Fleurix, Charlotte's first women-focused tech conference, came back with a vengeance after Covid-19 forced its cancellation in 2020.
Jocelyn Keung, a software engineer for Passport, founded Fleurix in 2018 as a resource and annual conference for women+ in Charlotte's technology sector. The + represents non-binary people and allies.
The first Fleurix conference in 2019 was a breakout success, with more than 400 attendees, and the 2020 event was shaping up to be even bigger. Keung said they had 850 RSVPs before the conference was ultimately canceled.
"It was kind of a big gut-wrench last year because our first event was so well-received in the community," she said. "Coming into 2021, we were really hoping we could meet in person at the end of the year."
Fleurix 2021 was held Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at AvidXchange, a venue Keung said was perfect for the organization's first in-person event in two years. The two-day event featured a variety of speakers, panels and workshops, all related to how to excel and succeed as a woman in tech.
"My goal is always to really cover a wide range of topics. When you think about tech, you think about things like coding and data, so we decided on a wide range of topics, from how to plan your maternity leave to how to build apps without knowing how to code," she said.
Though Fleurix was paired down from the inaugural conference, with about 250 people attending various sessions over the course of the event, Keung said she considers it a success.
"After both of our keynote speakers — Bonnie Titone, CIO at Duke Energy, and Ash Coleman, head of diversity, equity and inclusion at Credit Karma — so many people came up to me wanting to know how we found them," she said. "Having such powerful messages right off the bat from people who are also local really set the tone for the day."
As Keung reflects on the conference, and what's next for Fleurix, she said she's happy to bring so many different people together for a common goal.
"By nature, our demographic — being a woman, non-binary, being an “other” in this industry — I think having something that brings people together and knowing there are others like them, who can support them or help bring them up is really powerful," she said. "I really just wanted to create something that was agnostic to celebrate these people just being here and the opportunities, and Charlotte and what it has to offer."
