Science
Intel
112. Anicia Santos
Sales Engineering Lead
Looker
111. Sangita Fatnani
Distinguished Data Scientist
Walmart Labs
110. Jayodita Sanghvi
Director of Data Science
Grand Rounds
109. Amy Lee
Senior Data Scientist
C3
110. Vanitha Kumar
VP, Engineering
Qualcomm
109. Gwen Tillman
VP, HR
AppDynamics
108. Nancy Lee
VP, Marketing
Khan Academy
107. Annie Ding
VP, Product
Khan Academy
106. Heidy Kurniawan
Senior UX Designer
Realtor.com
105. Haiyan Song
SVP, Security Markets
Splunk
104. Kathy Scheirman
SVP, IT
Kaiser Permanente
103. Renee Reid
Senior UX Design Researcher
LinkedIn
102. Annie Conn
Senior Experience Designer
ThoughtWorks
101. Paula Tolliver
VP, CIO
Intel
100. Autumn Brown
Senior Director, 3P Content Strategy & Partnerships
Electronic Arts
99. Muna Hussain
DevSecOps
PayPal
98. Tanya Loh
VC Partnerships
Microsoft
97. Robyn Reiss
Operations
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
96. Meera Bhatia
COO
Stella & Dot
95. Amy O’Connor
CDIO
Cloudera
94. Jess Lee
Partner
Sequoia Capital
92. Priscilla Hung
COO
Guidewire
91. Jennifer Li
Investment Partner
Andreessen Horowitz
90. Selina Tobaccowala
CEO & Founder
Gixo
89. Haiyan Song
SVP, Security Markets
Splunk
88. Jamesha Fisher
Infrastructure Engineer
Splice
87. Nisha Muktewar
Data Scientist
Cloudera
86. Ceslee Montgomery
Data Scientist
Stitch Fix
85. Katherine Barr
Founding Partner
Wildcat Venture Partners
84. Jacqueline Brown
Director, Engineering
Workday
83. Erin Boyle
Data Scientist
Stitch Fix
82. Gowri Grewal
Senior Director, Sales and Solutions Engineering
Twilio
81. Chloe Pak
Manager, Sales
BuildingConnected
80. Sabrina Eldredge
VP, Product
POPSUGAR
79. Sue McKinney
VP, Engineering
Cloudera
78. Caroline O’Mahony
Chief of Staff
Addepar
77. Cyan Banister
Partner
Founders Fund
76. Linda Tong
VP of Innovation Labs & Product Experience
AppDynamics
75. Krista Moatz
Founder & Executive VP of Culture & Corporate Citizenship
POPSUGAR
74. Inhi Suh
VP, GM
IBM
73. Elena Verna
SVP, Product & Growth
Malwarebytes
72. Fiona O’Donnell-McCarthy
VP, Product
Daily Harvest
71. Geysa Dantas
Senior Director, Product Management
AppDynamics
70. Jennifer Ruth
VP, Customer Success
Optimizely
69. Madhu Kochar
VP, Engineering
IBM
68. Ali Rayl
VP, Customer Experience
Slack
67. Diane Gonzalez
VP, Engineering
Amazon
66. Samantha Bufton
VP, Product
SurveyMonkey
65. Heather Wells
VP, Engineering
Zendesk
64. Beth Gilbert
Director, Customer Development
Appfolio
63. Win Chang
Director, CX
Oracle
62. Ann Lee
EVP
Genentech
61. Brenda O’Kane
VP, Software Development
The Walt Disney Company
60. Alejandra Meza
Director, UX Design
Stella & Dot
59. Erica Weiss Tjader
VP, Product Design
SurveyMonkey
58. Alyssa Henry
VP, Seller
Square
57. Kim Williams
Director, Experience Design
Indeed
56. Shirley Xiao
UX Designer
Indeed
55. Jaya Kolhatkar
VP, Engineering
Walmart Labs
54. So Yun Jin
UX Designer
IXL Learning
53. Terry Roberts
UX Designer
Tableau Software
52. Minette Norman
VP, Engineering Practice
Autodesk
51. Jaime Yuen
VP, Corporate Controller
SugarCRM
50. Andrea Wagner
