“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.” Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.

The corporate world has posed significant barriers to gender equality. The technology industry has been coloured with underrepresentation and gradually building gender gaps. Tech and AI are some of the only STEM fields that have seen a steady decline in women’s participation in the past 20 years. However, there are women in tech now countering this artificial ceiling. Reshma Saujani, Susan Wojcicki, Kimberly Bryant, Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Kate Crawford are just a few influential names of women who have broken all odds and powered through the patriarchal workforce to lead renowned organisations like YouTube.

It has now become tremendously essential to talk about rising Women in Tech in 2020 amidst a global pandemic as the dynamics of traditional workspaces have also evolved. Newer and most recent changes in social movements in the USA and Canada have shown the many hindrances that minorities - including women go through regularly.

Emerge SFU brings you six inspiring women thriving in male-dominated STEM fields to tell us their story. It is time to listen to their challenges and success as they navigate through the tech industry, forming an emerging minority.

You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how women navigate tech-related industries, learn how to stand out in your career, and make new connections.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

About us

Emerge strives to inspire students to explore a variety of new and valuable skills through a series of free workshops, teaching them concepts that they may not typically learn within their faculty. By combining these workshops with networking events, they can get a taste of what other potential career paths may look like and discover new passions.

Keep up with this event and more from Emerge SFU!

Follow us on our social media here:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/emergesfu

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EmergeSFU

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/36152070/

Panelists

Lichen Ni - Machine Learning Engineer

Laisa Barros - Production Support Engineer @ Pixar | Freelance UX Designer | Advocate for Accessibility & Inclusion

Helen Knight - Founder and CIO of Helen Knight Consulting, Inc and guest lecturer at University of Calgary

Alice Li - Staff Engineer at Squarespace

Surbhi Jain - Senior Application Engineer at Synopsys Inc

Jasmine Shaw - Women in STEM advocate | Systems Engineer

Agenda (tentative, subject to change)

1:00pm - 1:05pm: introduction

1:05pm - 2:05pm: speakers' presentation

2:05pm - 2:50pm: podcast-style q&a

2:50pm - 3:00pm: wrap-up and end

Before the event, here are some must-knows:

Rules

Be respectful - this panel/networking event is for everyone to learn from each other and engage with panelists in a respectful manner.

Do not spam the chat. The chat is for attendees to connect with each other and network.

Keep mics muted. To prevent distractions, please keep your mics muted. During the Q&A section, you may ask a question by typing it in the chat and our MC will read it out. You can also use the "raise hand" function to ask one of the panelists a question yourself.

Be on time. We have a packed schedule with our many wonderful speakers, so we will start at exactly 1pm PST / 4pm EST.

Recording

The event will be recorded. However, the recording will NOT be posted; only highlights of the event will be converted to short clips to be posted on our social media.

Feel free to keep your camera and mic on, since we can crop you out.

Social Media

Keep up to date with our social media!

Instagram: https://instagram.com/emergesfu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmergeSFU

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/36152070/

Discord: https://discord.gg/YvB863F

Zoom Link

If you RSVP'd to our event, you'll get a Zoom link in your email!

If you have any access needs (CART captioning, ASL interpretation, etc.) please email us at emergesfu@gmail.com a week before the event start date.