[Applause]
we are at war still now it’s not the
type of war that you’re probably
thinking about it’s the war for talent
it’s a challenge that businesses have
contended with for decades and the term
war for talent which was coined a little
over 20 years ago suggests that is
becoming increasingly difficult for
companies to find and keep talented
employees recent discourse on the matter
would like us to consider things like
cultural fit or cultivation of talent to
sustain our workforce but it’s
complicated it’s not a one size fits all
issue and there is no one-size-fits-all
solution what makes you stay with your
company is it the free coffee in the
break room is the medical benefits what
will make you leave right now the
conversation and technology is about
attracting and recruiting female talent
to the industry
it’s what’s referred to as our pipeline
problem the belief is that there are not
enough women in the industry because
there are not enough women with computer
science degrees in the pipeline what I
know is that the ones who are there will
eventually leave there is a mass exodus
happening right now women spend between
five and twelve years in technology and
then leave and more than twice the rate
of myth make rate of men due to
harassment discrimination poor treatment
lack of opportunities for advancement or
any combination thereof and it costs
tech companies sixteen billion dollars
annually to replace talent that’s left
just due to poor treatment so should
they continue to attract and recruit
female talent to the industry if we
eventually leave
on one hand I can think of 16 billion
reasons why they should but on the other
in a time with that smart device in your
pocket that’s turned off or that piece
of software that you use to do your job
requires updating every three to six
months and you’ve got a pool of highly
qualified technical women wanting to do
the work what I don’t understand is why
as a saltwater Gullah from the low
country of South Carolina I’m a
descendent of the enslaved Africans
brought here from West Africa who live
along the Sea Islands and the coastal
plains of the southeast Gullah Geechee
describes our heritage our way of life
it is a beautiful and unique blending of
African dialect and Creole we are a
beautiful and unique people and as a
Gullah from the low country of South
Carolina
I lead a multimillion-dollar technology
program critics would say that I do not
look the part that I am not the right
gender that I am not the right color but
I’ve learned to survive and thrive in
technology for 19 years because I as we
say in Gullah LUN fugu fish learn to go
fish there is a muscle
a type of staying power needed to anchor
yourself to something that you truly
care about despite of the ebb and flows
of the industry any industry and what
comes to mind for me is the iconic photo
of Rosie the Riveter by J Howard Miller
we can do it I love this picture it
emerged around World War two and it was
used to imbue feminine patriotism and
pride to me this photo represents
feminine creativity innovation
resilience adaptability and hope back
then the idea of working for factories
and shipyards resonated with a lot of
people women and their families migrated
north and even moved out west including
women of color they to sought
opportunities but faced many hardships
and were often relegated to doing a
dirtiest and lowest paying jobs see they
didn’t look to part either for some they
were the wrong gender and for others
they were the wrong color yet they
persisted I share all of that to set the
backdrop what was happening in the
country at the time because while all of
this was going on there was someone in
my family who embodied feminine
creativity innovation resilience
adaptability and hope meet Rebecca my
great-grandmother this photo was taken
around the late 1940s around the
conclusion of World War two Rebecca was
a widow who had to be very creative to
support herself and her family so she
LUN Fogel fish my great-grandmother
taught my grandmother fugu fish and my
grandmother taught me for go fish and I
believe that we can use the principles
of fishing the Gullah Geechee way to
build that muscle and to help create a
life
the legacy for women in technology to go
fish
my great-grandmother had a specific spot
and was saying with the high level of
certainty when I happen alone oh wow you
have to know what you want we never went
fishing without the expectation of
catching something I was taught to be
prepared to be particular and to be
persistent chau gordi clean child go
early you’d say the early bird gets the
worm
she’d say child gordy clean day clean
means the break of dawn a new day give
yourself the opportunity to see your
situation with new eyes reframe it if
necessary such please but search for
your spot do not be afraid to carve out
a niche for yourself create one if
toss your nets or cast your line girl in
that picture that’s not a fancy fishing
rod that’s a sugar cane her makes you a
fishing pole if we wanted to bait crab
