When I was a student leader at my university’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), we always coveted the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration. It’s the world’s largest annual gathering of women technologists, helping them connect, learn, and grow their careers. I never got to go as a student, but I worked hard after college to stay active in organizations that would help me connect to my tech peers like SWE, Junior Achievement, and others. And I helped create one.
In 2010, a year after I joined Citrix, I co-founded our Women’s Inspirational Network (WIN). It started with just four of us in Santa Clara looking to network and share knowledge and expertise. We focused on supporting professional growth and career development; inspiring and developing future leaders; and building connections internally, all while celebrating Citrix’s successes. Citrix WIN, which is open to all Citrities, now has chapters in Fort Lauderdale, Raleigh, Bangalore, Dublin, and APJ. New chapters are currently forming in London and Costa Rica.
I’m fortunate to work at a company that values diversity and inclusion like Citrix does. And I was thrilled when I found out we were sponsoring Grace Hopper and that I would get to go for the first time this year and represent Citrix.
What an event it was!
This year’s Grace Hopper brought more than 25,000 women technologists together in Orlando for four days of incredible sessions on everything from AI to data science to security. And that was in addition to all the amazing opportunities for attendees to get career guidance and connect directly with peers. Some of the sponsors even sent more 100 employees. From the talent I met there, I could see why.
In addition to learning about trends and the great work technologists are doing across different market/industries, I also helped to staff the Citrix booth, talking with students about our career opportunities. I got to meet many motivated students who are passionate about cybersecurity, app development, HTML, C++, Java and more. It was also great to connect with so many mid-career technologists who were in the market for new opportunities.
One of my key takeways from the sessions: diversity powers innovation. Research suggests that diverse teams generate more revenue through innovation than less diverse teams. When team members with their own unique experiences apply their distinctive and innovative perspectives on projects, organizations prosper.
Not only were there great networking and educational opportunities, we got to see Dr. Vivienne Ming, a renowned neuroscientist and AI expert, deliver the keynote. She was our guest speaker for our Citrix Santa Clara WIN event just a few weeks before Grace Hopper.
At Citrix, we’re continuously working to build an environment of belonging, where we all can contribute to the business as ourselves. Learn more about diversity and inclusion at Citrix, and check out our career opportunities and university recruting program.
