The fourth Explore Careers in Technology Event (ExCITE) was held on Nov. 16. The theme of this ExCITE was “the self,” including: self-empowerment, self-improvement, self-advocacy, and self-compassion.
The goal for each ExCITE is to further career advancement opportunities and increase internal hiring within the Stanford technology community in support of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These events are open to the entire IT Community at Stanford.
The Nov. 16 ExCITE was sponsored by the CIO Council and People of Color in Technology (POC-IT) affinity group and co-hosted by the Stanford Women in Technology (WIT) affinity group.
Office of the CIO Chief of Staff Nancy Ware, one of POC-IT’s sponsors, opened the event with an inspiring speech centered around the three word mantra that guides her leadership: Plan. Power. Play. Nancy connected this to the “power” themes of the event, saying that she considers power from the perspective of impact—not as command and control.
"I’m very excited that today’s sessions are focused around things like: How do I create power? (What are) new strategies for creating or enhancing my power or fueling it… and then unleashing it?"
Nancy Ware
Session materials
Sessions and recordings for this ExCITE include:
- Tell Your Story Toolkit & Career Convos and main room recording
- Uplifting Yourself by Taking the “I” out of Imposter
- Led by Bianca Tonantzin Zamora
- Slides
- IT Experiential Development Program (IT EDP) Opportunities
- Wellness in the Workplace and Beyond
- Overcoming Self-Judgment with Self-Compassion
- Led by Al’ai Alvarez
- Recording
Something Ex-tra
As a special bonus for participating in this ExCITE, attendees could participate in two raffles during the event. In celebration of Native American Heritage month, the raffle prizes were gift cards for Native-owned businesses.
Participate in the next ExCITE
Consider how you can participate in the next ExCITE event by looking for IDEAL IT events listings or reaching out to IDEAL IT to lend support.
About POC-IT and IDEAL IT
POC-IT is a university-wide affinity group that advances representation, engagement, and support of people of any color in technology roles at Stanford. While primarily aimed at university, SLAC, and Stanford Hospital and Clinics staff who work or have an interest in technology roles, POC-IT also welcomes faculty and students, allies, and those in non-technology roles who are interested in participating.
To learn more about POC-IT and its various initiatives and events:
- Visit the POC-IT website.
- Email poc-it-connect@lists.stanford.edu.
- Join the POC-IT Slack community.
IDEAL IT is a system of programs focused on diversifying recruitment, deepening inclusion and belonging, and increasing overall cultural awareness, competence, and understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across Stanford IT. Visit the IDEAL IT website for more information. POC-IT is an IDEAL IT program.
