Tag: Women

Refactor: Auckland – Auckland- 4 September 2019

What

It’s time to buy tickets for the September Refactor in Auckland! We’re at Warren & Mahoney studio in Wynyard Quarter. Read on to learn more or grab your ticket now!

About Refactor

Women in the technology industry (including trans women and non-binary folks) are intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable. However, as a minority in both the sector and at tech-related events, the uneven ratio can make it difficult or unwelcoming.

Gender mustn’t get in the way of the fun stuff: the technology, the innovation and the spread of new ideas. So, there’s Refactor

Speaker Profiles

Hilary O’Connor

Hilary is a keen technology advocate and evangelist with a passion for innovation, and twenty three years’ experience in the IT industry. She joined Soul Machines, where she looks after the development of their Asia Pacific market, at the end of last year from Google where she worked for 4.5 years within their Cloud technologies business as Customer Engineering Lead, prior to that she spent 8.5 years at Microsoft, predominantly as Lead Technology Strategist. She has previously held consulting and, earlier on in her career, development roles, with companies such as Cap Gemini, Deloitte and Datacom.

Meg Kowalew

With over 13 years of work experience, Meg’s professional background is quite versatile. Prior to her current role at Pushpay, she spent 4 years as a group category manager for Allegro.pl (Polish TradeMe, with 3.5m daily active users), dividing her time between product management and business development. Before Allegro, Meg worked for a cosmetic brand where she tried to understand the human behaviour of both consumers and shoppers in order to help retailers sell and present goods in their offline stores. This role is where Meg’s fascination with psychology began and it led her back to University. Meg is now working as a Product Manager at Pushpay alongside a team of very talented engineers, designers and product people to build and improve a community apps product that facilitates strengthening connections and driving community engagement. In her spare time, Meg loves to read and take photos but most of all she loves to travel and is constantly suffering from not enough leave days.

Lucille Tachet

Lucille has always been passionate about computers and has known from a very young age that she wanted to become a Software Engineer. However, studying software engineering with very few women was quite a challenge. After graduating in 2016, she discovered the Go programming language and felt in love with it. She is now a Go back-end Engineer at Vend and can enjoy doing what she likes every day!

When and Where

Wednesday, September 4, 2019
6pm – 8:30pm

Warren & Mahoney
139 Pakenham Street West
Auckland

How Much

$25

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Event Webpage for Refactor Auckland September 2019

Refactor: Auckland June 2019 – Auckland – 12 June 2019

What

Women in the technology industry (including trans women and non-binary folks) are intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable. However, as a minority in both the sector and at tech-related events, the uneven ratio can make it difficult or unwelcoming.

Gender mustn’t get in the way of the fun stuff: the technology, the innovation and the spread of new ideas. So, there’s Refactor.

Talks from three Speakers

Melissa Jenner

Melissa has spent the majority of her career working in some of the worlds largest corporations (like Microsoft and Barclays) and in some of the worlds biggest cities (like London and New York). Her career has spanned Marketing, Business Management, Strategy and Design as a Director and VP of global teams. She has been responsible for developing new products, services, restructures and business launches, and lived and worked through some of the worlds largest disruptions (9/11 in New York and the GFC in London). After learning all she could from large corporations she is now experiencing what it takes to design and grow her own business – START Now – focussed on designing sustainable futures for individuals and businesses. She is trained in Human Centred Design from Stanford D-School and has helped a broad range of businesses and leaders in NZ to integrate design led thinking into their business models. Her passion is now on helping people create sustainable pathways and careers that unlocks their full creativity and allows them to have maximum impact. She networks and consults widely and is a big believer in collaboration and keeping the business model small and scaleable.

