Julie Smithson, Karen Alexander, and Sophia Moshasha are the co-founders of XR Women, a groundbreaking organization celebrating five years of empowering women in extended reality. What started as a pandemic-era virtual meetup has evolved into a global movement spanning 60+ countries with 1,500 members and nearly 240 consecutive weekly immersive events in the metaverse.

Key Takeaways:

• Consistency Builds Community: XR Women has produced nearly 240 consecutive weekly immersive events—not Zoom calls, but full avatar experiences in virtual worlds—creating an unparalleled space for learning and collaboration in spatial computing.
• Global Impact from Day One: Within months of launching, XR Women attracted members from around the world. The community now spans 60+ countries with 4-9 different nations represented at every weekly event, demonstrating the universal hunger for inclusive XR education and connection.
• Five Pillars of Impact: XR Women operates on five core pillars—Leadership, Education, Innovation, Collaboration, and Impact—which guide everything from weekly programming to student chapters, showcasing how structured values drive organic community growth.
• Learning by Doing: The founders emphasize that mastering emerging technology requires constant experimentation. By hosting events across multiple metaverse platforms weekly, they've built expertise in large-scale virtual production that doesn't exist elsewhere in the industry.
• Newly Minted 501(c)(3): XR Women recently achieved nonprofit status, opening doors for expanded programming, partnerships, government collaboration, and educational initiatives including student chapters in Kenya and beyond.

Throughout November 2025, XR Women is celebrating "The Power of Five" with special events highlighting their five pillars, showcasing speakers from their 240+ event archive, and demonstrating the behind-the-scenes magic of producing weekly events across multiple metaverse platforms.

The organization proves that consistent, values-driven community building creates lasting impact. By showing up weekly for five years, by prioritizing education and collaboration over competition, and by building an inclusive space where expertise is shared freely, XR Women has created something rare: a genuinely global community advancing an entire industry.

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