Teaming up with Brown University’s EMSTL to host our first-ever panel with female leaders in the tech industry
On Wednesday, March 28, 2018, JW Player welcomed an inspiring panel of women who are all making waves in the technology world. Cohosted by Brown University’s EMSTL, this first-ever JW Inspire WIT event, “Shaking Up Leadership: Women in Tech,” featured thought-provoking conversations about career journeys, overcoming professional challenges, best practices in negotiation, and the future of diversity and inclusion.
We’re ecstatic that about 100 attendees, men and women alike, made this special evening—in our newly redesigned office—one of our most successful events to date.
Under the leadership of our Director of Technical Program Management Kathy Carter, the JW Inspire WIT initiative invited 6 women to speak on a panel moderated by Sandra Smith, Director of Brown’s EMSTL:
Lauren Wiener – CEO, Tremor Video DSP
Jennifer Scandariato – Sr. Director, Cloud Services, iCIMS
Sarah Adler – CTO, Spoon University
Rahel Jhirad – VP Machine Learning, Hearst
Jaclyn Jimenez – Full Stack Engineer, Meetup
And JW’s own Alicia Hurst – Product Manager, JW Player
Among the takeaways from the evening:
Be open to nontraditional paths toward a technical career. Some panelists were self-taught and/or graduates of developer boot camps. While credentials can be important, an even greater predictor of success is the willingness to take risks.
It’s important that women look out for each other in the workplace. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about. Divisiveness can be worse within our own gender, but we collectively get farther when we support each other.
Confidence is the foundation of effective negotiation. It’s also closely tied to another key ingredient—preparation.
After the panel, attendees networked and traded insights over a wine and cheese reception.
To watch the full video, click here:
…And we’re just getting started! Next up for JW Inspire WIT will be our company’s mentorship program, pairing female employees with male and female mentors throughout JW Player. We’ll also hold more workshops and panels in the future. Stay tuned!