we wouldn’t use the same thing to kiss
swamp shrimp a fish fish figure out what
tools to use look at a water look at the
water we have to see ourselves in it to
be successful when we were at the ferry
I was afraid to go to the edge I thought
I would fall in but once I made the
decision to ground myself in my
environment I now go straight to the
edge looking down fully expecting to see
myself and when I look beyond myself all
I see are opportunities paint on buffer
no mine now admittedly I didn’t quite
but Buckra literally meant master or
overseer in my great-grandmother’s time
it was a term she was taught as a little
girl master overseer I didn’t say it was
a term of endearment but when you do not
have civil rights and you are constantly
regarded as other and treated as such
language becomes an incredible form of
empowerment it’s so easy to look at what
other people have and think that what
they have is better which means that we
feel like we don’t have enough at the
ferry I would get distracted I see those
guys come with their boats and their
fancy rods and some are more camouflaged
to go fishing but my attention was
elsewhere and as I’m with her and I’m
looking I would hear her voice boom
Peter Buck RINO mine and I would
immediately come back to that moment
because it wasn’t about her past it
wasn’t about my future it was about that
present in being there with her in that
moment because she knew remember we
never went fishing without the
expectation of getting something so she
knew that if I was focused on them that
I wasn’t getting mine last one good if I
keep no good tourim back what do you
think
ah you speak Gullah now if it’s good
keep it if it’s not third back we have
to learn to say no women often believe
that whatever it is we get we have to
accept and we are no longer relegated to
doing the dirtiest and lowest paying
jobs disrupt the industry and when
you’ve gotten your prize tell somebody
about it I got a big one
women have to learn to tell our own fish
tales and not wait for someone else to
I too have faced harassment
discrimination poor treatment and lack
of opportunities for advancement in my
career it is real but here’s my truth
ona half a know what when I walk and I
know what I want I know what I represent
it is that same feminine creativity
inhalation resilience adaptability and
hope that Rosie represented and that
Rebecca embodied for my ancestors I am
their dream their hope fully realized
for Rebecca I am her legacy thank you [Applause]
we are at war still now it’s not the
type of war that you’re probably
thinking about it’s the war for talent
it’s a challenge that businesses have
contended with for decades and the term
war for talent which was coined a little
over 20 years ago suggests that is
becoming increasingly difficult for
companies to find and keep talented
employees recent discourse on the matter
would like us to consider things like
cultural fit or cultivation of talent to
sustain our workforce but it’s
complicated it’s not a one size fits all
issue and there is no one-size-fits-all
solution what makes you stay with your
company is it the free coffee in the
break room is the medical benefits what
will make you leave right now the
conversation and technology is about
attracting and recruiting female talent
to the industry
it’s what’s referred to as our pipeline
problem the belief is that there are not
enough women in the industry because
there are not enough women with computer
science degrees in the pipeline what I
know is that the ones who are there will
eventually leave there is a mass exodus
happening right now women spend between
five and twelve years in technology and
then leave and more than twice the rate
of myth make rate of men due to
harassment discrimination poor treatment
lack of opportunities for advancement or
any combination thereof and it costs
tech companies sixteen billion dollars
annually to replace talent that’s left
just due to poor treatment so should
they continue to attract and recruit
female talent to the industry if we
eventually leave
on one hand I can think of 16 billion
reasons why they should but on the other
in a time with that smart device in your
pocket that’s turned off or that piece
of software that you use to do your job
requires updating every three to six
months and you’ve got a pool of highly
qualified technical women wanting to do
the work what I don’t understand is why
as a saltwater Gullah from the low
country of South Carolina I’m a
descendent of the enslaved Africans
brought here from West Africa who live
along the Sea Islands and the coastal
plains of the southeast Gullah Geechee
describes our heritage our way of life
it is a beautiful and unique blending of
African dialect and Creole we are a
beautiful and unique people and as a
Gullah from the low country of South
Carolina
I lead a multimillion-dollar technology
program critics would say that I do not
look the part that I am not the right
gender that I am not the right color but
I’ve learned to survive and thrive in
