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How Kylie Woods is leading Calgary's female tech tribe
What Kylie Woods once thought was her weakness turned out to be her superpower. “I’m an introvert,” she says. “For a long time, I thought that made me shy, quiet, unnoticeable, and forgettable. [But] I have learned that because I am an introvert, I'm a great listener, I ask thoughtful questions, and I build deep relationships with the people around me,” says the 28-year-old founder and executive director of Chic Geek.
In fact, Kylie credits her introversion with helping her build the relationships that have led Chic Geek to thrive. Chic Geek is a non-for-profit organization for women in technology and entrepreneurship. Kylie started Chic Geek in 2013 after noticing she was often the only woman in the room at the computer programming meet-ups she had been attending.
Kylie, who has a degree in communications, is a graphic and web designer in addition to leading Chic Geek. Though she was attending those tech meet-ups to learn software development skills, her focus shifted to fostering a community where women could explore career opportunities in technology. Within that community, she points to a few local women in tech that she champions:
- Rosemary Sanchez, software development manager at Benevity
• Sherry Yang, engineering manager at MobSquad
• Katie Underwood, software engineer at Cisco
Tomorrow and Saturday, Chic Geek hosts the Geeky Summit, a celebration of women in technology in Alberta. Saturday’s portion takes place at Bow Valley College, with the School of Creative Technologies presenting “Digitally Design Yourself,” a workshop on using code to build your presence online.
And if a career in a creative field like software development or digital design is for you, check out our School of Creative Technologies.
Posted on November 15, 2018
Story by Julie-Anne Cleyn, photos provided by Chic Geek
