What I’ve Learned from Six Months of Running Women of Silicon Valley
It’s been only six months since I first started Women of Silicon Valley, but they’ve been six of the wildest, most exciting months of my life.
Since January, the blog has featured some of tech’s most inspiring women from Silicon Valley to Verona, Italy, been covered in publications from ABC to Buzzfeed to Italy’s Corriere della Sera, and reached more than 26,000 followers on Medium, Facebook and Twitter.
What started out as my own little middlefinger to the man has become far bigger than personal recreation.
This past June marked month 6. This past June I was also UberPooling through Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, making conversation with another passenger. Somehow the topic of work came up, and when I told him I develop software, he physically turned around, looked at me like I’d just told him the Rapture was nigh, and joked,
“You can’t study Computer Science!”
That same month, I was on a first (and last) date with a guy. When we were getting into my car to grab dinner, he exclaimed, “Oh no, woman in the front seat!” I ran a few stop signs to validate his concerns.
People who know me know I’m no fun to tell a sexist/racist joke to. But people who don’t seem to think I’ll be absolutely tickled pink.
Six months ago, I’d take these things personally. But before I could politely request each passenger to get the hell out my car, before I could even contemplate just walking San Francisco on foot or adopting cats to replace my love life — I realized how essentially silly their comments were.
They were silly because they were grounded in innocence, ignorance if you’re feeling pessimistic— ignorance of how ludicrously outdated they sound, if not ignorance of the fact they were hurtful.
They were silly because I knew 28 more women whose opinions were actually worth the emotional CPU.
28 women have shared their stories on Women of Silicon Valley.
28 women have shared with me and countless others their wisdom, vulnerability, and an infectious passion to change the world through tech.
So I’d be remiss not to thank them all for the inspiration that turns hurtful comments silly.
In order of feature:
Min Liu. You will always be my first female mentor not related to me (and a very dear friend.) Thank you for teaching me tech is more than big data and social media; it’s art and culture.
Tracy Chou. Thank you for being ceaselessly unabashed and refreshingly uncensored as you stand a bastion for women in tech. Keep up the good fight!
Monica Yupa. Thank you for standing at the intersection of Computer Science and social impact. Many communities will thank you for philanthropizing code someday.
Sara Mauskopf. Thank you for reminding us tech leaders are also mothers and caregivers, and that workplaces should provide for their needs at least as much as they provide for foosball- and ping-pong-enthusiasts.
Ellora Israni. Thank you for leaving a legacy at Stanford and beyond in she++. You continue to inspire female students to pursue careers in tech, myself included.
Shola Oyedele. Thank you for reminding us to be “unapologetically authentic” to ourselves — and thank you reminding us authenticity is a duty we must fulfill to preserve diversity.
Carlotta Borruto. Grazie mille to you and Marco Mari for believing in Italy and striving to kickstart an economy racked by traditional business models through education.
Alexis Gillis. Thank you for fanning the fire of Capetown’s start-up scene. Your love and dedication to your city is so admirable.
Ulla Engeström. Thank you for disrupting the “artificial separation of work life and family life.” And thank you for disrupting the image of the exclusively male start-up garage!
Cindy Chu. Thank you for reminding us we don’t have to put up with an unsupportive workplace and proving that company culture is a choice.
Marta Gaia Zanchi. Thank you for presenting a living example of a woman rocking biodesign, consulting and academia, all at once.
“Technology places an immense amount of power in your hands and in your mind. My advice to girls pursuing a future in tech is not to squander that power in exchange for acceptance.” — Lindi Emoungu
Lindi Emoungu. Thank you for keeping a sense of humor and unwavering self-reliance in the face of discrimination “to the point of absurdity.” Your smile resonates strength.
Estefania Ortiz. Thank you for continually striving to bring technical opportunity to the Latin@ community. And thank you for being one of the funnest, most outspoken friends I’ve had the pleasure of tanning for hours instead of studying with.
Jan Chong. Thank you for teaching us to take enjoyment in subversion. You prove that disproving assumptions can be great fun.
Julie Zhuo. Thank you for your eloquence. You capture so well both through product design and your publications what makes tech so great — “a spirit that embraces change rather than being afraid of it.”
Robin Hauser Reynolds. Thank you for bringing the gender gap to the big screen. What the issue needs most is exposure, and you’ve shed light.
“tldr; I was successful in moments I quit being a nice girl and started becoming a monster.” — Sophie Xie
Sophie Xie. Thank you for a feminist manifesto for any woman to aspire to. You make my inner nice girl want to be a monster.
Jessie Duan. Thank you for taking the gender gap in your own hands by dedicating your free time to teaching girls how to code. And thank you for teaching me how to be a leader through Girls Teaching Girls to Code.
Laura Weidman Powers. Thank you for talking about race in an industry that shies away from its own systemic issues. Thank you for creating pathways for Blacks and Latino/as in tech through CODE2040.
Erin Summers & Zainab Ghadiyali. Thank you for starting wogrammer and showing us all what a programmer looks like. In a media landscape that often focuses exclusively on the bad, thank you for celebrating the great achievements of women engineers.
Kerri Cahoy. Thank you for making us want to (literally) reach for the stars! And thank you for passing your passion for tackling engineering challenges to your students at MIT.
Girls Driving for a Difference. Thank you for equipping girls with design thinking at an age when it matters most, middle school. And thank you for driving across the country in an RV to do it.
Eileen Carey & Lauren Mosenthal. Thank you for tackling a start-up scene dominated by men at all stages from engineering to venture capital. Along with Glassbreakers, you’re pitching the image of female entrepreneurship to the industry — and we’re sold.
In summary, thank you all. In your willingness to share your stories, you’ve inspired countless women on their journeys in tech. And we can’t wait to be inspired by the stories to come.
