Women Speak Tech is a safe zone for digital media professionals to network and engage. If you are a marketer, creator, technologist, archivist, curator, or digital media professional involved with content, this is the place to share your expertise and experiences. Women Speak Tech Meet-ups are open to all genders and welcome other organizations to participate. Engage, connect, learn and grow- amazing things happen when we share key learnings and experiences. Join the discussion and elevate your industry voice by contributing to our blog. HOW WE ORIGINATED Formalizing Women Speak Tech seemed like a natural progression to engage a larger cross-section of industry professionals across technologies and disciplines who deal with the demands of increasing content and data. What started as a few women (and men at times) connecting casually at annual industry events, at local meet-ups, and/or via the occasional phone call, lunch catch-up or LinkedIn chat to commiserate or problem-solve together is gaining momentum. More and more, we need that additional lens or acknowledgment to stabilize and energize. In today’s fast-paced, fluid environments, collaborative relationships are the key driver to gain mindshare, commitment, and positive action. So let’s throw the net wider to engage relevant and related diverse constituents (e.g., marketers, creatives, and technologists) and leverage collective experiences and expertise to solve for change: emerging technology impacts; the sunsetting of legacy solutions and practices; on-boarding and effective adoption; and more. Furthermore, let’s network, share and mentor to support other women, invest in advocating the roles and opportunities for women, and fundamentally instigate positive exchange and action. Why women? For the most part, women have been underrepresented and historically seen in traditional archetypes or roles. Industry voices have been predominantly saturated by men. But the world is changing. Emerging technology, coupled with content and data explosion, has impacted the industry so that once-siloed areas of our organizations not only are now co-dependent but need to be innovative to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. To effectively optimize resources together, gender is irrelevant, expertise and collaboration are critical. Now more than ever we all need to take a page from Sheryl Sandberg, “lean in”, continue to redefine conventional thinking through positive action and pave the way to attract younger talent and new ideas. Website: http://womenspeaktech.com/ Facebook: Women Speak Tech Instagram: @womenspeaktech Twitter: @WomenSpeakTech