2023 Tech Intersections Ally Skills Workshop

The Tech Intersections Ally Skills Workshop is designed to help people of any gender and ethnicity become better advocates for women and nonbinary people of color. It will be co-located with the Tech Intersections conference.

• 8 AM: Registration and breakfast
• 9 AM: Opening keynote (joint with main conference) Erin Pangilinan, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Technology Officer (CCTO) of Salamat. Erin is a software engineer and computational designer, author, entrepreneur, and educator who has worked on exponential technologies: the metaverse, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and web3/blockchain/cryptocurrency. Before the metaverse was a thing, in 2018, Erin conceptualized the internationally acclaimed O’Reilly Media book, Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities: Theory and Practice for Next-Generation of Spatial Computing. Since its publication and release in 2019, its reach is in over 2 dozen countries and has been translated into Chinese and Korean. Her chapter focuses on data and machine learning visualization in spatial computing with a focus on use cases in biotech and healthtech. Early in her career, Erin worked for 5+ years in civic engagement and was official paid electoral campaign staff for Ro Khanna for Congress (2014) and Obama for America (2012).
• 10:10 AM: Interactive ally skills training led by Saba Ghebreyesus of FacingIn. who will will help allies understand how to take steps towards solidarity with women of color and become co-conspirators in transformational community building. Saba is one of the founders at FacingIn LLC, a consulting firm emphasizing an amalgamation of Restorative justice and incorporating Saba’s expertise in design thinking to support organizations in creating equitable and healthy work spaces by embedding Community building practices like Restorative Justice, DEI and L&D. She has led over 1000 Community circles & trainings. She develops & designs communities that are data informed & systems cross-functionally for large scale enterprises to budding startups who look to create infrastructures driven by their values.
• 12:10 PM: Lunch
• 1:10 PM: Continued ally skills training
• 4 PM: Closing keynote (joint with main conference) featuring Bria Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Honey B Games, an independent game studio specializing in wholesome mobile games that have been downloaded over 2 Million times across the globe. She has specialized in product development and engineering strategies for mobile apps and games across most platforms and tech stacks for 12 years. Prior to founding this game studio, she was a software engineer at Google. She voluntarily developed a permanent 3D interactive installation for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, to help change the way we learn about our nation’s true history. She serves as a Startup Advisor for Neighborhood Start Fund and Google for Startups.