If you are looking to grow as a leader within your organization, this summit is for you.
Join us for three exciting days of inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, and mentorship from industry leaders as we discuss all things leadership. Learn how to break through self-limiting beliefs, navigate challenging situations in people management, define tech strategy in an ever-changing landscape, and more.
Grab a colleague and don't miss this opportunity to learn valuable insights and benefit from mentorship during our three-day event!
This summit is for mid to senior-level women technologists looking to grow their leadership abilities through inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, and deepening their network with like-minded attendees.
Mentorship and collaboration are significant components of this three-day summit. Think of this as an interactive experience aimed at helping you grow as a leader!
(She/Her)
Speaker and Author of We Should Get Together: The Secret of Cultivating Better Friendships
Join us as we celebrate National Mentoring Month! Hear from Heidi Williams and Karen Ko of WEST on why we created this Summit and why mentorship is so important.
Heidi Williams Head of Engineering for B2B & Platform / Grammarly
Karen Ko Managing Director of WEST
Deepa Subramaniam, VP of Product Marketing, Creative Professional at Adobe, has had an illustrious career as the Chief Technology & Digital Officer at ACLU, VP of Product & Design at Kickstarter, Director of Product for the Hillary for America campaign, Head of Product at charity: water, and more. Bring your questions and join us as we deep dive into Deepa's career journey and lessons learned along the way.
Deepa Subramaniam Vice President of Product Marketing, Creative Professional / Adobe
Heidi Williams Head of Engineering for B2B & Platform / Grammarly
Evolve from being the hero of the hour to the hero of the next 5 years. So often we are elevated into positions and reputations of excellence for being the best doers; however, you can 10x your impact by imbuing strategic thinking into every problem that hits your desk. Get yourself and your organization where you need to go that much faster by following some simple steps Ali Littman will cover in this session so you can be the one navigating the forest through the trees.
Ali Littman Head of Engineering / Modern Health
We know it’s important to cultivate a personal brand. It exposes you to opportunities you otherwise might not see and may open doors you didn’t even know existed. But how do you do that when you are still on the journey? Join our seasoned panelists as they discuss how to authentically unpack your story and value proposition by honing in on the ideas, skills, and experiences that are uniquely you. Leave the session with actionable steps you can take to develop personal brand on your career journey.
Ashley Faus Director of Integrated Product Marketing / Atlassian
Becky Sweger Principal Data Engineer, Trello / Atlassian
Bhakti Mehta Chief Architect Confluence Cloud/ Atlassian
Molly Hellerman Head of CTO Operations, Delivery & Innovation / Atlassian (moderator)
Kat Vellos is a speaker, author, and experience designer with a passion for helping people connect authentically. Whether you are a social butterfly or the quietest person in the room, learn actionable tips on how to have deeper conversations that cultivate real connection.
Kat Vellos Speaker and Author of We Should Get Together: The Secret of Cultivating Better Friendships
Join us for this deep dive into the importance of networking, mentoring, and sponsoring! Learn how to acquire, cultivate and leverage these relationships with Suja Viswesan and Suzanne Skyvara.
Suja Viswesan VP of Security Software Development / IBM
Suzanne Skyvara VP of Marketing & Editorial / Goodreads
Join us for this heart-opening fireside discussion! Jen will share some quick pointers on how to shift beliefs, why this is important, and the power of learning HOW. A few lucky attendees will have the chance to be of the focus so that together we can see the power of shifting our beliefs! Come ready to share and soak it all in.
Jen Bunk, Ph.D. Founder & Co-CEO / The People Stack
How might writing 50 short articles in a single year about leadership skills improve your overall abilities as a leader? Hear from Erin Paget Dees on how she created a framework for learning as she transitioned from tech lead to burgeoning people manager, and skills she's learned along the way.
Erin Paget Dees Software Development Manager / Briza
The team at Kona has interviewed 1,000+ remote managers since January 2020. The biggest issues remote leaders face are team building, burnout, and belonging. Hear from Yen Tan, Co-Founder of Kona, as they discuss the warning stages of burnout and best practices on how to support your team. Bring your questions!