Jess Keating

Jess Keating worked full time as a litigation lawyer for eight years, then ventured out into organisational development for 6 years with a focus on leadership. She returned to law in 2012, continuing the OD work part-time, and her work life is now a combination of commercial dispute resolution and leadership coaching/training with a bunch of different organisations and industries. A natural networker and problem-solver, Jess has been involved with several causes involving women (including an eating disorders recovery group and a charity to support single mothers). She is a huge supporter of women leaders in the workplace and as a self-confessed fan of the tech sector, is keen to see it (and other industries) become positive environments for such development. She has loved being a part of Refactor from its inception.  Jess has an unshakeable belief in being real in relationships and communities, and attributes this to her family and growing up in small northland town, Dargaville. She is currently working on a website called The Good Boss, telling the stories of regular NZ bosses, in their own words.

Lorna Proctor

Lorna began her career in the British Military as a ‘non-techie’ in a very technological environment. She left the forces to start a family and after a relaxing gap raising her two children she ventured in to adult education and computer training. Working with the local college in UK she established the first rural computer training centre with a turnover of 1000+ students per week. She then made the natural big step in to corporate and business systems training which has confirmed her skill at translating technical developer language in to end user English. She loves bringing the ‘aha’ moment to people and her training mantra is: ‘learn first to make change happen’. She is currently working on bringing Business Agility ‘aha’ learning to New Zealand organisations.

When and Where

Wednesday, June 12, 2019
6pm – 8:30pm

Warren & Mahoney,
139 Pakenham Street West
Wynyard Quarter
Auckland

How Much

$25

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Website for the Event
Registration Website

The World of Agile – Wellington – 6 June 2019

What

Female Fuel’d: Tech Talks June meetup all about the world of agile and how you can apply it in your current role!

In this interactive session, you’ll have the opportunity to talk with Charlotte Hinton, Agile coach extraordinaire, on any questions you have about agile/scrum and all things in-between. Whether you are a newbie to this way of working, perhaps exploring wanting to work in this space or whether you want to explore a few different challenges you are having in this space, bring your questions along for us to work through them on the night.

We’ll finish the session with an opportunity for networking.

All welcome, you don’t need to be currently working in tech or to identify as female to participate.

Hello, meet Charlotte

Charlotte is an Agile Coach. Her passion is to encourage teams wanting to explore different ways of working, workload transparency, identifying bottlenecks before they arise and have the team really focused on continuously improving how they work together to deliver amazing things.

The experiments Charlotte brings to a team could be a mashup of a few different approaches from agile, scrum, lean, kanban, design thinking to design sprints, depending on where the team are in their transformation and what they are wanting to achieve. Charlotte is also one of the organisers for Agile Welly, a Wellington based meetup for people to learn more about agile and the various disciplines, skills and challenges involved.

When and Where

Thursday, June 6, 2019
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM

Flux Federation
86 Customhouse Quay, Wellington

How Much

Free. Please RSVP here.

More

Female Fuel’d: Tech Talks – Wellington Meetup – June 2019 event: World of Agile.
Agile Welly Meetup.
Credit for Image: Leveraging Agile Principles in Non-Software Product Development – Part Two.

Refactor North – Whangarei – 16 May 2019

What

It’s time for our third event in Whangarei. Last year was a sell-out, so you will want to be quick to hear from inspiring women speakers.

Women in the technology industry are intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable. However, as a minority in both the sector and at tech-related events, the uneven ratio can make it difficult or unwelcoming for women.

We want to keep improving the New Zealand tech industry by inspiring women to not only stay in it but get to the top — running teams, in board positions, on the speaker line-ups at conferences, and as visible leaders to inspire an incoming generation of smart women.

We’re delighted to be welcoming Frances Valintine, Cassie McAdams and Tammy Auranen.

Speaker profiles

Frances Valintine (CNZM)
Founder & CEO, The Mind Lab & Tech Futures Lab

Frances was raised on a farm near Hawera, Taranaki and moved to Auckland when she was around 14.  She is a keen adventure traveller and loves heading off the beaten path to venture into unknown places to get some head space.  

Frances has been a passionate educator and technologist for more than 20 years. In 2013 she founded The Mind Lab, to empower students and educators to develop applied digital knowledge and capability. In 2016 Frances launched Tech Futures Lab to support individuals, organisations and government to navigate the impact of technological advancement and cultural change in the workplace.  In the past 5 years her organisations have taught over 150,000 students, 4,000 teachers and worked with 250 New Zealand organisations.  

