Sophia Eng talks about “Hear Us Roar: A Manifesto for Women and Minorities in Startup, Tech, and Business Communities with Sophia Eng” in this episode of ColdFusion Alive podcast with host Michaela Light. She has a passion for closing the minority and gender gap in business leadership and ownership. Recently, she founded a community group called Women in Growth, open to all women in startup, tech, and business communities for support.

Have you heard already about the Google #Iamremarkable movement?

Show notes

How men and women in tech are different and the same?

Buying patterns

Women buy the most, repeat buy more, most social sharing

AB testing and CRO

Decision making

Social conditioning vs DNA in tech skills

Women get 50% of degrees are 30% of corporate employee

Women are systems oriented too

How traditional female characteristics help in programming

Empathy for innovation

Mother coders organization helping mothers learn to code

Why she wrote her first article overcoming fear to hit publish

Hear Us Roar: A Manifesto for Women and Minorities in Startup, Tech, and Business Communities

Felt vulnerable and did it anyway

If not me, who

If not now, when

How did writing articles and speaking at events help your career?

Women supporting women group

Gender silence

Cultural silence

Children silence

WWIT for women in tech to speak up more this year?

Whether it’s speaking up in the meeting room or writing a viral blog post. Do it afraid. Do it anyway.

You’re hired to speak up, and if you don’t do it, you’re being selfish. Hurts business, hurts other women, hurts men too

The challenge of getting women to speak at events

Why fewer women attend conferences

Need to sell you going to your manager

Women have tended not to speak up, especially to men or when men are the room

The frat party atmosphere at some events

Code of conduct

What are issues you have experienced with being a woman in tech

How have you dealt with them?

Encouraging girls/teen girls to go into STEM careers

How she got involved in the Google #Iamremarkable campaign

Self-promotion is key to getting raising and promotion esp

Why are you proud to be a woman in tech?

Female and minority

Osmo kid tech game playosmo.com

Mentioned in this episode

Google #Iamremarkable campaign

STEM

Mother coders

“If not me, who? If not now, when?”

There are several possible sources for this quote including

Emma Watson on Gender Equality at the UN 

In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt, I told myself firmly: if not me, who? If not now, when?”

She extends her invitation to both men and women.

“Men, I would like to give this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society. I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and heart disease. I’ve seen men fragile and insecure by what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either.

We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are. When they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.

Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong. It is the time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not and start de...