Porat will be the only woman serving as a C-level executive at Google. Last year, she told Politico that she thought about how to bring more women into positions of power at large companies:
“I think what Sheryl Sandberg said about the importance of “leaning in” is very true but it’s not sufficient. Because if you are leaning in to a door that is nailed shut, you are just going to get bloodied and tired of trying to push that door open. So you have got to have the next level, which is, “how do you open up those doors to the ever-bigger roles?”
”—Fusion: The most powerful woman on Wall Street just left to work at GoogleThese startups are working to leverage technology to level the playing field for minorities and women in tech.
Did those adorable Supergirls at the fifth-annual White House Science Fair this week make you alittle weepy, or was that just me?
HW: You’re young, female and Latina in a venture world that’s largely middle aged, white and male. Do you see this industry changing over time?
ADH: I do see this phenomenon changing. Venture capital looks the way it does because the nature of the business is relationship driven. Increasingly, VC’s are realizing that addressing the needs of higher income people in urban areas won’t be enough to build many billion dollar businesses: that’s why they’ll eventually be drawn to recruit folks from more diverse perspectives to their teams to find deals that fit a different profile: that includes more women, people of color, and people who have personal experiences with social mobility.
After six years of operation, the New York startup sells for more than $250 million.
Congratulations, LearnVest!
Ron Lumbra, who heads up the CEO and board services practice at Russell Reynolds, said boards typically recruit sitting CEOs or CFOs, but increasingly they also want at least one director with experience in cybersecurity, tech spending or social media. Executives with those skills often fall outside the traditional pipeline, presenting new opportunities for women and minorities.
A podcast from Tech for Good TV with participants at London’s Tech City International Women’s Day recently.
There was a period a couple years ago at BBH when we were keeping an eye out for great female talent. Before everyone gets their boxers in a twist over affirmative ovarian action, we weren’t hiring women over men. Just making sure to keep a special eye for talented women. Then, after a while, a whole lot of the best people who came to us just happened to be women.
Once we got past some point of critical mass of women, it seemed to help bring in new ones. When I interviewed a female creative or team, I could tell them that they wouldn’t have to worry about being the ones pigeonholed onto the chick stuff. There was no girl jail awaiting them here.
”—The day we stopped being special by Laura Fegley in CampaignThe Libertine community is made up of diverse, eclectic and global thinkers with an insatiable curiosity for ideas, a sense of fun and adventure, and a ruthless commitment to getting shit done.
Congrats to Ada’s Lister Debbi Evans on the re-launch of Libertine and creating the Libertine 100!
For all you creative women out there, a new newsletter by Kristen Marano:
Creative Women Weekly is an e-mail newsletter that highlights the work of creative women from around the world. I curate the stories to save you time, and help you find inspiration outside your city.
Sign up here.
500 Startups’ Christine Tsai talks about the most important factor to landing startup funding … and it’s not what you think.
What do female Nobel Laureates have to share about leadership, feminism, and peace in honor of International Women’s Day? What do you ask these incredible women who risked their lives for the advancement of peace and the end of violence against women, girls, and entire nations?
Attention, investors.
We are finally ready with our survey to see what women in tech think about government policies related to them, and what we think the next government could do represent our needs better – hopefully we will influence it going forward, in ways big and small.
WE NEED
YOU ALL TO FILL IT IN and let us know your thoughts! The survey will
only be as good as the women we represent. With over 1000 women in
technology, a large majority of whom have fairly clear and strong
opinions, we think there’s no better place than Ada’s List to do this.
So please take the survey, which is less than 20 questions long and
shouldn’t take you too much time: https://www.tickbox.org.uk/ada
To be clear, we welcome anyone who is 18+, identifies as female and is working in technology in the UK (or, for non-residents, have an affiliation with the UK/UK politics) to take this survey, even if they are not currently a member of Ada’s List. This means if you have women in tech networks or groups at your workplace or in your community, we would love to have them fill it in as well. Please share it with all of them – the more data we have, the more robust the output will be. They are all also welcome to join Ada’s List if they are not already a member, but it is by no means a pre-requisite to fill in the survey.
The responses will be completely anonymous – we will not have any information as to who is filling it in, so please be as honest as you want to be.
Those not based in the UK – if you could share the survey with any UK-based women in tech, we will really appreciate your assistance in getting the word out. Of course, if you have opinions on UK politics, you can of course fill it in.
The last date for responses is Monday, March 30th. This will give us the time we need to collate output. We intend to share our findings with all of you and the wider world by the end of April.
Sincere thanks are also due to Ada’s Lister Rebecca Martin, who has created the survey for us on Tickbox,
a new platform to encourage engagement in politics, launching in April
before the elections.
Here’s the link to take the survey again: https://www.tickbox.org.uk/ada
A HUGE thank you to all of you for participating in and sharing the survey in advance – let’s get our voices heard!
Apple has announced it will invest more than $50 million into a number of nonprofit organizations, as part of a multi-year effort to increase the presence of women, minorities and veterans working in the technology industry.
International Women’s Day is almost upon us. Every year the global festival throws up exciting new ideas and quotes as hundreds of women speak and perform to emphasise the importance of female solidarity and culture. Here are just a few names to get you started.
Congratulations to Ada’s Lister Sarah Drinkwater, Head of Google Campus, who is on this list!
A more equal, welcoming corporate world is beneficial for everyone, and these men are working to make it happen.
PowerToFly President Katharine Zaleski admits: “I didn’t realize how horrible I’d been – until I had a child of my own.”
Dara Blumenthal, Kappie Farrington and Josh Upton discuss gender in the workplace with Matthew Daniels at Undercurrent, a good listen
Share how well your company supports the women who work there. It’s anonymous and takes 3 minutes!