By Candice Benson, owner and CEO, Benson Consulting, Inc.
It has been a great year of continued growth for our TechWomen |TechGirls initiative. Our anchor programming, the TechWomen Power breakfast was held every month in 2017 – straight through the summer – without a lag in attendance. Our community of powerful, insightful women heard from speakers on a variety of topics including risk management, user interface technologies, solar and personal brand and leadership development. Our committee consistently hears from attendees that their favorite part of the breakfast series is hearing from women who share personal stories about their challenges, their triumphs and the trends they see approaching in their industries. We also love to hear our attendees regularly share how they went right back to their offices and implemented what they had learned at the breakfast. If you have not been to one of these breakfasts yet, you are missing something special, so save the 2018 dates on your calendar.
This year, we also held our second annual TechWomen Awards Luncheon, where we honored three amazingly accomplished women from the community: Caleigh MacPherson (Tech Woman of the Year), Mihaela Sabin (Tech Educator of the Year) and Jillian MacGregor (Tech Student of the Year). These women all have stories of how they use their passions to improve their work in the world through their mission of helping and empowering others in their communities. If that reminds you of a woman in your life, please consider nominating her for this year’s Annual Luncheon which will be held on April 4th. You can find nomination forms here.
Our dedicated TechWomen|TechGirls committee is passionate about continuing the mission of encouraging and empowering women and girls to pursue their passions in STEM fields. This is no more evident than when our committee and our community come together to put on Ambassadors Week each November. This year was our biggest yet – with 9 locations, 17 schools and 91 Tech Ambassador volunteers allowing us to reach 698 girls in NH. Our Ambassadors created real world value through hands-on learning and shared stories about balancing career choices with life. We have even bigger plans for next year, so be watching for your opportunity to get involved.
As we reflect back on a great year for our initiative, I am energized by the continued and growing support of the community around us and the desire to learn more, be more and give more. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and we look forward to seeing you in 2018!
