Dear SWE members,
What an amazing month we’ve had! There were so many record-breaking milestones in the October that I barely know where to start. Thank you all 8,300 WE14 attendees who joined us in LA to make this conference our largest to date, as well as all our Facebook friends who helped us reach 30,000 likes this month. It was amazing to see so many women engineers, organizations and employers come together to celebrate the power of diversity in the workplace. One of my favorite moments at WE14 was watching my girls enjoying Invent it. Build it. alongside a record-breaking 600 girls from around LA. It’s such an inspiration to see young girls getting excited about engineering. I love seeing my daughters experience what I did at their age – the wonder of how we could change the world with engineering. I walked them around our career fair, which is the largest in the world for women engineers, and they had a great time gathering goodies and seeing Optimus Prime.
The best part of WE14, and of every conference I’ve been to during my 20 years as a SWE member, is the connections you make and rekindle. From collegiate to old friends to corporate partners, everyone is happy to be at conference and meet with you. It always makes me swell with pride to be part of this amazing community, which is on full display at WE14, but continues throughout the year. I love logging onto our Facebook page and seeing our community help one another, whether it’s a request for someone to help a Girl Scout troop or one of our members asking for advice. Just last week, a woman engineer reached out to SWE’s Facebook page for advice about her employer, who replied to her concerns about workload with inquiries about her plans to start a family, then told her a pretty girl like her would go far with the company. I was so proud to see hundreds of people from around the world respond with advice, insights and support, and even more elated to learn how our support helped this woman leave the job and find another opportunity.
It’s up to us to continue to grow and transform this community. While we’re growing and transforming, the future of our organization lies with us. On Dec. 2, I’ll spread the word about the amazing work SWE does in support of #GivingTuesday, a day dedicated to showing our thanks for the organizations that improve our lives.
Financial contributions will allow us to empower more women to Be That Engineer, but membership is how we increase our influence and profile. It should be every SWE member’s mission to bring two more members into the organization – one to replace you one day, and one to grow the organization. If every member did just that, imagine how strong of a voice SWE would be in championing diversity in the workplace.
The best way we can show how thankful we are for what we have is to share it, whether that’s a meal with family or an organization that improves the lives of women engineers.
Thank YOU, SWE members,
Elizabeth Bierman
FY15 SWE President
