Celebrating and supporting female speakers in technology
By Tiffani Jones Brown As a young almost-professional, I never wanted to speak at tech conferences—because I never wanted to be in tech. The idea of new innovations or bleeding edge anything never appealed to me. I wanted to be a philosophy professor, creative writer, or therapist. It wasn’t until I realized I’d be $80,000 [...]
Not too long ago, my six-year-old son invited a friend from school over for a play date. A few minutes before the boy was due to arrive, my husband and I got a call from the boy’s mother saying he had a question for us. When she put him on the phone, he began asking about a number of safety-related issues: “Do you have any smoke alarms in your house? How many? Has your house ever been on fire?”
We were a little confused why he was asking. Turns out, the little boy was pretty anxious about going to new places, generally, and about fire safety, specifically. Apparently, he would go through this routine before he visited a new place so he could feel comfortable enough to go.
I sort of think he was onto something.
By Emily Lewis Sweaty palms. A keen urge to pee despite plenty of visits to the restroom. Mixed martial artists sparring in my stomach. A shaky voice that sounds like I could cry at any moment. A flight instinct that wants to overpower fight. This is me before giving a presentation; I get stage fright. [...]
By Rachel Lovinger The number of women at tech conferences is growing, but we still represent a fraction of the attendees, not to mention the speakers. You may look around at a conference and say, “There aren’t a lot of people like me here.” But that’s not inherently a bad thing. Hear me out. Sometimes [...]
Do or do not. There is no try.
– Yoda
When I was five years old, my parents took my sister, Ana, and me to Hong Kong as part of a business trip. On the last day, my mother took us into a toy store and, feeling generous, told us to pick out anything we wished. Ana chose a red toy piano.
I chose a toy computer.