Frances sits on Callaghan Innovation and Dilworth Trust Board and is a selection advisor for the Edmund Hillary Foundation. She holds a Master of Education Management from the University of Melbourne.

Frances has received many awards for her work. She was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 recognising her lifetime of contribution in education and technology and named one of the top 50 EdTech Educators in the World in 2016 by EdTech International.

Cassie McAdams
Invesment Manager, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

Cassie is inspired about fuelling NZ’s start-up ecosystem to compete on a global scale. She believes that all great ideas and founders need support and perspective – and of course adequate funding from the right investors to get there. 

Originally from Whangarei, Cassie has spent her 10-year career predominantly consulting at PwC and Deutsche Bank in Auckland and London. She holds degrees in Law and Science, and recently completed an MBA as an IE Foundation Scholar at IE Business School in Madrid. During that time, Cassie completed IE’s Startup Lab program and interned at Fundie Ventures, developing an interest in entrepreneurship and early-stage venture investment. 

Back on home soil, she now works in the Investment Team at NZTE, and regularly travels to Northland on a mission to help founders to build an investible proposition and raise capital.

Tammy Auranen
Group Manager Digital, Northpower Limited

Tammy was born and raised in a small mining community in Northern Ontario, Canada. About 3 years ago, she had the opportunity to come to NZ for work, and quickly decided to make it her permanent home, based now in Northland. 

Tammy’s career has been in digital, technology and improvement based roles over the course of 18 years and spans many industries. Most recently, she led the IT and systems functions at Far North District Council, City Fitness Group and SunRype Products. She has recently been appointed to lead Northpower’s technology transformation from a mix of legacy systems to a strategic emphasis on digital.

Whilst in Canada she was awarded ‘Women to Watch’ by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. She was selected for this award due to her leadership and influence in the local tech and business community, as well as her participation in local mentorship programs for women in technology – something she is passionate about.

When and Where

Thursday 16th May 2019,
6:00 pm – 8.30 pm

Whangarei Art Museum
The Hub, Dent Street, Town Basin

How Much

$20 for adults and $10 for student.
Ticket prices are reduced this year thanks to Northpower’s commitment to the community.
Grab tickets here.

More

Refactor North: Whangarei May 2019

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Refactor: Auckland Sarah Jennings, Melissa Firth and Tanya Kennard-Campbell – Auckland – 26 March 2019

What

A brand new year! A brand new Refactor! We’re back at the amazing Warren & Mahoney studio in Wynyard Quarte

Speaker Profiles

Sarah Jennings

Despite training in Biomedical Science and Computer Science, Sarah has found her way into Operations & Strategic Management at StretchSense Ltd. Sarah has been on her journey with StretchSense for the past five years and her roles have touched everything from production, research/design, intellectual property and project management – to her current role as COO. She thoroughly enjoys the mix of strategic planning and inevitable risk mitigation that occurs with a small, highly agile product-focused hardware technology company and is forever grateful she braved the jump from academic (biological) research into the technology sector.  

Melissa Firth

Melissa has over 20 years’ international experience working with teams to conceive, design, build and manage user-centred digital products and channels. Before moving into leadership roles, she learned a lot as a producer, project manager and UX designer. Her most recent role was Chief Digital Officer at Te Papa, where she built the museum’s digital capability from a standing start; increased the public’s access to Te Papa’s collections through rapid digitisation and open IP policies; and established Mahuki, the world’s first culturetech accelerator. Prior to that, she was Head of Digital Business for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s commercial arm. Now, Melissa helps organisations with their transformation, product development and business model innovation challenges, and she has also co-founded Again Again, a convenient cups-as-a-service system for takeaway coffee without the throwaway. It’s the first non-digital thing she’s worked on in her life.

