The LifeCycle of Engagement of Girls and Women in Tech

At TechGirlz, we've spent the last decade peeling back the onion and found that role models in the workforce will not fix the problem, mentors will not fix the problem, improving the pipeline at college or even high school will not fix the problem. Techgirlz has identified that by engaging girls in technology in middle school via curriculum designed to inspire these girls and delivered by members of the industry, we can actually make headway on increasing girls and eventually women in technology. However, what happens when we inspire a generation of young girls to consider technology as a career but don't have a plan to keep them engaged? Once the fire has been lit, how are we planning to keep these girls interested as they weave their way through high school, college and the start of their careers to ensure that these efforts are not wasted. In the first half of this talk, Tracey Welson-Rossman, founder of TechGirlz, will discuss the TechGirlz methodology that has successfully lit the technology fire in over 5000 middle school girls. The second half of the talk, presented by Cristina Martin Greysman, Sr. Director, Partner Experience at Sungard Availability Services, will focus on ideas for keeping these girls in the tech pipeline throughout for their entire careers.