WEB SUMMIT - Newsletter - Women in Tech

Day 623,975 of lockdown and we’re beginning to adapt to the new normal. Here’s what’s grabbed our attention this month. Communities around the world: An interview with Liza Layne, lead data & analytics manager at Eurostar International Ltd, community leader and membership mid-career committee member at AnitaB.org. Liza joined AnitaB.org as a volunteer in 2017. She has since has driven huge growth in AnitaB.org’s London Chapter, and was invited to speak at AnitaB.org Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), the world's largest gathering of women in tech in 2018 and 2019. Why is diversity important? Working in an environment where teams share a variety of world views facilitates better ideas, more creativity and increased productivity. It ultimately means delivering products consumers will use. Who inspires you, and why? I’m inspired by the women I’ve worked alongside while volunteering at AnitaB.org. It has offered me the opportunity to grow my global squad. I have had to opportunity to be around strong women from birth, and much of my inspiration comes from my parents – they’re no longer here but always on my mind. They encouraged me to pursue a career in tech, but also to extend that help to others. What are you passionate about? I’m passionate about empowering women to get into tech and stay in there! The key to this is highlighting the different roles available. Not all require you to code – you don’t need a degree, you can do a boot camp. Additionally I am keen to help returners and look at how we can help women transition into technical roles. Is there anything you’d like to share with our readers? AnitaB.org has local communities globally that organise events and provide one another with resources to navigate careers in tech. We organise valuable meetups, codeathons, and our one-day HopperX1 events modelled after the Grace Hopper celebration. You can join one of our many locals all around the world to connect with women in your area and expand your network. To connect with us locally and globally check out our social links here. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizalayne/ Twitter: @lizalayne

This month... Women in history: On May 1, 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She’d later go on to become the Library of Congress’ Consultant in Poetry, a title that’s since been changed to Poet Laureate. Dealing with adversity: The idea that women should act more like men if they want to be leaders is nothing new. In fact, it’s utterly outdated. Global responses to Covid-19 are a ringing endorsement for the strengths of female leadership in its own right. Read more from Forbes.

Also…. Developer? To say thanks to our developer community, we’ve announced our open source initiative. Just connect your GitHub account to be considered – the most active contributors in our network will receive a free pair of tickets to attend Collision from Home, our online conference.   APPLY FOR FREE TICKETS   That’s all from us. Stay safe and look out for one another.  - Women in tech team

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