Inspiring women and girls in STEM – celebrating Ada Lovelace Day

In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, the woman who is widely regarded as the first ever computer programmer, Engine Shed and SETsquared bring together a panel of women in STEM to talk about their tech careers, which have developed into something much more entrepreneurial.

The event will be a place for women in tech and girls in STEM education to inspire, be inspired, network and celebrate the original coder, Ada Lovelace.

The panel will be chaired by Marina Traversari, Programme Manager of the Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator. The panel will include;

Diane Douglas, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Vigiles Group

Laura Lafave, Chief Technical Officer, OnCorps

Zara Nanu, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Gapsquare.

This event is targeted at women and girls to hear from other inspirational women and we encourage anyone to attend, celebrate and be inspired. We encourage you to bring your children, if appropriate and accompanied by an adult.

A selection of teas, coffee and water will be provided.

If you want to ask a question for the panel, tweet us @EngineShed_BB using #ALD

If you’re looking to develop your career in this area or wanting to take on some new recruits we’ll have QA Training, boomsatsuma  and DevelopMe_ among others there who you can talk to during the networking.

Please note, this event will be filmed. Please make yourself known to the camera crew and staff here if you would not like to be included in this.

The event will be followed from 6.00 – 8.00pm by University of Bristol and UWE Bristol’s Start-up drinks which you would be welcome to stay on for – please book this separately here. Please note there will be alcohol served at this event.

About Marina Traversari;

Marina has a wealth of programme management across various disciplines, including innovative startup projects, multimedia, film, television and politics and has produced her own Ed Tech applications, exhibited at BETT at ExCel, and taken part in NESTA Futurelab Design Challenge. Marina is inspired and passionate about the tech scene in the Southwest region of the UK, including the collaboration and innovation that’s coming out of the region, particularly around Big Data, Blockchain, Cloud Adoption, Machine Learning & AI and IoT / Smart Cities.

About Diane Douglas;

Diane Douglas’s technology career kicked off in earnest during the 90’s as lead project analyst for the Introduction of Geographical Information Systems and multi-agency data collaboration required for the launch of the Crime and Disorder Act. Her entrepreneurial journey began in 2016 as founder of Vigiles Group – A TechForGood PropTech company Passionate for making a positive impact through Immersive technology. Diane was awarded TechSpark Entrepreneur of the year 2017 and more recently has been selected as a participant of their SHIFT programme.

About Laura Lafave;

Dr. Laura Lafave is an IT executive with over 20 years experience building, operating, and transforming business-critical and safety-critical systems. She holds a MSc in Mathematical Logic and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Bristol where she studied as a Marshall Scholar and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. Laura has held positions as a former vice president of operations at the global consumer credit data provider TransUnion and as an enterprise architect at Accenture. Today, she is a co-founder and CTO of OnCorps. OnCorps helps businesses improve performance in sales, pricing, and operations by providing guidance to employees via intelligent personal digital advisors. Laura also serves on an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and is Chair of Governors of an Ofsted Outstanding primary school in Bristol. She is married with two children.

About Zara Nanu;

Zara is an expert on how diversity and inclusion can shape more dynamic and productive teams and a more engaging and empowering workplace. She is an entrepreneur who believes business can generate social impact as well as revenues and profits. She’s not a talker – she’s a doer.

This is an ALD indie event

Thanks to TechSPARK for providing the image for this event from their SHIFT stock photography

Engine Shed is a partner of Bristol Learning City. Along with other Learning City partners, we are committed to creating and promoting learning opportunities for everyone, of all ages and from all communities, in all parts of the city.