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SHENAZ ZACK: A very, very warm welcome
to all you amazing ladies.
On behalf of Google, I am really excited to be here
to celebrate all you strong, passionate, and persevering
women, along with Women Techmakers,
and their global vision of providing visibility,
community, and resources.
And I truly appreciate you spending your Saturday with us
away from your family.
I know it's not easy, definitely for me, sneaking out
of the house on a Saturday.
So thank you.
This is our fourth year of hosting our global event series
in celebration of International Women's Day, where
we celebrate women's achievements and campaign
for gender equality.
This year's theme for International Women's Day
is Telling our Story.
So I'm going to lead by example and tell my story.
My story has a couple of interesting sharp turns.
So let's go through that.
I grew up on a small village called Gholvad in India,
on an orchard.
It's around three and a half hours from Mumbai,
on the western seaboard.
My first exposure to computers was
when I was in my sixth grade, when my family bought
a PC, first PC for our house, for their trucking business.
And I spent hours tinkering on it.
Little did I know that I would end up
in Silicon Valley working for one of the leading tech
companies in the world.
Our village and our neighboring town had only one college.
So at the age of 15, I moved to Bombay
to continue my education.
And actually, that's where I first realized and learned
about gender bias, as I was the only girl in my class for two
years studying electronics.
I finished my graduation, went on to do my MBA.
I joined BMG in India and had to launch albums
from international artists like Whitney Houston, Prince,
in the Indian market.
Fast forward a few years.
Myself and my dog-- yes, you heard me right,
my dog, literal dog-- moved to beautiful California,
and where I became a prisoner of paradise.
And I called myself that because I was on an H- visa.
I was in this land of opportunity with tons to do,
but I couldn't work because I was on an H-4 visa.
I wasn't going to let that stop me,
so I decided to pursue my passion of filmmaking.
And I joined community college, and I
started interning at local organizations like Channel 4
KRON and KKUP 91.5 FM, which is the only listener-supported
radio station in the entire United States.
I started working with them and later on joined
their board of directors.
But again, I was the only woman of color.
Then, I followed my heart and joined an Oscar-nominated, Emmy
award-winning production house in the Bay Area
called Concentric Media, where I edited and co-produced
a documentary about AIDS in Ethiopia.
And at that time, I realized that technology
had a lot to offer in this industry,
in the filmmaking industry.
And there's a lot that could be done.
So I started knocking on Google's door, especially
Google Video.
I got a job as a temp worker, reviewing approximately 7,000
videos a day.
That part of my brain?
Locked away and thrown.
I don't want to ever go there.
But I had a break in my career.
I didn't have a US degree.
I had to start somewhere, and I was
willing to start at the bottom of the pole.
But thanks to amazing and supportive colleagues
at Google, I became a full time Googler,
and I transitioned to product management,
which is what I wanted to do.
And I am proud to say that I have been at Google for over 10
years now.
So today, as I stand in front of you,
I'm humbled and honored to introduce
an amazing line of speakers and workshops,
and so I urge you all to share your stories,
to inspire other young women.
At Google, difference is our value.
And you can see that from my story.
A diversity of perspectives and ideas,
whether by gender, race, sexual orientation, neurodiversity,
or a combination of them, lead to a much better workplace,
to better decisions, much more creative ideas,
and most important, building better products,
because our products are used by people from all walks of life.
So we at Google want to help the entire tech industry become
more inclusive and accepting by inspiring young students
to join computer science.
We want to create an industry where
people can pursue their dreams, build impactful technology,
and become leaders.
So I mentioned Women Techmakers a couple of times.
And if you're wondering, what is Women Techmakers,
it's Google's global program for women in technology.
It was kicked off in 2012 by then-VP Google[x], Megan Smith,
and is now led by Natalie Villalobos,
who is our amazing leader right now,
and a global team of Googlers.
Yay!
Off to Natalie.
[APPLAUSE]
And an amazing team of Googlers who
are passionate about empowering women
in technology to increase visibility, community,
and resources.
60,000 women, in person, are influenced by Women Techmakers,
as they not only host this event but also host
Google I/O and Grace Hopper.
It also has a membership program to offer
you curated resources and community based on your career
level.
They also have a Scholars Program
which supports women to obtain CS degrees.
And there is an incredible amount of work
that goes in from 320 volunteers who around the world
are developing diverse and inclusive ecosystems.
You can always learn more about Women Techmakers
at womentechmakers.com.
Telling our story.
This is the team we are celebrating.
And I already told you my story.
I hope it inspired some of you, or I
hope it inspires some kids.
But this is selected as a rallying cry
to have each of us become more visible,
which is definitely needed at this point of time.
We need to still tell our story to become more visible
and ensure our unique contributions to this industry
are being known.
So please, all of you share your story today
and listen to other stories.
And also, amplify that by sharing it on social media with
the hashtag #wtm17.
Diversity in technology.
When you hear that term, sometimes you
only think United States, but as you look at this global map,
women around the world are coming together
to increase the visibility, community, and resources
to enable more women to join the industry.
And that's why across March and April,
Women Techmakers will be hosting 15 global summits,
over 140 community meetups.
And we believe in supporting communities
wherever they are, so on April 7,
we will be hosting a summit in Sydney, Australia.
And today, three summits are taking place.
One in Seattle, New York's already kicked off,
and we are off.
And so we encourage and empower women to see--
it's so good to see all of you over there in the audience.
And again, please share your stories and hashtag them
#wcm17.
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