Humanizing Tech

Rachel Parrott, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at New Relic shares actionable programs any organization can take to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace. Join us in learning the difference between an ally and an accomplice, finding career growth through employee resource groups, the neuroscience of why we should treat each other well, and many other tips.

Get inspired to make a difference with Ochuko Akpovbovbo, a talented student and entrepreneur, who joins us to share her passion for tech, startups, and making capital accessible for women of color. She shows us the power of being involved in the community through her work with Girls Inc., the Portland Incubator Project (PIE), and PDXWIT. Ochuko reminds us about the importance of staying connected through community building, being willing to talk about hard things while maintaining respect for one another, how race informed her experience since coming to North America, and what ideal representation looks like.

Wonder what the current COVID-19 situation means for PDXWIT, an organization where coming together in person feels foundational? Join Kimberly and Dawn as they interview Hazel Valdez and Elizabeth Stock, PDXWIT's Operations Manager and Executive Director, to explore what changes the community can expect, both short and long term. And how we can still enjoy what we love about this community in new formats as we navigate this new normal, apart together.

Continuing our WIT(H) series (women in technology history), hosts Dawn Mott and Kimberly Embry celebrate Women's History Month. We highlight the stories of these women in technology: Everlyn Boyd Granville, who increased access to information and promoted education, Joan Ball, who revolutionized computer dating despite hardship, the innovative mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, and Donna Hammond, a Portland native and electrician who work has made trades a safe place for women and diverse workers. Do you have a mentor or someone you want us to highlight? We want to hear from you! Share your thought or feedback at podcast@pdxwit.org or tag us on your favorite social media platform #pdxwitpodcast.

Jesselle Hedman shares how her background in organizational communications theory helped her impact the workplace through an equity, inclusion, and diversity lens. From building out a diversity and inclusion program at Vacasa to recruiting for Thinkful, a forward thinking career accelerator program with an emphasis on student success. She shares the pitfalls of focusing on diversity alone, conflating diversity and inclusion, and creating solutions without communicating with the communities these efforts are attempting to solve for. Jesselle shares concrete steps organizations can take to create an inclusive environment from flexible holidays to diverse candidate pools, hiring panels, and more. We hope you are inspired to follow Jesselle's lead in starting conversations around equity, inclusion, and diversity, and then empowering those around you to continue them.

Sometimes a new year means a new beginning, and maybe some new travel plans too. On this episode of Breaking the Glass Ceiling, we meet with Megan Bigelow, mother, wife, Director of Customer Reliability Engineering and founder of PDXWIT. Listen in as Megan shares her plans for 2020, including a shift in one of her many major roles.

Dana Lawson makes coding exciting and human interactions deep and authentic. From a modest beginning on the New Mexico - Texas border, Dana Lawson has achieved the prestigious title, VP of Engineering at GitHub. But she did not get to where she is now by simply chasing a title; she put in the work and continues to study and hone her craft. Join us as we venture with Dana from studying Fine Arts in college, through her early years programming in the Army, to working with many startups, to where she is now. Dana gets personal with the podcast team, sharing experiences of discrimination and stories of growth and shedding ego in this technology-centric episode.

Ever the team player and coach, Marcus Carter joins us to talk about self-awareness and ultimately, self-acceptance. Marcus shares personal stories of realizations through conversations with his wife and moments of growth with his two daughters. He shares the steps he’s taken to get into tech throughout his career path and into his current role as a talent partner and community advocate. There are lessons of acceptance of self and others. Marcus Carter’s inquisitive mind and non-judgemental nature enlivened our recording studio. His willingness to open up with us was inspiring. We hope this episode motivates you to bring your full, compassionate self to the office and uplift those around you where ever you go, as he did with us.

Like many of us, Gabrielle Blackwell longed to feel included in her one-time chosen home of Portland, Oregon. But something didn’t feel right. Although organizations like PDXWIT provide us with a safe space to be ourselves and many ways to get involved, Gabrielle felt something was missing, but could that something be found inside herself? From her first commission-based sales job in tech to her current role as a sales manager, her story is one of both hope and hardship. Back in her native Chicago, Gabrielle joins us to share some lessons on how being vulnerable allowed her to take the first steps to feeling included in the world of tech. Episode Guide: 0:00 - 20:00: Introduction to Gabrielle Blackwell 20:00 - 35:00: Discussion about inclusion 35:00 - 50:00: Discussion about vulnerability

Natalie Ruiz shares her story of authenticity rocketing into career growth. Once a used-car salesperson, Natalie entered AnswerConnect through a temporary agency in a sales position. Through her fearless honesty and proven track record of workplace wins Natalie has achieved something she never dreamed possible, she is now CEO. We explore what happened when she opened up at work about changes in her personal life and the community that vulnerability can foster. A fabulous mom, an efficient “work from anywhere” CEO, Natalie Ruiz shares how she gets it all done.

