>> from Palo Alto, California It's the Cube covering the EM Where women Transforming technology twenty nineteen. Brought to You by V. M. Where. >> Lisa Martin on the ground with the queue at VM. Where fourth annual women transforming technology that W. Scored one of my favorite events. Excited to welcome to the Cube, the CEO and founder of Mother coders, Tina lied, Tina, it's great to have you on the program. Nice to be invited. Thankyou. So this event one of my favorites, because when you literally walk in up, I would say we're the registrations. You just feel it's very natural, authentic, a sense of community of women wanting Tio engage with each other share stories. And, of course, this morning's keynote kicked off with a bang with joy Bowling. We need talking and sharing about this massive bias and facial recognition technology, like bothers a lot of technology for good, but there's some really issues we've got eye identifying, fix. Tell me about your involvement and w T. Squid. What makes it worthy of your >> time? Well, any time I can come and hang out with like minded women who want to create change, I am all about it. And having that space to be together physically I think, is really important. Because to build authentic relationships, to build, trust, to create, you know, a space where I could tell you stories I normally don't bring up at work right requires us tohave a dedicated time and space to be together to do that. So I I'm just so honored to be a part of this conference >> today to tell me a little bit about your career journey on DH. The impetus for mother coders. >> Yeah. So I started mother coders after my second child was born, and I have started my career as a management consultant at Accenture. I went on to become a technical recruiter and then went back to grad school and God Master's degree and learning design and technology from Stanford School of Education. So I was ready, Tio, find a way to use technology to change the world. So teach, you know, people how to engage politically and civically. And then once my second daughter was born, it just became increasingly difficult to keep up with my technical skills. I had been going to the meetings. I had been going to the hackathons I have been going to these evening workshops, but after the second child came awhile, I waas a mom with a two year old infant. So the only thing left to me was online learning. And it works for some people, Not for me, not for many people. And what I was lacking Waas a community that was there to support me and just be there with me, struggling through this someone, you know, people who would understand what I was going through. And I did not find that in most cases I was trying to get these technical skills from. So I thought, Why don't we have our own lead up for moms? You know? And my grandmother had raised me, so I had envisioned. Moms were here with the laptops, Grandma's over here with the kids, and it would just be this fun community building experience. I put up a Google form, and within less than a week I had nearly one hundred women saying, I want to come to the hotel. Some were even located in the San Francisco Bay area, so I knew I had tapped into something, and to this day I still get emails tweets dms from women all over the world, saying when it's one of mother coders coming to our community. So I started another coders, Really, As away Teo, help Mom's women who have become moms, um, gained technical skills so that they can get jobs that would enable them to contribute to shaping our future. And they also make a living that would enable them to take care of their families. >> One of the things that I was looking at when I was doing some research on you is some of this stuff, So let's talk numbers for a second. Why this is so imperative and critical to betting on Mom's is smart. Ninety percent women reinvest ninety percent of their income back into their families and communities. Um, women drive eighty five percent of business and consumer purchasing, with two point one trillion dollars of spending attributable to mom's alone. So you think of the Amazons of the World or online or brick and mortar retailers. This is an important community that needs to be involved in the design of technologies and products and services because it's going to have the impact is probably not even quantifiable this point So it seems like a This is so obvious. Yet to your point, you're saying I found myself in a situation where he didn't have mother. I didn't have what I confinement is looking for, said to create it. And then suddenly there's this groundswell and that suddenly almost instantaneously of Wow, this is really there's a really in need here. Talk to me about getting women back in the workers because I mentioned, as you were saying, Oh my gosh, Suddenly I have two kids under two. We don't have the time Technology changes so quickly. How are you able to help women re enter the workforce? >> Well, you know what's really astonishing is even women who had been technical before becoming Long's have a tremendous amount of trepidation about going back in. It's like you really learned it used to be a software engineer. It shouldn't be that hard getting back in. But I think motherhood has a way of just wearing down your confidence. And because the workplace is not friendly towards mother's right, the mother penalty marks us someone who's less committed to your career and less competent when that's the furthest from the truth. Because you have all these motivations to go in there, least of which is taking care of your family, right? So what we do is a lot of it is just confidence building and giving these moms a space to be with each other and reassuring each other and knowing that they're not alone right, the technical skills will come. It's just time and effort, but the friendships are forged. The sons of community of belonging that these moms create with each other is what sustains them. And when they get hit with those rejections, because there's a gap in your resume or because you know someone spoke to you disrespectfully because you were mom, it's You have someone to go back to and talk about what happened with so that you know you're not alone. So that component is actually really, really important. Well, just don't do technical skills. We bring in women from the field to teach a specific topic So our moms get context around. Why data science? Why I suddenly hot What are the issues right? And then the community part, all those three things come together. And at the end of our nine week program, the mom's walk away with a greater sense of purpose and more clarity about their career path. But then they also leave, knowing they have a crew behind them that they can access any time because they had spent a fair amount of time and effort developing these relationships. Where are you going to be strengthened over time >> and just say strength and numbers that we can say that to imply to anything in life? But this is so true? Finding your tribe, if you will of this isn't just me. This is a This is a pandemic. And sharing those stories and helping Bill confidence, I think is so critical you lead a workshop here and a beauty square today. Talk to me about some of the stories that were shared along the lines of kind of helping some woman maybe refined that confidence that used to be there. What were some of the things that came up today? >> Well, you know, the workplace hasn't really evolved and, you know, even Melinda Gates is talking about this. It was built for an era that was at that has gone right. The reality is that now more than half of families comprise of dual income earners who are leading these families, and they need income. Tio Tio lead these families into a place of economic security, right? So you talk about the workplace and what women indoor naturally, because our society isn't set up to support them. All this pain and suffering is going to come out, and in spite of the setting that we have here, we don't know each other. We're just a bunch of strangers who came to talk to each other. They were very generous in revealing their pain in revealing stories. So something that consistently came up with a lot of the participants is that there's this unspoken understanding that you don't talk about your kids, that if you're a mom and you talk about your kids, you kind of shoot yourself in the foot. In fact, sometimes it's not even tested. Its explicit someone talked about how her manager would say, Say things like, Don't talk about your kids because you steer stressing out the rest of the team because they don't understand and it doesn't matter. It's not relevant here. When that is such a huge part of your identity, everyone comes back to work on Monday morning to tell me what they did for humans. Yeah. Yeah. And if you are possibly in a position where you have to perform and hide yourself, you can just imagine how that would impact the way your creativity would come out or ideas you would share or how you show up for your costly credibly. ***, yes, yes. And we are just not enabling all this innovation and source of power that are locked up in Mom's both in and outside of the work for us, because we're not letting them back in. One say, get kicked out and coming back is so hard, Right? So ah, lot of the stories that were shared has to do with these every day, not even like earth shattering events. It's just normal, everyday interactions at like the water cooler or Monday morning chatter that already makes moms feel even more isolated than there. So what >> are some of the things that that you're going to take away from the workshop that will help influence the direction of mother coders throughout the rest of twenty nineteen into twenty twenty? >> Well, you know, one of the, uh, stats that I always keep in my head is that eighty six percent of women become mothers in the US and for the watch part, they're not doing by themselves. Right? So when we talk about most true, we're talking about the *** right. And I have this hunch that men don't want to be at work all the time, either. Right? They don't want to be this bread winning person who you know, has to do all these things to appear masculine, and so it's damaging for everyone. And if we were to create some ways to release some pressure off of caregivers in general, right? Not just mothers, fathers, people carrying for elderly, even pet owners. Everyone will feel better. Everyone would benefit. So my main takeaway leaving this conference is that the pain that the moms air feeling at work, the ones are employed are very similar to the ones that are trying to get back in right pain. The bias is it runs across or culture to be honest. And when you're trying a hat culture, it's all about storytelling. It's all about figuring out How do I make this resonate to people? How do I turn their stories into actionable steps that can be taken. And that was what their last question arises. What is the next step that you're going to take when you leave this room? And not surprisingly, everyone had inaction. Step. >> I love that Will. Tina, Thank you so much for sharing your story and excited to hear about great things that >> come, >> uh, from Mother coders. Thanks for spending some time with me on the Cube today. Thank you. My pleasure. We want to thank you for watching the cave. Lisa Martin at Women Transforming Technology, Fourth annual. Thanks >> for watching.

