Postback 2016, TUNE’s mobile marketing event of the summer, certainly delivered a lot of fun surprises, incredible expert insights, and the best networking opportunities in mobile marketing. But you may not know that, in addition to all the fun, there was also an impressive effort among TUNE partners to support women and girls pursuing technical careers.
Fourteen partners secured $70,000 to benefit the Anita Borg Institute and its 2016 Celebration of Women in Computing, App Camp For Girls, and IGNITE Worldwide. A huge THANK YOU to the following companies for their support in this important effort.
Benefits to Women in Tech
The beneficiaries of these funds specifically work to increase the involvement of women in technology by supporting their education and development, an issue important to TUNE and these partners.
Seattle is fortunate to be home to so much incredible technical talent, but too often and for a variety of reasons, women abandon technical careers or don’t pursue them in the first place. TUNE seeks to support women’s development into exceptional future technical leaders, and working with our partners in the industry is one way we seek to address the gender disparity challenge in the technology industry, among others.
We’re very proud that a portion of the funds raised will send students to the world’s largest conference for women and girls in technology.
“The funds we received through TUNE’s efforts were hugely impactful for the Anita Borg Institute,” said Roshni Kasad, Senior Program Manager for Academic Initiatives at Anita Borg Institute. “Thanks to the initiative, we are able to send an additional 11 scholars to the 2016 Grace Hopper Celebration for Women and Computing. We’re tremendously grateful to TUNE and their corporate partners for investing in the best and brightest minds of the next generation of women technologists.”
Careers in science, technology, engineering and math offer some of the nation’s highest-paying, most in-demand careers. But women represent less than one-third of this workforce. This is a complex socio-economic problem that starts early in education, and is compounded by years of girls lacking vital support, resources, role models, and even basic exposure to technical careers. The Anita Borg Institute Grace Hopper Conference, App Camp For Girls, and IGNITE Worldwide are remarkable organizations that apply innovative thinking to change this trend.
“Thank you TUNE and TUNE partners for making this extraordinary donation to IGNITE Worldwide,” said Anne-Marie Lowe, IGNITE Board of Directors. “We are a small but mighty non-profit operating mainly in the Seattle area inspiring Girls to pursue an education and career in STEM. Your contribution allows us to take immediate steps to further our mission and broaden our reach. These monies will be used to inspire Girls in the greater-Los Angeles, greater-Dallas and greater-Boston areas.”
Jean MacDonald, Founder of App Camp For Girls, echoed the appreciation of the funds to help support its efforts.
“We were so honored to be selected as a beneficiary of the TUNE Postback Women in Tech Initiative this year,” MacDonald said. “Thanks to the amazing generosity of the supporters, we can offer even more girls the opportunity to learn how to design, and code their own apps while being inspired by role models in the industry.”
Check out our video recaps of #Postback16 to see what you missed out on!
Author
Becky is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at TUNE. Before TUNE, she handled content strategy and marketing communications at several tech startups in the Bay Area. Becky received her bachelor's degree in English from Wake Forest University. After a decade in San Francisco and Seattle, she has returned home to Charleston, SC, where you can find her strolling through Hampton Park with her pup and enjoying the simple things between adventures with friends and family.
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