I was pumped I had just started my first
job in tech helping women learn to code
to get high-paying jobs I was in one of
my first conversations and we were
talking about a class launch and trying
to figure out the best ways to teach
starting coding concepts and I was
really excited because I thought this is
the perfect marriage between my skills I
really have something to offer here I
had struggled my way through this course
most of it I was a former educator and I
was new to tech so let’s go so the
conversation continues and it gets stuck
at this point we’re trying to figure out
should we keep a certain problem set in
the class or not and I was I felt really
strong about keeping it and so I thought
here’s my moment I’m gonna let them know
that I you know I’ve added value to this
team so I said you know I think we
should keep this problem set it really
helped me understand foundational coding
concepts yeah they’re gonna be so
excited that I’m on their team Chris
Christmas here it’s awesome I look
around the room and everyone is silent
no one says anything okay moments later
a dude basically says the exact same
thing I said and he gets a standing
ovation dude that’s a great idea I’m
like so we continue talking and this
dynamic continues I raise a point it
gets shot down I raise another point
it’s ignored and after a while I shut
down
I was drew from the conversation
entirely and I said forget it you see as
a woman and especially a woman of color
and in my case a black woman society
teaches you to keep your head down don’t
take up too much sake space sorry don’t
ruffle any feathers don’t piss anyone
off just do the work and it will get
noticed and may you see messages like
work hard and silence let your success
fear noise
I saw this as I was scrolling through my
Instagram feed mindlessly on a women and
tech advocacy page and my first thought
was no no that is not how this works
that is not how any of this works what
CEO top contributor leader of an
organization just toils and silence and
hopes somebody notices none you don’t
know any you know you enter the text on
your toe work hard putting your time
earn your stripes focus have discipline
get an internship learn new things build
side projects take on more at work make
open source contributions teach others
you hear and then you hear this this
word meritocracy Tech is a meritocracy
it’s a system in which the talented
advanced based on their achievement it’s
all about what you can do so I go all
right I’m gonna hustle women say we’re
gonna have some real learn all this
stuff learn all the code and then you
asked me where are the women
where are the women attack why is it
that 41% of women leave the tech field
in their 10th year as opposed to just
17% of men in my opinion it’s because of
messages like this keep your head down
do all the work stay signed I’ll say
nothing and then when you realize that
is not the approach it’s not the path to
success it’s too late you’re burned out
you’ve been disrespected drags looked
over for far too long
so in my experience what I have found is
that the only way you can advance in
your career in any career is to have
someone in a position of influence or
power acknowledge advocate for and
advance your ideas the mark of a true
leader is not someone that has the best
hair the best dress has the best ideas
knows how to do all the things the most
charismatic it is someone who can look
at and acknowledge the source of good
ideas it’s someone that can look outside
of their constructs of what talent and
leadership is to look at the
contributions and value of others that
may or may not look think or act like
them so after that first conversation I
needed to say something and so we had
another conversation and I thought so I
talked to my boss and I said did you
notice what happened there
I said they talked over me the entire
time
It was as if I was not even there I need
you to advocate for me when that happens
I need you to say something so the next
meeting we had I shut it down I stopped
a cold when it started happening and I
said okay here’s the thing on you all
you all are expert programmers that’s
true you know what you’re talking about
but I’m an expert educator that’s the
reason I’m here right now I’m an expert
too you have to respect what I say now I
recognize that everyone does not have
the confidence or even agency to do this
right
let me get penalized for doing this kind
of thing and that is why it was so
important to have my manager there he
backed me up he said how can we build an
inclusive safe environment for people to
learn if we can’t even do it on our
teams it starts with us we need to do
better so after that everything was
amazing it was great no
it wasn’t it wasn’t but it was a work in
progress
and over time things got better and my
manager really bus was shaped and formed
by this when this venes things kind of
arose again
he was one of my biggest advocates and
an advocate for the other women in our
organization and as time went on the the
value and contributions of women were
valued in a different way for the better
because you see at the end of the day
Tec is for people you have to have
diverse teams and diverse leadership and
people at that table when you have
diversity of thought ideas identity and
experiences you have new insights better
software innovation and money in a study
done in 2015 by McKinsey they looked at
366 public companies and they found
those in the top quartile for gender
diversity where 15% more likely to have
returns above the industry average for
racial and ethnic diversity it was 35
percent more likely companies benefit
financially by having teams that are not
primarily male and pale
[Applause]
and they’re great mail until people are
amazing I’m in love with one so so
you’re probably wondering what can I do
as a leader as a peer a co-worker how
can I do this and if I want to give you
some scenarios that I have found myself
in that many of you maybe have found
yourself in and think about redirects
ways to bring the attention back to the
original source of ideas and in this
case women so much like the situation I
was in that I shared a woman sure has an
idea it gets ignored summary States to
this fact that it was theirs it would
have been really nice to have someone in