(upbeat music) >> From San Francisco, it's The Cube, covering Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. Brought to you by Girls in Tech. >> Hey welcome back everybody, Jeff Frick here, with The Cube. We're at Downtown San Francisco, Girls in Tech Catalyst. Great event. We've been coming for a couple of years. About 700 professionals, mainly women, a few men, and I think they brought in a busload of kids to get inspired, talking about their stories, and really, it's a series. It's a one-track conference, two days, about 20 minute talks and really good stuff. Really great content. Check it out online if you didn't register this year. Make sure you come next year, and we're excited to have our next guest, Cube alum, really from one of the hottest companies in tech right now, she's Wendy Pfeifer, the CIO of Nutanix. Wendy, great to see you again. >> Hey, nice to see you, Jeff. >> Absolutely, so we see you at Nutanix Next all the time, but we haven't seen you at Girls in Tech. >> Yeah. >> So how long have you been involved in Girls in Tech? >> So, I've been involved since the very first meet up, more than 10 years ago. Girls in Tech was very inspiring to me, and I was here at the Catalyst Conference last year, and I'm a member of the board of Girls in Tech as well, so I'm able to give back and provide some leadership at that level. >> So we just had Adriana on, and she was going through-- >> Yeah. >> Some of the numbers, I mean, the growth of this organization, second to Nutanix, is off the chart. >> Yeah. >> I mean, really amazing. >> It really is amazing, you know. In some ways our time has come. Adriana's had this big vision for a really long time. Really focused on educating women, helping them to understand the potential of careers in tech, and technology knowledge, and that's a global message, and a message that resonates at every age level, and in lots of different sectors of society, so it's juts a privilege to be able to partner with her and others on the board, to enable the vision, and Nutanix as well, you know, is donating, is present here at these conferences, and partnering at Catalyst and Amplify, and other parts of the organization. >> Right, because it's not only the right thing to do, it's also good business, which has been proven time and time again. >> Absolutely, and you know, it's kind of taken on this passion, mission, just excitement thing, but it is practical as well and you know, all the studies, I'm sure so many folks have talked with you about this. There's so many studies, there's so much research that says diversity brings better decision-making, better product development. >> Right. >> And better satisfaction in our work environments as well. >> Right. The other thing that struck me talking to Adriana, and I guess I just didn't know, kind of the breadth of types of activities that Girls in Tech's put on. So we've been to Catalyst before. We've been to-- the Pitch Night, Amplify-- >> Amplify, yeah. >> But I didn't know, she's running, you know, there's all kinds of different-- types of things. >> Absolutely. I think the underlying passion is for education. If you think about, particularly people in underserved communities, there is a real opportunity, you know coding, and learning to code, learning to interact with computers; that's a language that transcends geographic boundaries, ethnic boundaries, age, and religious boundaries, and it's something that, you know ever since my days at Yahoo, I really felt like technology could bring the world together, and today in particular, there is so much disparity between women and men and their access to technology education and technology careers. >> Right. >> That this is, you know, more than just creating a level playing field. I think we're making our own playing field. We're not going to their playing field, anymore. We're creating our own at locations like this. >> Right, and clearly a bunch of founders are here today, who've-- >> Yeah. >> Started their own companies. But the other thing I think is interesting, is culture keeps coming up time and time again in all these conversations, and Adriana's built a culture starting, always from the top down, with the board. It's a phenomenal board of professional women-- >> Yes. >> That she's pulled together of this organization. >> Yeah, there are a couple of males on the board, too. I want to make sure I point out. >> Yep. >> Because we're a diverse board as well, but she has. She has brought together people who are leaders in the technology space, but also folks who are passionate about building a healthy nonprofit organization; one that's global, one that can scale, and so we also look at the fundamentals, and the business fundamentals as well, so we are expanding from 60 to 100 countries, and from 100,000 members to 200,000 members, I mean, who would think, right? >> Right, right, right. >> It's extraordinary. Even then, though, those 200,000 women are a drop in the bucket, compared to the 50% of the global population-- >> Right. >> Who are female. >> Right. And then you work at Nutanix. Super hot-- >> Yeah. >> I don't want to say startup anymore. You guys have IPO'd. >> Right, right. >> But, you know, but you're livin' it in terms of trying to get enough, good, qualified talent-- >> Yes. >> Just to feed the one engine that I Nutanix, so it's a real-- >> Yeah. >> Demand in the market place. >> Definitely, that's the case, you know, we sort of struggle with the thought, you know, are there just not enough women candidates in these fields, but what we learn at conferences like this is, that there are enough women candidates, but we don't necessarily recognize those women, and we don't know where to find them, and they may not find the sort of work that we represent to be attractive. And so we're sort of trying to change how we speak and think. Culture is a good word, but it's a revolution. It's a cultural revolution in terms of identifying talent where it sits. We spoke a lot in the last day and a half around blended careers, the bringing together of art and technology, or communication and technology, and the fact is that technology just underscores everything we do-- >> Right. >> Nowadays. >> Right. >> And so, you know, having people who can blend those things, is a real advantage, and women have this ability to take a multi-faceted approach to the work that we do and the way that we live our lives. We multi-task as a sport. >> Right, right. It's interesting, too, as the machines get better and as A.I. gets better, machine learning, the softer skills applied with the context become so much more important than necessarily just the super hard-core coding skills. >> You know, I have a story around that. So, we've just deployed, my IT department has deployed a machine-learning tool at Nutanix, to replace a lot of the interactions that happen on our help desk, and we found we just couldn't scale as the company was scaling, so we've been training A.I. from a company called Moveworks, and you know, we've been training it uniquely with our voice, and I think a little bit with my voice, and I just had one of our employees write back to me and say, "Not only is this thing", we call it Xbot, "Not only is Xbot solving my problems, but", he said, "she is pretty sassy, too." And I'm like, yay, he knows it's a she! >> Right, right. >> Right, and she's sassy too, so yeah, that unique voice-- >> Right. >> Is infusing even the machine-learning training that we're doing-- >> Right. >> And I think that makes for a more delightful experience-- >> Right. >> For all of us. >> It's funny, the voice thing, 'cause you know, Google had their very famous, the restaurant reservation call-in demo-- >> Yes! >> They got capped on a little bit-- >> Right. >> For, you know, was it real or not, but what made it so, so dramatic was the human-like elements in the conversation of the machine-- with ums, and ahs-- >> Absolutely. >> And uhs, and pauses, which we laugh about, 'cause we can shoot Cube interviews, everybody wants to cut those parts out, and we're like no, that's what makes people, people. >> Right, exactly, I agree with you. And at the same time, you know, there are, you know, things that are uniquely female stereotypes. We're more wordy. We have more things to say. >> Right. >> You know, we're more multi-dimensional. We can hold two thoughts at the same time, and so that's part of the richness of communication and our interaction too, but to the extent to which we can embed that in our technologies and our interactions, those are the extent to which they'll be more delightful-- >> Right. >> It's no coincidence that Siri and Cortana and all of those A.I.s sort of have this female persona, and I don't know if you know this, the, you know, Cortana, who's the Microsoft, you know, A.I., you know, she's voiced by the same character that's Cortana in one of their video games-- >> Oh, really? >> And she's sort of this like, badass fighter gal, too, so check it out. >> Well, we know what happened to Bob, right? >> Right. >> I know, poor Bob. >> Which, ironically, was Melinda Gates's project. Which, I don't know if you knew-- that story. >> I did not know that. >> So yeah, Melinda Gates's introduction to Bill was as product manager for Bob, which, if you don't know that story, check it out. It's old history. >> Oh, that's-- fantastic! >> But it's very good. Alright, before I let you go, one last thing. >> Yes. >> So you spoke, and they've got these great posters all around the room with little highlights from people's-- >> Yes. >> Conversations and yours was, I described it off the wall, "It's okay to be bad." >> Yes. >> I'd love, for the people that missed it, what's the message there? It's an important message. >> Yeah. >> Especially for women. >> Yeah, I think as women, you know, we don't have a lot of role models and when I get up as a role model, I'm one of the few CIO's who's female and Silicon Valley. You know, we give these speeches, and they sort of make us like Mother Teresa, you know. First you hae your mission in mind, and you lean in, and you do all these awesome things. But the fact is, it is actually okay, to be yourself. It's okay to be bitchy. It's okay to be cranky. It's okay for anger to fuel you. It's okay to be aggressive, and even if your male counterparts tell you otherwise, or say, "Wow, that's "unseemly.", I think it's just okay. We don't have to be pure and perfect in order to be successful. I can be those things all at the same time. And I also say, it's also okay to be good, to be merciful, to be soft-spoken, to be wordy, to be studious; that combination of things. We're allowed to be our genuine selves, and we don't have to be perfect to be successful and I feel like I embody that-- in particular. >> Yes, you certainly do. You certainly do! >> What, I'm not perfect? >> Yes, I mean the Nutanix story is a phenomenal story. >> It is. We are fortunate, we've been there since the beginning-- >> Absolutely. >> Watching it grow, and so no-- >> Helping us to frame the story, so thanks to The Cube. I appreciate that. >> Well, and you're super successful, and the company's successful so the fact that are Wendy, you know, you are who you are. You're a big personality, and it comes through, and it's great, and it works, and you're successful, so, if they need someone to look up to, you're certainly a fantastic role model. >> Thank you so much. Well I appreciate that. It's funny, 'cause I have never tried to be a role model, and now, just by accident, I've survived long enough. Here I am. (both laughing) >> Well that's a whole different conversation-- >> Right, right. >> You just look around like, I am the oldest guy in the room. But that's a different thing. >> I know. You're actually the only guy, just sayin'. >> Alright, well Wendy thanks for takin' a few minutes, and I guess we'll see you