According to a recently published SmartAsset report, Baltimore, Washington DC and Arlington rank 1, 2 and 3 respectively as the top cities for Women in Technology in the United States. Outside of New York and Florida; the DC, Maryland and Virginia region also has one of the largest populations of Caribbean Americans in the United States.

For Women’s history month, the Caribbean’s in Tech and Entrepreneurship (CITE) DC Chapter spotlights entrepreneurs, innovators, and executives of Caribbean descent who are pushing the boundaries to stand out in tech and entrepreneurship.

Join our panel of professionals, as they share their stories, challenges, motivations and the things they do that help them succeed in their career and business.

All are welcome!

AGENDA

6:00PM - 6:30PM – Light Refreshments and Networking

6:30PM - 6:45PM - Welcome

6:45M – 7:45PM – Caribbean Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship Panel & Q&A

• Golda Lee Bruce - Caribbean Storyteller (Moderator)
• Dr. Kala Fleming - CEO of DiasporaAI
• Tami Garcia -  Founder & CEO of Mully Lingua  
• Dr. Rachel Salomonsen -  President and CEO of Oxford Epidemiology Services

7:45PM - 8:15PM – Networking

CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS

DR. KALA FLEMING is the Co-Founder/CEO of DiasporaAI and is a first-generation college graduate and entrepreneur. Building an AI startup that aims to solve water scarcity for millions is a murky road that I’m working to clear every day through hustle, grind and a bit of luck.

The corporate route is the more familiar path for someone with my engineering PhD background and the one that I followed for several years. But five years ago, the corporate route took me from the US to Kenya. The complexity of prototyping AI and IoT solutions for water, agriculture and healthcare in a resource constrained environment forced me to tap into dormant superpowers I had not been pushed acknowledge before. I could see so many unexplored application areas where emerging technology, if introduced in the right way, could be used to make a significant difference. But how do you bring those applications to life and at scale? That question has been my preoccupation. Once you see the opportunity to keep kids healthy and in school each day just by ensuring there is a plan for the water, you can’t unsee it. Every day after that spent not working on figuring it out feels pointless. So that’s really it. I’m building SMAJI because I can’t imagine any other effort that needs my time more.

DR. RACHEL SALOMONSEN is an experienced, motivated executive epidemiologist with 25 years’ experience providing strategic direction and scientific leadership to research, analysis and evaluation of public health data from more than 35 developing countries, including the US, UK, and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. She has extensive experience establishing and fostering scientific and strategic partnerships with Universities in the US, UK, and Africa gained from serving in a number of senior director roles in the US, and internationally, including with the University of Oxford, UK, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK, and University of Turku, Finland, and Makerere University, Uganda through her work with Oxford Epidemiology Services and previous employment.

In 2012 she started Oxford Epidemiology Services, a research firm focusing on engendering trust and usefulness of public health research, and in 2014, she plunged into the world of technology entrepreneurship with the intention of making a contribution in that area by creating a real time data analytics solution, giving birth to DatAdventure. Today, DatAdventure has been used in at least 27 countries, whether it is to facilitate health facility assessments in 399 clinics in Bangladesh, or conduct Value for Money analyses of foreign aid support in remote locations in Karamoja, Uganda, or to conduct a data privacy assessment with an international organization operational in 15 countries. She recently launched her second technology – a closed loop point of care clinical coordination solution that is available in 16 languages, and currently being used in Haiti.

TAMI GARCIA, not one to be told she can’t do something, believes in second chances, living your truth and in doing the impossible. She is the founder and CEO of Mully Lingua -- the first platform that helps parents find and connect to language and cultural activities and resources for their children.

Having been raised disconnected from her family’s language and as the mother of an Ethiopian child, she remembered how lonely she felt growing up disconnected from her family’s language and culture and vowed her daughter would not feel the same. After years of trying, she could not get her daughter into a bilingual school nor was she satisfied with the available options. She quickly discovered other parents had similar challenges, so she began looking for practical, affordable and fun solutions...Mully Lingua was born with the mission "to help young people learn about and appreciate their own and the world's unique diversity.”

Known for her creative problem-solving abilities and extraordinary visioning skills, Tami uses her gift of gab to connect people and build relationships. As a motivational speaker, Tami believes there is power in the sharing of stories and from sharing comes healing and from healing comes strength. She uses her personal experiences of entrepreneurship, infertility, adoption, depression and parenthood to help women take control of their situations to build more fulfilling lives.

GOLDA LEE BRUCE is a Development Storyteller and Communications Coordinator in the Caribbean Country Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She is responsible for crafting messages about Caribbean people to inspire improvements in their lives. Before joining the IDB Golda worked as a Journalist and News Anchor in her native Trinidad and Tobago. She was the Deputy Head of News at Guardian Media Limited where she led the merger of its print and broadcast newsrooms into a single digital-led operation. Golda holds a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in Media and Communication from The University of the West Indies, Mona. She lives in Maryland with her husband, son, and daughter.

CAMILLE JONES is the Founder/CEO of CariCapacity, an organization that fosters Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Sustainability in the Caribbean and throughout the Diaspora. She is also the Director of Strategy and Product Management at Mark Labs, an impact management data analytics startup based in Washington DC and the North American Outreach Partner for the Zayed Sustainability Prize at MET Community. Camille believes in systems change for achieving sustainable development and has a deep interest in using emerging technologies to advance sustainability initiatives, financial inclusion and inclusive economic development (particularly in the Caribbean & LATAM region). Camille received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Wesley College and a Master of Business Administration from IE Business School.