How Empowering Women is Supercharging the Future

Canterbury Development Corporation, in association with Jade Software and Project Connect, is thrilled to present an interactive evening with CEO and Founder of Girls in Tech, Adriana Gascoigne.

Join us from 5:30pm for drinks, canapés and networking.

Tickets cost: $25 (+GST)

"The benefits to having more women in high-tech corporations and startups is that technology will improve. To develop comprehensive, innovative and exhaustive products, teams need to focus on diversity. A diverse team incorporates unique perspectives, skills, talents and experiences which influences the devices we use, the infrastructure that’s all around us, the mobile apps we download to our smartphones. We are missing a representation and a voice of 50% of the world’s population." - Adriana Gascoigne

The data around women in tech is compel­ling: With women’s choices impacting up to 85 percent of purchasing decisions, they are the single greatest economic force, world­wide. On the production side, women­-operated, venture-backed high tech companies average 12 percent higher annual revenues, and use on average one-third less capital than male counterparts' startups. Gender diverse R&D teams lead to greater creativity and better decisions and companies with the most gender bal­anced leadership have better financial returns, better recruitment and retention of talented workers, stronger custom­er relations and make better decisions.

Despite the research, and more women than ever in education, the number of women pursuing STEM subjects is declining. As founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a global organization dedicated to empowering and enabling women in technology careers and STEM fields, Adriana Gascoigne is intimately familiar with the lack of gender balance in tech. In fact, it was her first-hand experience with it that led her to form Girls in Tech in 2007.

In this presentation, Adriana will share key numbers that highlight thesediversity challenges, taking a facts-based approach to inequality. She’ll also cover the theories and research about the root causes of these issues,
including workplace culture and isolation. Finally, she’ll highlight the enormous benefits that companies experience when they create more diverse work environments, including major financial gains. And she’ll explain how Girls in Tech’s proprietary programs, like entrepreneur boot camps, pitch events and renowned conferences, are lifting and empowering women around the world.

Adriana Gascoigne
Adriana is the Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization devoted to empowering, educating and mentoring women in the tech industry across over 60 chapters internationally. She is also a partner at Founders Den in the heart of San Francisco's SOMA district where Girls in Tech's offices are located.

No stranger to growing brands and building amazing companies, Adriana has also served in executive roles at RxMatch and QwikCart, Ogilvy & Mather and SecondMarket, the largest secondary trading platform, where she was responsible for branding strategy, event production and digital media efforts.

In addition to working with technology start-ups like Indiegogo, SGN, Algentis, Democracy.com, Swyft, ImpulseFlyer and GUBA, Adriana has served as a strategic advisor for companies like NexTravel, StartupStockExchange, Numiyo Technologies, Palindrome Advisors, CharityBlossom, DooChoo, and Change.org. She is also on the advisory boards for Nailbot, Cocoon Cam and Roost.

Adriana holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Economics from the University of California at Davis, received a certification from El Tecnologico de Monterrey in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and participated in Semester at Sea, University of Pittsburgh in 1997. Adriana is also fluent in Spanish.

Join us from 5.30pm for drinks, canapes and networking.