Badass Women in Tech

DC Tech Meetup founder (and iStrategyLabs CEO) Peter Corbett has a new partner in crime to plan the group’s wildly popular monthly meetings. SocialRadar’s Shana Glenzer will be joining him to plan meetups and her first was a female-focused event last night at the MLK Library in DC. Six women tech entrepreneurs presented their businesses and a panel discussion was held on women in tech. The night was also a chance for DCFemTech to introduce itself. The group is made up of 25 organizations focused on networking and educational events and tech training. 

We snapped three of the six presenters. Abigail Seldin (left) launched College Abacus, a site funded through grants and described as a Kayak for college financial aid. By plugging in a few details, a college-bound person can find financial aid for their particular needs. Uyen Tang (middle) founded STYLECABLE, a site that allows up and coming designers to sell their wares through the site. Carla Valdes presented Handpressions, an app that allows users to make art with their child’s hand and foot prints. The other companies that presented were BlueLabs, Greater Places, and ClickMedix. 

This panel made it clear that DC has a collaborative community of “badass women,” says Code for Progress program director Aliya Rahman (far left). Some of it has been fueled by the rising number of groups dedicated to helping women learn tech skills or just groups of women who get together regularly to collaborate on projects. Some words of wisdom: Finding mentors and being a mentor are equally important; expand beyond your normal network of women; attend events even if it doesn’t sound like it's geared to your skills; and highlight your own work as well as others in the tech community. The rest of the panel was White House creative director of digital strategy Ashleigh Axios, Mapbox COO Bonnie Bogle, and NPR digital strategist and associate editor Melody Kramer.