Deena Shakir, an investor at Lux Capital, struggled to explain to her three young kids what exactly her job was. She first tried buying a Chia Pet, where kids plant chia seeds on a figurine “to show them how seeds can grow into something amazing.” Shakir, who’s invested in health tech companies like fertility startup Alife Health and women’s health company Maven Clinic, particularly loved that the figurine was a unicorn. “They didn’t get the joke, but I thought it was hilarious,” she said. In 2020, in the midst of quarantine-induced boredom, she decided she needed to create something that explained the process of founding a startup but would also be engaging for children. Shakir settled on a picture book and got to work. In the book, Leena Mo builds a robot to plow snow. Her neighbors all beg her to build dozens more and sell them one, a feat that seems impossible until a neighbor offers to invest. Leena Mo recruits a team, advertises the robot on local news, and, you guessed it, becomes a CEO.

Ruby Jackson, a 23-year-old student midwife at the University of Brighton, has developed an app, “Melanatal,” to address gaps in the recognition of maternal and neonatal conditions on Black and brown skin. Her app aims to educate both clinicians and patients on how conditions such as jaundice, pre-eclampsia, and mastitis appear on darker skin tones, a subject historically underrepresented in medical training. Jackson’s inspiration for Melanatal came during her placement at a neonatal unit in Ghana, where she realized that key symptoms - like jaundice - present differently on darker skin. She had previously been taught to look for “yellow skin,” which isn’t always applicable to Black or brown patients. This moment led her to understand how easily signs could be missed, prompting her to develop a solution. The app, currently in development, will feature hyper-realistic medical illustrations and aims to reduce race-based health inequalities. “This app will help provide the much-needed information for black and brown women who are nearly four times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in comparison to white women,” Jackson told University of Brighton. “Through Melanatal, clinicians can get better knowledge to care for black babies who have the highest rate of both stillbirth and neonatal death.”

For women engineers who want to climb the corporate ladder, putting your head down and doing your job is often not enough. Listen to this enlightening conversation with TED speaker Susan Colantuono and Laurie Shuster, editor-in-chief of SWE Magazine, as they discuss the pivotal business and strategic skills to uplift women engineers. Susan Colantuono, TED speaker and founder of Be Business Savvy, shares the key business and strategic skills to help women get ahead in conversation with Laurie Shuster, editor-in-chief of SWE Magazine. Hear Colantuono’s practical tips to understand your employer’s market positioning, promote your achievements effectively, and be perceived as a leader in STEM.

Women engineers bring the professional triumphs and global impacts of their work to the world of entertainment, lending their time and expertise to television, advertising, and feature films. Engineer, STEM advocate, and Emmy Award-nominated TV host Tamara Robertson nearly drowned while filming a segment for Mythbusters: The Search, a reality competition show on the Science Channel. But she can laugh about it now and draw inspiration from the event. Robertson, a fabricator and chemical and biomolecular engineer, was working on a challenge for the show that involved making shoes out of life-vest foam to “walk” on water. The contestants tried out their shoes by gingerly entering a swimming pool at the deep end and trying to walk on top of the water to the shallow end. Robertson got entangled in her shoestrings - strings she had designed so that the shoes wouldn’t slip off - and ended up face down in the water with the shoes floating above her. She had no way to cut the strings, and she couldn’t come up for air.

This annual event, also known as “the Tapia Conference,” is the premier venue to acknowledge, promote, and celebrate diversity in computing. The goal is to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities to: celebrate the diversity that exists in computing; connect with others to create communities that extend beyond the conference; make contact with leaders in industry and academia; and be inspired by great presentations and conversations!

Since its inception, NCWIT has developed and disseminated digital and print resources and tools grounded in research to raise awareness, increase knowledge, and help individuals and organizations challenge the status quo and build equity. Each August, we share the newest resources to help drive innovation and inclusive change within the tech ecosystem - and to make it accessible for you to effect change, too!
As NCWIT continues its work and expansion as the farthest-reaching network of change-leaders focused on advancing equity in computing, there were several new additions to the NCWIT world this last year. Launched at the top of this year, the NCWIT Media Hub is a one-stop-shop for research-based insights, multimedia, and more, supported by Wells Fargo! Endless resources are at your keyboard fingertips by selecting from the following topics: Discussions and Insights; Explore Your Future in Tech; Inspiration and Community; and Research and Strategies in videos, blogs, podcasts and events.

You can tune into this SWE Diverse Podcast episode, featuring Melissa Marshall, TED speaker, as she imparts concrete tips for scientists and engineers to effectively convey their work to non-technical folks. Don't miss out on her unique perspective on the use of visual aids, the power of confidence, and the influence of AI on future STEM communication.

This Resource Month, NCWIT is delighted to introduce the newest addition to their K-12 programming: TeachEngineering — which provides a digital library with 1800+ STEM lessons and hands-on activities that educators can use for free! University engineering faculty, graduate students and K-12 teachers across the nation developed and classroom tested the contents of the TeachEngineering collection, which is built on equity. The collection promotes "engineering on a shoestring budget" and features hands-on activities that use easily accessible, low-cost materials. TeachEngineering focuses on creating a more inclusive classroom and leveling the playing field across the socioeconomic spectrum by allowing ALL students to tap into their unique backgrounds and experiences in a meaningful way that informs design decisions.

NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) offers four distinct awards that honor aspirations, abilities, technical accomplishments, and influential guidance. The AiC High School Award honors 9th-12th grade women, genderqueer, and non-binary students for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and future plans. Since 2007, more than 25,000 students have received an AiC Award. The AiC Educator Award identifies exemplary formal and informal educators who play a pivotal role in encouraging 9th-12th grade women, genderqueer, and non-binary students to explore their interests in computing and technology. The award recognizes these educators for their efforts to promote gender equity in computing. Since 2011, more than 500 educators have been recognized and have received more than $225,000 in professional development funding to improve their computing education skills.