Ford Latino Supports #LatinaGeeks Hands-on Workshops in Southern California

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Ford Latino Supports #LatinaGeeks Hands-on Workshops in Southern California

Last week was the official launch of the #LatinaGeeks Orange County Chapter and the OC community welcomed us with big abrazos! It was no ordinary launch, we decided to welcome our OC #LatinaGeeks with delicious appetizers and Happy Hour cocktails, sponsored by Tortilla Jo’s located in the heart of Downtown Disney. The cost of becoming a member was bringing a backpack.

For our OC launch, we partnered with Helping Hands OC, in efforts to collect children’s backpacks for OC Family Justice Center Foundation. The center serves victims and families whose lives have been impacted by domestic violence and child abuse. This event helped purchase backpacks for the small children who are going back to school this fall. We collected over 50 backpacks, along with school supplies, all thanks to our new members.

It’s important to us to be able to not only collaborate with local organizations, but to also be able to contribute to our community, especially those in need for education. School supplies might not sound like a big deal, but to a child who has already experienced trauma, it means the world. We want to be able to bring a smile to that child’s life, even for a moment. After all, our goal is to inspire our community to embrace their inner geek, and that means little ones too.

Not only did the new chapter members get to support a local cause, but they also had an opportunity to mingle and connect with other Latinas in technology. The event even featured a fun interactive photo booth by selfieXmedia, where Latinas would take a selfie and share it on their social media accounts for a chance to win Ford Latino swag and Tortilla Jo’s gift cards.

Not all attendees come from a technology background, many were local community leaders, entrepreneurs and male supporters who believe in our cause. Majority of them wanted to know more about our upcoming workshops to learn new skills and some of them are looking to hire. One thing for sure, everyone was embracing their inner geek. That’s what makes our networking events so fun, we want everyone to shine and meet new friends. If you land a new career from our events, that’s a bonus!

Ford Latino Supports the #LatinaGeeks Community

Not only did Ford Latino support this special event in Orange County, but they have offered to do more for our geeky community. With Ford’s sponsorship we are presenting Latinas Learn Cloud Computing workshop this coming fall. Based on the feedback by our previous geeky attendees, our Latina community has requested for a phase two workshop. With the support of both Microsoft and Ford Latino, this coming October, Latinas will learn cloud computing, a fast growing niche within Microsoft, Amazon and Google. The members will have an opportunity to learn how to use Microsoft Azure, hands-on!

What is Cloud Computing, you ask? In summary, the CLOUD means having someone else manage the hardware to run your business. So if you have a company and are running a website, in the past your company would buy its own hardware (servers, networking equipment, storage space) and manage it, now you pay someone like Microsoft or one of their competitors to manage that for you, while you concentrate on running your business. The class would be instructed by our amazing #LatinaGeeks supporter, Sal Rosales, a Microsoft Premier Engineer. There’s no doubt he may be our #1 #LatinaGeeks advocate!

To get notified when this workshop is announced, please join our free membership here.

We thank Ford Latino for their ongoing sponsorship. We also want to thank them for lending us a 2018 Ford EcoSport Titanium to drop off all the children’s backpacks. Not only was this vehicle fun to drive, but I was also impressed by how much you could pack in this small car. The color was gorgeous and the EcoSport was geeky as well with it’s full technology features. View our Instagram post below:

Ten features we enjoyed about the vehicle:

  1. Roof-Rack Side Rails – for camping or traveling
  2. Swing Gate Rear door – for easy unloading/loading
  3. Trailer Tow Wiring – ready for towing
  4. 110V/150W AC Power Outlet
  5. 2nd Row Seats folds down to make more space for travels
  6. Can’t forget about the smart USB connections
  7. Rear view camera
  8. Voice Activated Navigation
  9. Sirius Radio
  10. WiFi

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for future event announcements.

Visit our #LatinaGeeks Facebook page to view all photos from the event here.

Photography by: Denmar Photography