next at Nutanix next, if not sooner. >> I look forward to it, thanks. >> Alright, thanks. She's Wendy, I'm Jeff, you're watching The Cube from women, or Girls in Tech Catalyst 2018. (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) >> From San Francisco, it's The Cube, covering Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. Brought to you by Girls in Tech. >> Hey welcome back everybody, Jeff Frick here, with The Cube. We're at Downtown San Francisco, Girls in Tech Catalyst. Great event. We've been coming for a couple of years. About 700 professionals, mainly women, a few men, and I think they brought in a busload of kids to get inspired, talking about their stories, and really, it's a series. It's a one-track conference, two days, about 20 minute talks and really good stuff. Really great content. Check it out online if you didn't register this year. Make sure you come next year, and we're excited to have our next guest, Cube alum, really from one of the hottest companies in tech right now, she's Wendy Pfeifer, the CIO of Nutanix. Wendy, great to see you again. >> Hey, nice to see you, Jeff. >> Absolutely, so we see you at Nutanix Next all the time, but we haven't seen you at Girls in Tech. >> Yeah. >> So how long have you been involved in Girls in Tech? >> So, I've been involved since the very first meet up, more than 10 years ago. Girls in Tech was very inspiring to me, and I was here at the Catalyst Conference last year, and I'm a member of the board of Girls in Tech as well, so I'm able to give back and provide some leadership at that level. >> So we just had Adriana on, and she was going through-- >> Yeah. >> Some of the numbers, I mean, the growth of this organization, second to Nutanix, is off the chart. >> Yeah. >> I mean, really amazing. >> It really is amazing, you know. In some ways our time has come. Adriana's had this big vision for a really long time. Really focused on educating women, helping them to understand the potential of careers in tech, and technology knowledge, and that's a global message, and a message that resonates at every age level, and in lots of different sectors of society, so it's juts a privilege to be able to partner with her and others on the board, to enable the vision, and Nutanix as well, you know, is donating, is present here at these conferences, and partnering at Catalyst and Amplify, and other parts of the organization. >> Right, because it's not only the right thing to do, it's also good business, which has been proven time and time again. >> Absolutely, and you know, it's kind of taken on this passion, mission, just excitement thing, but it is practical as well and you know, all the studies, I'm sure so many folks have talked with you about this. There's so many studies, there's so much research that says diversity brings better decision-making, better product development. >> Right. >> And better satisfaction in our work environments as well. >> Right. The other thing that struck me talking to Adriana, and I guess I just didn't know, kind of the breadth of types of activities that Girls in Tech's put on. So we've been to Catalyst before. We've been to-- the Pitch Night, Amplify-- >> Amplify, yeah. >> But I didn't know, she's running, you know, there's all kinds of different-- types of things. >> Absolutely. I think the underlying passion is for education. If you think about, particularly people in underserved communities, there is a real opportunity, you know coding, and learning to code, learning to interact with computers; that's a language that transcends geographic boundaries, ethnic boundaries, age, and religious boundaries, and it's something that, you know ever since my days at Yahoo, I really felt like technology could bring the world together, and today in particular, there is so much disparity between women and men and their access to technology education and technology careers. >> Right. >> That this is, you know, more than just creating a level playing field. I think we're making our own playing field. We're not going to their playing field, anymore. We're creating our own at locations like this. >> Right, and clearly a bunch of founders are here today, who've-- >> Yeah. >> Started their own companies. But the other thing I think is interesting, is culture keeps coming up time and time again in all these conversations, and Adriana's built a culture starting, always from the top down, with the board. It's a phenomenal board of professional women-- >> Yes. >> That she's pulled together of this organization. >> Yeah, there are a couple of males on the board, too. I want to make sure I point out. >> Yep. >> Because we're a diverse board as well, but she has. She has brought together people who are leaders in the technology space, but also folks who are passionate about building a healthy nonprofit organization; one that's global, one that can scale, and so we also look at the fundamentals, and the business fundamentals as well, so we are expanding from 60 to 100 countries, and from 100,000 members to 200,000 members, I mean, who would think, right? >> Right, right, right. >> It's extraordinary. Even then, though, those 200,000 women are a drop in the bucket, compared to the 50% of the global population-- >> Right. >> Who are female. >> Right. And then you work at Nutanix. Super hot-- >> Yeah. >> I don't want to say startup anymore. You guys have IPO'd. >> Right, right. >> But, you know, but you're livin' it in terms of trying to get enough, good, qualified talent-- >> Yes. >> Just to feed the one engine that I Nutanix, so it's a real-- >> Yeah. >> Demand in the market place. >> Definitely, that's the case, you know, we sort of struggle with the thought, you know, are there just not enough women candidates in these fields, but what we learn at conferences like this is, that there are enough women candidates, but we don't necessarily recognize those women, and we don't know where to find them, and they may not find the sort of work that we represent to be attractive. And so we're sort of trying to change how we speak and think. Culture is a good word, but it's a revolution. It's a cultural revolution in terms of identifying talent where it sits. We spoke a lot in the last day and a half around blended careers, the bringing together of art and technology, or communication and technology, and the fact is that technology just underscores everything we do-- >> Right. >> Nowadays. >> Right. >> And so, you know, having people who can blend those things, is a real advantage, and women have this ability to take a multi-faceted approach to the work that we do and the way that we live our lives. We multi-task as a sport. >> Right, right. It's interesting, too, as the machines get better and as A.I. gets better, machine learning, the softer skills applied with the context become so much more important than necessarily just the super hard-core coding skills. >> You know, I have a story around that. So, we've just deployed, my IT department has deployed a machine-learning tool at Nutanix, to replace a lot of the interactions that happen on our help desk, and we found we just couldn't scale as the company was scaling, so we've been training A.I. from a company called Moveworks, and you know, we've been training it uniquely with our voice, and I think a little bit with my voice, and I just had one of our employees write back to me and say, "Not only is this thing", we call it Xbot, "Not only is Xbot solving my problems, but", he said, "she is pretty sassy, too." And I'm like, yay, he knows it's a she! >> Right, right. >> Right, and she's sassy too, so yeah, that unique voice-- >> Right. >> Is infusing even the machine-learning training that we're doing-- >> Right. >> And I think that makes for a more delightful experience-- >> Right. >> For all of us. >> It's funny, the voice thing, 'cause you know, Google had their very famous, the restaurant reservation call-in demo-- >> Yes! >> They got capped on a little bit-- >> Right. >> For, you know, was it real or not, but what made it so, so dramatic was the human-like elements in the conversation of the machine-- with ums, and ahs-- >> Absolutely. >> And uhs, and pauses, which we laugh about, 'cause we can shoot Cube interviews, everybody wants to cut those parts out, and we're like no, that's what makes people, people. >> Right, exactly, I agree with you. And at the same time, you know, there are, you know, things that are uniquely female stereotypes. We're more wordy. We have more things to say. >> Right. >> You know, we're more multi-dimensional. We can hold two thoughts at the same time, and so that's part of the richness of communication and our interaction too, but to the extent to which we can embed that in our technologies and our interactions, those are the extent to which they'll be more delightful-- >> Right. >> It's no coincidence that Siri and Cortana and all of those A.I.s sort of have this female persona, and I don't know if you know this, the, you know, Cortana, who's the Microsoft, you know, A.I., you know, she's voiced by the same character that's Cortana in one of their video games-- >> Oh, really? >> And she's sort of this like, badass fighter gal, too, so check it out. >> Well, we know what happened to Bob, right? >> Right. >> I know, poor Bob. >> Which, ironically, was Melinda Gates's project. Which, I don't know if you knew-- that story. >> I did not know that. >> So yeah, Melinda Gates's introduction to Bill was as product manager for Bob, which, if you don't know that story, check it out. It's old history. >> Oh, that's-- fantastic! >> But it's very good. Alright, before I let you go, one last thing. >> Yes. >> So you spoke, and they've got these great posters all around the room with little highlights from people's-- >> Yes. >> Conversations and yours was, I described it off the wall, "It's okay to be bad." >> Yes. >> I'd love, for the people that missed it, what's the message there? It's an important message. >> Yeah. >> Especially for women. >> Yeah, I think as women, you know, we don't have a lot of role models and when I get up as a role model, I'm one of the few CIO's who's female and Silicon Valley. You know, we give these speeches, and they sort of make us like Mother Teresa, you know. First you hae your mission in mind, and you lean in, and you do all these awesome things. But the fact is, it is actually okay, to be yourself. It's okay to be bitchy. It's okay to be cranky. It's okay for anger to fuel you. It's okay to be aggressive, and even if your male counterparts tell you otherwise, or say, "Wow, that's "unseemly.", I think it's just okay. We don't have to be pure and perfect in order to be successful. I can be those things all at the same time. And I also say, it's also okay to be good, to be merciful, to be soft-spoken, to be wordy, to be studious; that combination of things. We're allowed to be our genuine selves, and we don't have to be perfect to be successful and I feel like I embody that-- in particular. >> Yes, you certainly do. You certainly do! >> What, I'm not perfect? >> Yes, I mean the Nutanix story is a phenomenal story. >> It is. We are fortunate, we've been there since the beginning-- >> Absolutely. >> Watching it grow, and so no-- >> Helping us to frame the story, so thanks to The Cube. I appreciate that. >> Well, and you're super successful, and the company's successful so the fact that are Wendy, you know, you are who you are. You're a big personality, and it comes through, and it's great, and it works, and you're successful, so, if they need someone to look up to, you're certainly a fantastic role model. >> Thank you so much. Well I appreciate that. It's funny, 'cause I have never tried to be a role model, and now, just by accident, I've survived long enough. Here I am. (both laughing) >> Well that's a whole different conversation-- >> Right, right. >> You just look around like, I am the oldest guy in the room. But that's a different thing. >> I know. You're actually the only guy, just sayin'. >> Alright, well Wendy thanks for takin' a few minutes, and I guess we'll see you next at Nutanix next, if not sooner. >> I look forward to it, thanks. >> Alright, thanks. She's Wendy, I'm Jeff, you're watching The Cube from women, or Girls in Tech Catalyst 2018. (upbeat music)