On the Season Two opener of Breaking the Glass Ceiling, new hosts Kimberly Embry and Dawn Mott interview Megan Bigelow. For those who don’t know, Megan is the founder and president of PDXWIT. In this episode, she shares the evolution of PDXWIT's values. Megan goes deep into her journey with self-awareness and how she’s leveraged some uncomfortable realizations to create a more inclusive organization. Megan also gives some real life examples of how an individual's small scale efforts can make a big difference.

Karvari Ellingson was having a hard time after getting her Fine Arts degree. She got tired of having to choose between eating and paying bills, so she picked up “computer programming” out of a list of “10 highest paying careers” and ran with it.   Karvari joined a coding school and couch surfed to make it work. After completing the program, she earned a coveted paid internship and after trying different programming teams she found her spot in DevOps.  Along with a new job, she is a mentor at the PDXWIT mentorship program, and she helps code school recent grads with interviewing skills.   It all sounds like the tech turn-your-life-around dream, but she still has to put up with a lot of sexism, and other -isms that a career in tech seems to bring.

On this episode of BTGC, Juliana and Brit are speaking with Dayna Del Mar, who uses she/her pronouns. Dayna brings a unique combination of community building, people and culture operations, global travel and talent acquisition to her role as CEO of PackDen. A Long Island native, Dayna has pursued adventure all over the world, from high-end yachts to villages in Ghana, from the Himalayas to the Andes. She was drawn to the West Coast in pursuit of more adventure and a thriving technology community, so it’s no surprise that she founded PackDen - an app that will help outdoor enthusiasts connect to friends, gear and guides in order to adventure outdoors.

H1B visa immigrant, Ruth Lesser, has been living in this country for 10 years and just bought her first home in 2018. In March of this year she found out her visa extension had been denied and is in the process of petitioning a review with her current employer and their legal team. If that attempt gets denied by US Citizenship and Immigration again, she will have only 4 weeks to leave the US. We have changed her name to allow for the comfort of anonymity during this challenging time, as this is being recorded on May 5, and the decision will be communicated to Ruth within the month. Ruth's contact: ruthlesser38@gmail.com In the following hot second interview we talk to Amy Nelson, founder of The Riveter, who goes by she/her pronouns. She tells us about the opening of a new Riveter co-working space and why they chose Portland for it.

H1B visa immigrant, Ruth Lesser, has been living in this country for 10 years and just bought her first home in 2018. In March of this year she found out her visa extension had been denied and is in the process of petitioning a review with her current employer and their legal team. If that attempt gets denied by US Citizenship and Immigration again, she will have only 4 weeks to leave the US. We have changed her name to allow for the comfort of anonymity during this challenging time, as this is being recorded on May 5, and the decision will be communicated to Ruth within the month. Ruth's contact: ruthlesser38@gmail.com

Perry is a passionate champion for underrepresented minorities in tech, who uses they/he pronouns. Born in the UK, they are a passionate champion for underrepresented minorities in tech. Before joining Netlify, Perry was a student and afterwards, an instructor at Epicodus, a coding bootcamp. They’ve been an active member of several communities that support underrepresented identities in tech, including Lesbians Who Tech, Out in Tech, and PDXWIT.

In this episode, your co-hosts Juliana Kutch and Brit Syer talk with Lindsey Murphy aka Crazy Aunt Lindsey, who goes by she/her pronouns. Lindsey is the creator of the YouTube web series: The Fab Lab With Crazy Aunt Lindsey. In the show, she turns science into fabulous DIY experiments that engage kids of all ages! After experiencing career burnout on the East Coast, Lindsey moved to Portland where her creativity and entrepreneurial drive led her to many successful partnerships with local and national communities, from TEDx Portland to NASA. Books mentioned: - A Women's Guide to Successful Negotiating by Jessica and Lee Miller - The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

On episode number two, your co-hosts Juliana Kutch and Brit Syer talk with Abeer Eltanawy, who uses she/her pronouns. Abeer is from Egypt and moved to the Bay area in 2014. She then moved to Portland to be with her husband and daughter in 2016. She has completed a Master of Arts in Cancer Research and is currently working on her Master of Science in Information Technology, while creating a space and name for herself in the new field of cheminformatics. Currently Abeer faces a new challenge working out her visa details in the midst of this current political climate.

On this very first episode co-hosts Brit Syer and Juliana Kutch interview Katrina Johnson, who uses she/her pronouns.  Katrina is a Chicago born Data Science student who won the 2018 PDXWIT Scholarship award, which she will use to attend a conference on machine learning and artificial intelligence in Austin, TX. She has dual Masters degrees in English and Philosophy, and hopes to use her newfound data science superpowers to fight for social justice.  

Rose Kaz joins the podcast to share how we can bring together creativity and tech.   A visionary leader, expert connector and advocate for Women’s Rights, Rose is passionate about creating a more equitable future for ALL by emulating that world within the brands she builds.   We discuss how we can all adopt more creativity into our lives, create the environments we need for creative flow, and her love for podcasting (and Portland!).   Check out her podcast “Money, Sex, and Politics”, as well as her digital ecosystem LBI Digital.