NEW ORLEANS – According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, women comprise more than half of the U.S. workforce but only 26 percent of computing jobs were held by women in 2016 with just 3 percent of all computing jobs held by African-American women. LookFar, a New Orleans start-up studio, is committed to creating a more equitable tech community, and is expanding its third annual Ada Lovelace Awards to recognize the accomplishments of women who have made the biggest impact in the local tech community from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Texas.
Additionally, LookFar has broadened the event to offer awards in four distinct categories: computer engineer, tech founder, digital marketer and STEM Educator.
Nearly 100 women from six Gulf South states have been nominated.
Past Ada nominees have been drawn from the ranks of founders, developers, researchers and numerous other professions. Crystal McDonald, the 2015 Ada Lovelace Award winner, is the founder of Acrew, a pre-employment video screening software. The winner of the 2016 award was Dr. Anastasia Kurdia, a professor of practice at Tulane University who is a passionate advocate for keeping women involved in and excited about STEM education.
The Ada Lovelace Awards ceremony will take place Friday, Oct. 13, from 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., at Le Petit Theatre, 616 St Peter St., in the French Quarter.
Admission is free, but attendees are required to RSVP in advance.
LookFar has continued to expand the event, adding two daytime workshops, which will take place earlier in the day on Friday, Oct. 13, before the awards ceremony, at Propeller, 4035 Washington Ave.
• Electric Girls Adult Electronics Workshop
10:00 a.m.
Tickets are $25
• Win-Win Negotiation Strategies with Lelia Gowland
1:00 p.m.
Tickets are $15
All ticket proceeds for both workshops will benefit LookFar’s nonprofit partner Electric Girls.
LookFar’s president Chris Reade dreamed up the Ada Lovelace Award in 2015. The father of a young daughter, he was struck by how few prominent female role models he knew in science and technology. The awards are named after Ada Lovelace, the Victorian-era mathematician and writer widely regarded as the world’s first computer programmer. LookFar is a New Orleans startup studio and the producer of the Ada Lovelace Award.