>> Announcer: Live, from Orlando, Florida, it's the Cube covering Grace Hopper's celebration of women in computing brought to you by Silicon Angle Media >> Welcome back to the Cube's coverage of the Grace Hopper conference here in Orlando, Florida I'm your host Rebecca Knight, along with my co host Jeff Frick. We're joined by Megan Smith. We're very excited to have you on the show. >> It's good to be here >> She is the third US CTO and also the CEO of a new company, Shift7.co, so thanks so much for joining us. >> Thanks for having me, it's great to be here. It's so fun to be at Hopper, >> Rebecca: It is, it is! >> It's cool, it's the Grace Hopper celebration, because we're trying to celebrate women in computing, and we're what, at 18 thousand people now, >> The biggest ever, >> Plus I think, 6 thousand people joining on the livestream, which is great. >> Before the cameras were rolling, we were talking about your role as the 3rd US CTO, and just talking about getting more technology into government to help leaders work together, and move faster. Tell us a little about this initiative. >> What's so great, is it's not partisan, fixing the government and making it work better, so all the work that we were doing continues. What we were able to put in place, during the Obama administration, and continues to Trump, were things like, the CT office. Having technical people, so I worked at Google, people work at Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, these companies who have that background, to join in on policy conversations, one, to join in on capacity building the government, so data sciences and tech and, let's have our services be as great as Amazon, or as Twitter, or Oracle, and not be sort of retro, really serve the American people. And then also, helping the American people in general, with capacity building, things like computer science for all. So that was an initiative that continues to get all of our children to have coding at school. That all children, you couldn't graduate from high school without having had some experience on learning of coding Coding is a 21st century fluency, it's a skill we all need, Like freshman biology. You want to know some biology, you want to know some coding, you want to know how to write, so making sure they have is tech-up, which was a program we started to help train Americans, there's six hundred thousand jobs open, in the United States, and they pay 50% more than the average American salary. The companies are starving. How do we rapidly get more Americans into these jobs? It turns out that people have, of course, created these fabulous code boot camps, you can train in three months for these jobs, some of them are paid, some times they pay you, all different kinds, some are online, some are offline, they're all over the country. So we're able to get more people to consider, a job like that, culturally they think, Well I don't, why would I, I don't know how to do that. Well you can, this is a fun and interesting and exciting career, you can do digital marketing, you can do user interface design. You can get involved in front end or back end coding, product management, all those things, sales. And so, how do you pull lots more Americans in, get our companies fueled so we have really the economic opportunity, and they're all over the country. Location wise, and topic wise. So we did tech hour now, and a tech jobs tour, which is not what we did in government, but we continue some of that work. >> This weird dichotomy, because on one end, people are worried about tech taking jobs, on the other hand, there's a ton of open tech jobs. And there's this transition period, that's difficult, obviously for people that didn't grow up, but one of the keynote speakers today, told a really heartening story, that she didn't get into it until the day she had to leave her abusive husband, and now she is a coder >> That's Doctor Sue Black, who was just given the Order of the British Empire, I mean, she is an incredible computer scientist. Yes, she escaped an abusive marriage with three small children, in her early 20s, I think. Ended up moving into public housing, and dealing with three children only being the school from 9 until 3, and eventually getting her PhD in computer science, and really, she started Techmoms now, she continues to do research in other things, but she's really trying to use her story, and her organizing capacity, to have more people realize this isn't hard like figuring out gravity waves that won the Nobel prize. This is hard like writing a hard essay, so we all can learn to write an essay. It takes some mastery work, you don't learn it in kindergarten but by the time you're in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th grade, you can do it. >> It's not rocket science. >> Right, so coding is like that. >> The other piece you said that's very interesting, is the consumerization of IT. We've seen it at enterprise, a huge trend. But, now I expect everything that's on my phone, when I interact with Facebook or Amazon, or whatever, to be in all the applications, so, as you said, that's influencing government, and the way they have to deliver services, and I would imagine, too, with kind of the next wave of kids coming in, graduating, going into public service, they certainly have that expectation, right? They've been working on their phone forever of course it should be on the phone. >> And so we want everybody in our country fluent in computer science and coding at a basic level, like again, like freshman biology or takin' chemistry in high school, or taking writing. So that everyone could realize this is not rocket science we could have these kinds of capabilities as part of our services, from Housing and Urban Development, from the Department of Education. You know, a lot of us use our phones to get places, you know, on our maps, and so that's actually data coming from the US Geological survey, if you're looking at the weather, you're looking at NOAA's satellites, this is open government data. We were able to open over two hundred thousand data sets, from all over government, not private data, but public data, that you could make an entire app store, or Google play set of products on top of that. Government wouldn't have to pay for that, it just packages up the API as well. A really good example of that, is the US census team. There's nothing more big data than census, they have all of our information from a data perspective, and so they did opportunity.census.gov, and they said to various agencies, let us help you bridge these data sets into something that someone could build on top of, like we're seeing from the courses sector, we saw wonderful things like, Housing and Urban Development said, okay, our challenges are housing affordability, mobility, these are the challenges instead of having HUD make an app for Americans to come to, they just can explain what their problem is, what data sets, and then engage extraordinary companies, like airbnb, Redfins, Zillow, these fabulous tech companies, who can make instead a product for 100% of the Americans, rather than only wealthy or middle class Americans, and so they did things like, opportunity score, and airbnb helping you figuring out, if I rent a room in my house I can make my rent more affordable, very creative apps, that we can see, same thing for the Department of Ed or Department of Labor, and as the data gets out there, and as apps come, also the opportunity for data science and machine learning. What if, as much as we serve ads to ourselves, in these algorithms, what if we use the algorithms to help Americans find a job that they would love? You know, job matching, and these kinds of opportunities. of the problems in the world, and helping government get more fluent at that. And the way to do that is not so much, jam the government You have to do this, but find terrific talent like we see at Hopper, and have them cycle into the government, to be co-leaders just like a surgeon general would come. >> Are you facing recruitment challenges in that same way though? In the sense that technology is having a hard enough time recruiting and retaining women, but the government, too, is that seen as enough of an employer of choice for young talented, bright ambitious, young women? >> I'm not in government now, but when we were in there, we found a very interesting thing. Alex Mcgovern, who had been the general counsel of Twitter who was Stephanie's CTO with me and led a lot of our tech quals we called TQ like tech IQ in policy, together with economists and lawyers and others have if we're going to decide net neutrality, let's include everyone, including computer scientists, and we're going to sue bridge and open source, So we talked about that, and on the way going in Mcgovern, he said, wouldn't it be cool if, just like when you look at a lawyer's resume, you might see that they clerk and they served their county through clerking and through the judicial system, as well as being a private lawyer, they were a public defender, that's a pretty normal thing to see on a legal resume. If you looked at medical, you might see them going into NIH or doing some research, if you looked at a scientist, they might have gone to, done some NSF work or others. But for the tech crew, there is of course amazing technical people in NASA, NAH and the Department of Energy, and there's great IT teams, but there's not this thing that the Silicon Valley crew resume would say, oh, yeah, I served my country. So that's why, under President Obama, we were able to create these incredible programs. The Presidential Innovation Fellows, which was a one year term of service, The United States Digital Service, which is a three months to a two year term of service in the VA. What's more amazing if you build Amazon, than to go as a second act and help our veterans? It's an incredible honor, to the point of, will they come? Yes, that's what we were hoping, could we have that be a normal thing, and yes it's become a normal thing. And the Trump administration continues it. The 18F team is in the general services administration, they're on 18th and F so they have a code name. But that particular team is located around the country, not only in DC but in San Francisco, in Chicago, and others. So you see this tech sector flowing now into the government on a regular basis, and we welcome more peoples. The government is who shows up to help, so we need the tech sector to show up cause we've got a lot of money as a country, but if we're not effectively using it we're not serving the American people and foster children, veterans, elders, others need the services that they deserve and we have the money, so let's make it happen the way the tech sector is delivering Amazon packages or searches. >> What is your feeling, this is not your first Grace Hopper obviously, but what is your feeling about this conference, and advice that you would give to young women who are here, maybe for their first or second time, in terms of getting the most their time here? >> You know, I think the main thing is, it's a celebration, that's fun and you can walk up to anyone, so just talk to everyone. I've been talking to a million people on the floor, fabulous. Students are here, more senior technical leaders are here. We've been running speed mentoring, we're running a program called the Tech Jobs Tour, it's at Techjobstour.com, it's a #Americanshiring, and we've been going to 50 different cities and so we're running a version of that, and we do speed mentoring, so come to the speed mentoring sessions, it's a five minute pop, talk to someone about what you're tryin' to do. Lot's of programs like that, get into the sessions, come to the keynotes which are so inspiring, and Melinda Gates was amazing today, Dr. Fefe Lee was incredible, just across aboard, Dr Sue Black was here, I thought it was great today, actually, just to reflect on Melinda's keynote, I think this might have been the first time, I was talking to her, that she's really talked about her own technical experience >> That struck me, too! As a coder, starting in computer science. I didn't really understand that she had really started very early, with Apple 3 and the story of her dad >> And her love of her Apple 3, right! and really high school coding, which is so important for young people in high school and middle school, even younger. The Muscogee Creek Tribe, in Oklahoma, is teaching robotics in head start, so we can start in preschool. Just make it fun, and interesting. They're funny, they don't do battle bots, because you don't really want to teach 3 and 4 year olds to fight, so instead they have collaborative robots. >> Robots who work together Age appropriate. >> Well Megan Smith, this has been so fun talking to you, thanks so much for coming on our show. >> Thanks for having me. >> We will have more from the Grace Hopper Conference just after this, I'm Rebecca Knight for Jeff Frick (music)

