Driving WinTech journeys to Kelowna for their second Community Conversation
By Aileen Cham
For the second stop of the Canada-wide tour, Driving Wintech held a Community Conversation in Kelowna at the Okanagan coLab. It was an event full of lively discussion, animated networking, and fun engagement with a panel of captivating speakers. Many thanks to our Community partner, DunnEnzies, we indulged ourselves throughout the night in tasty pizza!
Members of the trailblazing panel included Janice Taylor, CEO at Mazu; Barbara Marcolin, Associate Professor of Information Systems - UBC Okanagan Campus Faculty of Management; Jocelyn Smith, with Uxperts; and Moderator Rebecca Warden, Producer at Disney Interactive, who kept the agenda on track.
Some of Rebecca’s questions to the panel were:
What was your biggest learning opportunity throughout your career?
What support or resources did you have throughout your career to help you get to where you are today?
What is the greatest advantage of being a woman in tech?
Each Kelowna panelist brought to light issues they faced as women in the tech sector and took turns contributing unique and valuable advice. Janice Taylor shared a comical predicament she experienced while in Silicon Valley:
“I didn’t realize there was an issue,” she said, “but every time I went to a meeting in Silicon Valley, I’d be mistaken as a waitress.”
This telling incident proved to be a shared experience of women’s struggle in the tech industry as the other panelists shared similar experiences. Janice noted the disparities between men and women in the industry, discussing the different ways women process and handle funding. An attendee chimed into the conversation and branched off of Janice’s point, comparing the differences in how men and women approach meetings.
But amid the storytelling and rich conversation on the inequity in the tech sector, Janice contributed a positive observation, noting the growing recognition and presence of women in the industry.
“There has been a conscious effort in including women entrepreneurs in the tech industry,” she announced.
Janice drove home the point that no matter what challenges you face, as there inevitably will be, “the key is to solve the problem, especially if it keeps showing up at your door!”
Other uplifting words included:
“Don’t wait for the invitation to start.”
“[We must put] concentrated effort to provide support and networking opportunities for other women.”
Thank you, the Kelowna women in tech, for your utmost participation in the Community Conversation and for teaching us how to be problem solvers through technology and not against it.
We would also like to thank AscenTech, a Human Resource Solution Provider delivering world-class professional human resource solutions, for their generous support on the Driving WinTech initiative.
Recommendations
Janice Taylor, CEO at Mazu
Recommendations: Tech is a tool to solving complex problems, and girls and women need to start small and take it step-by-step. Solve the problem and the vehicle will be shown to you.
Barbara Marcolin, Associate Professor of Information Systems, Academic Lead for Undergraduate Curriculum at UBC Okanagan
Recommendations: You can’t boil the ocean-- you have to do it bay by bay.
Jocelyn Smith, with Uxperts
Recommendations: Secret to getting more women in tech: tech isn’t a computer game; tech is a tool to solve problems.