Having hosted 200+ Girl Geek Dinners over the past 10 years, we’ve heard from 1,000+ women who took the stage to share their expertise and experiences with the Girl Geek Community. They’ve collectively answered over 5,000 questions from our audience, and we’ve noticed some patterns — the same questions and trending topics emerge dinner after dinner, event after event.
It’s clear that women in tech (and other industries) at all stages of their careers often share common concerns and struggle with similar issues: focus, mentorship, career transitions, negotiations, imposter syndrome, continued learning, management, self-advocacy, communication, and more… (sooooo much more!)
Girl Geek X Podcast allows us to address these key themes emerging from the Girl Geek X community in a series of episodes where we will weave together the “best of” from senior-level women speaking at Girl Geek X events, and for the first time, you’ll hear directly from the team behind Girl Geek X:
Angie’s favorite Girl Geek X Podcast is the episode on “Communication” – “because I am always working on this for myself!” Angie shares her entrepreneurial mindset and experience working at early-stage startups and companies with under 50 employees. Because her career began with a social welfare and english degree from UC Berkeley, she is passionate about showing women that they can enter the tech industry at any age. In a previous life, she was VP of Partnerships at a coding bootcamp for women, and has held roles in product management, marketing and web production. She has been making websites since 1999 in high school.
Sukrutha’s favorite Girl Geek X Podcast is the episode on “Imposter Syndrome” – “The way we deal with our obstacles change as we get more experience in our career and grow. Impostor syndrome is an obstacle that takes many forms and never fully goes away. Learning how to deal with it without going the other end of the spectrum has been something I realized I had to continue to focus on.” Sukrutha works as a senior engineering manager at Salesforce. She began her career as a software engineer in test at Citrix after graduating from USC with a master’s degree in electric engineering. Sukrutha joined the Girl Geek X team after her positive experience in college with the Society of Women Engineers, and enjoys providing a platform for technical women to shine and network with each other across companies. She has led initiatives at Salesforce Women in Tech ERG (that’s Employee Resource Group) in addition to hosting Girl Geek X events. An in her spare time, Sukrutha trains for races (swimming, running, biking).
Gretchen’s favorite Girl Geek X Podcast is the episode on “Bias in Hiring” – “because it’s important that every participant from recruiters to hiring managers understand their own biases if we want to ever have a chance at untangling the intertwined systemic discrimination that exists in every stage of the hiring process.” Gretchen has been launching and scaling enterprise software companies since way back in the last century. She’s been both a startup founder and founding employee. Most recently, she led SaaStr from a simple blog to the world’s largest global community of 100K+ B2B founders, execs and investors. She earned her MBA from UC Berkeley and in her spare time, she’s a diversity and inclusion advocate.
Rachel’s favorite Girl Geek X Podcast is the episode on “Learning” – “As a life-long learner, I’m always looking for new ways to learn and new information to take in. But the discussion in this episode helped me think about learning with intention. Now I focus on quality instead of quantity, and focus my learning time on knowledge that will strengthen the work I’m already doing.” Producer Rachel Jones is the newcomer to the Girl Geek X team. She produces podcasts and storytelling events with You Had Me At Black and StorySlam Oakland. Since graduating from Northwestern with a degree in film and radio, Rachel has developed platforms for underrepresented voices, from producing short films with filmmakers in Ethiopia, to teaching digital storytelling to students in India. Most recently, she led a youth journalism program on Chicago’s south side with Free Spirit Media. When Rachel’s not producing podcasts, you can find her searching for the best boba and ramen in the east bay.
Our first 5 episodes dealing with mentorship, career transitions, learning, imposter syndrome, and communication are already available, so go download ’em right now and get ready to enjoy your morning commute or your next gym sesh just a little bit more! (Seriously, it’ll feel like you just attended 3 of our best Girl Geek Dinners without having to make the extra trip to the Financial District or South Bay in the rain!)
More of a reader than a listener? We got you! The full transcript for every podcast will be posted under the “Listen” tab on the site’s top nav bar. Read on, ladies & allies!
Subscribe on Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher or iTunes to listen and stay up-to-date with the latest podcast releases from the Girl Geek X team!
