Women in Tech Tweetup
Did you know? Women in Technology only make up 30% of our industries work force.
Our very own Community Manager, Caitlin McKinlay, is helping build a new community in Kamloops called Women in Tech. Today she takes to our blog to share how this exciting new initiative creates a welcoming, encouraging group for present and future tech savvy females.
From Vision to Reality
Amanda Chan, Community Builder at Kamloops Innovation Centre (KIC), and I teamed up to plan the first Women in Tech event after connecting on Twitter last summer and meeting in real life at a local tech event. “We met at Tech Brew and it occurred to us that we had chatted before on Twitter.” Amanda explained to CBC Radio Host Shelly Joyce in a recent interview. “We were standing there talking tech and as I looked around the room I realized how few ladies were present at the event and thought to myself, something must be done,” I explained, “As we grow, we can host events, workshops, connect mentors and more.”
#WomeninTech Tweetup: The Kick Off Event
Last Thursday evening, we hosted our first Women In Tech event at the Kamloops Innovation Centre. We dubbed the event a Tweetup because of the way Amanda and I met. After a few months of planning and strategizing, the event went off without a hitch. The co-working space at KIC was buzzing with ladies from tech start-ups to senior corporate positions.
The Tweetup hosted three unique speakers including RTOWN’s Regional Digital Media Strategist, Cristina Ostapovitch. Cristina opened the event by talking about her fears of moving from traditional media sales into digital sales and growing up in the age of being told science and technology was for boys.
The second speaker, Tammy Uyeda, recently launched a fitness app, FitSpark. She spoke about the balance of work and family and it’s importance, the struggles of being a very new entrepreneur and how she found a better way to use technology to her advantage.
The evening was capped off with an appearance from Tarah Ferguson, who Skyped in from Vancouver, so innovative! Tarah created Tarah Talking Tech, a web video series where she interviews inspiring women who are tech entrepreneurs, CEO’s, venture capitalists and government officials. Her personality, motivation and drive reflect in the series and we suggest every women in tech check it out!
As you looked around the room you could see the head nods and smiles. The atmosphere was positive and encouraging. You could tell that everyone in the room could relate one way or another to the speaker’s stories, and it was incredibly inspiring. Amanda and I have had great feedback from the kick-off event and look forward to hosting more!
Get Involved!
Are you interested in participating in the next Women in Tech event? Follow Caitlin @cmck_ and Amanda @amanda__chan on Twitter for the latest news!
