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#LatinaGeeks partnered with SoCalGas on April 13th for an interactive workshop “Learn to Rock your Next Interview.” Shakeh Kalantarmoradian and Evelyn Le, participants in the SoCalGas and SDG&E IT Associate and Internship Program provided guidance and resume building as well as helpful interviewing tips to be ready for a job application process.

Nearly 150 guests gathered at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, on August 20th to celebrate nonprofit #LatinaGeeks 10th Anniversary and honor four individuals making a transformative impact in our world through technology. The memorable evening was a culmination of # LatinaGeeks’ 10 years of advocating for more diversity in the technology sector and educating and empowering Latinas working in or pursuing careers in technology. The glitzy gala began as attendees walked up the red-carpet photo for opportunities to capture the momentous occasion and were entertained by a professional mariachi upon entering the beautiful venue. As people found their seats, they joined friendly faces in the community they’ve connected with at previous events and met new individuals eager to make meaningful connections and support the mission of #LatinaGeeks. The event kicked off with a delightful array of appetizers and a hosted bar, followed by welcoming remarks from the #LatinaGeeks Board Chairwoman, Bracy Fuentes, who reflected on how far the organization has come, and the path to the future. Executive Director and Co-Founder LaLa Castro then took the stage and spoke passionately about her journey into tech and how taking non-traditional paths can still lead you to the career of your dreams. The Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening was Emmy-award-winning reporter Claudia Botero, who set the tone for the evening’s festivities and introduced the panel discussion, aptly titled “Latinas Shaping the Future of Technology.” Speakers included powerhouse women Valeria Martinez, Venture Capitalist at Vamos Ventures; Tanya Menendez, Co-Founder and CEO of Snowball Wealth; and Daniela Corrente, Co-Founder and CEO of Reel. These inspiring ladies were dropping some serious gems: “Knowing that if I’m suffering, ideally that makes it easier for the next Latina, because I am able to be a good representative for our community and that’ll make it easier for the next Latina coming.” – Tanya Menendez, Co-Founder and CEO of Snowball Wealth “You have to look in the mirror and know that you are the best that you can be, that nobody’s bringing this idea the way that you’re bringing that idea and you walk in and you own it because that’s the way that we can do it.”  – Daniela Corrente, Co-Founder and CEO of Reel “Speak up, raise your hand for the projects that maybe seem hard, ask for that promotion. Really, truly advocate for your great work.”  – Valeria Martinez, Venture Capitalist at Vamos Ventures After the dinner that boasted some cultural delights, guests had the opportunity for more networking and a stand-out Silent Auction (including a J-lo collectible, LA Dodgers signed memorabilia, a Prince collectible album, and a Mexico beach retreat for two) to help raise funds to support the work of #LatinaGeeks. It was then time for the gran final – the first ever Inspirada Awards ceremony, which honored fierce Latinas in the following categories: Rising Star in STEM: Liliana Rodriguez, Engineer I at LPL Financial Diana Segura, Intern at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Fernanda Sulantay Vargas, Graduate Student Researcher at Yale University Congratulations to the 2022 Inspirada Award Recipient, Diana Segura.   Technology Entrepreneur: Cecilia Corral, Co-Founder & […]

