Share Your Story: My Day At Google Women Techmakers' Conference

Hey, Brown Girl Tribe! I had the distinct honor of attending the Google Women Techmakers in Cambridge, MA, at the Google Campus. Over 200 women and a few good men attended, ready to celebrate and be empowered by International Women's Day. I was surrounded by and connected with women who are software engineers, front-end developers, illustrators, and more. Here I am, thinking I wasn't "good enough" because I didn't have the high profile of being an engineer or developer or having a degree within one of the STEAM industries. However, I had to return to reality because I am a self-learner and self-taught digital storyteller, digital social media strategist, and business developer. Like, I help people with their branding, social media, and storytelling. I also taught within the technology education program as a graduate assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi while obtaining my Master's of Social Work.

Selfie in front of the Google sign

I want to provide some of my actual tweets and tips from the conference. I was tweeting and updating throughout the conference. By the way, I suggest you open up a Twitter account, especially if you are attending any workshops or conferences anytime soon. Twitter is a great way to make your point, connect with attendees, panelists, and speakers, and retweet important information. I love Twitter and love using it as an attendee. Need Twitter assistance? Holla at your girl. 

I was inspired by the morning speakers, who consisted of a great mixture of diversity and inclusion of women in tech who founded and run successful startups. I was definitely inspired by two of the speakers: Julie Farago of Verily and Melissa James of The Tech Connection.

Julie Farago discussed how we shouldn't forget that we are humans who are imperfect and emotional.
Here are some highlighted Tweets and Tips from Julie Farago:
1. "Trust that you and your human self are needed." #WTM17
2. "If you want to make something great, you need to start with your own conviction."
3. "I'm a great manager not just because I'm smart but because I know that things like joy and sorrow exist at work."

Julie's segment helped me appreciate that it is okay to be vulnerable, passionate, and emotionally involved in my work. Sometimes, I beat myself up because I feel I should be doing more or I should be at a certain destination at 34 years old. Thank you, Julie!

When I share my story!

Next up was Elsa Sze, an Asian American sistah who spoke truth to power about the lies we tell ourselves daily. She spoke about how her father was diagnosed with a terminal illness right when he retired. She spoke about how her father lived his whole life by graduating from college, traveling the world, and being until his death. Here are some Tweets and Tips from Elsa Sze:
1. "Our voices matter every day."
2. "We are good at finding things. We are not good at wayfinding."
3. We have our own internal critic." (I Can't, I won't, I haven't, I'm Not, and I shouldn't)

Elsa's segment was everything because she kept it 100. We beat ourselves up over minuscule things and need to give ourselves more credit. We often limit ourselves and self-sabotage our greatness and never live an entire, passionate, and purposeful life.

Lastly, Melissa James, Founder of The Tech Connection, spoke truth to power. She spoke on being a first-generation Caribbean-American college student and on her journey of becoming a tech recruiter and starting her own tech company without a background and degree in STEAM. I was relieved and excited because her story is similar to mine. She went ahead and started her own inclusive and diversity recruitment firm due to her background in a start-up tech firm and working for Google in the past.

POV from Speechless

Here are some Tweets and Tips from Melissa James:
1. Build your confidence and work on pitching.
2. You need to have a sense of urgency.
3. Pay attention to your curiosity. That's God's way of telling you to research and act on that curiosity if applicable and upbeat.

So....the morning session was everything. The afternoon breakout session was exciting, with much storytelling and vulnerability involved. Speechless provided us with the beautifully explained Improv. If you ever did Improv, you understand how to stay in the flow, get out of your feelings, freestyle, and liberate yourself. I absolutely love Improv because we got to freestyle, laugh, come up with creative stories, empower one another, stay in the moment, and laugh. We had some laughs at the stories we created and did not count the mistakes and said what was on our minds and hearts. It was freeing because we did not hesitate, we did not hold back anything, and we didn't judge one another. 

Lastly, the panel discussion was done right. I have been on panels in which it was quite a bore because people were holding back and giving cookie-cutter answers. The panel at Google Women's Techmaker did a fantastic job capturing various women with diverse backgrounds who took risks, saw a need, failed, picked themselves back up, failed again, and used their differences to the best of their ability. I genuinely appreciate my Nigerian auntie, Yetunde, who started a coding school in Nigeria and is here in the States. She saw a need and went for it despite lacking resources and help. I love how she answered the question about being a Black Woman. She started being a black woman, which is like having Superpowers. People are not used to being in specific spaces, which makes them curious and interested in helping with funding or other needs. I did a Yass because being a Black Woman is powerful and magic, and we can sit at any table and communicate with folks on different levels. We know how to create resources, use our contact, and use our voice and ask for what we want and need. 

Afterward, when I met Yetunde, I told her she inspired me to work hard in my online work in digital strategic planning, social media, content creation, and digital storytelling. She gave me her card, and I will follow up with her immediately. 

I had a wonderful time at the conference despite feeling as if I wasn't this or wasn't that. I fell right in place and represented all the Brown Girls who are trying to find their way and find their power. I genuinely appreciate the empowerment and education I have received. Much love to all the Women Techmakers who are doing dope things while looking FLY as ever doing it.

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