the room say actually crystal just
mentioned that you know crystal could
you say that again I think it’s really
important you hear that point in the
moment you are bringing the attention
back to her so everyone in that room
knows that she has good ideas she has
something to say another situation is a
little bit 2-fold you may find yourself
um you know I found myself in a
situation where I have a peer who shares
with me share something with me and
confident she says I have a really great
idea and I think we should do this I’m
too afraid to say something they’re not
gonna listen to me anyway or you’re
sitting in a meeting this has happened
to me someone mentions a really awesome
idea for data analysts and analysis
excuse me and it’s awesome and I realize
it is the original idea of a woman
someone that I know and that is not
mentioned at all so you give her a stage
in that moment you bring it you say that
that original idea was this person but
the way you do it you may say yeah I was
actually at lunch with Priya the other
day she mentioned that I think she’s
really close to the problem so I think
the next time we have a conversation
about this we should have her come in
and present about it I think she can
really articulate it well think of how
huge this could be for her career
having the opportunity to have a stage
in an audience with some of the most
influential people in your organization
that’s huge
and you lose nothing by doing that and
in that situation I have found myself in
is that I heard a good idea and I kind
of want to share it and maybe anonymize
the person who had it originally this
will make me look good but I don’t do
that I say her name I give her the
credit and then that it’s a win-win
situation you know this you have good
ideas and the good ideas come from other
people as well you so you have to burn
the patriarchy together kidding but we
must always attempt to lift as we climb
every step in our career there is
someone coming up behind us then we can
help advocate for it’s not even just
grooming these people have good ideas
bring them up with you put them to the
forefront so no hard work does not speak
for itself you do and others do so I
want to leave you with some names the
women on stage here with me today
they’re mothers grandmothers godmothers
play mothers I’m teas teachers mentors
sisters some of them I haven’t even seen
in a long time they probably don’t even
remember who I am
but I have a very public way of
acknowledging the love and life that
they have breathed into me the work that
they have done and sewn into me they are
the reason why I’m standing here before
you today so I want you to take a minute
I want you to think of your names who
are the women in your life who have
picked you up and put you in places you
were too afraid to go who are the women
who put you in a position you were not
qualified for instance you’ll figure it
out
who are the women who have moved
mountains and raised hell for you to
have a shot think of them maybe you have
a Camila a Tamra a brandy a Margo a
Helen maybe you have one think are their
names give thanks and do what they did
thank you
job in tech helping women learn to code
to get high-paying jobs I was in one of
my first conversations and we were
talking about a class launch and trying
to figure out the best ways to teach
starting coding concepts and I was
really excited because I thought this is
the perfect marriage between my skills I
really have something to offer here I
had struggled my way through this course
most of it I was a former educator and I
was new to tech so let’s go so the
conversation continues and it gets stuck
at this point we’re trying to figure out
should we keep a certain problem set in
the class or not and I was I felt really
strong about keeping it and so I thought
here’s my moment I’m gonna let them know
that I you know I’ve added value to this
team so I said you know I think we
should keep this problem set it really
helped me understand foundational coding
concepts yeah they’re gonna be so
excited that I’m on their team Chris
Christmas here it’s awesome I look
around the room and everyone is silent
no one says anything okay moments later
a dude basically says the exact same
thing I said and he gets a standing
ovation dude that’s a great idea I’m
like so we continue talking and this
dynamic continues I raise a point it
gets shot down I raise another point
it’s ignored and after a while I shut
down
I was drew from the conversation
entirely and I said forget it you see as
a woman and especially a woman of color
and in my case a black woman society
teaches you to keep your head down don’t
take up too much sake space sorry don’t
ruffle any feathers don’t piss anyone
off just do the work and it will get
noticed and may you see messages like
work hard and silence let your success
fear noise
I saw this as I was scrolling through my
Instagram feed mindlessly on a women and
tech advocacy page and my first thought
was no no that is not how this works
that is not how any of this works what
CEO top contributor leader of an
organization just toils and silence and
hopes somebody notices none you don’t
know any you know you enter the text on
your toe work hard putting your time
earn your stripes focus have discipline
get an internship learn new things build
side projects take on more at work make
open source contributions teach others
you hear and then you hear this this
word meritocracy Tech is a meritocracy
it’s a system in which the talented
advanced based on their achievement it’s
all about what you can do so I go all
right I’m gonna hustle women say we’re
gonna have some real learn all this
stuff learn all the code and then you
asked me where are the women
where are the women attack why is it
that 41% of women leave the tech field
in their 10th year as opposed to just
17% of men in my opinion it’s because of
messages like this keep your head down
do all the work stay signed I’ll say
nothing and then when you realize that
is not the approach it’s not the path to
success it’s too late you’re burned out
you’ve been disrespected drags looked
over for far too long
so in my experience what I have found is
that the only way you can advance in
your career in any career is to have
someone in a position of influence or