>> Announcer: Live from Orlando, Florida, it's theCUBE. Covering Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Brought to you by Silicon Angle Media. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight along with my co-host, Jeff Frick. We are here with Brenda Darden Wilkerson. She is the new president and CEO of the Anita Borg institute. Thank you so much for joining us. >> I'm so excited to be here. >> This is a new position for you. >> Absolutely. >> But you've obviously been involved with the Anita Borg Institute for your career. At least been aware of it. So tell us a little bit about what this appointment means to you. >> Oh, it's so exciting. It's like coming full circle back to a tech career that I started. Back to understanding the needs of women having been there. Gone through the various stages of my career and then going into education. Helping encourage women into a career in tech. And now being able to advocate for them to be able to contribute at whatever stage they're in. Whether they are just entering or whether they're one of the women who have been in tech for a long time and are getting promoted into C-suite. Or whether or not they went through traditional education pathway to get in or if they learned on their own. So it's very exciting. >> And it cannot be as hard as the challenge that you just accomplished. I'm so impressed. Getting computer science as a requirement in the Chicago School District. >> Yes, yes. >> I mean that must've been quite a battle. I can only imagine. >> It was. It was, but you know when you want something, and you believe in it, it is amazing how you find other people who believe like you do. And you form a collaborative partnership that's really about caring about people. >> Jeff: Right. >> Many of us had been in tech and we had had the challenges and myself, personally, I came about computer science accidentally. I went to college thinking I was going to go into medicine. So I was pre-med. So I only learned about computer science accidentally. And of course obviously it changed my trajectory. It's been my career path and I was fine with that. Until years later when we were working on making computer science core, I was doing some lobbying on Capital Hill on a panel with a bunch of people. One happened to be a 19 year old girl who had a story similar to mine. And I thought how could this still be happening? >> Jeff: Right, right. >> How can people not have this choice and have this exposure early in life so that they know how to choose to contribute to the thing that's changing the way we live every single day. >> So do you see it changing? I mean we talked about this so many times on theCUBE. You know, that the core curriculum is the core curriculum. It's been there forever. >> Yes, yes, yes. >> And then the funny joke, right? Go back 100 years, nothing looks familiar except if you go to the school. I mean they're still reading the same Mark Twain book, right? >> Brenda: Right, right. >> Do you see it changing 'cause computing is such a big part of everyday life now. And it should be core everywhere. I mean the fact that you got that through, do you see it changing in a broader perspective from, kind of, your point of view? >> I do, I do. Education changes slowly, unfortunately. But actually when you look at, we launched computer science for all in 2013. And now it is an initiative that is national. The Obama White House embraced it and we were so proud. And it made the knowledge of going after computer science as something that all educators should really be thinking about as early as kindergarten for our students. It is making a difference in the lives of women. I've seen girls who many times would have been talked out of getting into a technical field by high school. For the few that could trickle in and get into those one or two classes that used to be available. I'm seeing girls learn that they could be innovators as early as five, six, or seven years old. Okay, so I'm just waiting to see the world that they're going to create for us when all of them. Because now, in Chicago, they're required to have computer science to graduate. So that's everyone so that's the key. It's computer science for all. And it is making a change. Not just for the kids, but the educators. I'm seeing women educators go, I could do this? I could get in and teach computer science? I could create something? That's exciting. >> So the Anita Borg Institute does so much good work around these issues. From getting computers into the hands of kindergartners to helping women on the verge of C-suite jobs in some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Where do you want to focus? As the new president, what are some of your special pet projects that you want to look at in the upcoming years? >> So I really want to think about how we dig into intersectionality. I want to first and foremost make vivid for more women of different backgrounds, who may have traditionally been left out of the equation, that there is an opportunity here for you if you want it. Okay, so that's about listening to them. That's about building additional alliances. That's about figuring out how to partner with organizations that we're all going in the same direction, right? So that more people that bring their unique lenses and experiences can help us create solutions, products, services that serve better just because they're there. So that's the first and most important thing. But then of course to, in order to do that, we have to figure out how to accelerate the work that anitab.org does in helping companies to figure out how to solve any problems that they may be having about diversifying their work force. So that's the other half of the equation. >> Do you see that the message is resonating? And this, I mean, you've been in the tech industry for, you're a veteran of the tech industry. Let's just say it, let's just put it at that. Let's just put it at that. But do you, I mean, just in terms of what we've been saying here too is that it's a lot of the same stuff. A lot of the same biases. And then there's things like to Google Manifesto which was this year, you know? And you just think, are we really still talking about this? I mean, where are you on the spectrum of completely discouraged to hopeful and inspired? >> Oh, I'm hopeful. I mean, look around you. (laughing) Look around you at all these women who are also hopeful. I am hopeful for them. We are hopeful together. And I think many times some of the remarks or things that happen out there are just an indication that maybe we're getting closer to moving that needle, you know? Sometimes that's when you hear from people is when changes are being made. So I'm not discouraged at all. I'm very excited to be on this team. It's a very powerful team. And to create the coalitions that our women are counting on us to do. >> It's pretty interesting with a lot of the negative stuff that happens in the news. And it actually has a really bright silver lining. And that it kind of coalesces people in ways that wouldn't necessarily happen. >> That's right, that's right. >> I thought your comment kind of about overt, or no, I guess the last guest. Overt, kind of, discrimination versus, kind of, less overt. It's harder to fight the less overt. So when somebody shines a big bright light on it, it actually, in a way, is a blessing because then it surfaces this thing. >> The stuff that's kind of, you know, it's lukewarm. It's easy for people to explain away. Even if it's really obvious to most people. But when it is as overt as it's been, it's out there now. It's like now we have something that we all have to deal with. It's not, you know, we can't be lukewarm and mealy mouth about it. Let's go to work and address this because it's so obvious. So in that way it's a silver lining. >> Jeff: Right, right. >> But the culture war that we're dealing with this. With what Melinda Gates was describing as the brogrammers. The hoodie guys, the sea of white dudes. >> Yes. >> Where we think all the great ideas are coming from. >> Brenda: Yeah. >> What is you feeling on how do we combat that? >> So, you know, here's an interesting perspective. I'm going to put a call on the entertainment industry. >> Rebecca: Okay. >> To put more images out there that are representative of what's really happening, right? So, you know, I have a sister that's a lawyer. And she's older than I am. And there was a time when you just didn't see very many images of women lawyers or women doctors. But if you watch television, you watch the movies, there are plenty of those now and the numbers. People can be what they can see. But if the images out there are all about the sea of white men. Then we will fight that struggle because people are impacted by what they see. >> Rebecca: The power of representation. >> The power, absolutely. And so I'm calling on people who have the power to change the images to do so. And to show the truth of what's really going on. >> Okay, so Hollywood, are you listening? (laughing) Do you have any final advice for the young women who are here. And maybe it's their first Grace Hopper Conference. >> Yeah, yeah. >> What do you think they should do to get the most out of their experience here in Orlando this week? >> Well, first of all, I'm so glad that you're here and I want you to be encouraged that there is a sisterhood. There is a community that cares about you that has seen some of the same things, some of the challenges. And maybe you don't even know about yet. But together, we can make a better world. We can be the change agents that we already are but on a such bigger scale. So, you know, go for it. Don't ever let fear stop you. And you will make a success out of whatever you're going after. >> Those are words to live by. >> Yeah, we need to get a bigger boat though. You got 18,000 people. >> I know. >> That's right. >> You can't get that on you IM placard. >> That's right, that's right. That's a new solution for tomorrow. (laughing) >> Great, well, Brenda, thanks so much. We're so excited for you and to be here at Grace Hopper again. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate being here. >> Great event, great event. >> Okay, thank you. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Jeff Frick. We will have more from Grace Hopper in a little bit.

