To help Chicago’s Latina community become more immersed in the local tech scene, several Chicago techies have come together to help launch a local chapter of Latinas in Tech.
The organization, based in San Francisco, aims to connect, support and empower Latinx women working in the tech industry. Latinas in Tech currently has six chapters in cities across the U.S. The Chicago chapter officially launches April 5 with a kickoff event at the Microsoft Technology Center at 22 E. Randolph St.
The event will feature a panel with local Latinx women that work at companies like Github and Groupon
Cecilia Fischer-Benitez, a senior technical learning coordinator at Chicago tech company Enova, has been working to launch a Chicago chapter of Latinas in Tech since last year. Now on the chapter’s board, Fischer-Benitez said the organization will host monthly events focused on professional development, job recruitment and mentorship.
“We want to help Latinas grow in their careers through hands-on training and leadership workshops,” Fischer-Benitez said.
Fischer-Benitez said reasons why Latinx women are less represented in the tech industry compared to women of other races is due to their lack of access and education to STEM resources. Additionally, Latinx women, like women of all races and backgrounds, can encounter conscious and unconscious biases from people who have long worked in the male-dominated field.
“There’s a lack of women in tech and I find it to be sometimes lonely," Fischer-Benitez said. "Women can get discouraged when they don’t see other people that look like them."
Though there isn’t any available data on how much of Chicago’s tech workforce is made up of Latinx women, data collected by Chicago Blend, a local organization examining diversity gaps in Chicago’s venture capital industry, shows that just 1 percent of Chicago’s venture capitalists are Latina.
Additionally, a report released last year showed that Latinx women-led startups across the U.S. raised less than 1 percent of the over $400 billion in venture capital given to startups since 2009.
To help generate interest in the new chapter of Latinas in Tech, the Illinois Technology Association has been helping Fischer-Benitez and the other organizers get the word out to Chicago's Latina tech community.
“Groups like this Chicago chapter of Latinas in Tech really serve a strong purpose in empowering underrepresented groups to consider opportunities that are available for them in the Chicago tech sector,” said ITA CEO Julia Kanouse. “There are life experiences that have created imbalances or injustices in their lives, and having a safe place to come together to learn, grow and mentor each other is really beneficial.”
Other Chicago techies, such as Daniel Contreras, who is a technology strategist at Microsoft and board member of the ITA's Women Influence Chicago initiative, have also helped Latinas in Tech promote the new local chapter. He said Latinx women are often underrepresented in tech fields because they aren’t told or educated about the career possibilities in the industry from a young age.
“You can’t pursue what you’re not aware of,” Contreras said.