power acknowledge advocate for and
advance your ideas the mark of a true
leader is not someone that has the best
hair the best dress has the best ideas
knows how to do all the things the most
charismatic it is someone who can look
at and acknowledge the source of good
ideas it’s someone that can look outside
of their constructs of what talent and
leadership is to look at the
contributions and value of others that
may or may not look think or act like
them so after that first conversation I
needed to say something and so we had
another conversation and I thought so I
talked to my boss and I said did you
notice what happened there
I said they talked over me the entire
time
It was as if I was not even there I need
you to advocate for me when that happens
I need you to say something so the next
meeting we had I shut it down I stopped
a cold when it started happening and I
said okay here’s the thing on you all
you all are expert programmers that’s
true you know what you’re talking about
but I’m an expert educator that’s the
reason I’m here right now I’m an expert
too you have to respect what I say now I
recognize that everyone does not have
the confidence or even agency to do this
right
let me get penalized for doing this kind
of thing and that is why it was so
important to have my manager there he
backed me up he said how can we build an
inclusive safe environment for people to
learn if we can’t even do it on our
teams it starts with us we need to do
better so after that everything was
amazing it was great no
it wasn’t it wasn’t but it was a work in
progress
and over time things got better and my
manager really bus was shaped and formed
by this when this venes things kind of
arose again
he was one of my biggest advocates and
an advocate for the other women in our
organization and as time went on the the
value and contributions of women were
valued in a different way for the better
because you see at the end of the day
Tec is for people you have to have
diverse teams and diverse leadership and
people at that table when you have
diversity of thought ideas identity and
experiences you have new insights better
software innovation and money in a study
done in 2015 by McKinsey they looked at
366 public companies and they found
those in the top quartile for gender
diversity where 15% more likely to have
returns above the industry average for
racial and ethnic diversity it was 35
percent more likely companies benefit
financially by having teams that are not
primarily male and pale
[Applause]
and they’re great mail until people are
amazing I’m in love with one so so
you’re probably wondering what can I do
as a leader as a peer a co-worker how
can I do this and if I want to give you
some scenarios that I have found myself
in that many of you maybe have found
yourself in and think about redirects
ways to bring the attention back to the
original source of ideas and in this
case women so much like the situation I
was in that I shared a woman sure has an
idea it gets ignored summary States to
this fact that it was theirs it would
have been really nice to have someone in
the room say actually crystal just
mentioned that you know crystal could
you say that again I think it’s really
important you hear that point in the
moment you are bringing the attention
back to her so everyone in that room
knows that she has good ideas she has
something to say another situation is a
little bit 2-fold you may find yourself
um you know I found myself in a
situation where I have a peer who shares
with me share something with me and
confident she says I have a really great
idea and I think we should do this I’m
too afraid to say something they’re not
gonna listen to me anyway or you’re
sitting in a meeting this has happened
to me someone mentions a really awesome
idea for data analysts and analysis
excuse me and it’s awesome and I realize
it is the original idea of a woman
someone that I know and that is not
mentioned at all so you give her a stage
in that moment you bring it you say that
that original idea was this person but
the way you do it you may say yeah I was
actually at lunch with Priya the other
day she mentioned that I think she’s
really close to the problem so I think
the next time we have a conversation
about this we should have her come in
and present about it I think she can
really articulate it well think of how
huge this could be for her career
having the opportunity to have a stage
in an audience with some of the most
influential people in your organization
that’s huge
and you lose nothing by doing that and
in that situation I have found myself in
is that I heard a good idea and I kind
of want to share it and maybe anonymize
the person who had it originally this
will make me look good but I don’t do
that I say her name I give her the
credit and then that it’s a win-win
situation you know this you have good
ideas and the good ideas come from other
people as well you so you have to burn
the patriarchy together kidding but we
must always attempt to lift as we climb
every step in our career there is
someone coming up behind us then we can
help advocate for it’s not even just
grooming these people have good ideas
bring them up with you put them to the
forefront so no hard work does not speak
for itself you do and others do so I
want to leave you with some names the
women on stage here with me today
they’re mothers grandmothers godmothers
play mothers I’m teas teachers mentors
sisters some of them I haven’t even seen
in a long time they probably don’t even
remember who I am
but I have a very public way of
acknowledging the love and life that
they have breathed into me the work that
they have done and sewn into me they are
the reason why I’m standing here before
you today so I want you to take a minute
I want you to think of your names who
are the women in your life who have
picked you up and put you in places you
were too afraid to go who are the women
who put you in a position you were not
qualified for instance you’ll figure it
out
who are the women who have moved
mountains and raised hell for you to
have a shot think of them maybe you have
a Camila a Tamra a brandy a Margo a
Helen maybe you have one think are their
names give thanks and do what they did
thank you
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