Dream Con Celebrates Women Revolutionizing the Tech Industry

Despite systemic barriers and under-representation, women are a powerful force driving innovation and progress in tech. This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating the engineers, visionaries, and trailblazers who are revolutionizing the industry. 

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Michee Smith

Michee Smith is a Product Manager at Google, responsible for creating products to maintain data privacy within Google Cloud. Her work has been instrumental in ensuring transparency in how user information is accessed and used. She’s also involved in various other projects at Google, including work on compliance efforts (e.g., GDPR) and partnering with engineers and other product managers to develop ways to give consumers more control of their data. 

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Smith is an avid advocate for representation in tech. In an interview for a Google Cloud editorial, she says that often, “people of color don’t see people who look like us in these roles and on stages. There’s a sense of gratitude, belonging, and relief to see someone who looks like you. I want to show up to help others imagine themselves in this role, building products for everyone, and let them know that they, too, can find their superpower.”

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Did you know? According to The Moguldom Nation, Smith discovered her love of tech after seeing the film Hackers (1995). It was the first time she had seen a woman playing a “computer geek” role (Angelina Jolie), which inspired her to pursue a degree in computer science.  

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Taylor Poindexter

Taylor Poindexter is an Engineering Manager at Spotify and the Co-Founder of Black Code Collective (BCC), an organization dedicated to providing a community for Black software engineers to network, collaborate, and share their experiences in tech. 

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While Poindexter has contributed much to the industry with her professional work and leadership, her dedication to BCC and its mission is applaudable; the group has a Black Tech Worker’s Manifesto that declares how we should empower a diverse workforce to best succeed in a field where minorities are often underrepresented. Poindexter’s success with the growth of BCC’s community has garnered her well-deserved recognition, including the DC Technologist of the Year (2017) award and the Power Women of DC Tech (2017) award. 

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Did you know? In an interview with Hubspot, Poindexter cites that her go-to songs to get hyped for a big presentation or event are Travis Scott’s “Highest in the Room” and Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire.” 

Kesha Williams

Kesha Williams is a tech leader in cloud engineering and machine learning. She’s been recognized for her significant contributions in several notable publications and through several awards and organizations such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Williams has also had the pleasure of gracing the TED stage as a featured speaker on machine learning and has been given the Ada Lovelace Award in Software Engineering. 

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Williams is extremely dedicated to mentoring the next generation of women in tech; she’s involved in several initiatives, including Women Entering and Staying in Tech (WEST) and the New York Academy of Sciences’ Next Scholars program. In an interview for Women in Technology International (WITI), she notes that the “exposure to technology at such a young age gave me the confidence about computer science, even though I didn't see any other women doing it. It's important to expose girls early to technology so that it becomes an option that they consider when they reach that point of trying to figure out, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’”

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Did you know? Williams started coding as early as high school, though she has admitted that, at the time, she thought she was just playing around on the computer! 

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