Sit With Us To Inspire Women in Tech

This week we had a very special visitor: A chair. More specifically, the Red Chair from Sit With Me, a project of the National Center for Women & Information Technology. The team at Spry Digital took a seat to take a stand to support women in technology. Given that we are a woman-owned technology firm, this cause is very close to our hearts.

Why a red chair?

The red chair is symbolic. When women and men “sit” to take a stand, they validate women in computing and IT and recognize them for the important role they play in creating future technology. The red chair gives all of us a constructive way to show our solidarity and invite others to participate. The bold red color grabs attention and encourages action. By “sitting together” we hold space for an honest conversation and create a platform for online and offline discussions about our challenges and hopes for the future.

From Julia Koelsch, Spry Digital Co-founder/Partner:

Technology touches nearly every aspect of modern life today, so it’s critically important that women are creators and leaders in technology. My hope for this project is that women and girls see that interest in technology isn’t unusual, and that they are a valuable part of a growing and supportive community.

From Ken Moire, Spry Digital Co-founder/Partner:

As so much of what we build requires empathy for users, I predict that women will play an even more critical role in architecting, engineering, designing and developing our solutions in the future. I sit to take a stand to encourage young women coming up in the field of computing and IT to stick to it and know that their contributions are important and necessary.

From Sheila Burkett, Spry Digital Co-founder/Partner:

I heard about the Sit With Me project at a National Center for Women in Information Technology event in St. Louis, where I was the keynote speaker. The event recognized five young women from St. Louis area high schools who are interested in IT. As a technology leader, I feel it is critical to encourage diversity on technology teams and to show young women that you can be successful in the IT field.

We were thrilled to participate in this project because we believe it’s critical for companies like ours to help foster a technology community where women and girls feel empowered to participate. We are here because of the iconoclastic women who proceeded us. Spry Digital is working to ensure the next generation of girls have a seat at the table.