>> Narrator: Live from Orlando, Florida, it's theCUBE, covering Grace Hopper's Celebration of Women in Computing. Brought to you by Silicon Angle Media. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of the Grace Hopper Conference. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We are joined by Rory Budnick. She is the engineering manager at Procore. Thanks so much for joining us. >> Thanks for having me. >> So tell our viewers a little bit more about Procore. >> Sure, so, we make cloud-based construction project management software. So what that means is everything in your construction project can be stored in Procore, everything from the budget for the project, to the drawings that your subcontractors need to see on the job site. >> And so these are two, it's mixing construction and engineering, two very male dominated fields all in one. So, talk a little bit about what your experience at Procore has been so far in your career. >> Sure, so, I joined Procore when there were 150 people, which was a little over three years ago, and now there are over 1000, we're in international markets, it's a whole different ballgame. It's been an awesome experience. I feel like I've gotten to grow with the company. I started out as an individual contributor and now I'm a manager. I've been involved in a lot of hiring at Procore, and so, we talk about two things here at Grace Hopper, in terms of getting more women in tech, more female software engineers. One of those is the pipeline, and two being retention. So, in terms of the pipeline, being in hiring is important, right? Being here, having a Procore booth, making sure that we are having our recruiters talk to female software engineers in the first place. And, in terms of retention, Procore has been just a really supportive place to work. I mean, me being here is a testament to that, but things like unlimited time off. >> Unlimited time off? >> Yeah, it's one of the many perks. I mean, it's just a comfortable office space, where we're making diversity a priority, and realizing that our employees need to be happy to get the best work done. It's definitely the most supportive company I've ever worked at in that respect. >> Now, research shows that women engineers really go into this field because they like to solve real world problems. So, can you talk a little bit about the kind of technology challenges that engineers face at Procore? >> Sure, that's one of the things I love about Procore is that we work on really tangible problems, so you see the payoff, you hear it directly from the customers. So, like, I work on the Drawings team. Drawings is one of our flagship tools. People upload all their drawings for a project, and we make sure that people are always working off the current set, which is really important, so that you don't have to do any rework, and you stay on budget and on time. >> And these are the headaches of any major home project too, is the fact that the timeline always slips and the budget always balloons. >> Yes, whether it's a home project or it's La Guardia Airport, which is one of the projects that's in Procore, it's the same problems. So, we get to work on things like making sure that clients are working off of that current set. What's the best way to do that? We hear their real world problems, like different ways to keep track of drawing revisions, and we make sure we adjust for whatever their method is of doing that. The biggest thing that we're working on right now, technically, is scaling, which is an exciting problem. We're working a lot on performance. We have about two million users, so it's sort of like the best problem to have where we have such high demand that now we need to meet it. So, a lot of the real world problems that we're solving, we have pretty solid solutions in place, we just need to scale to meet that demand. >> And as you said, the company is growing so much, so how are you making sure that it stays and remains that comfortable place to work as it gets bigger? >> That has been very interesting to watch. It's just been a great professional development experience for me, as a growing manager. And I think that the key thing we're doing is, in hiring, we look for three qualities, and they are ownership, optimism, and openness. They all start with Os, so it's easy to remember. But we really do look for those qualities in people, and find people that, you know, demonstrate that ownership, want to run with a project, feel like they're showing, that they put their self-worth in the project, and so they're willing to go the extra mile. In terms of optimism, doing well with change. I mean, growing that quickly, we're looking for people who work well with change, are excited about our growth. >> Rebecca: Are adaptable. >> Exactly, and then-- >> Rebecca: Openness. >> Openness, yeah, I almost forgot the last one. Openness, for me, where I see that the most at Procore is just communication from the executives. No matter who you are, you could go up to one of them and start a conversation, and they make a point of doing, you know, all hands meetings where they're communicating what the top company priorities are, what our investors are saying, things that you wouldn't think that an individual contributor would even be aware of. They lay it all out there. >> So, I mean, it sounds great, the idea that the lowest person on the totem pole can go up to a senior manager and give her input on a new idea, or pitch something. How does it really work, though? I mean, how do you empower that junior employee? >> I mean, I think a lot of that's individual management, but an example I can think of, in terms of empowering individuals' ideas at Procore is we just started a diversity and inclusion council as part of our efforts to kind of begin tackling the problem of increasing the number of women in tech. So, that means that 20 employees are meeting, they're funded by the company, and they get to figure out their takeaways, figure out their initiatives, and that's fully supported by the executives. >> Great, great, great. So, here you are at Grace Hopper. This is your second Grace Hopper. What is your takeaway from this conference? How would you describe the energy? >> It's incredibly inspiring. It's like being in a bubble for a few days. You know, it makes me want to extend that out into the real world. Melinda Gates yesterday was amazing, Debbie Sterling this morning. >> Rebecca: Who's the founder of GoldieBlox. >> Yeah, it's just, it just reminds me of that saying, you can't be what you can't see, and this is the opportunity for people to see. Procore sent about 30 women, and this is showing them, here are these women in leadership, here are women who have had really long careers in tech, so it's possible for you too. >> And, you know, you're not one of the new entrants to this field. You're already having a successful career, but you're also not a veteran. What keeps you going, even in spite of the Google manifesto, and the headlines that we read about the bleak numbers of women in leadership roles? >> I mean, I would be lying if I said those things didn't hurt, and it's really a mind game, where you have to sort of self-manage, and believe in yourself despite what other people are saying, not give people's opinions power over what your abilities actually are. >> And what's your advice to the young women here at Grace Hopper, who maybe it's their first time being here? >> I mean, my advice for actually attending the conference would be just make the most of it. >> Rebecca: And how does one make the most of it? I mean, it is big, it's overwhelming, 18000 people. >> Yeah, it definitely is. I think, for me, I'm a big note taker. I write down those big takeaways and I revisit them. So, you know, in six months, when another one of these articles comes out with negative news about women in tech, I can revisit that and kind of feel bolstered by that. >> Rebecca: Are you hopeful that things are changing? >> Yes, I am hopeful-- >> And you're on the ground floor here. I mean, you're one of the women fighting the good fight every day. >> That's nice to hear, and I think, you know, last year's Grace Hopper, there were 13000 people, this year there's 18000. Things are trending in the right direction. For me, I think that pipeline problem is something I think about a lot, and getting young girls interested in technology. For me, I didn't start coding until I was done with college, so it's important to me that people are aware of the possibilities at a young age. >> Well, Rory, thanks so much for joining us. It's been a lot of fun talking to you. >> Yeah, great talking to you too. >> Thank you. We will have more from the Grace Hopper Conference, just after this.

>> Narrator: Live from Orlando, Florida. It's theCube. Covering Grace Hopper's Celebration of Women In Computing. Brought to you by, SiliconANGLE Media. >> Welcome back to theCube's coverage of the Grace Hopper conference here in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We are joined by Raji Arasu, she is the CTO of Development at Intuit. And also, by Marianna Tessel. She is the Chief Product Officer at Intuit. So thank you both for joining us. >> I think you got the title wrong. >> Oh no! (laughter) Please correct me! >> It's SVP. >> SVP. >> SVP of our organization is called CTO Dev, and I manage the platform and infrastructure services for our... >> Great. >> So now we've got that under control. >> Wonderful. >> So tell a little bit about your background. We'll start with you Raji, how you got into this business. >> I have been about 27 years in the consumer and retail space. And a ton of background on ecommerce and payments. This actually my first job sort of focusing on platform and core services for the company. A huge responsibility, my job is not just to provide and you know, delightful services for both my internal and external customers. But to really make sure that we are really thinking about the future and the capabilities that we're building for the future. So, super excited about my role at Intuit. >> How about you, Marianna? >> First of all, thanks for having me here. >> Yes. >> And I have to confess, this is my first time at the Grace Hopper Conference. >> That's wonderful! That's, that's great! >> And I'm completely blown away from the wonderful people here and the representation and the energy. So, I'm now a fan. So, anyway, just wanted to say that. You know, my background has always been engineering, I've done multiple engineering roles. I actually, before this, I spent a lot of time in systems and infrastructure and I really get a kick right now out of using some of the products I built. And actually using them in other products. And seeing how customers are using it. So, that's an interesting kind of journey, and interesting to see kind of full picture, of kind of the industry. >> Both of you, and we are here at Grace Hopper, which is the celebration of women in computing. And both of you are passionate about creating a more inclusive engineering culture. Can you talk about why, why this is a passion project of yours. And then also, what you're doing to make, to help that happen. Raji? >> I think, I mean, Grace Hopper. This is my seventh year in the conference and I love it. >> So you're a veteran. She's a virgin, you're a veteran. >> I'm definitely a veteran, absolutely. (laughter) >> And I think it's such a joy because it not only, I have started to recognize some familiar faces. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to network, with women in technology, and talk about actually, what's cool, is not just the issue around fixing the numbers, but actually, we talk about capabilities and building, you know, what's really important for our craft. And so I'm actually excited about that. The more and more I see, you know we have about 112 people attending from Intuit. And you know, a ton of men as well, participating in that but a lot of people are going to be talking about things that are very core to us. Like, data engineering, data science, architecture, services-oriented journey, and all of that which is awesome. Because I think, that's what people want to hear, the work that we do. And they want to understand, what it would be like to work at Intuit. So, there's a ton of opportunity for companies and for individuals who work there to really show what they do everyday. And really connect in a very authentic way. And show off their work. More than actually be, you know, really talking about the Uber problem that many of us do care about that as well. But I see, down here, especially where we are sitting, everybody's connecting on where they work, what is the work that I'm going to do, or what is the stuff that actually interests me. Which I think is pretty cool. >> During the keynote, Melinda Gates had a very quotable quote and she said, "Not every idea is wrapped in a hoodie," not every good idea is wrapped in a hoodie. And this is really bemoaning the brogrammer culture. Is that message getting through, do you think, to young women? In the sense of, this is not all the sea of white dudes. >> You know, I, I think it is but there's still like work to do. Both for like, women that enter the field, as well as women that been here for, for awhile. And, you know, there's still plenty of opportunity. So, you know, the culture is definitely, at least, I'll have to tell you that, again, being a bit in the industry now, and gaining a bit of a perspective, just the fact that it's being talked about and the fact that there's more energy towards solving it is already, you know, a great win. And, you know, to your question before, if I can jump on that as well. >> Knight: Yes! Absolutely. >> You know, this whole idea of diversity in the work place, there is nothing, I don't know if there's much to say there beyond what's already said about how it's good for businesses, how the customers at many of the of, I know definitely for us, in the small businesses, a lot of our customers are diverse. And we want to have diverse people build product for our customers, right? You know, so all of these are true, it makes sense for the