Info

Diva Tech Talk Podcast

Easy to consume Interviews with women in technology to share insights into leadership, innovation and breaking down the big issues women face in a tech-savvy world. We interview women leaders all around the world from CIOs and Founders, to creators and nonprofit executives, covering generations of innovation. Everyone with whom we've crossed paths has a story of success. Don’t get tangled along the way in your journey; listen in and learn from dynamic divas who share everything from balancing life duties, to negotiating, forging their way in their fast-changing industry, to (most of all) finding themselves. Follow along with us here at www.divatechtalk.com. Divas (Co-Founders/Hosts): Nicole Johnson Scheffler (@tech_nicole), Kathleen Norton-Schock (@katensch), and Amanda Lewan (@Amanda_Jenn)
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
Diva Tech Talk Podcast
2021
February
January


2020
May
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
March
February
January


2016
November
October
September
June
May
April
March
February
January


2015
December


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: Category: Event
Oct 19, 2018

The Diva Tech Talk team was grateful to have the amazing experience of attending Grace Hopper Conference 2018. We highlighted many conference details, discussed the Abie awards, and shared the voice of attendees on the Episode 73 Podcast. If you didn’t get a chance to listen, please check it out here: http://www.divatechtalk.com/blog/ep73

There was so much material and insight that we had to create another article and episode for our listeners to stay with us on this journey. This podcast has a special announcement for our listeners.

One incredibly worthy outcome of the Grace Hopper Conference and the AnitaB.org effort is the Top Companies report for women in technology. This is a national program that identifies key trends around the representation of women in the workforce. First launched in 2011, it pairs wonderfully with the conference “vibes.” Although there are many other female technologist benchmarking programs, this is the only one that measures technical employees using a rigorous, standardized definition of the technical workforce. The 2018 Top Companies report was compiled with participation by 80 companies, 628,000 + technologists with 150,000 + women technologists in that group. Congratulations to the companies who took top honors for female tech diversity for 2018. Special Diva Tech Talks “shout-out” to Tarsha McCormick and Shuchi Sharma, two leaders in that cohort we were fortunate to interview.

Check out the full Grace Hopper Conference 2018 Press Release on Top Companies here: https://anitab.org/news/press-release/2018-top-companies-report/

In addition to the keynotes, and breakouts on topics ranging in complexity from exploratory data analysis to mentoring, there were also some amazing women with whom we spent time to capture their experiences for our Diva Tech Talk audience. After reviewing their insights, the Diva Tech Talk team is proud to announce a new Diversity Leadership Series, following this event. The series will feature senior level leaders from a variety of organizations, who lead diversity and inclusion programs in their respective organizations. In this Grace Hopper Event Recap podcast, we include audio teasers for these full-length episodes, rolling out over the coming weeks and months. Here are some of the women we will include in our upcoming Diversity Leadership Series:

In this episode, we feature short clips from the following amazing women in technology that we interviewed.  Later, we will publish their full stories in our newly announced Diversity Leadership Series:

  • Monica Bailey, Chief People Officer at GoDaddy

 

  • Sonja Gittens Ottley, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Asana
  • Tarsha McCormick, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, North America for Thoughtworks

 

  • Rebekah Bastian, Vice President of Community and Culture at Zillow Group

 

  • Shuchi Sharma, Global Lead for Gender Intelligence at SAP
  • Paulette R. Gerkovich, PhD, Senior Director, Diversity and Inclusion, Micron

 

We hope you enjoy this teaser and look forward to the upcoming series as much as we do. Make sure to subscribe today so you don’t miss an episode.

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com on Twitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Oct 15, 2018

The Diva Tech Talk team was ecstatic to attend the 3-day 18th Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing #GHC18 (ghc.anitab.org) --- the world’s largest gathering of women in computer technology --  September 26 through 28, 2018 in Houston, Texas. The conference has taken place since 1994, with a yearly cadence since 2006. Named for U.S. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, many continue be inspired by her work on the Mark I computer and creation of one the first industry compilers, that eventually led to the development of COBOL, still a relevant programming language today. Grace paved the way for many women to follow her in technical careers.

