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EWiT Conference Announces Speakers from Google, Meta, and More

Written by Anna Vander Wall | 8/17/22 5:00 PM

Global conference speakers disclose advice to rising women in tech in preview of the October 2022 event that offers an unprecedented opportunity for personalized career coaching and up-close interaction with top executives around the world.

Following regional conferences in Rio de Janeiro, New York, and Lisbon, female executives from around the world are gearing up for the Extraordinary Women in Tech Global Conference on October 3rd and 4th, 2022, at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco, California. The event provides a platform for women in the IT sector to network with peers and mentors and features two full days of talks, networking activities, experience rooms, and career advancement sessions designed to cultivate an open exchange of innovative thinking and provide mentoring toward personal and professional goals for tech leaders and rising tech stars alike. 

Speakers will include some of today’s top female leaders, including Meredith Harper, SVP chief information security officer, Synchrony; Gretchen O’Hara, VP US AI and sustainability strategy, Microsoft; Petek Utku, VP technical operations Oracle cloud infrastructure, Oracle; Rani Y., global head AI technology and innovation, Ericsson; Jin Zhang, director of engineering, Meta; and Monica Lenart, senior staff software engineer, Google. (See conference website for full speaker list and conference agenda.)

Speaker Advice Column 

Conference tracks include Technology & Innovation, Leadership & Strategy, and Inspire & Be Inspired. To preview a few of the conference topics, EWiT speakers shared advice to women seeking to take the next step in their careers:

Why Attend EWiT?

“The possibilities that this conference opens up for each of us as individuals and as leaders is exponential… As women, each of us has a job. We have a job to make sure that our voices are heard. We have a job every single day to help each other. We have a job to network and make sure that the companies we’re working at have diverse age, backgrounds, gender, etc. This is what will make us better leaders and it will make what we’re building in our individual jobs better. And it starts right here at home with what we’re discussing: empowering our female leadership.” ~ Nicole Brown, vice president HR people, talent, operations and culture - engineering, e-commerce, technology, Albertsons. Nicole will talk on Leading with Empowerment.

What advice would you give women seeking to take the next step in their careers?

“My number one advice would be to focus on your communication. Make sure you’re vocal and people understand what you need… Don’t take ‘No’ for an answer. Always try to figure out other ways, and look for allies.” ~ Suzanna Khatchatrian, senior director of data engineering, Slack. 

How do you recommend women achieve success in their careers?

“There’s no substitute for hard work. There’s no substitute for learning in a tech job. So you have to continuously learn and evolve. The second thing that set me apart from others, which becomes really difficult, is doing the things others are not doing. Don’t try to fit into wherever you are. You be yourself, and if you think certain things are not done in the right manner, have courage to say why not and fix it… The third thing is you have to take risks. If you don’t take risks and you’re not adaptive, it’s hard to grow.” ~ Bharti Patel, chief technology officer, Alen Corporation. 

How to Participate in EWiT

Prospective attendees are encouraged to apply online for tickets as soon as possible since the conference is almost full. Sponsors who wish to show their support for women in tech, diversity, and inclusion while gaining visibility with tech leaders globally are also invited to apply for an exclusive sponsorship package.

About the Extraordinary Women In Tech Conference

Leading software consultancy Avenue Code will host the first-ever Extraordinary Women in Tech Global Conference on October 3rd and 4th, 2022, in San Francisco, California, providing a powerful forum to amplify women’s voices in IT. Women from all over the world are invited to experience an unparalleled lineup of peer and mentor networking opportunities, career development coaching, and exclusive insights on the latest tech advancements across industries from an impressive roster of female leadership speakers from Meta, Google, Oracle, and more.