An evening to celebrate our community and honor Four Latina Industry Leaders LONG BEACH, Calif., Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — California-based nonprofit, #LatinaGeeks announces their 10th Anniversary and Inspirada Awards Gala this August 20, 2022– honoring some of the brightest stars in tech. Held at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA, the gala will feature a lineup of nominees befitting the seminal occasion and will bring together 200+ Latinas & supporters from across the states. The Inspirada Awards will honor Latinas who have pioneered innovation and are using technology to create a transformative impact in our community and our world. The nominees are: SOCIAL IMPACTLaura Cancel, CEO & Founder, NeddieCaeley Looney, CEO & Founder, ReinventedMartha Montoya, CEO & Founder, AgTools TECH ENTREPRENEURMaria Oliveira Tamellini, COO & Cofounder, GamerSaferMartha Hernández, CEO & Founder, MadeBOSCecilia Corral, VP & Cofounder, CareMessage EMERGING LEADERDiana Iracheta, Executive Director, Latina EngineerJannie Fernandez, Tech Coalition Program Manager, Reboot RepresentationSophia Valdez, Early Career Technical Recruiter, TikTok RISING STARFernanda Sulantay Vargas, Graduate Student Researcher, Yale UniversityLiliana Rodriguez, Engineer I, LPL FinancialDiana Segura, Intern, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory The event will include a panel on “Latinas Shaping the Future of Technology,” moderated by Annabelle Sedano, anchor/reporter at Univision- with speakers: Nuria Santamaria Wolf, Meta Tanya Menendez, Snowball Wealth Valeria Martinez, VamosVentures Daniela Corrente, Reel The gala will feature Emmy-Award-winning journalist, Claudia Botero as the MC, a cocktail reception, music and dancing, dinner, and a silent auction that boasts signed items from Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Lopez, Julio Urías, and a beach retreat for two in Baja California, Mexico. “Our gala is a night of inspiration and excitement to help raise funds and awareness so we can continue to drive change for a more equitable and inclusive future for Latinas in tech careers,” said LaLa Castro, Cofounder and Executive Director of #LatinaGeeks. “Each of the award nominees embodies the spirit of innovation, creativity, and fearless leadership- and we are honored to host this event and highlight our Latina trailblazers.” “Tomorrow’s technology is being shaped by Latina innovators and leaders,” stated #LatinaGeeks Managing Director, Denyse Cardozo. “Helping Latinas take their next step in their tech career is at the heart of what we stand for. Our gala will be a great chance for Latina professionals to meet people who can help them take the next step in their journey.” #LatinaGeeks welcomes Western Governors University as its Red Carpet sponsor and Microsoft, Intuit, Autodesk, and Cox Communications as table sponsors. Companies interested in sponsoring should contact denyse@latinageeks.org. Learn more about the event and purchase tickets on the gala website. About #LatinaGeeks Our mission is to empower and educate Latinas by sharing technical knowledge, business skills, and entrepreneur resources through hands-on workshops, strategic partnerships, and community events. #LatinaGeeks is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit. To learn more, visit their website at http://latinageeks.com. Contact:Denyse Cardozodenyse@latinageeks.org

Sophia grew up in rural Idaho, coming from a second generation Mexican American Migrant farmworker family, they always encouraged her to obtain her education. After earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, she worked as an Educational Specialist for the TRIO Programs, preparing and helping thousands of first-generation underrepresented students go on to college. She worked on several boards in her community, promoting education and access to higher education, even helping to launch a professional technical high school in her hometown. Sophia’s passion to make a space for Latinx and other groups of color in the corporate world, helped her make the decision to transition into the tech industry. She has worked as a Program Manager at Microsoft leading a new space for non-traditional talent to upskill to become software engineers from inside the company. She was a Technical Emerging Talent Recruiter at Meta, focusing on finding and bringing Front End Engineering talent to the company. She is now a Technical Early Careers Recruiter at TikTok finding and hiring the best software engineering talent in the country. Sophia loves having frontline access to hiring opportunities in tech. As a recruiter she collaborates with many Latinx recruiters to promote DEI across all of the big tech companies. She believes the key to unlocking potential is creating opportunity. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her 2 children, traveling to new places, hiking the trails of Seattle, tasting tequila and watching live sporting events. Futbol is life!

#LatinaGeeks partnered with CNB on Wednesday, February 24th for a #LatinaGeeks Learn: Cloud Computing workshop, focusing on the basics of cloud computing.   

