Leaders progress in propelling Utah women in tech forward, despite ranking No. 36 in U.S.
Cheryl Conner speaks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kim Wittman of Vivint speaks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Women and men enjoy TED style talks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Women and men enjoy TED style talks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Davis Smith, founder of clothing company Cotopaxi, speaks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Kim Wittman of Vivint speaks during the Talent Innovation Summit on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Draper. The event was geared towards women and how they can innovate and evolve successfully in corporate and other workplaces. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
“Continuing the conversation” was the focus of the second Women Tech Council Talent Innovation Summit Tuesday.
This Summit sought to further last year’s talking points on the subject of inclusion in the technology workplace. More than just talking though, the WTC and its business partners are also proactively driving awareness and action on more diversity in the tech industries. Cydni Tetro, co-founder/executive director, and fellow WTC members announced the recent launch of a new WTC program, the Inclusion Best Practices Forum.
As Tetro explained, the Inclusion Best Practices Forum’s work is to partner with local companies who are leaders in workplace diversity. Forum organizer’s plan to break down these companies’ best practices so they can be duplicated and adopted within other companies. Through this, they will be building data – in the form of doing case studies, outlining benchmarks and gathering a knowledge resource base. This will ultimately “drive adoption of an inclusion framework.”
“One of the things we want to create are these environments where we’re identifying what people are great at, and we’re helping them on their paths to success,” Tetro said of the Forum’s purpose. “We’re looking at what are those things that help us systematically provide that, and then drive the performance of our entire community so we get the benefits we want along the way.”
Utah is improving when it comes to women in tech, Tetro said, but it has a long way to go. She displayed a slide that stated that since 2005, women in managerial and/or professional occupations has risen from 30 percent to 38 percent, measured in 2015. While that is good, that only puts the state at 36th out of 50 comparatively. Tetro and Forum members believe business in Utah can do better.
“Having this environment where we support each other and we help you navigate those paths is super important,” Tetro said of the Forum’s purpose. “We’re excited to create this program and watch its impact.”
Local executive-level speakers presented TED-style talks touching on different aspects of career development including: the importance of communicating authentically as a brand, finding what inspires you to look beyond yourself, “raising your hand” to make sure people know what you can do, taking “whole-hearted risks” for those things you are passionate about, and to paying attention to the work that matters.
“It’s one thing to work hard, it’s another thing entirely to work hard smartly. We must daily endeavor to live the life we imagined,” said Kat Kennedy, chief product officer at Degreed, quoting from her own father and also author Henry David Thoreau. “When we do so — and this is my favorite part – we will meet with success unexpected in the common hours.”
The Summit is part of the WTC’s goal to provide “mentoring, visibility and networking for women” in the tech industry. Other WTC events throughout the year that reach out to young girls, college students and business women are also targeted to this same goal.