The Grace Hopper Celebration convenes many thousands of women in computing in a single venue to discuss topics of interest, and share research related to women in technology. Students flood the halls to get exposure to tech companies and tech departments; and many engage in onsite career interviews. There are a variety of presentations, poster discussions, and meet-ups throughout the week. It is also an ideal gathering for veteran tech women, employed in the field, to present and listen to each other, while networking and meeting the next generation of upcoming tech women. This year’s conference boasted a record attendance of over 22,000.

This episode is full of audio highlights from the event including:

  • Event overview from Hotwire
  • Interviews with two past Abie Award Winners
  • Teaser into an interview with Noramay Cadena
  • We are Here montage
  • Sneak peek into future Diversity Leadership Series

We encourage listeners to visit us online for a full blog write up at: www.DivaTechTalk.com

This blog article covers even more details on the speakers, awards, and top companies report.

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com onTwitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Jan 20, 2017

Diva Tech Talk was honored to be onsite at one of the largest Midwestern offices for Logicalis U.S., during its recent GIRLS IN TECHNOLOGY DAY. Logicalis (www.us.logicalis.com) is an international information technology solutions and managed services provider that designs, builds and supports enterprise solutions for customers throughout Europe, North and South America, and Asia Pacific.  Logicalis entertained 56 high school and early college girls, offering tailored discussions of practical topics related to succeeding in a technology career. Horizon-broadening sessions covered topics as diverse as: uncovering what you are good at, communicating with confidence, the wide variety of career options in the technology field, how to use social media to build your personal brand, how to ace a job interview, and how to write an excellent resume.

Logicalis supports an internal group dedicated to fostering the missions of its own women employees.  Two of the veteran leaders of that group (Logicalis Vice Presidents, Renae Johnson and Julie Spiller) were in the cohort interviewed during this podcast.  

Ghazal Asif, Director of Global Channels of Cisco Meraki, was also a key participant in the day. Ghazal was enthusiastic about having the chance to be one of the main keynote speakers since “the idea of women having equal opportunity is very near and dear to my heart.” She spoke eloquently about the need to be fearless in the face of any setback, or any opportunity. “If we look at the data and the stats, it is sad to see that over the last couple of decades, we haven’t made much progress” in diversity building, she said. “Yet, as of today, there’s more awareness, more research on why diversity and inclusion is so good for companies. In every industry, across every function, women are under-represented. More women should step forward so that in 10 or 20 years from now, we can look back and say ‘we made a difference and we changed some of those stats’ for the next generation, and generations to come.”

Finally, Vince DeLuca, CEO of Logicalis, took time to present to this audience because “these young ladies are our future.”  DeLuca was encouraged by his interactions with the girls and women.  “Knowing that they have interest in technology is really important,” he said.  “I also think that overall diversity in the field is wildly important to our (Logicalis) success. When we have a male-dominated organization, with just male leaders, we don’t enough of a flow of ideas.”   DeLuca really enjoyed his event participation.  “To see the amount of interest, the general attention of these young ladies is really rewarding.  The benefit that I get out of this would be seeing every one of these folks succeed in their own passion.   I may not get to see that individually, but as a group I think they will do that; and that, to me, is the best reward that I could ever get.”

DeLuca waxed philosophical about how the overall education of our youth can be helped by everyone in their environment. “We live in such an interesting world right now.  I think, as a society, we need to do a better job educating everyone about what’s happening out there,” he said. DeLuca sees some key tech trends that can help with this.  “Collaboration has to be near the top,” he said. “There’s so many ways to connect vast amounts of resource groups or information.”   DeLuca is proud that community-building is part of the Logicalis culture. “Giving back to the communities we serve is a core value, across all our offices,” he said. “It’s so important to us, not just to reap the benefit of what we are trying to do with our customers, but making an impact into the community.”

