Women in Product

One of the first groups I got involved with outside of my team was Women in Product, an employee resource group (ERG) not only for women who were already in product, but others who were interested in learning more about the field. I joined as a lead and helped bring speakers (like director of Coded Bias Shalini Kantayya), participated in panels, organized screenings, and put together programming for women's history month and monthly lunches.

The Best Way to Learn is by Teaching...

In summer of 2018, I worked at Alexa Cafe, an all girls coding camp, and loved seeing students find a safe, comfortable space where they could learn the basics of CS that I hope will encourage them to stick with CS as they get older. Throughout college, I worked with our local chapter of W-ACM to host panels, social events, interview prep workshops, and eventually mentor younger students, but I hope to continue to pay it forward through my fellowship with Rewriting the Code (you should apply!) and other affinity groups at my work at Reddit.

In summer of 2018, I worked at Alexa Cafe, an all girls coding camp, and loved seeing students find a safe, comfortable space where they could learn the basics of CS that I hope will encourage them to stick with CS as they get older. Throughout college, I worked with our local chapter of W-ACM to host panels, social events, interview prep workshops, and eventually mentor younger students, but I hope to continue to pay it forward through my fellowship with Rewriting the Code (you should apply!) and other affinity groups at my work at Reddit.

Tech for Good Claremont

In college, I became an active member of the Tech For Good chapter (similar to CS4Good at Stanford and a partner of TechShift) and worked on inviting and hosting speakers Os Keyes (focus on gender, disability and technology) and Timnit Gebru (previous co-lead of ethical AI at Google) to come speak at the 5C's, and  compiling lists of companies and resources doing work in Tech for Good.

OS Keyes

In Fall 2019, I collaborated with Tech for Good to host PHD student Os Keyes from the University of Washington to come speak to students and faculty about representations of disability in AI. Mx. Keyes spoke on how technology has not been created with individuals who have certain 'disabilities' such as autism, but instead to try to treat them, automatically othering them. Mx. Keyes argues that we need to think more deeply about how AI developers talk about and develop for needs like autism, and how this impacts users and society.

I have continued to stay in touch with Mx. Keyes and they have shared an incredible amount of wisdom about how technology is treating (or mistreating) mental health care, and what we need to look out for in the future. They are extremely passionate and knowledgable in their work, and I would recommend anyone to read some of their papers, specifically on Anarchist HCI and Implications of Misgendering Machines.