Magic, Unicorns, Diversity & Inclusion
Don’t you just love when the planets align and magic happens? That’s exactly what happened towards the end of February for me.
My friend emailed me with the exciting news that the Lesbians Who Tech organization needed volunteers for their San Francisco summit. I could hardly believe it! Not only did I have the opportunity to help an organization that I’ve supported and honestly fangirled over, but as a social media volunteer I was given access to the whole event. The only catch: I had to Tweet about the sessions, presenters, and this AMAZING experience.
I’ve been following the Lesbians Who Tech Org for a while now, and I’m really in awe of all that they do for our community. They essentially started as a Meetup group which has grown into a global community of over 11,000 queer women and allies in tech. They’re working on creating a safe space where queer women can be more visible to each other, more visible to others, increasing the number of women and lesbians in tech, connecting lesbians who tech to LGBTQ and women’s organizations who are doing work for the community, and so much more.
Day One
There were many excellent sessions that deeply resonated with me. Of those sessions, a speaker who happened to be a personal shero (shero: she + hero) of mine, Patrice Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matters, discussed Fighting Systematic Racism While Simultaneously Healing. It was inspiring to hear her close out day one of the summit as she reminded us that “It is our duty to fight for our freedom, it is our duty to win, we must love each other and support each other, we have nothing to lose but our chains!”.
Day Two
On day two I learned so much about Unconscious Bias in an intimate session with Patricia Bory, former Senior Advisor to the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor.
During a speed mentoring session, Sharon Melnick, Ph.D. shared tips on how to be heard at work. She taught our group that we can say anything at work if we understand our audience and tailor it to the receiver. If you’re trying to get someone to support your idea, always understand their business motivation and emotional motivation. Her words of advice? Do unto others as others want to be done unto.
Ok, back to planets aligning and magic…
Attending this summit wasn’t the only opportunity on the horizon. A few weeks before the summit I started having discussions with my manager and our Head of People about my interest in diversity and inclusion at HoneyBook. It’s a passion of mine because of how I feel about the current state of the tech world and my place in it.
Most days I feel like a unicorn in this tech world; some days I feel like I belong, while other days…not so much. I am a woman born to a Filipino immigrant father and a first generation Salvadoran-American mother. I’m in my mid-30s and I have a partner of 12 years; her name is Isabel. I’ve been working in the tech industry for the past 16 years, I didn’t go to college, and I have built a successful career in tech supporting founders and the organizations they’re building despite not being cut from the same cloth as most other tech professionals I’ve across.
Finding organizations and people whom I can identify with have been key to overcoming the inherent challenges I’ve faced as a woman of color in tech. Attending this conference really helped me to reconnect with my core values, and reminded me of my power and ability to affect change for other unicorns in tech.
We must continue to push forward
My personal mission was to learn as much as I could about creating a safe environment that is diverse while inclusive to all. I wanted to learn what other companies were doing and through these discussions I realized how much, we, at HoneyBook are already doing.
Not only do we have two women founders, Shadiah Sigala, Head of People and Naama Alon, Head of Product, our member base is 80% women, and our company is full of badass women. Over the past two years we’ve participated in the STEMming the Gender Gap program with the Hamlin School for Girls here in SF. We support and celebrate Pride, International Women’s Day as well as other international holidays throughout the year.
While we know there is a lot of work to do in this space, I’m deeply honored and proud to work for an organization that is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive company that empowers its employees to always be their unique self, including being a unicorn!
