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During our shifting economic climate, AnitaB.org, a nonprofit social enterprise, and Founder Gym, an online program training underrepresented founders on how to build successful companies, both saw the need to provide timely information for women founders. In turn, they created TheStartUp! , a six-part webinar series to provide free information for women founders in need of relevant resources and information to help build and scale their businesses amidst this unique time. The idea behind this collaboration is a culmination of business development and learning opportunities for women technologists and aspiring tech founders. Both companies are thrilled about this new partnership as they contribute their level of expertise in community engagement for women in tech. “Through this partnership, we will foster the development of more women-led startups that are equipped to navigate challenging experiences and overcome turbulent times, to scale world-class, high-impact companies,” shared...
The nonprofit organization supports an inclusive tech environment through competitions, tech-based programs, and the annual Grace Hopper Celebration. Women have been pioneering new frontiers in technology for decades. Examples of trailblazing women technologists include Katherine Johnson, a former NASA research mathematician, who helped the United States put a man on the moon. Dr. Patricia Bath was the first Black woman to complete a medical residency and have a medical device patented. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. Her expertise allowed her to join the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II to work on the Mark I computer and, after the war, the more advanced Mark II and Mark III computers. Grace also helped create the first compiler for computer languages and was the first female recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 1991. In 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her many contributions...
The organization plans to support its goal with inclusive initiatives, programs and competitions. Fighting for a seat at the table in the world of tech is hard enough for women, but keeping that spot often proves to be just as difficult. Women make up just 25 percent of the tech workforce and the statistics are even more disproportionate for women of color (1 percent for Latina/Hispanic women, 3 percent for Black/African American women and 5 percent for Asian women), according to a study by NCWIT . Another sobering statistic cited is that 56 percent of women will leave the tech sector by the time they are mid-career professionals. Big tech companies such as Facebook, Lyft, and Google release annual diversity reports to show how they are combatting diversity disparities that are rife in the industry. Organizations such as AnitaB.org are taking active steps to ensure that women technologists have space in an industry that has traditionally shut them out. AnitaB.org is diligently...
Dr. Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland is committed to fighting for social justice and the advancement of women in tech. Dr. Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland is a pioneer in a new facet of the human rights movement — the tech industry. Serving as the chief operating officer of AnitaB.org , Dr. Copeland believes she is fulfilling her true purpose in life by advocating for the advancement of women in technology. Promoting equity and social justice are foundational principles in her distinguished career. “I really do see technology, diversity, and access as the new human rights issue in a digital, global economy where technology is changing every day,” said Dr. Copeland. Dr. Copeland has a multifaceted professional background, with roles as varied as a cultural anthropologist, urban designer, and award-winning global social impact executive . In her current role with AnitaB.org, she works with the CEO to design the nonprofit’s strategic goals and operational processes so that they align to promote...
Anita Baker has written some of the greatest music of our time. From “Giving You The Best That I’ve Got” to “Caught Up In The Rapture,” to “I Apologize,” the Ohio native brought her own sultry brand of class and sophistication to R&B and soul. And while her best-known track might be “Sweet Love” — which frequently gets covered by none other than Beyoncé during her live concerts — Anita Baker has a musical repertoire that has lasted for generations. Recently, too, she won the battle of a lifetime to call her creations her own. In September 2021, Vibe reported that the songstress — who, like many artists of her time, signed a predatory record deal that forced her to give up the rights to both her songs and her likeness — finally got the rights to her masters, and more, back, since she’d “outlived” her contracts (Simply put: contracts can only last for a certain number of years — unless the words “in perpetuity” are in the contract — and Baker’s contracts had all expired, i.e. she...
The latest data on diversity in tech was recently released and the results are all too familiar—progress is slow, and women of color are still underrepresented. The Top Companies for Women Technologists report by AnitaB.org, a group that works for the advancement of women in computing, is a national program that identifies key trends around the representation of women technologists in the workforce. The group publishes the data every year before its Grace Hopper Celebration conference. AnitaB.org surveyed 80 companies across industries including tech, media, and finance. Overall, the organization found that this year roughly 24 percent of women held technical roles, about a 1 percent increase from last year. The report shows that representation grew at nearly all career levels, including the executive level, where women in these roles rose to 18.5 percent from 16.4 percent in 2017. Despite small gains for women in tech, growth in these roles for women of color remains stagnant or...