business. But now I can tell you from my own lens, and my own kind of perspective and experience, you know, women are just awesome. And they make like, outstanding engineers, outstanding leaders, and every time I have a group of, you know, that has all sorts of people, again all kinds of diversity it's just a stronger group. So, some of it, you know, I love to have a diverse team selfishly, because it's an awesome team and that's kind of what I think we should all be pursuing. Just, be awesome, not just diverse. >> So you're passionate about getting more women into this industry, keeping them, retaining them in the industry. But, tell me a little bit about the tech. I mean, because that is, that was obviously your first love and that's why you do what you do. So tell me about what you're working on that's really exciting to you at Intuit. >> I think, you know, as I look at my past, one of the things that always excited me is to work on complex stuff that actually makes a difference in the world. And it started fairly early on in my career where I started to, when I worked at eBay it was about actually connecting to our customers and sellers and having that sort of a social impact. Moving on to StubHub it was a lot about actually entertainment and how do you really get people to the game and that perfect evening they were looking for. And then moving on to Intuit, it's about making that financial freedom possible for many of our customers. And I think when I look at that, for Intuit, there's a huge opportunity. Which we are actively working on is, to start looking at our data and be able to create some delightful customer experiences for our people. And to, to really give them more time and more money at the end of the day. And I think, and that sort of confidence in our own products, about the decisions we make for them and the expertise that we provide, and so as part of that, a lot of that can only come alive with technology. So, when we start to look at that, you know, there's a huge focus within the company on building great tools for developers so they can move faster. There's a huge focus on trying to do AI and machine learning on our data and looking at what we can do to personalize our experiences for our customers and reduce friction in the flow. There's a ton of work that's being done there. And I also think that we, we're very excited about our journey to the cloud. And having gone through the whole services-oriented architecture, re-architecture that we are being embarked on for many years. So, I think really, really there's a ton of good work that's happening inside with all towards the focus of servicing the customer. So there's a ton of conversations that we have around customer empathy. And then all of the technology towards making the lives of our customers better from a financial perspective. >> And giving them back time and money as you said, yes. Yes, absolutely. >> If I can add, to that, like our mission as a company is to power prosperity around the world and you know, and that's like a great mission. But, as Raji was saying, it's even awesome when you get to connect technology to a mission that is really inspiring like this. >> Knight: Yes. >> And is really something we put in practice. You know, I'll talk specifically in one of my products, Quick Books Online, QBO. You know, we have, a lot of the problems that, a lot of the challenges, we shouldn't call them problems. Challenges that many of the SAS companies are facing in terms of scale, in terms of velocity, how are we doing DEV ops in the most modern way? What's our CICD pipeline look like? How do we use, we have all this great data, how do we use the right data? Because, obviously we want to respect privacy. How do we use the right data to giving even more value to our, getting more value to our customers? How do we apply machine learning and AI? And, you know et cetera, to make it even more interesting because we have some touch with financial data. There's a lot of view on security and what we do there. So, lots of problems to solve that are deep technical problems. Lots of modern technology. Some that other, that you know, we have to look at but you know, really interesting set of challenges. From all the way to, in close to the infrastructure, all the way to the UI and some really cool things that we're doing there. >> I think that's a really great point, and the fact that, you know, as you're women technologists so you face issues of biases and sexism in the industry. But as technologists, as human technologists, you face questions about, am I looking at the right data, is this data secure, am I doing enough around privacy? Do you think that this conference does enough to acknowledge both sides of this coin in the sense that you are technical leaders in your field and you are here, at a tech conference, but then you're also here to rally around this issue of getting more women and retaining more women in the industry? What do you think? >> I think, I think that I am in this, in these booths here, I sense it. I sense that we're talking about the real problems around technology. The conversations around the specialties that are required in data science or maybe architecture, maybe engineering. I mean any parts of that, we do have those conversations. I think at the keynotes and maybe at the higher level, it's a lot more about developing women and addressing the problem and probably building leadership. So, there's probably two flavors that you find in this conference. Which I think cater to different sets of women and some about staying in the field and not sort of, you know, dealing with the problems that we have. So I think it does. But I think it'd be awesome to have a panel where we have very different points of view on a technology, and having a really good debate about that. Which would be really cool I think, if we had something like that. I don't know if it's in our curriculum. I'm definitely not aware of everything in our curriculum but it would be cool to have a panel like that. >> I want to wrap up here but I want to ask, what is your best advice for aspiring women in this field? And it could be someone who is just starting her computer science journey in college, or it could be someone who maybe is feeling as though, do I stay in this field, I don't know if this is for me. What would you say to that young woman? >> You know, again, maybe something that she heard before, but I would say, you know, go for it, stick with it, be ready to fall down. And come back up and be ready, be open-minded, know that you can learn anything. And, you know, but stick with it. >> Just stay, stick with it. (laughter) >> Yes, through hard and through easy. >> I love that. I mean, I want to definitely second Marianna saying don't be afraid of failures. Take it on, and use that as an opportunity to convert that into success in the next opportunity that you have. I think the part that I would also say, is protect being a leader in tech and staying true to it. You got to have a learning mindset. Every single day you come in, you got to learn new skills, you have to open to change, and constant change. And if you learn, and every one of us has different ways to learn. You know, some of us learn through conversation, some of us learn through reading papers, whatever that might be. But if you do that, you will stay as a credible and relevant leader for the longer run. >> Knight: The growth mindset. >> Absolutely. >> Well Raji, Marianna, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a lot of fun. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for having us. >> I'm Rebecca Knight, here at the Grace Hopper Conference, we will have more, just after this. (electronic music)

(upbeat music) >> Announcer: Live from Orlando, Florida It's theCUBE, covering Grace Hopper's celebration of women in computing. Brought to you by SiliconANGLE Media. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of the Grace Hopper conference here in Orlando, Florida. I am your host Rebecca Knight. I'm joined by Lybra Clemons. She is the global head of diversity and inclusion at PayPal. Thanks so much for joining us, Lybra. >> Thanks for having me. >> So this is your first time on theCUBE. >> First time on theCUBE, first time at Grace Hopper, first month of PayPal so it's great. >> A newbie, well we are thrilled to have you. >> Thank you. >> And you're actually, frankly, quite new at PayPal, so-- >> Very new. >> You're a month in, so tell us, what does the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion do? >> I think they do everything, because somehow, someway my calendar is full. It's a combination of things. You know, DNI, Diversity Inclusion, is so important to the CEO, and to the company. So, not only am I involved in all kinds of business meetings, but we're a function of human resources, so there's a recruiting piece of it. There's also the talent management, the development of our diverse talent, as well as engagement. So I'm hitting every single part of kind of your HR employee life cycle, as well as all of these amazing opportunities, like coming to Grace Hopper, partnering with a lot of our smaller organizations and nonprofits who are working on ensuring that there is STEM and tech for young women and girls. As well as, looking into different affinity groups in LGBT, our veterans, just so many opportunities, so I'm constantly like, but it's so fantastic because there's such enthusiasm. Our CEO is really top notch. I mean, Dan Schulman, not only does he talk about diversity, but he is really committed to it. So, I'm telling you, I feel like almost a celebrity, and it's just like, usually the diversity person, they're like, yeah he's our diversity person. But then like, I got introduced the first week, and my email is blowing up, and people were just excited about it, in a good positive way. >> So, let's back up actually, and talk about, you know, one of the things our keynotes were talking about this morning is what do women look for in an employer. What do they want? What do women want Lybra? >> What do people want? >> So when you were looking for your next move in your career, what stood out to you about PayPal, and what made you think, "This is the place". >> That is such a good question. One thing I did, the first thing I did actually, was go to their website, and I looked at their board to see who was on their board from a diversity perspective. And I have to tell you, PayPal's Board of Directors 45% diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity. I don't know another company, or tech company, that's achieving that at that point, so that was completely impressive. I also go to the leadership, and I look to see how many levels down you have to go, to find a woman or a person of color. I didn't have to go that many levels down, and it was an abundance of it. So, for me, that's critical, and I think a lot of woman and even underrepresented minorities, they look for that. If you can't see yourself in the senior ranks, then you just question whether there is a life for you there, and a trajectory for you. So, for me, that was important. Also, just a great, cool culture. I get to wear jeans to work you know. >> But Lybra, how did you find out about the culture? What kind of homework did you do? >> You know, that's a good question. I actually knew someone that worked at PayPal, but it's a far cry from my life in New York, which is wonderful, and there are a lot of companies that actually are casual, but beyond just your attire, there is something about it, every time I met someone at PayPal I didn't hear this, "Oh, I work at PayPal". There's enthusiasm, there's authenticity, which is critical, people are who they are, who they are. They don't come to work and they don't shed whatever it is, they can be whoever they want. That, to me, is so important, because I have a personality, I also have an idea, I have a vision. >> Rebecca: I have no idea, Lybra. >> Yeah, no personality, but that's so important to me. So, there was a place where people can feel like they can bring themselves to work, and I know it's a cliche, but you really can. And I think there's also a piece where people actually care about what other people think. I think there's like not a lot of group think, which, a lot of companies are like, "Get along, "go along to get along," that's not there. So, for me, it was so important that I can show up, and be myself, and in the interviews I was all Lybra, and if you can take all Lybra, then, you know, I'm in there, but I think a lot of woman and just people in general want to see themselves at work, and feel like they don't have to try to be someone else. >> And see their aspirational selves, as you said. >> Their aspirations, their goals, people that look like them, but an opportunity to influence, and be creative, and be entrepreneurial, and that is what I needed and wanted, and I think a lot of people are looking for that these days. >> So, earlier in your career you worked in Nicaragua, with the One Laptop per Child Organization. Tell us a little bit about that, and then also connect it to what you're doing today. >> It's so interesting, it is like, first of all I left American Express, moved to Nicaragua and ran a laptop program. I have no tech background. I had never been to Nicaragua, but it was such an amazing opportunity, and it was an opportunity for me to not only to introduce the concept of using laptops to various schools and teachers, but to also get kids to really understand how to use technology to solve problems. This was in 2009, right? But was also just full circle, and it's funny because I talked about this in my interview, was living in Nicaragua, I had a cellphone at the time, but I would have to walk blocks and blocks and blocks in the heat, to the ATM, which may or may not work, to get cash, to go walk a few more blocks to pay for my cellphone to add minutes. And I just thought in my mind, how much easier it would be, like literally just so, >> Rebecca: (laughing) Yes. >> How much easier would it be if I didn't have to do that. So, one of the things I learned was