Diversity in IT can be a challenging topic to discuss while it’s relevance is so important. In the past 5 years there is more and more awareness around how IT can improve its awareness in within this arena. The industry as a whole is predominantly male, and there are only approximately 23% women that have careers in this field. That being said, diversity is more than just being about a man or a woman, this topic span cultural differences, age discrimination and so much more.
Diversity within IT
While at VMWorld last week, both Phoummala Schmitt and myself attended an eye-opening event called “Diversity Best Practices in the Technology Industry” held by Nutanix. This event covered diversity within the IT industry in a way that was educational, and inspiring.
While at this event we heard from several industry experts and more on this topic. Here are couple of the individuals we heard from the evening of the event.
Anja Manuel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, RiceHadleyGates LLC
Author, former diplomat and advisor on emerging markets, Anja Manuel is Co-Founder and Principal along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm that helps US companies navigate international markets.
She is the author of This Brave New World: India, China and the United States, published by Simon and Schuster in May 2016. From 2005-2007, she served as an official at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for South Asia Policy. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, Manuel now also lectures at Stanford University.
She is a frequent commentator on foreign policy for TV and radio, and writes for numerous publications. As part of her book tour, in the past few weeks she appeared on Charlie Rose, BBC, Fox Business, and was published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Fortune and others. Her book was favorably reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, SF Chronicle and several other US, Indian and UK publications. She sits on a number of profit and non-profit advisory boards including Governor Brown’s California Advisory Council on International Trade and Investment.
Tamyra Walker, Director of Recruitment and Retention THE DREAM CORPS
Tamyra has 10 years of youth development experience as an impassioned STEM educator and is fueled by an altruistic belief in equity for all who is wish to join the STEM community. Her diverse experience in education spans across classrooms in Dallas, Greece, and Oakland, and includes STEM program and curriculum development as well as teacher leadership and professional development. She is also a featured educator on a Stanford University Massive Open Online Course on formative assessment.
Advocacy for tech equity has been a natural progression from being a STEM educator in schools that primarily serve African American and Latino youth. The lessons learned about the role of responsiveness and empowerment of identity when cultivating inclusive STEM focused environments has been invaluable in her acting role as the Director of Recruitment and Retention for #YesWeCode.
Tamyra holds a BA in Sociology from Howard University and a MS in Mathematics Teaching and Learning from Drexel University.
Attendees also had the opportunity to network with each other, but also during the event ask questions and provide feedback on this topic. To learn more about these speakers and more, check out the following link. https://events.nutanix.com/event/?id=1468874989-578d40edb7311-5796899adb2ed
Current Status
The evening concluded with a new and special episode of Current Status where we dove into this topic even more. Co-hosts Theresa Miller and Phoummala Schmitt were joined by Steve Kenniston of Infinidat and John from IBC. Listen here to get our thoughts about the Diversity event and this topic as a whole as it applies to the IT Industry.
Catch this episode and some of our others on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-current-status/id1048373815?mt=2&i=374798135