Women Innovators in Delaware: The New Tech Economy and Fitting In

Join us for Delaware Innovation Week's event featuring women innovators sharing their journeys on how they established themselves as leaders in the Delaware tech and entrepreneurial community.

Learn how they made their way and understood what they believe it takes to acclimate in the new tech economy. Hear how they found and connected with other like-minded women, both locally and regionally, to continue to build their careers.

Meet representatives from local organizations and institutions who provide resources and opportunities designed to help these and other Delaware women think expansively about their careers in tech, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Speakers:

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Dawn McDougall, Executive Director for Code for Philly

Since graduating in early 2015 with a BS in sustainable urbanism Dawn has pursued a career in the world of civic technology. Her entry point was the rich community at Code for Philly, and it continues to show her more and more about the world and herself.

As Executive Director, Dawn works with passionate professionals, dedicated nonprofit and community groups, and progressive municipal partners to make Philly a better place for all our neighbors. A group of civic hackers, CfP volunteers use open data and technology as a mode of civic engagement and placemaking to improve their home.

Dawn is passionate about open data/open gov and urban governance approaches, inclusive community-building, beer and coffee snobbery, and will shamelessly geek out about all of those things if you let her.

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Dominique Clarke, Community Engagement Manager at Zipcode Wilmington. Dominique Clarke is a GDI alum who loves bringing accessible tech education to as many people as possible. She helps aspiring programmers access careers in software development as Community Engagement Manager for Zip Code Wilmington (http://zipcodewilmington.com/), Delaware’s first software engineering bootcamp. Dominique is also a co-organizer for ELA Conf (http://elaconf.com/) and an urban explorer with a taste for cheesesteaks, green shakes and pho. You can connect with her at deeclarke.com (http://deeclarke.com/) and @deeclarkesays (https://twitter.com/deeclarkesays).

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Julie Frieswyk, Manager, Youth Programs and Venture Development at the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware. Julie Frieswyk is pursuing solutions to today's most pressing local and international problems, through the study and spread of the entrepreneurial mindset and process She is currently with University of Delaware's Horn Program in Entrepreneurship where she manages their youth programs, most notably a venture concept competition for high school students. Julie holds a B.S. in marketing and international business from Drexel University and is currently pursuing her Master's in Entrepreneurship and Design at the University of Delaware.

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Jessi Taylor, President of Barrel of Makers Jessi Taylor is a visual artist, educator, and community organizer. Over the last four years she has been experimenting with and teaching workshops on art, craft, and technology mash-ups for Barrel of Makers. She has hosted many build sessions for large projects of this nature, which are open to anyone, and presented the resulting collaborative, interactive work to the public. The purpose of this work is to prove that everyone and anyone can make works of art, craft, and technology, and provide opportunities for everyone and anyone to be delighted by making things themselves.

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Megan is a proven community builder and event manager. Her experience includes exceeding retention goals for the Pyramid Club year after year. Then in June of 2014, she joined the McConnell Johnson Real Estate team to create and direct their newest endeavor, 1313 Innovation (http://1313innovation.com/) - a co-working space for startups and nonprofits. During the last year Megan has attracted a variety of startups/companies to 1313 and has planned nearly a hundred events, including Delaware's largest tech conference,Tech2gether (http://tech2gether.org/).

When she isn't in Wilmington, Megan enjoys traveling, cheering on her alma mater, Temple University or trying to convince her husband to get a puppy.

Parking: Government Center Garage (South East Corner of 9th & French Streets) Hours 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

HyPark Garage (903 N Shipley Street) Hours 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.