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com onTwitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

 

Mar 22, 2016

The Diva Tech Talk team conducted this multi-faceted podcast session, in Michigan, at Cisco’s annual WOMEN OF IMPACT 2016 event, broadcast simultaneously on all continents, and complemented by regional sessions.  Nine women interviewees from Cisco, Cisco partners and Cisco customers discussed what drives them, helps them achieve harmony in their lives, and makes them “UNSTOPPABLE” echoing the conference’s theme.

Among other things, they shared:

  • How they get, and stay inspired;
  • How to make change, adapt to change, and help others adapt to change;
  • The need and methods for achieving life balance;
  • Tips on staying organized and focused;
  • Their best advice to other women carving out careers in technology.

Cisco can be found at www.cisco.com. Social media tags for the CISCO 2016 WOMEN OF IMPACT event @Cisco_WOI; the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network is @CiscoEWN; and on Facebook you can find the Cisco Empowered Women’s Group at /CiscoEmpoweredWomen.

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com onTwitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

 

 

 

Dec 20, 2015

Diva Nicole Johnson-Scheffler attended The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, organized in Houston, by The Anita Borg Institute. Nicole, along with her 12,000 women in tech friends, learned a lot at the conference.

In this episode, we talk to three diverse women who represent facets of this greater technology community. The first is Anita Garcia, a junior at California State University in Monterey Bay, enrolled in the cohort-based “CS in 3” —a three year accelerated computer science degree program. Anita began her technology odyssey at the early age of 12, developing a fascination with HTML and Websites and shares her experience at the conference.

Next, Nicole chats with uber-entrepreneur Elissa Shevinsky, currently Co-Founder and CEO of JeKuDo Privacy Company, a startup building high security group collaboration tools, which are easy to use, for enterprises and activists. Elissa shares with us why women should “lean out” in the workplace.

Lastly we hear from Jessica Legner, a developer with ESPN. Pregnant and married at age 18, Jessica was a “lost” college dropout, who got her first job on a manufacturing line producing car parts. After 18 months, she realized that her aptitudes were being wasted, and decided to go back to community college, where she parlayed her interest in Website design into an eventual focus in computer science She shares with us what fueled her interest in the tech world leading to a great job at ESPN.

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com onTwitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

 

Dec 20, 2015

In this episode we hear from Sue Schade, CIO of the University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers. We share Sue’s inspiring story.

We spoke with Sue Schade, CIO of the University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers. Sue has spent over 30 years in the world of technology. She began as a developer before finding herself traveling down the path to become CIO of a major health system.

Sue shares: 

  • Her passions in the area of tech
  • How Sue took the leap into the world of management
  • Crucial management tips for women

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com on Twitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

 
Dec 20, 2015

Couldn’t make it to SXSW 2015? In this episode, we’ve got the scoop on leading ladies in technology. Host Amanda Lewan attends SXSW 2015 to capture exciting interviews with women in technology.

This short podcast features three diverse discussions with women focusing on Large Scale 3D Printing, The “Internet of Everything” Bra & “Detected, the Movie”, and even a new startup focused on .CLUB domain name extension.  

We discuss in this episode:

  • Launching a company in the Startup Chile program
  • 3D printing and reusable materials
  • The Internet of Things and Cicso’s support in the industry
  • How the “IT Bra” detects breast cancer
  • A look at the domain world, and .CLUB’s approach

Make sure to check us out on  online at www.divatechtalk.com on Twitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Dec 20, 2015

Diva Tech Talk Launches Podcast Series

At this event, Nicole Johnson announces this new adventure live on stage. Diva Tech Talk podcasts bring women on the mic to share their technology passion, including various events and roundtable discussions with the three Diva founders.

Leaders highlighted during this launch include Alex Dethloff, the MITN President. The Michigan Technology Network - Lansing provides a Technology Community, Networking Events, and Educational opportunities. Then we hear from Brian Win, an MSU Gaming Professor, and Jeff Pompliano, MITN Vice President and Project Manager at Gravity Works, as he talks about his perspective of women in tech.  

Make sure to check us out on  online at www.divatechtalk.com on Twitter @divatechtalks, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.



1