Manager, Product Design
Facebook
49. Elham Ghassemzadeh
VP, Product
Oracle | NetSuite
48. Karen Leonard
Director, Xbox Console Development
47. Julia Austin
Senior Lecturer
Harvard University
46. Altovise Ewing
Medical Science Liaison, Genetic Counselor
23andMe
45. Jen Grant
CMO
Looker
44. Catherine Aurelio
Product Design Manager
Facebook
43. Suju Rajan
VP, Research
Criteo
42. Samihah Azim
Product Design
Lyft
41. Meagen Eisenberg
CMO
MongoDB
40. Lynnette Bruno
VP, Communications
Zillow Group
39. Faryl Ury
Product Marketing
Dropbox
38. Maggie Law
Director, Product Design
Okta
37. Dominique Ward
Design Operations Lead
Atlassian
36. Connie Fong
VP, Marketing
Care.com
35. Wintha Kelati
Marketing, Growth
Lyft
34. Diane Gonzalez
VP, Engineering
Amazon
33. Mary Ann Gallo
CCO
Hitachi
32. Tara Roth
VP, Engineering
Microsoft
31. Fiona O’Donnell-McCarthy
VP, Product
Daily Harvest
30. Sahana Ullagaddi
Marketing
One Medical
29. Lin Wu
VP, Global Head of Assay& Platform Development
Roche
28. Jenny Lam
VP, UX Design
Oracle
27. Jennifer Ruth
VP, Customer Success
Optimizely
26. Nina Mehta
Lead Designer
Stripe
25. Zhen Zeng
Design Manager
Uber
24. Patricia Nakache
General Partner
Trinity Ventures
23. Molly Q. Ford
Director, Marketing
Salesforce
22. Kristen Leach
Senior Product Designer
Etsy
21. Sara Ortloff Khoury
Director, UX Design
Google
20. Aynne Valencia
Chair, Interaction Design Program
California College for the Arts
19. Chloe Bi
Product Data Scientist
Yummly
18. Alice Lee
Product Designer
Dropbox
17. Erica Weiss Tjader
VP, Product Design
SurveyMonkey
16. Cindy Gomez
CEP
Carta
15. Jenna Walker
Managing Director, Sustainability
TechStars
14. Valerie Vargas
SVP, Marketing
AT&T
13. Jenny Gonsalves
VP, Engineering
Lyra Health
12. Mary Gendron
CIO, SVP
Qualcomm
11. Laurel Fullerton
Electronic Design Engineer
Tesla
10. Julie Zhuo
VP, Product Design
Facebook
9. Julie Larson-Green
CEO
Microsoft
8. Ari Horie
CEO & Founder
Women’s Startup Lab
7. Erin Yang
VP, Product Management
Workday
6. Isaura Gaeta
VP, Engineering
Intel
5. Lakecia Gunter
VP, Programmable Solutions Group
Intel
4. Sandra E. Lopez
VP, Sports
Intel
3. Staci Slaughter
EVP, Communications
SF Giants
2. Jenny Cheng
VP, Professional Services
PayPal
1. Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Founder, Chairwoman & CEO
Care.com
Didn’t find what you were looking for, or want to make your agenda even stronger?
The Girl Geek X Speaker Database features over 1,000 women in technology and leadership roles who have spoken at past Girl Geek X events. Use the category toggles on the left to filter by role or function, and identify speakers who are ready to share their insights and experiences with your audience!
Do you have a favorite woman in tech or in a leadership role that you’d like to recommend to those slotting speakers for their events? Send us your suggestions as a reply to this article on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, and we’ll include them in our next speaker roundup!
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