Women in computing were among the first programmers in the early 20th century, and contributed substantially to the industry. As technology and practices altered, the role of women as programmers has changed, and the recorded history of the field has downplayed their achievements. Since the 18th century, women have developed scientific computations, including Nicole-Reine Lepaute's prediction of Halley's Comet, and Maria Mitchell's computation of the motion of Venus.
Kathryn A. Finney is an American author, researcher, investor, entrepreneur, and businesswoman. She is the founder of Genius Guild, a $20 million dollar venture fund & studio that invests in Black entrepreneurs building scalable businesses that serve Black communities and beyond. She is also founder and Board Chair of The Doonie Fund, a social platform that provides micro-investment to Black women entrepreneurs. Finney first made her mark as a tech entrepreneur when she sold “The Budget Fashionista” after running the site-turned-media company for 11 years.
iD Tech Camps is a summer computer camp, based in Campbell, California, that specializes in providing computer technology education to children ages 7 through 19. iD Tech Camps are held at more than 150 U.S. college and university campuses and have expanded into international locations as well.
Bill Liao is an Australian entrepreneur. He is a venture partner with SOSV and recognised as one of the Top 100 minority ethnic leaders in technology by the Financial Times.
Reshma Saujani is an American lawyer, politician, civil servant, and the founder of the nonprofit organization "Girls Who Code," which aims to increase the number of women in computer science and close the gender employment difference in that field. She worked in city government as a deputy public advocate at the New York City Public Advocate's office. In 2009, Saujani ran against Carolyn Maloney for the U.S. House of Representatives seat from New York's 14th congressional district, becoming the first Indian-American woman to run for Congress. In 2013, she ran as a Democratic candidate for Public Advocate, coming third in the primary. Following the 2012 founding of Girls Who Code, Saujani was listed in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list.
Megan J. Smith is an American engineer and technologist. She was the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States and Assistant to the President, serving under President Barack Obama. She was previously a vice president at Google, leading new business development and early-stage partnerships across Google's global engineering and product teams at Google for nine years, was general manager of Google.org, a vice president briefly at Google[x] where she co-created WomenTechmakers, is the former CEO of Planet Out and worked as an engineer on early smartphones at General Magic. She serves on the boards of MIT and Vital Voices, was a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid and co-founded the Malala Fund. Today Smith is the CEO and Founder of shift7. On September 4, 2014, she was named as the third U.S. CTO, succeeding Todd Park, and serving until January, 2017.
Bali White is a researcher and writer interested in African, environmental, and gender studies. She is currently a Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As trans woman, she is also a community organizer and advocate addressing transgender identity, legal, health care and social concerns at the national, state and local levels. Her research and activist work around transgender advocacy and ballroom community youth has been influential in the field of public health. She previously served on the National Advisory Board for the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health and managed the CDC-funded initiatives for young trans women and MSM in the ballroom community at the Hetrick-Martin Institute.
Cornell Tech is a graduate campus and research center of Cornell University, located on Roosevelt Island, Manhattan, in New York City. It offers programs in technology, business, and design, and includes the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a partnership between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Kimberly Bryant is an American electrical engineer who worked in the biotechnology field at Genentech, Novartis Vaccines, Diagnostics, and Merck. In 2011, Bryant founded Black Girls Code, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing technology and computer programming education to African-American girls. After founding Black Girls Code, Bryant was listed as one of the "25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology" by Business Insider.
CoderDojo is a global volunteer-led community of free programming workshops for young people. The movement is a grassroots organisation with individual clubs acting independently. A charity called the CoderDojo Foundation operates out of Dublin, Ireland, and supports the various clubs by providing a central website and other support services. Supporters of CoderDojo believe it is part of the solution to addressing the global shortage of programmers by getting young people more involved with ICT learning. The movement has seen significant growth since its founding. The CoderDojo Foundation estimates 1,250 Dojos spread across 69 countries, with a growth rate of several new Dojos every week.
Nessa Diab, known mononymously as Nessa, is an American radio and TV personality and television host.
Amy Chozick is an American political reporter who works for the New York Times. She is the author of a memoir, Chasing Hillary, about covering Hillary Clinton, and co-wrote an adaptation of the book to television series, The Girls on the Bus.
Girl Develop It (GDI) is a nonprofit organization devoted to getting women the materials they need to pursue careers in software development. Founded in 2010 in New York City, GDI provides affordable programs for adult women interested in learning web and software development in a judgment-free environment. GDI's mission is to give women of any income level, nationality, education level, and upbringing an environment in which to learn the skills to build websites and learn code to build programs with hands-on classes. Although at one time active in both the United States and Canada, GDI currently maintains active community chapters exclusively in the United States.
Janet Henry is a visual artist based in New York City.
Ruthe Farmer is an American policymaker and activist focused on increasing girls' participation in technology and engineering. She is founder and CEO of the Last Mile Education Fund and also serves as the Chief Evangelist for CSforAll and she was a senior policy advisor for tech inclusion at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Obama administration and Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at the National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Christina Lewis Halpern is an American social entrepreneur and journalist. She has founded two organizations: All Star Code, a non-profit education organization that attracts, prepares, and places young men of color in the branch of technology, and Give Blck, a comprehensive database of Black-founded non-profit organizations.
Amali Chivanthi de Alwis MBE FRSA was the CEO of Code First: Girls. Replaced by Anna Brailsford. She is currently UK Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups. She is a board member of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, and the Institute of Coding.
Brita Filter, the stage name of Jesse Carl Havea, is an American drag queen who has appeared on Shade: Queens of NYC and the twelfth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, ultimately placing 8th.
Natacha Voliakovsky is an Argentine queer Performance Artist and activist based in New York who develops part of her work in the field of bio-hardcore political performance, with the use of other media such as photography, video, and installation. She works by exposing and transforming her own body to the limit, with the aim of revealing through her high-impact performance, how those oppressive norms of the dominant culture operate. Through this proposal, she seeks to the question about the established moral and works on issues related to gender identity, the free sovereignty and autonomy of the body, the identity, the self-perception.
