Women in Voice: Celebrating our 3rd Birthday in 12 Highlights!
Dear Women in Voice Community,
August is Women in Voice’s Birthday month! I am so honored to be celebrating this community. It feels like a lifetime ago when I asked the internet “who wants Leadership positions at Women in Voice?” From then to now, we’ve done some incredible work. I’m proud of how we have evolved to create amazing impact in the world. We’re just getting started.
Our Mission is to celebrate, amplify, connect, and build community with and for women and gender minority folks in the voice and conversational AI field.
What We’ve Accomplished: I’ve got stories and I’ve got numbers for you.
Today, Women in Voice has 21 Chapters in 15 Countries with 100+ Ambassadors. Across social media, we reach 20k+ people. When people find our community we hear things like:
“Thank you for introducing me to my tribe. Finally feels like I belong somewhere.”
Community is crucial to our mission. Pre-pandemic, our events were hosted locally at accelerators, tech companies, restaurants, etc. Today with our covid world, our community is primarily digital and we can’t wait until it is fully safe to return to in-person and hybrid programming. Our Chapters support people everywhere finding the people near them who can support each other in their language, culture, and work environments.
- Nonprofit Status: From August 2020 to August 2021, a few big changes have kept the ball rolling. We submitted and were approved for 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Status which paves the way for long term stability. Jennie Stenhouse and I worked tirelessly to get this paperwork across the line and to the government for review. We are thrilled to say Google Assistant signed on as the first Platinum Sponsor of 2021 and Amazon Alexa as our second.
2. Longevity: As a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit organization, we accept financial donations to help keep our programming affordable and accessible to those who need it most — and make sure WiV is around for years to come. Would you celebrate three years of WiV with a donation? Your gift or $10, $20, or $50 can make an impact today! Donate here: womeninvoice.org/donate
3. Board: In 2020, we named our Board of Directors and Advisory Board to support vision and fiduciary responsibility of the organization. These folks are so generous with their time and constructive feedback about how we can live into our mission in innovative ways. It’s wonderful to learn from them across the world.
4. People: In Q1 of 2021, we hired contractors and prepared for large-scale international events. We’re deeply grateful to volunteers who have raised WiV from the ground up. To continue that work sustainably, our contractors work hard on paperwork, bring amazing programs to the world, and help us live into our mission. I’m constantly amazed by the passion, ambition, grit, diligence, creativity, compassion, and work ethic the team continues to strive to imbue in our work dynamics.
5. Global Events: WiV Global rolled out Roundtables and Pitch Events to foster discussion and amplify women transforming our field. Chief Events Officer, Maddy Apple spearheaded the events this year and took our whole events programming at Global to another level.
6. Summit 2021: In July, we hosted a 3-half day virtual Summit! It was a huge success. We hoped for 400 registrations, and got 919! That’s 230% of our goal.It was our honor to highlight talented women and nonbinary speakers, educate and welcome allies, and foster global community for gender minorities in voice!
7. Awards: For awards, we had nominations, finalists, and an Award Ceremony where we named 11 Winners to categories at Women in Voice. 36 women were nominated as finalists and there was incredible talent showcased on the list: Check out the Finalists and Winners!
8. Founders and Pitch Events: Our Pitch Events co-sponsored by the Amazon Alexa Startups team have garnered hundreds of rsvps. In our June event, 5 female founders pitched and 5 featured VCs asked questions. This is the first time I’d ever seen an event like this. Female founders are still a rare breed in voice tech: see the research we’ve done about this recently. It’s deeply impressive to see these fantastic founders share their work about the companies they are building that will transform the trajectory of our field.
Sign up for the Sep 30th event! > Pitch Events
9. Swag Raffle: At the Women in Voice Summit, Voiceflow co-hosted an epic swag raffle! 15 winners were randomly selected to win a Women in Voice Ceramic Mug, Voiceflow Thinking Cap, and free 1-year Voiceflow Pro license. We appreciate collaborating with partners like Voiceflow for projects that benefit our community!
Did you miss the raffle? A few beautiful ceramic WiV mugs are still available for sale, shipping included. Get yours here!
10. Career Accelerator: One of our biggest takeaways from the Summit was how careers and pivots are on many people’s minds. A project that had been on the backburner for us was to support women in voice with a career accelerator. We’re thrilled to share that it’s happening this fall! Applications are due August 28th!
11. Board Member Seats: New seats have opened on the Board of Directors. If you are interested in being considered for a Board position, learn more at womeninvoice.org/board!
Rolling out Soon
12. Membership: We’re creating an upgraded membership experience! While previously membership has been fragmented with different chapters hosting forms, we will be moving to a model where there is a centralized Women in Voice Membership form for everyone. We’re excited to bring more value to our community and continue to advance our mission. Watch for this to launch in September 2021. Anyone can become a member!
We’ve got much more in store for you all in the coming months and years! No matter how fast we move, I love hearing from the community about how we can serve the community and our world better. We are so grateful for your support, excitement, energy, and commitment to making the world a more inclusive, playful, innovative, celebratory, and welcoming place.
Best, Joan Palmiter Bajorek
Founder and CEO of Women in Voice
