Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Women of Color Play a Vital Role in Leading Silicon Valley Diversity Turn-Around Efforts




Will Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Keynote Address 
Set Silicon Valley on Fire?

The Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women-On Point or Missing the Mark?
28 women of color will make history with their contributions.

San Francisco, CA: Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is set to deliver the keynote address at the inaugural Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women (#LeadOnCA), which opens on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. The conference is the first of its kind from Watermark, a 22 year old women’s leadership organization originating in Silicon Valley that, according to its website, offers “programs that connect, develop, and advocate for women.” The website makes no direct references to connecting, developing, and advocating for women of color to advance in leadership positions.

As stated in a very well-written February 12, 2015 article by Nicole Sanchez (@nmsanchez), a diversity thought leader who appeared in USA Today, “More white women does not equal tech diversity.” Women of color are value-added in the tech industry based on both our shared experiences as women and our different experiences as women of color. Being both a woman and a woman of color creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace that is missed when our voices, our stories, and our relevance is subsumed and merged into general terminology and melted into a general pool called “women.”

Slated to attract over 4,500 women, the primary challenge for the Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women is not simply to pull off a woman’s conference; it is to deliver on the growing national and business mandate to transform Silicon Valley from a majority white and male stronghold at the leadership levels and increase global competitiveness by being more diverse and inclusive at all levels of the organization and in all segments and all sectors.

If Silicon Valley and San Francisco, ground zero for the tech industry and the innovation industry, are to actually make good on implementing more effective diversity and inclusion goals such as Intel Corporation Chief Executive Officer Brian Kranich’s call to make Silicon Valley “less white and less male,” they must directly and meticulously align their actions with their spoken goals and visions for moving forward.

Women of Color Play a Vital Role in Leading Silicon Valley Diversity Turn-Around Efforts

Without knowing what the content of Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton’s keynote address will be, I can only emphasize that Senator Clinton will need to do more than simply deliver a compelling message about women in leadership and leadership in tech. In my opinion, Senator Clinton must hit a home run in order to set the stage for a diversity and inclusion turn around that expressly, directly, and visibly acknowledges the vital role women of color will play in driving diversity and inclusion in tech, Silicon Valley, and the innovation economy. The conference made a passing reference to diversity and inclusion in its initial press release but has said nothing since about the critical role women of color will play in making this conference a success for increased diversity and inclusion. Women of color are an important economic and political demographic; we are entitled to precision and specificity in the continued conversations about women in leadership in Silicon Valley and the global conversations about increasing the number of women at the leadership table. The presumption that one-size-fits-all when it comes to conversations about women in leadership roles must come to an immediate halt.

As Sanchez concludes in her USA Today article, if we are to move forward, we have to “[b]e precise with language. When building groups or events for ‘women in tech,’ be honest about the limitations of your network. If a "women in tech" event is going to be comprised of white women, be clear. And if calling an event "white women in tech" makes you uncomfortable, there is more work to do.”

A lot is riding on the success of this Watermark conference as the first major Silicon Valley woman’s conference of 2015. Will Watermark deliver at this critical moment in the battle to change the Silicon Valley diversity and inclusion narrative and match actions with words? Will the conference shift the energy in Silicon Valley and the tech industry to signal a real climate change that actively includes women of color at the leadership tables? Has Watermark actively marketed its events to women of color by engaging media partners, resource groups, and bloggers that reach into our networks such that they are reaching women of color and millennials of color? Tuesday is opening day and there is nothing on the website that indicates whether or not Watermark has taken the lead on these matters. The jury is still out.

Women of Color Making History as Pioneers

Despite the conference website’s lack of direct discussion regarding the vital role of women of color in changing the face of leadership in Silicon Valley and tech companies, Watermark has a slate of over 25 prominent women of color set to make history with their contributions to the inaugural conference.

These women are making history and breaking down some spoken and unspoken color barriers to entry in this field of play. Women of color leaders are showing up and it is akin to calling in the cavalry to help amplify our voices and our contributions. These leaders by and through their visibility and participation confirm that there is a ready and waiting pool of highly qualified women of color leaders willing to lend their personal and professional reputations to a first-time conference event to help make the dream of diversity and inclusion a reality for women and girls of color. While all are amply qualified, only one is named as a keynote speaker: Candy Chang.

I am very confident that the inaugural Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women will launch with much success for women and spark a major after-party celebration for the planning team. The pivotal question, however, remains: will the conference meet the needs of women of color regarding their participation at the leadership tables? One thing is for certain: if there is another conference in 2016, Watermark needs to see more African American and Latina women as featured keynote speakers and more direct engagement and agenda items regarding the unique experiences of women of color as pioneers in leadership in tech and Silicon Valley. Getting real about diversity and inclusion in Silicon Valley means getting real about engaging women of color at the leadership tables and as keynote speakers.

Dr. Raye Mitchell is founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the New Reality B-corp, a California benefit corporation and The New Reality Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization that provides leadership training for women and girls of color to prepare as global leaders.  She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California (USC), an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She is retired from the practice of law and works full-time in philanthropy, entertainment production, and as an author to support programs advancing diversity and leadership for women and girls.


