WiV Japan Ambassadors
WiV History Month Roundtable 2021
WOMEN IN VOICE • What is the Women in Voice?
Women in Voice is a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to support women and gender minority folks in the voice and conversational AI field.
I am the Founder of the nonprofit. I served as CEO of the nonprofit for almost 4 years.
We think of ourselves as the Women Who Code for voice and conversational AI. As of January 2022, we have 21 chapters in 15 countries- in a little over 3 years. That’s the hunger people have had for our community and camaraderie.
We have over 100 Ambassadors, that’s mid-level to senior women who work in the voice and conversational AI field. These Ambassadors run events in their own time zone, region, and in their own language(s). We estimate over 150 events have taken place since our launch.
We initially started as a community organization and have officially become a 501(c)(3) EIN 85-3262001. As a formal entity, we now have a bank account and fiduciary responsibility to the organization. We needed that structure in place to make sure we’ll be around for years to come.
BOARD • Our Board of Directors comprises of phenomenal talent from all over the world. Senior women from Google, Amazon, A Cloud Guru, Vixen Labs, University of Virgina, Rise Together, SoapBox Labs, Pratt Institute, Stanford Medicine, and VocaliD.
“Women in Voice is doing tremendous work.”
“There’s no future that doesn’t have ambient computing or voice activation. None.”
QUESTION • How do we retain and normalize celebrating and amplifying women and gender minorities in voice and conversational AI?
One of the answers is community
We can talk numbers.
So many faces from pre-pandemic events!!!
WiV Seattle Workshop with Stephanie Blucker
Our Famous Mentorship Matchup Program
WiV Mexico Hackathon
WiV Meetup at Voice Summit 2019
Dr. Aygul Zagidullin speaking at a WiV UK Meetup. See our old logo. We too are learning and growing to be better versions of ourselves
LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER • Why I founded Women in Voice
Dear Reader,
If I told you I created Women in Voice while finishing my PhD, living in my parents’ basement, and navigating the job market, you might not believe me- but it’s true.
In July 2018, I spoke at the inaugural VOICE Summit and that August I launched Women in Voice. From a half-decade in academia, I was normalized to being surrounded by people from all around the world conducting internationally groundbreaking research. Much as that conference inspired me in many ways, I did not want to be complicit in normalizing the behavior I saw normalized there. I took action.
In August 2018, Women in Voice was launched on Twitter and WordPress with a basic logo and mission statement. It seemed relatively dinky, but I shortly realized that I was not alone in the desire for change. Through a brief Google Form, I recruited 27 women to join “leadership” positions within a few weeks. Women from all over the world and who work at tech companies big and small. Today, Women in Voice is a thriving organization that reaches thousands of people internationally. We are proud to grow and evolve our brand and mission. I would write the number of chapters and followers, but that number would be out of date the moment this is published. We always have chapters in beta.
We believe in the celebration and amplification of female talent in the voice tech field, and all tech, and frankly all of society.
Wildly brilliant, disruptive ideas do not come from one small homogenous population. Voice tech is poised to disrupt human computer interaction as we know it, and including a respect for diversity can be brought to the forefront from the first waves of voice technology in the tech ecosystem.
In our community, I hope you find confidence, guidance, and strength to pay it back and pay it forward, to the people who have come before us, the people who continue to choose to stay, and those yet to come.
Sincerely,
Joan Palmiter Bajorek