Themyscira: GHC 2017 Orlando – My Kind of Theme Park

Themyscira: GHC 2017 Orlando – My Kind of Theme Park

GHC 2017 - My Kind of Theme Park

I was grateful to be a part of GHC2017. A shaping, motivating, inspiring and super fun experience! After a long flight I landed in Orlando. In “Wonder Woman”, Themyscira is the island of powerful and talented Amazonians, this is what GHC felt to me these three days. 18,000 women (and a few men) from all over the globe were gathered to celebrate the importance of women in technological fields and other minorities. I have learned a lot, met wonderful women and had a lot of fun. 

Day 1: Started with the keynote lectures in huge hall (has to populate 18,000 people after all). The problem was presented to us, instead of going toward equality we’re just going backwards. Within the years there are fewer woman studying and working in technological fields. At the keynote, I got to see an amazing presentation by Dr. Su Black who overcame an abusive marriage and Dr. Fei Fei Li who said that AI shouldn’t just benefit us all, but reflect us all. And ended with Melinda Gates who opened my mind to the fact that people can come to love technology at different stages in their lives and for very different reasons.

“if you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected will happen.” Dr Su Black

Later, I participated at a workshop by Jo Miller on how to become a person of influence. Where she emphasized how our behavior teaches people how to treat us and six sources of influence. A lecture I will definitely pass on to my community. 

“Influence is the next skill after knowing your job.” Jo Miller

I ended the day with a lecture by Chieko Asakawa, an IBM fellow who’s sight was damaged at a young age but nothing is keeping her from doing what she loves - develop the future of AI technology to people with disabilities.

Debby Sterling - Goldieblox

Day 2: Opened the day with another inspiring keynote. First I got to hear Mary Sipo, an entrepreneur who started her career in the space and satellite field just like myself. Later, I was amazed by Debby Sterling and her company Goldieblox, a toy company for girls designed to develop early interest in problem-solving. 

In the afternoon, I attended two technical sessions, NLP and outer space sessions which were very interesting. Then I headed to the career fair, to hear about companies I haven’t heard about and mainly collect SWAG :P . I ended the day at a WTM scholars party at Epcot, crazy party with a lot of food and fun music, where I reconnected with my fellow WTM scholars and traversed the “whole world” in one hour at Epcot.  

“The most important choice in your career is your spouse.” Telle Whitney

Day 3: I started the day in a workshop on how to peruse like an entrepreneur. Which is a skill needed not only for the entrepreneur’s world but anywhere you want to influence. Later I walked to the student lab opportunity, round tables of short lectures where I had a great lecture on early career development by Sonali Kalgaonkar. The keynote ended the day, where Telle Whitney the outgoing GHC CEO gave a farewhell speech. Then I prepared myself for the Friday night celebration. The celebration was crazy. Loads of food, dancefloor gadgets, silent party area. Imagine 18,000 women on the dancefloor, the floor was literally shaking. But my highlight of the day was unexpected… I got to rock the dancefloor with Telle and of course took a selfie! 

My message to all woman technologists out there is never to apologize for who you are, don’t compromise on a workplace that is not satisfying you needs as a female engineer or act to change it at your workplace, stand up for yourself and talk to your male friends, engage them, and make them see your needs and most importantly be there for one another. And to all my male colleagues, notice the gender difference at work and be an equal partner at home. 

And now after my small written speech, ...

10 TIPS on how to make the most out of GHC:

1.  Download GHC app. It has the session’s schedule and type (engagement, guidance, inspiration, and connection) where you can create your own agenda, a fun newsfeed and more.
2.  Be prepared with your “30 minute commercial” to explain who you are and what you do.
3. Add new colleagues to your LinkedIn as soon as you meet them.
4. Prepare your schedule a day in advance. I did it via the app, and it was very convenient. Sometimes lectures get overloaded so prepare an alternative just in case. Notice some off the good lectures run twice at the same day so better go to the earlier one to have two chances.
5. Wear comfortable shoes. I walked an average of 8 km per day only inside the building.
6.  Bring a notebook to write notes and inspirational quotes.
7. Bring a bottle of water (there’re coolers to fill them).
8. Bring a jacket, it gets cold inside.
9.  Arrive early if you want a good seat at the keynote (30 minutes before lectures).
10.  Leave room in your suitcase for SWAG. You’ll get SWAG and lots of it! 

Tips for GHC

On the way back the GHC Themyscira bubble started to fade, the percentages gender have switched back and the challenges still remained. I returned fully motivated to make a change in my local circles at my workplace, university and community and I hope I passed some of the motivation to you. 

Thank you WTM for this opportunity. 

See you next year at GHC 2018!

A blog about how to apply for a scholarship for GHC, coming up soon J

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