Keynote Address



Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton








Women of Color of the Watermark Silicon Valley Women's Conference 2015



CANDY CHANG is the creator of the Before I Die project.
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ANA CORRALES is senior vice president of product operations at Cisco Systems. @cisco > 











SHELLYE ARCHAMBEAU is the CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based governance, risk, compliance (GRC) and quality management software company where she is responsible for running all facets of the business.  @shelarchambeau
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DR. GLORIA MAYFIELD BANKS is an internationally renowned motivational success strategist and trainer, who has consistently beaten the odds to achieve extraordinary success. @gloriabanks >

 <JALEH BISHARAT is senior vice president of marketing at Elance-oDesk speaks and writes frequently on various topics of concern to working women, including the future of work, flexibility as a talent management strategy, women in leadership and strategies for working parents.  @jalehbisharat
KIMBERLY BRYANT is the founder and executive
director of Black Girls CODE,a non-profit organization dedicated to “changing the face of technology” by introducing girls of color (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts. @6gems@blackgirlscode >


 <JACKIE GLENN is a seasoned executive in strategic planning, human resources, talent development and diversity and inclusion. @emccorp

CARLA A. HARRIS is the author of
“Strategize to Win,” and managing director and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley. Harris has degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Business School and numerous honorary doctorates. >

ROSALIND L. HUDNELL is vice president, human resources and chief diversity officer for Intel Corporation. @intel
<

YOKY MATSUOKA grew up assuming she would become a professional tennis player. After obtaining her degrees, she became a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and later at the University of Washington developing robotic devices for rehabilitating and assisting the human body and brain. >

<VERNÁ MYERS, Esq. is principal of Verná Myers Consulting Group, LLC (VMCG). She is a nationally recognized expert on diversity and inclusion within law firms, law departments and law schools.  Myers graduated from Harvard Law School and earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Barnard College, Columbia University. @vernamyers

MICHELE RUIZ is a bi-lingual entrepreneur and public speaker whose passions are entrepreneurship, empowerment and technology.
Considered a thought leader, Ruiz has been interviewed and quoted by major news organizations including CNN and The New York Times. @micheleruiz01 >

<FAYE SAHAI has more than 20 years of experience in leading innovation, catalyst for change and strategic initiatives across multiple companies such as Blue Shield, Deloitte, Charles Schwab, Disney, HP, Kaiser Permanente and Toyota. She serves on the Board of Directors for Berger Research Institute and the Alumni Board for Claremont McKenna College.

POOJA SANKAR is the founder and CEO of Piazza, which is changing the way technical students learn and find jobs. Piazza Careers, which was launched two years ago, enables recruiters to source these
students for technical jobs. @piazza >

<MERLINE SAINTIL is head of operations for the office of the CTO at Intuit. She is an international technology executive, business advisor and operations expert, having distinguished herself as a leader in fast growing sectors of cloud computing, mobile, online payments and commerce. @wtrmrk

CHRISTINE TSAI is a managing partner at 500 Startups where she oversees the accelerator program and distribution/growth team.  @christine_tsai
>

Expert Exchange

<KRISTI YAMAGUCHI captured the gold medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France in figure skating. Most recently, Yamaguchi has added New York Times best-selling author to her list of achievements by introducing her first children’s picture book. @kristiyamaguchi


KIM RIVERA is chief legal officer for DaVita HealthCare Partners (NYSE DVA), a Global Fortune 500 healthcare services company with 65,000 teammates and operations in 11 countries. @davita >

<GUNJAN AGGARWAL is head of human resources for Ericsson’s North American region. She is responsible for driving human resources strategy for the U.S. and Canadian region that has an annual revenue of $8.5 billion and an employee base of more than 16,000.  @ericsson

TRUDY BOURGEOIS is a renowned and respected authority on leadership development and diversity in today’s corporate America. Bourgeois is a featured blogger for The Huffington Post, writes for numerous trade publications and magazines, and has authored two books on leadership.  @trudybourgeois >
<SHARON BROGDON is the diversity director at Intel Corporation. In this role she oversees the company’s strategic approach to the retention and development of its underrepresented minority and Veteran talent, creates and drives pipeline strategies. She is a recipient of the Navy Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal. @intel

RASIKA JANARTHA is an account manager with Ericsson, managing sales engagements for End-2-End solutions in network technology.  She has an engineering background, having earned an M.S. in telecommunications from University of Maryland. @ericsson >
<SRIDEVI KONERU RAO is an integral part of the Cisco Product and Services portfolio leadership team. Rao earned an M.S. in computer science from SCU, California and an M.B.A. from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. @cisco

LINDA HARRISON was appointed as the executive director of MoAD in December 2013. Harrison also served on the board of EARN, a San Francisco nonprofit that helps low-income American families achieve financial stability and on the advisory board of Horizons Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit that actively secures the LGBT community’s future by promoting planned giving. >

<AISHA IBRAHIM received her formal culinary degree while attending the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Born in the Philippines, and an East Coast transplant, she has spent the last eight years working in such iconic Bay Area restaurants as Aqua, Foreign Cinema, Betelnut, before working her way up to executive chef of the Spanish-inspired Ramblas at the age of 24.


Social Media Roundtable

SUSAN CHANG is social media manager for Dropbox. Chang realized during graduate school at the London School of Economics that she could actually turn her love for social media into a real career. @sujinchang >
<MEGAN ROSE DICKEY is a former tech journalist turned startup enthusiast, now a producer at KITE. At KITE, Dickey produces content and supports KITE’s Fortune 1000 customers. @meganrosedickey


Small Business Roundtable

JIN ZHOU is the global programs manager for Women 2.0, where she is connecting, building, and inspiring the next generation of women leaders. An avid bookworm and explorer, 
she has traveled to over 30 countries. @soulcandies >

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