Written by: Narissa Wallace (DSN CEO)

It was really good to see the number of sistas attending the Philly Tech Week festivities this year.  Due to my schedule, I haven’t been able to attend the last few years, but I made a concerted effort to attend at least 3 events this year.

The first event that I attended during the Philly Tech Week was a Women in Tech Workshop that was organized by The Professional Women’s Committee of The Pyramid Club which was held @ on Monday 5/2 from 6 – 8.   The focus was on “Gender and Equality in Tech” and how Philadelphia could position itself to lead the way.  It started out with a very nice networking session from 5 – 6 and then a brief opening by City Councilman David Oh followed by a lively discussion on “Gender & Equality in Tech” by 5 female and 1 male panelist.  This panel was moderated by Franne McNeil, president of Significant Business Results. and consisted of Eileen Gadsen, owner of E-Region Enterprises and former president of the local chapter of Black Data Processing Associates, Brigitte Daniel, Executive VP of Wilco Electronic Systems, NaTasha Richburg, an IT consultant, author and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Tiffanie Stanard, founder and CEO of Prestige Concepts and We are MENT, and the only male panelist, Philip Jaurigue, President of Sabre Systems, Inc.

On Tuesday, Tuesday, 5/3, I attended an event hosted and coordinated by The ITEM.  This event was titled “Technology & Talent Development” and focused on skills (technical and soft) that employers are looking for to fill existing employment opportunities within their firms and that potential candidates need to have to acquire those positions.  This panel included Tom Elliot, API Engineer from Thomson Reuters, Anthony Clabaro, Principal Software Engineer, Momentum Dynamics, Christopher Coor, Director of Technology, Tonic Design and Tiffanie Stannard, founder wearement.  The panel was moderated by Arie Mangrum, IV of Agile Hires.

The last one that I had the pleasure of attending was the 2^nd Annual Women in Tech Soiree, held on Wednesday, 5/4 from 6 – 9 pm.  This networking event was a collaborative effort coordinated by Girl Develop It Philly, Candidate Philly and Mogulette.  The keynote speaker at this event was Amanda Steinberg who was followed by an all-female panel that included Darla Henning-Wolfe, Desiree Peterkin Bell, Amber Wanner, Tiffanie Stanard, and Simone Berkower (NYC) and was moderated by of  Yasmine Mustafa.

As a former Technology Coordinator of the Workforce 2000 Advisory Council and Project Manager for the Mayor’s Commission on Technology for the City of Philadelphia from 1996 – 2007, I used to be very active in the Tech scene in the city when it was just in its infancy.  Now there are start-ups all over the City and the industry appears to be booming.  Although I’m still looking forward to the day when the crowd is more diverse, it was still great to see more young African American women, and men among the crowd and to have the opportunity to move around in this circle once again.

Since I’m currently pursuing several endeavors in addition to the DSNetwork, my schedule stays pretty busy, but I have been making an attempt to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the Philly Tech scene.  It is my hope to identify the sistas who are actively engaged in the Philly Tech scene and get them to share their experiences, successes, achievements as well as their struggle to position themselves accordingly within the industry.   The workshops that I attended barely scratched the surface of the number of the informative workshops scheduled.  However, I can say that I acquired some valuable information and made some great connections.  Hopefully next year the members of the DSNetwork will be able participate in the planning process as well.

Check out the slide show developed by our own DigitalSistas Network member, Bernetta Ayers on our Facebook page!