In honor of International Women's Month, let's talk about the numbers. Women make up 50% of the workforce but less than 20% of tech positions. At this GDG meet up we will discuss the data, its business/innovation implications, what it means, and how we can take steps to change the outlook for women in STEM.

Speaker Ashley McCray is a Chemical Engineer, non – profit leader, Motivational Speaker, and Public Servant. She is a Research and Development Engineer at General Mills where she is pivotal in launching, innovating and renovating products for the multi-million dollar, Old El Paso brand. She is the President of the Twin Cities Professional Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, a non – profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of minorities in STEM fields. Ms. McCray also sits on the Regional Board of Directors for the National Society. As a motivational speaker, she has served as the University of Pittsburgh’s Commencement Speaker, Minnesota State University at Mankato’s Keynote for their Diversity Days, and held various professional development workshops at conferences all over the country. Ms. McCray was recently interviewed on MPR about her commitment to change the face of STEM. As a public servant, Ashley is Co-creator of the STEMulating Young Minds Institute, a training program for educators and community leaders interested in successfully teaching and engaging students in STEM principles, Girl Scout Troop Leader and a Big Sister in Big Brother/Big Sister Twin Cities. With these organizations, she has developed and implemented community – based engineering exposure and outreach programs across the United States of America. Ashley currently serves as ITQ Development Chair for General Mills’ Black Champions Network. Through Ashley’s content creation and leadership, the ITQ Development team supports evidence-based policies and practices to increase retention and job satisfaction of the technical talent of color in the global corporation.