Chime In for Growth and Connection: Chimers’ experiences at LWT and AfroTech

“Going to Lesbians Who Tech (LWT) was the first time I’ve felt empowered by, rather than responsible for, my identity,” says Nicole Chen (she/her/hers). “We do our best work when we feel safe being our authentic selves. LWT showed me how critical it is to have an inclusive workplace.”

In the past month, Chime sent 8 Chimers to the LWT summit in San Francisco and 16 Chimers to the AfroTech conference in Austin. The goal? To build community, create connections, and for Chimers to feel embraced and celebrated for their full identities. The results? All the feels, actionable takeaways, and — you guessed it — a renewed sense of community and connection.

For Erica Bynes (she/her/hers), who attended AfroTech, the feeling of community stems from not always having people like her around. “For some people, community is built in — nearly every room they walk into will hold people similar to them,” she explains. “Some of us get used to not having people like us in the room, and finding a sense of community with others who share that experience helps us know that we’re not alone. AfroTech was a great reminder of that community. It was also a reminder that while we share many similar experiences, people of color aren’t a monolith — out of all the people I met at AfroTech, each individual was so different. What brings us together is the knowledge that if someone we met at AfroTech steps into a room and doesn’t see anyone who looks like them, we know the feeling — and that brings us a sense of community.”

We sat down with five Chimers who attended LWT and AfroTech to hear about their experiences. Here’s what they had to share.

Meet the Chimers

Why did you decide to attend LWT or AfroTech?

Erica: “I went to find community. We work in a space where I don’t see a lot of people who look like me, so to walk into a huge conference hall where everybody looks like me is inspiring. I saw myself in other people and learned about the cool things other people who look like me are doing.”

Nicole: “I didn’t know LWT existed until I saw a post in the OutChime (Chime’s LGBTQIA+ Employee Resource Group) Slack channel. I wanted to go because I had never attended a conference that celebrated my identity.”

Alexa: “I attended LWT in 2021 and 2022 and it opened my world — I never thought there was a community where I could fully express myself and where all of my identities would be embraced. I’ve even been known to call it my personal Super Bowl. I love LWT because it’s a rounded conference, combining tech with current affairs and gender expression, sexual identity, and self expression. Over the years, I’ve stayed in touch with a lot of the people I’ve met, something I wouldn’t expect from a professional conference.”

“The hyperspecificity of the LWT conference title is very unique. It’s very healing to see the word ‘Lesbians’ everywhere and for it to be celebrated is exciting. At LWT, the word ‘Lesbians’ is never whispered.” — Alexa Shaeffer

If you’re a repeat conference attendee, how do you switch up your approach to make sure you’re getting the most out of it?

E-Shawn: “This was my second in-person and fourth overall AfroTech conference, and I wanted to be intentional about attending sessions I wasn’t familiar with. For example, I sat in on an engineering talk, listened to an Environmental Protection Agency talk about going net neutral with products. Compared to last year, where I focused on fintech, finance, and areas close to my work, I decided to take a new approach this year and expand my mind instead.”

Why does building community matter at work?

E-Shawn: “Community matters because it creates a sense of belonging, which brings out the best in people by building confidence — rather than making you feel like you have to assimilate. Because when you feel like you belong, you can be your best self. In one session at AfroTech, an executive at a financial institution talked about being one of the first Black employees on the C-suite floor. He shared that he put up a poster of Biggie Smalls and made his Zoom background a map of his home country, Nigeria. He put pride in his identity and showed confidence, inviting others to do the same because they all belonged there.”

Aman: “We spend the majority of our time at work, so we naturally want to seek a sense of belonging and contribution. In my experience, building a community with like-minded people fosters a level of comfort, support, and shared purpose. It creates an environment where I feel valued, connected, and motivated. It allows me to be my authentic self!”

Alexa: “Having community at work allows me to be more creative and at ease because I feel safe. It helps me feels more comfortable at work because I’m supported in every aspect of who I am. With community, I can give 100% of myself professionally — I would feel limited if I couldn’t be 100% myself.”

What conference takeaways are you carrying into your day-to-day?

E-Shawn: “Not only do I feel refreshed and recharged, I’m bringing the many connections I made with ERGs at other companies into my work as an AfroChime lead. I learned a lot about other ERGs and what they’re doing to activate their communities and will leverage those takeaways to have a bigger impact at Chime and beyond.”

Alexa: “The theme at LWT this year was AI, and I work a lot with AI at Chime, so I was able to take away several practical lessons. A lot of the talks I attended focused on grounding yourself in ethics before letting AI spread, which is so important in early stages of using a technology. I gathered some helpful checklists to make sure I’m covering my bases and sticking to the values that inform our use of AI.”

Aman: “My two big takeaways from LWT were about being bold and taking risks with AI, and the importance of being human and authentic. While I’m not usually a risk taker, I’m going to push myself to use my voice more and be my authentic self without fearing what others think. If I’m unapologetically myself (directly and respectfully, because HR is a thing), that encourages others to be themselves. We can all inspire others without even knowing.”

Nicole: “I attended Ruth Jack’s talk about being an introvert pushed into a leadership role — aptly titled “My Journey to Becoming A Reluctant Role Model” — and totally related to it. I’m early in my career and sometimes struggle with the responsibility to be a role model for aspiring women engineers, but Ruth said something that I hadn’t ever thought of: ‘I have a voice, and I should leverage it.’ I hope to find ways to elevate my community with my voice.”

What if someone’s considering attending a conference?

Alexa: “The power of being in person is so incredible and it can be an opportunity to learn something new. Set intentions before you go, whether you want to learn something or talk to one person you don’t know. It can be easy to get wrapped up in everything that’s happening, but setting intentions can help you feel like you accomplished something — and hopefully help you get more out of the experience!”

Bringing it home

As Chimers went out into the world of conference halls, stages, and booths to build community, something that stood out to everyone was the community they have at Chime. “I have to give a shoutout to my fellow Chimers who were at LWT,” says Nicole. ““The extroverts in the group helped me break the ice with new connections. LWT was such an incredible and special time we experienced together.”

After AfroTech, Erica is feeling inspired by the conference — and by the fact that it was a priority for Chime and every other company that sent employees to attend. “Seeing so many companies willing to send people to AfroTech and make the commitment to seeing more of us in these spaces was inspirational,” she says. “It was also a special opportunity to meet fellow Chimers and see, yet again, the work our AfroChime CRG leads do to make all of this possible.”

And for E-Shawn, it’s the community he has within AfroChime that made AfroTech what it was. “What made AfroTech special is the community that we’ve built within AfroChime,” he says. “Going to Austin and knowing I have family there and a space where we can all be together and feel our community is so powerful. That sense of community comes from every Chimer who shows up and participates in this community — we can create all the programming in the world, but if Chimers don’t show up, the community won’t be there.”