Women Who Code - Empowering women to excel in tech careers

Women Who Code Recognizes Six Outstanding Women in Technology

San Francisco, October 23, 2014 — Women Who Code announced today that the organization is honoring six tech-trailblazing women with a leadership award. Women Who Code is a non-profit that organizes hands-on educational and networking events which provide technical skills and connections to help women excel in technology careers. Tonight’s event celebrates the successes and accomplishments of women working in technology and will be presented as part of an inaugural awards ceremony. Women Who Code CEO Alaina Percival said, “As companies seek to ensure gender diversity among their workforces, empowering women with deeper technical know-how is a critical step. Tonight’s event celebrates what some of our outstanding members are doing to share skills and inspire success.” The event is being held in San Francisco at Zendesk, a key sponsor of Women Who Code. Details about how to purchase a ticket to attend can be found on Eventbrite. Proceeds from ticket sales will help drive future programming for Women Who Code and the establishment of new Networks worldwide. Women Who Code currently operates in 44 cities globally and is aiming to establish Networks in 50 cities by the end of 2014.

Woman To Watch Award

Presented by: Rebecca Parsons, Chief Technical Officer – Thoughtworks

Awarded to: Alicia Liu, Senior Software Engineer – Lift Worldwide

Background on Winner: During her short career Alicia has co-founded two companies and has worked in a variety of different capacities including; Mobile Development, Marketing, Product Management, and Software Development. She has consistently been recognized for her code writing ability, business acumen, leadership skills, and professionalism. LinkedIn

Outstanding Tech Entrepreneur Award

Presented by: Allan Grant, CTO and Co-Founder – Hired Inc.

Awarded to: Natalie Gordon, Founder – BabyList

Background on Winner: Natalie has been a member of Women Who Code for two years, both as a participant and featured speaker. Her experience runs the gamut from founding companies to raising capital to pioneering software development, in addition to giving back to Women Who Code community by hiring directly from the organization’s members base. LinkedIn

Outstanding Technical Writer Award

Presented by: Gayle McDowell, WWCode Advisor, Author, and CEO and Founder – CareerCup

Awarded to: Natasha Murashev, iOS Engineer – CapitalOne

Background on winner: Natasha Murashev is a iOS Engineer at CapitalOne who loves blogging at NatashaTheRobot.com and building apps on the side. She is a recipient of the Parse API prize at Launch Hackathon (the world’s largest hackathon) for building a seamless event check-in iPad app using iBeacons. Natasha currently has three apps in the Apple’s app store – ShopLater, Alphavit, and Stay in Shape – and is always building more.

Collaborative Leadership Award

Presented by: Komal Mangtani, WWCode Advisor and VP of Engineering at Box

Awarded to: Rachel Myers, Software Engineer – Github Emily Nakashima, Software Engineer – Github

Background on winners: Both Rachel and Emily are Software Engineers at Github and travel the country presenting, as a team, at various tech conferences. They also run a Rails Bridge group in the Bay Area. These two women are incredibly talented and, as recipients of the Collaborative Leadership Award, highlight the true value of women supporting each other to achieve better results. As a pair, the two have spoken at conferences including Fluent, Velocity, Front-End Ops Conf, and Front in BH Conference in Brazil.

Engineering Leadership Award

Presented by: Adrian McDermott, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Zendesk

Awarded to: Cathy Edwards, CTO of Chomp (later acquired by Apple)

Background on Winner: Cathy Edwards recently left an Engineering Director role at Apple where she was one of the most senior technical women in the company. She went to Apple after Chomp, a company she co-founded, was acquired by the tech leader. Women Who Code’s key supporters for this event include CapitalOne, Google, Lookout Mobile, Box, Hired, Minted, Nike, Twilio, Yelp, Fastly, and Zendesk.

ABOUT WOMEN WHO CODE:

Women Who Code is a global non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. The group provides an avenue into tech by empowering women with skills needed for professional advancement, and providing environments where networking and mentorship are valued. Women Who Code has executed more than 1000 events around the world, garnered a membership exceeding 16,000, and has a presence in 14 countries.