Today we celebrate one whole year of growth, leadership, impact, and friendships over here at she256. These past 365 days have been quite a ride for our team as we’ve expanded to new cities, partnered with incredible organizations, and extended our arms greater than we could have imagined — all thanks to the constant support and fervent participation we’ve received.
A year ago, our mission for she256 was quite different than what it is today. At the inception of our program, we focused solely on building out a one-day conference highlighting accomplished women in the space. However, in carrying out our vision for a more diverse industry, we needed to do more. We began evolving she256 into a movement dedicated to growing young minds to feel confident when entering the space, to educating current professionals on the meaning of diversity and inclusion, and to making tech and blockchain education accessible and equitable for all people.
At she256, our mission is to increase diversity and break down barriers to entry in the blockchain space. We fundamentally believe that blockchain technology will shape our future financial and governance structures, and as such it’s crucial that those building these systems are representative of the global, diverse population of which they are to serve.
Over the past year, our team has prioritized mentorship, education, awareness, and growth to work towards making this vision a reality.
To date, we’ve:
- Thrown our inaugural conference (see the old webpage here) featuring the groundbreaking work of researchers and innovators in this space specifically showcasing the work of female professionals (you can view videos from the last conference here ). There were 300 attendees, ranging from industry professionals to high schooler scholarship recipients. Check out the ethos behind the design of the conference.
- Launched a global mentorship program (read more about it here) aiming to pair up female identifying students or early career young adults with industry professionals (500+ participants)
- Launched the #HowDoYouShape social media campaign, which aims to inspire thought about how we as individuals are shaping the next generation of leaders
- Were nominated by Newsweek for a Blockchain Impact Award
- Hosted numerous meet ups in the area with various companies and organizations such as the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research, O(1) Labs, The House, and more.
- Had a presence at various international industry events including SF Blockchain Week, DevCon4 in Prague, Aracon in Berlin, and ETHDenver.
- Launched she256: Fireside Chats, an interview series with influential women driving the blockchain space.
- Rebranded from “She(256): Women in Blockchain” to “she256: diversity in blockchain”. This both reflects the importance and thought we give to our brand-design decisions, and also emphasizes our aim to be more inclusive of the various aspects of diversity .
And we’re not done here.
In addition to the continuation of many initiatives from above (Mentorship, Fireside Chats, #HowDoYouShape, meetups, and more), here is a sneak peak of some of our future initiatives:
- Launching Block-Change, a series of fundamentals and development workshops for high-schools that aim to expose more young, underrepresented minorities to blockchain technology.
- Beginning a series of introductory Welcome to Blockchain events hosted in Berkeley
- Throwing a blockchain design hackathon for Bay Area high schoolers in early-March
- Hosting she256’s second annual conference at the end of April
- …and more surprises to come!
Get involved
With all of these plans, we’re looking for volunteers to join our team. Check out a list of open roles here. Also, feel free to email she256@blockchain.berkeley.edu if you have other ideas, partnerships, or want to be involved in any way.
In addition, we are looking for sponsorships for our 2019 Annual Conference! Email us if you’re interested. If you have a personal interest in supporting she256 more generally, we are also accepting any amounts of donations here.
