Reflections from Grace Hopper Celebration
When I received the email in August that I had been selected to attend GHC, I knew it was going be the best part of my year. Fast forward to today, I can say it definitely was. I cannot believe I am still reeling from my experience at the Grace Hopper conference 2019. A big thank you to AnitaB.org for the great privilege to attend #GHC19, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. What an awesome experience !
I met tons of women from all over the world and attended a myriad of inspiring sessions. My absolute favorite from this year was “ Women Who Influence Every Step of the Consumer Product Life Cycle” where Sarah Muraoka Koehler, Anurupa Rao, Irina Kozlovskaya and Prarthna and Tricia Ann Nensewitz-Zhao talked about the vertical integration of how hardware and software revolutionizes the user experience. My other favourite session was the Wednesday keynote at GHC 2019, where Brenda Darden Wilkerson, President and CEO of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology admonished us to increase the visibility and eliminate the erasure of women in tech, commit to help, and bring others with us. I came out of this session feeling energized to thrive in this exciting career of the future.
My experience at sessions at Grace Hopper made me reflect on some beautiful thoughts when I returned home with a huge smile on my face, in addition to an indescribable energy from all the women I met during the conference. The women I met were such beautiful and intelligent individuals with so much personality and kindness. After some long and short meaningful conversations with some women of color, I felt so empowered and even more determined to continue in tech This was an experience of a lifetime. I hope to come back next year and build on this experience.
Last but not the least, thank you to Ivy Barley for pushing me to keep applying for this sponsorship and for anyone that isn’t sure about their role in tech or they’re feeling discouraged please go to GHC 2020!. There are numerous scholarships for the conference that would allow you to go.
Hit me up if interested and I can send some links your way for next year! I hope to get as many people as I can to be aware of this life-changing conference.
#LetASisterKnow
~ Jessica Ntim-Ofosu