understanding how important tech is, introducing it at young ages, ensuring that people understand, not just the children understand the use of technology, but also we were training teachers who didn't understand technology. That's a huge gap a lot of people miss. But also, the function of how to operate when the infrastructures aren't there. Fast forward to 2017, interviewing at a company like PayPal that actually opens up opportunities for people who wouldn't have that. >> And here in the US we can be very Western centric. >> That's right. >> But to think about how tech is this great equalizer for developing countries, helping, making person to person payments easier, more seamless. >> Financial inclusion, that's what this company is about. So not only did I go to the website to look at who was on the board, who were the leaders, you know, Dan Schulman, following him, but also really being behind the vision and the mission of a company, and there's not a person at PayPal that does not agree with what we're doing. And it's so fantastic, and it's everything I thought about during my time at American Express, also at One Laptop per Child, but it all just is full circle, and it's just everything that I've always wanted. So you feel like you're in the right place, you know? >> So, you're one month in. >> Lybra: One month in. >> I want to know what you want the future to hold for PayPal, so when we're sitting down next year Lybra, at the next Grace Hopper conference. >> Lybra: Yes. >> What do you want to look back as the accomplishments of PayPal, both in terms of recruiting more women, retaining more women, and also the programs keep them happy in their roles. >> Yes, yeah. I mean, you know what, in one year, I would love to see more people of color here. I mean, I definitely think that, even as just looking around the room, I definitely see diversity within Grace Hopper, but I definitely see that we're missing the Black and Latino population. And that part is very critical, as we look at the numbers and we look at diversity within the women's movement. So that part, I would love for PayPal to be able to contribute to that. But how do we bring more women of color into these conversations and having a seat at the table so I would love for that. Grace Hopper, more men, we have men here. Our Chief Technology Officer is here. >> Rebecca: (laughing) It's a secret. >> We've got probably two to three men that are with us, and I definitely want to bring more. I think the only way to have a conversation is to bring everyone to be part of it. And so, I know we can do that next year, and I just have a feeling that the way that global diversity is looking at DNI as it relates to women. We can look at women, but we're looking at everyone. And we want to create those opportunities. And there's a lot of focus on recruiting, but for us we really want to talk about retention and culture. Because we can bring them in the door, we need you to stay. We need you to stay, we need you to build, we need you to be entrepreneurs, and we need you to ascend through the ranks. So anything that our team can do to ensure that, that's where the dirty work is. This is all fun and exciting, but it's like getting back to PayPal offices, ensuring that not only do we have the women at PayPal, but they see themselves in leadership opportunities, and they have those opportunities. So that's exciting for us too. >> You talked about the numbers, and the numbers are bleak right now. >> Yes. >> So, it's 25%, women represent 25% of workers in the tech industry, 15% of leaders, and the numbers are even more abysmal for Black and Latino women. >> Lybra: Yes absolutely. >> So if you could talk to the young Lybra out there >> Lybra: Oh my God. >> The person who aspires to have a rewarding and rich career in technology. What would you say to her? >> Here is what I love though. I have to say this. This is my first tech job to be honest. What I'm hearing about are all these organizations, and even Melinda Gates talked about this. There are so many organizations that are going into the schools to ensure that a lot of these young women from all walks of life have access to technology. Computer Science. To really understand the value of using technlogy to solve problems. So, what I would love to do is continue those partnerships, and be very, very targeted and specific about it. Because, there's a lot of that's happening, but we need to pull through all the way. Like, do they stop at the fifth grade, what happens in Middle School, what happens in High School? Do they go to certain schools that don't have these programs. So there has to be kind of of a pull through affect. I think if you're interested, there are opportunities. But you have to stay involved, and I think that's the hard part because there's that drop off that I was just talking about. I think there's a lot of commitment in the schools, but then you may drop off after that, so what do we do to kind of bridge that gap. I would love for companies to think more of this middle to high school bridge program. Where, not only do you learn at the young age, but also you're starting to invent and be more thoughtful and be entrepreneurs, because that's what we need more of. Hopefully, we'll be able to tackle that at some point, we'll see, but the sky's the limit I think. >> Do you have any also advice for, I know you're an expert in public-private partnerships. >> Lybra: Yes yes. >> Do you have any advice for companies as well as organizations that want to team up and work on this problem. >> Yeah, you know what though, I think there's a lot of these organizations as I said earlier, but I think that if companies take one particular school, or one particular idea and just go full throttle, I think that helps. >> Rebecca: And use it as a test case or? >> It's a pilot, and see what else happens. But I think when there's a more specific and targeted goal with one particular entity it helps to build a momentum. You're constantly involved and engaged, and you don't lose anything as a result of kind of hopping around. Public-private partnerships are so hard, you know there's political, there's the politics behind it, there are people that leave, so you don't get the continuity as much, but you try. >> So, I think that's exciting to note, the experiment, you see what works, and then you are able to take those best practices and scale them up. >> Absolutely absolutely. >> Great. Well, Lybra Clemons, thanks so much it's been really fun talking to you. >> Thank you I had a wonderful time. >> Good luck and thank you. >> Thanks. >> I'm Rebecca Knight, we'll have more from the Grace Hopper conference here in Orlando, Florida, just after this. (upbeat music)

>> Announcer: Live from Orlando, Florida, it's theCUBE, covering Grace Hopper's Celebration of Women in Computing, brought to you by SiliconANGLE Media. >> Welcome to day one of the Grace Hopper Conference here in Orlando, Florida. Welcome back to theCUBE, I should say. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, along with my co-host, Jeff Frick. We have just seen some really great keynote addresses. We had Faith Ilee from Stanford University. Melinda Gates, obviously the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We also had Diane Green, the founder of VMware. Jeff, what are your first impressions? >> You know, I love comin' to this show. It's great to be workin' with you again, Rebecca. I thought the keynotes were really good. I've seen Diane Green speak a lot and she's a super smart lady, super qualified, changed the world of VMware. She's not always the greatest public speaker, but she was so comfortable up there. She so felt in her element. It was actually the best I'd ever seen. For me, I'm not a woman, but I'm a dad of two daughters. It was really fun to hear the lessons that some of these ladies learned from their father that they took forward. So, I was really hap-- I admit, I'm feelin' the pressure to make sure I do a good job on my daughters. >> Make sure those formative experiences are the right ones, yes. >> It's just interesting though how people's early foundation sets the stage for where they go. I thought Dr. Sue Black, who talked about the morning she woke up and her husband threatened to kill her. So, she just got out of the house with her two kids and started her journey then. Not in her teens, not in her twenties, not in college. Obviously well after that, to get into computer science and to start her tech journey and become what she's done now. Now she's saving the estate where the codebreakers were in World War II, so phenomenal story. Melinda Gates, I've never seen her speak. Then Megan Smith, always just a ton of energy. Before she was a CTO for the United States, that was with the Obama administration. I don't think she hung around as part of the Trump Administration. She brings such energy, and now, kind of released from the shackles of her public service and her own thing. Great to see her up there. It's just a terrific event. The energy that comes from, I think, a third of the people here are young women. Really young, either still in college or just out of college. Really makes for an atmosphere that I think is unique in all the tech shows that we cover. >> I completely agree. I think the energy really is what sets the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing apart from all the other conferences. First of all, there's just many more women who come to this. The age, as you noted, it's a lot lower than your typical tech conference. But, I also just think what is so exciting about this conference is that it is this incredible mix of positivity. let's get more women in here, let's figure out ways to get more women interested in computer science and really working on their journey as tech leaders. But, also really understanding what we're up against in this industry. Understanding the bro-grammar culture, the biases that are really creating barriers for women to get ahead, and actually to even enter into the industry itself. Then, also there's the tech itself, so we have these women who are talking about these cool products that they're making and different pathways into artificial intelligence and machine-learning, and what they're doing. So, it's a really incredible conference that has a lot of different layers to it. >> It's interesting, Dr. Fei-Fei Li was talking a lot about artificial intelligence, and the programming that goes into artificial intelligence, and kind of the classic Google story where you use crowdsourcing and run a bunch of photographs through an algorithm to teach it. But, she made a really interesting point in all this discussion about, is it the dark future of AI, where they take over the world and kill us all? Or, is it a positive future, where it frees us up to do more important things and more enlightened things. She really made a good point that it's, how do you write the algorithms? How are we training the computers to do what we do? Women bring a different perspective. Diversity brings a different perspective. To bake that into the algorithms up front is so, so important to shape the way the AI shapes the evolution of our world. So, I found that to be a really interesting point that she brought up that I don't think is talked about enough. People have to write the algorithms. People have to write the stuff that trains the machines, so it's really important to have a broad perspective. You are absolutely right, and I think she actually made the point even broader than that in the sense of is if AI is going to shape our life and our economy going forward-- >> Which it will, right? >> Which it will. Then, the fact that there are so few women in technology, this is a crisis. Because, if the people who are the end-users and who are going to either benefit or be disadvantaged by AI aren't showing up and aren't helping create it, then yes, it is a crisis. >> Right. And I think the other point that came up was to bake more computer science into other fields, whether it's biology, whether it's law, education. The application of AI, the application of computer science in all those fields, it's much more powerful than just computing for the sake of computing. I think that's another way hopefully to keep more women engaged. 'Cause a big part of the issue is, not only the pipeline at the lead, but there's a lot of droppage as they go through the process. So, how do you keep more of 'em involved? Obviously, if you open it up across a broader set of academic disciplines, by rule you should get more retention. The other thing that's interesting here, Rebecca. This is our fourth year theCUBE's been at Grace Hopper's since way back in Phoenix in 2014, ironically, when there was also a big Microsoft moment at that show that we won't delve back into. But, it's a time of change. We have Brenda Darden Wilkerson, the brand new president of the Anita Borg organization. Telle Whitney's stepping down and she's passing the baton. We'll have them both on. So, again, Telle's done a great job. Look what she's created in the team. But, always fun to have fresh blood. Always fun to bring in new energy, new point of view, and I'm really excited to meet Brenda. She's done some amazing things in the Chicago Public School System, and if you've ever worked in a public school district, not a really easy place to innovate and bring change. >> Right, no, of course. Yeah, so our lineup of guests is incredible this week. We've got Sarah Clatterbuck, who is a CUBE alum. We have a woman who is the founder of Roar, which is a self-defense wearable technology. We're going to be looking at a broad array of the women technologists who are leading change in the industry, but then also leading it from a recruitment and retention point of-- >> So, should be a great three days, looking forward to it. >> I am as well. Excellent. Okay, so please keep joining us. Keep your channel tuned in here to theCUBE"s coverage of the Grace Hopper Conference here in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, along with my co-host, Jeff Frick. We will see you back here shortly. (light, electronic music)