More than 30 years ago, I attended some of the first Interop events. This independent event for the IT community is still running today and does a great job with diversity and inclusion. This year the MAJORITY of keynotes at Interop in Las Vegas were women! So, we were extra proud to hear that Innovation Women Claritza Abreu, the founder and CEO of LatInc, was invited through our platform to speak at the 2018 InterOpITX. And thrilled to realize she was invited to speak by one of our other Innovation Women speakers, Katy Tynan.
“I was so excited and honored to host two sessions at the 2018 InterOpITX conference in Las Vegas, NV,” said Abreu. “Through the Innovation Women website, organizers contacted me and we found each other to be a great match! I was talking about our employee engagement and diversity social media platform, Areitos. Our technology helps companies facilitate their diversity and inclusion efforts. As an immigrant myself, I brought my most passionate and entertaining immigrant stories to the stage!”
Claritza also recently received an Innovation Women speaking invite from the Ellis Project, another place where her immigrant story is relevant.
According to Katy Tynan, “Claritza was great! Innovation Women was the first place I turned when I was looking for an inspiring, engaging speaker. It’s great to have such an easy way to find smart, talented presenters in the technology field.” Tynan, the founder and chief talent strategist at Liteskip Consulting Group, is the leadership track chair for InteropITX. She says she “really loves the Interop program. They are one of the few non-vendor conferences out there and the leadership track (where she placed Abreu) is always the most popular track.”
“That’s my passion,” Tynan continued. “I spent 10 years in tech, truly love the industry and the people but I know that there are still so many challenges with diversity and work-life balance. I want tech to become the destination field for everyone. It’s not just the industry that has ‘opportunity that comes with baggage.’”
That’s what Tynan was trying to showcase, and “Claritza was so perfect for that.”
(You can find both Abreu and Tynan on Innovation Women.)