Tanya Kennard-Campbell

Tanya began her career working as a mental health professional in the UK. She has been a program lead at NIMHE England, led her own social enterprise, created mental health resources and spoken at numerous conferences on the subject of recovery and human potential. She started designing and delivering change programs for teams of health practitioners. Through this work she discovered how to effect change in leaders and teams, despite their deeply held behaviours. Now she loves nothing more than supporting leaders to be comfortable in their own skin, to bring the best out in their teams, to inspire loyalty, commitment and respect that reaches well beyond the workplace.

When and Where

Tuesday 26 March 2019
6pm – 8:30pm

Warren & Mahoney Architects
GridAKL
139 Pakenham Street West
Wynard Quarter
Auckland CBD

How Much

$25

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Refactor: Auckland March 2019 event
Buy Tickets to Auckland March Event

SuperDaughter Day – Auckland – 9 March 2019

What

SuperDaughter Day (SDD) is coming to Auckland! Join us as we explore the exciting world of STEM through a range of activities.

About SuperDaughter Day
SuperDaughter Day is an annual International Women’s Day Event hosted by WORK180. Since 2016, over 3000 girls aged 5-12 years old became superheroes along with the parents, exploring the exciting world of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths).

The girls participated in a wide range of hands-on activities, including:

  • Magformers, Cubetto Robots and Ozobots
  • Interactive Bug Displays
  • Lego Mind Storms
  • Makey Makey
  • Visit from NAO the Humanoid Robot
  • Jewelbots and interactive unicorn horns

Apart from participating in engaging workshops, the girls also have an opportunity to meet inspiring female role models, enjoy cupcakes and receive a goodie bag to take home. The event is held in capital cities in Australia and New Zealand. We are 100% not-for-profit.

This event is for Girls aged 5-12

When and Where

9 March 2019
Session 1: 10am – 1pm
Session 2: 2pm – 5pm

Conference Centre
Spark City
167 Victoria Street West
Auckland CBD

How Much

$25 for girls (plus booking fee)
Adults come free (you MUST book an adult ticket with your girl’s ticket)

More

SuperDaughter Day Auckland Webpage
Booking via EventBrite

Women in Data Science Conference – Wellington – 9 March 2019

What

WiDS Wellington is an independent event organised by Victoria University of Wellington to coincide with the annual Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference held at Stanford University and an estimated 150+ locations worldwide. All genders are invited to attend WiDS regional events, which features outstanding women doing outstanding work.

The Global WiDS Conference aims to inspire and educate data scientists worldwide, regardless of gender, and to support women in the field.

This one-day conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science related research and applications in a number of domains, and connect with others in the field.

Please save the date (all day) for a stimulating day of talks for practicing data scientists (and professionals in related fields) as well as those considering a career in data science.

When and Where

Saturday 9 March 2019
8:30am – 6:16pm

Rutherford House
23 Lambton Quay
Pipitea campus, Victoria University
Wellington

How Much

Free

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Women in Data Science Wellington

Practical tips for increasing diversity in tech companies – Auckland – 26 November 2018

What

Increasing gender diversity in business is a key part of success. Studies have shown that a more motivated, diverse thinking team deliver increased sales, customer satisfaction, better margins AND more innovation.

But increasing diversity is an outcome, not an action itself. In this seminar, two tech leaders will discuss the practical actions and steps they’ve taken at their companies to be a more inclusive workplace and increase diversity.

This is NOT an event for women alone – its aimed at all business leaders who want some practical ideas on how to ensure their workforce better reflects the wider market, and see the value in a better balanced team. From recruitment, to onboarding, to retention, Amanda and Eva will talk through some ideas that you can apply in your own businesses.

Our main speaker Amanda Santos is a high-growth CEO, sales expert and sought-after business advisor, providing governance and strategic support to over 150 enterprises within New Zealand.

Formerly Chief Executive of Tekron, a global market-leader in high-precision atomic and GPS precision timing hardware for power, telecommunications and enterprise industries, Amanda is unafraid to break the traditional CEO stereotype and inspires others to do the same.

