8 Inspiring Women Who Are Breaking Barriers In Tech
According to a report from Girls Who Code, about 74 percent of young women express interest in STEM fields and computer science. Yet, just 18 percent of undergraduate computer science degrees and 26 percent of computer science jobs are held by women.
While the statistics prove that a lot of work needs to be done to bridge the gender gap in tech, some women are slowly but surely making their mark in the industry with a rolodex of accomplishments that are far too great to ignore. From engineers to pilots and Silicon Valley CEOs, the following women prove that they are more than just ‘hidden figures’ in today’s tech space.
Tierra Guinn Fletcher: At just 22 years old, Fletcher was ahead of the game, having already scored a job working as a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that Boeing is building for NASA. She graduated from MIT with a 5.0 GPA.
Jeanette Epps: In May 2018, Epps became the first African American space station crew member when she embarked on her first space flight as a flight engineer on Expedition 56. Having served as a NASA Student Researchers Project Fellow while in graduate school, Epps also worked as a CIA technical intelligence officer before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.
Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi: Lidey and Hirabayashi are co-founders of Shine, which they describe as a daily self-care app that addresses harmful thought patterns. The two came up with the idea while discussing their workplace issues and hope the app tackles the confidence gap many women face, often a barrier to career advancement, raising money, investing, and planning for retirement. The app currently has thousands of users and has been growing each week.
Charlotte Kiang: At just 25, Kiang was a Mission Integration Engineer at SpaceX. Having studied humanities initially at Wellesley College, this Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree was inspired to become an engineer after reporting on NASA’s space shuttle launch as an intern at Mic in 2011. Before joining SpaceX, Kiang worked at Boeing and as an AP computer science teacher.
Maci Peterson Philitas: In 2014, Philitas founded the lifesaving app On Second Thought, which allows you to take back text messages you didn’t mean to send. Having won awards like the #StartupOasis pitch competition at South by Southwest (SXSW) and the Women Who Tech Startup Challenge, Philitas’s app has also garnered media attention from HLN, The Real, USA Today, The Huffington Post, and more.
Kimberly Anyadike: In 2009, 15-year-old Anyadike became the youngest African American female pilot to fly a plane across the country. Inspired by the Tuskegee airmen, she flew a single-engine Cessna from her hometown of Compton, CA, to Newport News, VA, within 13 days.
Yunha Kim: Kim knows all about breaking into tech and gaining funding for your business. She is the founder of the app Simple Habit, which offers five-minute meditation sessions for busy people. Before Simple Habit, Kim quit her job as an investment banker and founded an app maker for smartphone lock screens. She raised $3.2 million in venture capital funding for the app and then sold it to e-commerce company Wish in 2015.
Laura Gomez: Gomez is a prime example of someone who knows how to turn words into action. Having worked at major tech companies like YouTube and Twitter and seeing firsthand the need for more diversity in the industry, Gomez started her own company called Atipica, which offers tech companies solutions to their diversity hiring problem. She says the idea for her company was sparked after speaking on a USA Today panel in 2014 about closing the racial gap in Silicon Valley. So far, her company has raised $2 million in seed funding, which is believed to be one of the largest seed funding rounds for a Silicon Valley tech company run by a Latina founder.