Early Tuesday morning Fedscoop releases a new feature they’re hoping will catch on with young women: “DC’s Top 50 Women in Tech list.” The list, which took three months to compile, recognizes women doing “incredible work” in the federal IT community. They plan to make it an annual affair.
The Washington-based Fedscoop features breaking government tech news, and aims to engage top leaders from the White House, federal agencies, academia and beyond. The founder and CEO is Goldy Kamali. The COO is Greg Poersch.
The list was executed by the site’s tech writer Colby Hochmuth in conjunction with her editor, Camille Tuutti.
A few notables who made their list and why they picked them (the quotes are from Hochmuth):
1. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.): “Congresswoman Anna Eshoo has consistently been a strong voice in Congress on technology-related issues. She is an incredibly smart, lively and hard-working woman, and an innovative leader on the Hill.”
2. Kay Kapoor, President of AT&T Government Solutions. “Kay has spent 25 years focused on the federal market and one of the reasons she has been so successful is because of her focus and care on customer service. That’s front and center of everything she does and had bled into her commitment to always strive higher.”
3. Teresa Carlson, a V.P. at Amazon Web Services. “Very often when people think of powerful women in federal IT, they think of Teresa Carlson. She has been a driving force in pushing technology and government to the future, and her attitude and work ethic are admirable.”
Hochmuth agreed to a brief interview with The Mirror on putting the list together.
The Mirror: How long did it take you to create the list?
C.H.: Women’s issues are something that is very important to me, and I’ve been itching to do a list like this since I came to FedScoop. The planning process started early this year and once we finalized the list of 50 women, we began the interview and writing process. It wasn’t the only task we were working on, so in total it took about three months to complete it.
The Mirror: Did you have a committee helping you decide who’d make it?
C.H.: My editor Camille Tuutti and I worked very closely to determine whom to include. We did Twitter campaigns and asked people in the tech community for suggestions. It was a very collaborative effort on the editorial side as well as with the rest of our community.
The Mirror: What were some of the things you thought about when deciding who should make it and who could be left off?
C.H.: While I do think it’s important to celebrate women who are already in the spotlight because of the amazing work they are doing, with this list I also sought to find women who were doing work more behind the scenes. Once I started talking with these women, I realized that one of the things that made these women so incredible was their disregard for being in the spotlight. They do the work they do because they love it, and because they want to make our country a better place. I think that was a true testament to the caliber of these women.
The Mirror: What sets this apart from all the other Washington so-called VIP lists?
C.H.: Some of the most powerful women in our federal IT community are in senior-level executive positions, and yet there is no list in Washington that puts them on a platform and highlights their work. When young women see lists like this, it is my hope that the women on this list will inspire them and encourage them to go into science, technology, engineering and math fields. STEM education for women can be such a powerful thing. Other “VIP lists” in our community have yet to be equal in highlighting both men and women.
C.H.: These women were chosen because of their talents, impressive careers and desire to empower other women and work for the American people.
UPDATE: See the full list here.