Hello! It's Black History Month, and we couldn't end this month not talking about Black Women in our respective fields. Last year, I talked about Korin Reid, but this year, we thought we should highlight more than one person in our field, so here are 5 black women who are flourishing in the software technology industry:
Khalia Braswell is currently a software engineer at Apple Inc. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's Degree in Human Computer Interaction from University of North Carolina - Charlotte. Aside from her full time job she is also the founder of INTech camp for girls, an organization who's goal is to inspire women to pursue careers in technology.
Victoria Nneji is currently a PhD candidate at Duke University in Mechanical Engineering. She focuses on robotics, autonomous transportation and the importance of human influence in design an initiative that she is spearheading at Duke University. She has a blog where she documents her journey on becoming a robotics engineer.
Kristen Ransom is the CEO/Founder of IncluDe, a company that provides software development services and solutions to women and minority owned businesses. She graduated with a degree from Tufts University in Human Factors Engineering. She's passionate about deriving user-centered design solutions.
Dr. Wanda Austin earned her doctorate in systems software engineering from the University of Southern California. She started as the senior vice president of Aerospace Corporation where she eventually rose to become the president and CEO of that company. She shaped the aerospace industry as well as ensuring national security within the space community. She was put on the Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee by former President Barack Obama to review and plan space missions.
Ursula Burns was the former CEO and president of Xerox Corpoation making her the first black women CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She started as as a summer intern at the company and worked her way to the top after she rejoined full time upon completing her masters in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. In 2009, Barack Obama appointed her to lead the White House National STEM program until 2016 and serves on various boards at various companies.
These women are inspiring and have really changed the face of what a black women in engineering looks like. I'm truly inspired by their accomplishments and I hope you are too! Let their stories encourage and inspire you! -The Engineer
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