Evelyn Valdez-Ward

Location: USA

Evelyn is a PhD candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, and co-founder and director of Reclaiming STEM, a workshop that provides training for marginalised students. She advocates for undocumented scientists who, like herself, hold Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, and her activism lead to her being named a 2018 UCS Science Defender. In 2020, she was chosen as one of the Grist 50 for her policy and advocacy work.

You can follow her work here:

Twitter: @wardofplants
Website: evelynvaldezward.weebly.com

Further reading

• Evelyn Valdez-Ward, Wikipedia
• Evelyn Valdez-Ward, Union of Concerned Scientists
• I’m an undocumented scientist fighting for my Dream, Evelyn Valdez-Ward, Science, 9 November 2017
• Trials by Fire: Stories about difficult paths to science, The Story Collider, 31 August 2018

Women in Technology and Science Ireland (WITS)

Location: Ireland

Women in Technology and Science Ireland (WITS) advocates for gender equality in science and technology by holding events and influencing policy. It was founded in 1990 by Mary Mulvihill, and they hold a lecture in her name every year. They have been responsible for arranging plaques of female scientists, run a STEMMinist book club, and have published a book called Lab Coats and Lace containing biographies of Irish women scientists. Recently, they have launched a podcast for listeners to find out more about their members.

You can follow their work here:

Twitter: @WITSIreland
Facebook: facebook.com/witsireland
Instagram: @witsireland
YouTube: witsireland
LinkedIn: WITS Ireland (Women in Technology and Science)
Website: witsireland.com

Further reading

• Tech firms should use WITS to attract girls, Karlin Lillington, The Irish Times, 19 November 1999
• What can our next Government do for women in STEM?, Dr Andrea C Johnson, Silicon Republic, 29 January 2020

Marlia Bosques-Martínez

Location: Puerto Rico

Marlia was a graduate research student at The Ohio State University, where she studied root-knot nematode diversity, biocontrol, and yield loss on tomatoes. She is the co-founder and editor of Women in Agricultural Science, an organisation created to increase female representation in agriculture.

You can follow her work here:

Twitter: @MarliaBosques
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marlia-bosques-martinez
Website: womeninagscience.org

Coding Black Females

Location: United Kingdom

Coding Black Females is a non-profit founded in 2017 that provides networking and development to Black female developers in a supportive community. They hold meetups and offer discounts and other opportunities to their members, and also run a jobs board. This year, they launched an initiative with Nivo Enterprise called Black Codher, a part-time coding bootcamp for unemployed black women.

You can follow their work here:

Twitter: @codingblackfems
Facebook: facebook.com/codingblackfemales
Instagram: codingblackfemales
YouTube: Coding Black Females
LinkedIn: Coding Black Females
Website: codingblackfemales.com

Further reading

• Coding Black Females: Our Story, Charlene Hunter, Medium, 11 April 2019
• Initiative to boost numbers of black women in tech launched, The Voice, 9 May 2020
• The black women in tech coding the future (video), Catherine Mackie, BBC News, 15 August 2020
• Meet Charlene Hunter: Founder of Coding Black Females, She Can Code, 5 October 2020

Lourdes Beatriz Cajica Maceda

Location: Mexico

Lourdes is a DSC Lead for Google Developers, and the co-founder and president of Women + Technology, a group to encourage girls to study STEM in the Mexican city of Puebla. She was a teaching assistant for Beautiful Patterns, a project from MIT to empower girls in STEM.

You can follow her work here:

Twitter: @WomenTechnolog1
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lourdes-cajica
GitHub: women-tech.github.io/womentech