In October, the IU Center of Excellence for Women & Technology sent 6 students to the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), the hallmark women in technology conference in the world.
GHC was founded in honor of Grace Hopper, a woman and computer scientist whose many accomplishments contain coining the term “debug”. From all over the world, women and allies attend this conference to be transformed by brilliant speakers, innovative workshops, and stunning performances. This year, during the opening keynote, Grace Hopper Celebration introduced their theme “We Will...” in the spirit of setting aspiring goals. One such goal AnitaB.org sets is reaching women equality in the workforce by 2025!
It was clear the large selection of successful companies attending the conference were on board with this mission when it came time to network in the career expo. Taking up a whole hall, one could see a range of places to intern, research, or discover their dream full-time job. One of the center’s attendees this year, Natalia Johnson, remembers an exciting experience after meeting a company that stood out to her: “I could tell that they were genuinely interested in me and cared about my success, both during and after GHC”. Many of the other attendees also discovered new passions and new connections during the conference. Claire Contos, another attendee, was thrilled to start building her network abroad. “I connected with a woman from Expedia, and she started the process of putting me in touch with someone who recruits for the Barcelona location, where I am going to study next semester!” From discovering new opportunities to finding passions shared among people, GHC was full of surprises.
In addition, the workshops offered through GHC ranged among many topics in order to empower women in any element. There were workshops ranging from public speaking to building robots while being taught by top women in the tech industry today. “There is so much in tech,” says participant Tara Aggarwal, “and these workshops inspired me to look outside and connect with other people’s passions to introduce them to technology.”
In the end, Grace Hopper Celebration is a place to be empowered and learn about yourself. Sarah K’La Washington, an attendee whose mindset was to simply explore the various opportunities, found herself in some cool situations. She interviewed with Nintendo and Discover while also being personally empowered by Alavara. “They invited me to their reception, and they even paid for my Uber to come.” In addition, she was invited to have lunch with a Senior Technical Program Manager of Zoox, a self-driving car startup in San Francisco. The opportunities were endless. Sarah’s story is among thousands of women who attended Grace Hopper Celebration.
While Grace Hopper Celebration has countless opportunities, there were some pieces of advice attendees left behind for future GHC goers. “Plan ahead and submit your resume to the database early,” Lindsey Kitchell urges future attendees. While it could be intimidating to talk these companies, Claire offers a trick: “Have one product or a current news story to bring up to a company. It gives you something to talk about and something to keep the conversation flowing!” The IU Center of Excellence for Women & Technology hopes to continue this empowering experience and to sponsor more women in the future to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration for years to come.
Students Lindsey Kitchell, Haley Hatfield, Sarah K'La Washington, Tara Aggarwal, Claire Contos, Natalia Johnson and Senior Associate Director Michelle Bartley-Taylor attended the Grace Hopper Celebration in October.