When and Where

NZTE
139 Quay Street
Auckland

5pm – 7pm
Monday, 26 November 2018

How Much

Free

More

Information and Registration

 

R-Ladies Auckland: Telling Stories With Data – Auckland – 29 November 2018

What

We are very excited to have Kate Newton from RNZ at this month’s meetup.

Description: R has rapidly become a coding language of choice for journalists around the world who create “data journalism”. In this workshop, we’ll explore what data journalism is, how R helps journalists to tell those data stories, and then collectively hack the code behind a recent story published by RNZ that used data analysis and visualisations as part of the reporting process.

Bio: Kate Newton has been a journalist for a decade and is currently a reporter for RNZ’s new In Depth team (https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/368436/universities-face-a-crisis-of-the-humanities), which focuses on long-form and investigative journalism. Known among her colleagues for being “good at maths” (an extremely low bar in journalism), she has only recently discovered R and its power as a data journalism tool. She is gradually learning and incorporating R into her research and reporting, including publishing her extremely messy code so she can learn from the veterans!

What to bring: Laptops. We’ll use Kate’s Github repo (https://github.com/katenewtonnz/humanities) , and for anyone who’s interested in learning more about data journalism, The Data Journalism Handbook (https://datajournalismhandbook.org/) is a great online resource.

As with all our meetups all levels of R welcome, from beginners to regular users. Our meetups are about sharing knowledge and inspiring others. https://rladies.org/about-us/

Please read the code of conduct before attending this meetup.

When and Where

29 November 2018
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Xero
96 St. Georges Bay Road Parnell, Auckland.

How Much

Free. Please reserve your seat here.

More

Meetup event: Telling Stories With Data.

R-Ladies Auckland Meetup, twitter @RLadiesAKL | auckland [at] rladies.org (email) | https://github.com/R-LadiesAKL

Refactor – Auckland – 21 November 2018

What

Wahoo! It’s the last Refactor for the year. We’re so excited to welcome speakers Natasha Lampard, Uttara Nataraj and Vic Jack. We’re back at the amazing Warren & Mahoney studio in Wynyard Quarter. Read on to learn more or grab your ticket now!

Speaker Profiles

Natasha Lampard

Natasha Lampard (@tashmahal) is the co-founder and director of Webstock; co-founder of Lil Regie and creator of Extraordinary Tales of Strength & Daring. Natasha fell in love with the web and its possibilities in 1999 and has been working on it in various capacities, ever since. She now wears a number of hats including event manager, designer, writer, usability advocate and entrepreneur. She loves soup, the work of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and the creation of delightful spaces – both online and IRL.

Uttara Nataraj

Uttara (Utts) is currently working as an Agency Development Manager at Google NZ, where she works with New Zealand’s top independent agencies and their small to medium business clients, to help them grow using Google products. Utts is an Engineer by background (she studied Engineering Science and The University of Auckland) and prior to Google was working in Management Consulting at EY for six years across Sydney and Auckland. Over this time she worked on numerous projects across various industry sectors including: FMCG, Retail, Media, Real Estate, Airlines, Government and Power & Utilities. Utts is also a big advocate of mentoring and has been a mentor for the UoA Business School Women’s Mentoring Programme for the past two years. On the weekends you’ll likely find Utts exploring art galleries and eating her way around Auckland!

Vic Jack

Vic has a background in advertising and design from London and was part of the digital boom in the late 90’s where she worked as UX Designer. And advocate for life-learning she returned to University in 2014 to complete a Masters in Design. She works on projects that embrace systems thinking and sustainable business practices that provide real social impact. A future thinker, Vic has a comprehensive knowledge of nascent technologies that include blockchain technology, IOT, AI and machine learning. She is a strong advocate of decentralised technology that provides us with the mechanism to have increased control and sovereignity over our own data. She is the founder of Maslow, a boutique recruitment agency that focuses on attracting, engage and retaining women into positions of management and leadership inside the creative and tech industries.

When and Where

Wednesday 21 November 2018, 6-8:30pm

Warren & Mahoney Architects
139 Pakenham Street West

How Much

Tickets $25 – open to all. Buy tickets.

More

Refactor: Auckland November 2018.

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