#LatinaGeeks is excited to partner with City National Bank for an interactive workshop for Latinas to learn about Cloud Computing! About this event #LatinaGeeks is excited to partner with City National Bank to bring a wonderful learning opportunity around Cloud Computing. This workshop will cover an introduction to Cloud Computing Basics, Answer questions like: Why Cloud? What are the major Cloud Service Providers and what core services do they offer? Attendees will also get a demo walk-through of how to create their own Microsoft Azure accounts. Attendees will get introduced to some of the basic cloud computing concepts as well as learn about the various platforms they can use to start their cloud computing journeys. Workshop will be led by: Kavita Rao, Head of Digital Transformation, City National Bank Kavita Rao is Head of Technology at City National Bank (CNB) leading their digital transformation on cloud. She is responsible for City National’s personal, business, and mobile banking. She is leading the Women in Tech organization for CNB. Before joining CNB, she was with Capital One where she was a Director of Software Engineering, leading a wide variety of digital transformation initiatives, including a multi-year acquisition omnichannel modernization program, a machine learning-driven program for generating merchant insights, mobile rewards enhancements, and a brand new agent tool application. She has led teams that helped with onboarding several Capital One partners, including Walmart, Bass Pro, and Cabela’s. She was part of the team that helped develop the data center exit strategy and AWS cloud migration enterprise program for Capital One’s partnership business. Kavita has 20+ years of experience in building scalable customer-facing platforms at CNB, Capital One, Citi Retail Services, and JP Morgan. With in-depth business, functional, and technical knowledge, she has successfully built and led cross-functional teams. Kavita is passionate about Women in Tech and other diversity programs and likes to spread the message of women to “Get in and Stay in Tech” via various platforms like AnitaB.org and Women Who Code. Jo Ann Tan, Head of Infrastructure Services, City National Bank Jo Ann Tan is Senior Vice President and Head of Architecture, Infrastructure and IT Operations at City National Bank, where she oversees the Bank’s Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure & Cloud Services & IT Operations functions in Technology & Innovation. She recently celebrated her first anniversary with the Bank. Prior to joining CNB, she was the Head of Infrastructure at The Hartford insurance company responsible for enterprise functions, including DevOps and site reliability engineering, cloud engineering & operations, enterprise middleware integration, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, network and data center services, service management, and the IT mergers & acquisitions integration office. At The Hartford, she also assumed non-IT functions such as category & strategic sourcing in enterprise procurement as well as sponsored women in technology and the Asian Pacific Professionals Network employee resource group. Before her 13 years at The Hartford, she worked at MassMutual and two consulting firms, Prosum Technologies and Arthur Andersen, in the US and Asia. Recommendations and Requirements: Must register via Eventbrite registration page. All registered #LatinaGeeks attendees will receive an email before the event […]

“New Year, New You”, that’s the saying, right? Well, maybe that “new you” has a new job? However, leaving a job that you know can be painful and scary. Well, it doesn’t have to be. You can leave your old job with some grace and dignity.   1. THINK OF THE REASONS YOU ARE LEAVING  Take some time out and think of the reasons you want to leave your job. Is it an uncomfortable environment? Are you bored of your role? Do you need a pay raise and your current company cannot give it to you? These reasons will help you determine what type of new job you want, and when you need to leave your current job.   2. GIVE AMPLE NOTICE  Once you find a new job or just know it is time to go, set up a time with your direct manager to let them know you are leaving. Although two weeks is standard (unless your contract says otherwise), it’s always a good idea to give more time. Especially if you are hitting a busy season at your company. Do give the exact day your last day will be.   However, we must say, if your company has a tendency to escort employees out the door once they give their notice, then do not give them two weeks. Prepare yourself in advance, by tying up any loose ends.   3. TELL YOUR COWORKERS AND WRAP THINGS UP  Tell your coworkers once you tell your direct manager. You can send a mass email, to everyone on your team and if you need to, send an email to clients. This is not only to let them know but to keep in touch. Set up 1:1 meetings with people who will be taking over your tasks during transitions, transfer access to any files to the correct people, etc.   4. OFFER TO TRAIN YOUR REPLACEMENT  If the environment and time allow, offer to train your replacement. If you’re not able to train your replacement because of timing, offer to create a guide. This allows you to leave on good terms.   5. HUG YOURSELF AMIGA  Once you are in your new job, give yourself a hug. You left your previous company on good terms and on your own time.