Although it wasn't easy dragging myself away from what I had planned for the day, I'm glad I attended the Social Tech Brewing planning session for the upcoming topic: women in technology.

Jane and Nadia are thinking of putting together a workshop right before the Social Tech Brewing August event. The workshop will teach foreign-trained IT professionals the basics of (social) networking, giving them greater confidence and helping them make the most of the session. I'd love to help out with that!

There _are_ cultural barriers. I'm lucky because I can speak English clearly and confidently. I'm lucky because school gives me a natural opportunity to get work experience - that all-important Canadian experience that people look for. I'm lucky because networking is fun for me. I like connecting with people.

Not everyone is that lucky, and hey, I struggle with cultural differences or self-doubt from time to time...

In this, too, I want to be an evangelist. Evangelizing IT and inspiring confidence in women isn't a matter of talking _at_ them, but rather I need to listen to people's concerns and tell people stories: stories about other people who've faced similar problems, stories of approaches to try, stories of who they themselves can be in the future...

On Technorati: women, socialtechbrewing

Random Japanese sentence: 赤ん坊は猫の尾でおもしろく遊んでた。 The baby was amusing itself with the cat's tail.