technology for 19 years because I as we
say in Gullah LUN fugu fish learn to go
fish there is a muscle
a type of staying power needed to anchor
yourself to something that you truly
care about despite of the ebb and flows
of the industry any industry and what
comes to mind for me is the iconic photo
of Rosie the Riveter by J Howard Miller
we can do it I love this picture it
emerged around World War two and it was
used to imbue feminine patriotism and
pride to me this photo represents
feminine creativity innovation
resilience adaptability and hope back
then the idea of working for factories
and shipyards resonated with a lot of
people women and their families migrated
north and even moved out west including
women of color they to sought
opportunities but faced many hardships
and were often relegated to doing a
dirtiest and lowest paying jobs see they
didn’t look to part either for some they
were the wrong gender and for others
they were the wrong color yet they
persisted I share all of that to set the
backdrop what was happening in the
country at the time because while all of
this was going on there was someone in
my family who embodied feminine
creativity innovation resilience
adaptability and hope meet Rebecca my
great-grandmother this photo was taken
around the late 1940s around the
conclusion of World War two Rebecca was
a widow who had to be very creative to
support herself and her family so she
LUN Fogel fish my great-grandmother
taught my grandmother fugu fish and my
grandmother taught me for go fish and I
believe that we can use the principles
of fishing the Gullah Geechee way to
build that muscle and to help create a
life
the legacy for women in technology to go
fish
my great-grandmother had a specific spot
and was saying with the high level of
certainty when I happen alone oh wow you
have to know what you want we never went
fishing without the expectation of
catching something I was taught to be
prepared to be particular and to be
persistent chau gordi clean child go
early you’d say the early bird gets the
worm
she’d say child gordy clean day clean
means the break of dawn a new day give
yourself the opportunity to see your
situation with new eyes reframe it if
necessary such please but search for
your spot do not be afraid to carve out
a niche for yourself create one if
toss your nets or cast your line girl in
that picture that’s not a fancy fishing
rod that’s a sugar cane her makes you a
fishing pole if we wanted to bait crab
we wouldn’t use the same thing to kiss
swamp shrimp a fish fish figure out what
tools to use look at a water look at the
water we have to see ourselves in it to
be successful when we were at the ferry
I was afraid to go to the edge I thought
I would fall in but once I made the
decision to ground myself in my
environment I now go straight to the
edge looking down fully expecting to see
myself and when I look beyond myself all
I see are opportunities paint on buffer
no mine now admittedly I didn’t quite
but Buckra literally meant master or
overseer in my great-grandmother’s time
it was a term she was taught as a little
girl master overseer I didn’t say it was
a term of endearment but when you do not
have civil rights and you are constantly
regarded as other and treated as such
language becomes an incredible form of
empowerment it’s so easy to look at what
other people have and think that what
they have is better which means that we
feel like we don’t have enough at the
ferry I would get distracted I see those
guys come with their boats and their
fancy rods and some are more camouflaged
to go fishing but my attention was
elsewhere and as I’m with her and I’m
looking I would hear her voice boom
Peter Buck RINO mine and I would
immediately come back to that moment
because it wasn’t about her past it
wasn’t about my future it was about that
present in being there with her in that
moment because she knew remember we
never went fishing without the
expectation of getting something so she
knew that if I was focused on them that
I wasn’t getting mine last one good if I
keep no good tourim back what do you
think
ah you speak Gullah now if it’s good
keep it if it’s not third back we have
to learn to say no women often believe
that whatever it is we get we have to
accept and we are no longer relegated to
doing the dirtiest and lowest paying
jobs disrupt the industry and when
you’ve gotten your prize tell somebody
about it I got a big one
women have to learn to tell our own fish
tales and not wait for someone else to
I too have faced harassment
discrimination poor treatment and lack
of opportunities for advancement in my
career it is real but here’s my truth
ona half a know what when I walk and I
know what I want I know what I represent
it is that same feminine creativity
inhalation resilience adaptability and
hope that Rosie represented and that
Rebecca embodied for my ancestors I am
their dream their hope fully realized
for Rebecca I am her legacy thank you [Applause]
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