Yen Tan Co-Founder / Kona
Let’s face it: Technology teams today aren’t exactly known for being the world's most diverse or inclusive organizational units. If you ask anyone who’s worked in the industry for any period, most would agree that generally speaking, teams pretty much “look” the same. While that might not sound like a big deal, here’s the problem: That lack of diversity and inclusion decreases team creativity and productivity, which translates into lower business revenue.
During this session, Jossie will show participants how both diversity and inclusion are key ingredients for building and leading high-performing teams, as well as some do’s and don’ts for operationalizing those learnings and making them work inside their organization.
Jossie Haines CEO & Founder / Jossie Haines Consulting
For many companies, the move from in-office to fully remote has increased the strain on managers to deliver and keep team members motivated. Hear from Swati Raju, Head of Engineering for Confluence Cloud on how she motivates her engineering teams during these uncertain times.
Swati Raju Head of Engineering, Confluence Cloud / Atlassian
What do you find to be the most challenging part about giving feedback? Bavyaa is passionate about building high performing organizations and creating a culture that helps people bring out their authentic self. Hear why it is important to foster a feedback-driven culture, and learn tactical tips on how to give and receive difficult feedback.
Bavyaa Vasudevan Head of Engineering / Point
Mik Lyles Product and Marketing Manager / tEQuitable
Ambition can be a problem for women at work, whether they are leaders, wish to lead, or are just trying to get good work done. But it's also a superpower. How can we turn our ambition to our advantage at the right time and place? Compaas CTO Lisa Dusseault will tell personal stories about being treated as threatening, and about channeling ambition towards good leadership and good decision-making.
Lisa Dusseault CTO + Co-Founder / Compaas
Join us for this invigorating discussion on how tech is improving the way we communicate and power the world!
Courtney Napoles Lead of Language Research / Grammarly
Sara Inés Calderón Founder + CEO / Tercera
Sam Paras Staff Software Engineer / Nova Credit
Karina van Schaardenburg Director, Design and Research / Opower
Michelle Kim Director of Sales Operations / Zendesk (moderator)
A common challenge for emerging leaders is getting buy-in –– how do you get others on board to get things done? The best influencers have a unique toolkit for handling objections and getting their ideas heard. This Influence Lab by LifeLabs Learning will equip you with instantly useful skills to drive your next idea forward.
In this interactive mini-workshop, you’ll:
- Discover everyday behaviors that will earn you more influence (regardless of your authority!)
- Learn how to involve the right stakeholders in an impactful way
- Gain tools to expertly build your case and get leadership buy-in
Vanessa Tanicien Director of Product Strategy and Operations / LifeLabs Learning
How do you advance into senior leadership as an individual contributor? Hear from Ashley Puls as she shares about her career journey from software engineer to VP and Architect at New Relic, and lessons learned along the way.
Ashley Puls VP & Architect / New Relic
Have you ever wondered what key skills and approaches you need to build a technical strategy that will last? AJ Beard will share what steps she took to identify the gaps in her approach to building a sound technical strategy and the skills she needed to communicate with her colleagues and leadership to gain their buy-in. Join this session to learn concrete steps you can take to transition from short term to long term strategic thinking as a technical leader and some common pitfalls along the way.
AJ Beard Vice President of IT / Unify Consulting
- Choose your own adventure. We know three days can be a lot for a Summit, which is why you'll have the agenda early so you can plan your summit experience. Join us for all three days or hop in on sessions that interest you most!
- Get to know our speakers. We will spotlight our speakers and recommended readings in the month leading up to the Summit. Don't miss your chance to learn and be mentored by our incredible speakers!
- Facilitated networking. Sometimes it can feel awkward to network at online events, but we can help. Join our interactive workshops and don't miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded women in your field!
WEST has proudly supported women technologists through career accelerating mentorship for over six years. With 450+ knowledgeable mentors in our community from leading tech companies, WEST excels at matching participants with industry leaders based on their development goals and areas of experience.
WEST is renowned for our mentor matching and cohort-based, interactive career development programming. We are proud to have worked with companies such as DoorDash, LinkedIn, Box, and are committed to our mission to help women find success in tech.
