Coding Girls: Anna Radulovski Talks Creating a Global Women in Tech Empire To Bring Diverse Women in Tech Together
“We thought why limit ourselves when we can unite women in tech from all over the world? That’s how our mission of uniting 100 000 women in tech, minorities and allies came to life.” Featured in Forbes, Bloomberg TV, and more, Today’s woman dreamer, Anna Radulovski, is Founder of Coding Girls, Women Tech Network, and Diversity in Tech 2020 Award Winner. A tireless pioneer for diversity, she was inspired to organize Women Tech Global Conference, bringing speakers and partners from top companies like Tesla, Uber, Google, Soundcloud and more. A true trailblazer, Anna shares her inspiring story as a woman in the tech world.
1) Tell us your story. What led to your passion for technology and STEM?
I came into STEM by chance, never considering myself that I might find a place to belong here. You see, during my childhood and school years I wasn’t exposed to the opportunities the STEM field had to offer and that having tech skills can be powerful: you can build solutions to tackle current and future challenges, you can become an innovator, you can change lives. So while pursuing a non-tech career I came to realize that my passion is in connecting people with opportunities and empowering them to go for them. I do that by running WomenTech Network, a global and diverse community of women in tech coming from all over the world (183 countries to be precise) and regularly organizing big-scaled events like WomenTech Global Conference, WomenTech Global Awards, and having real conversations with tech ladies and industry leaders doing fireside chats, info sessions and actively participating myself in other women in tech and startup-related events.
2) You have worked all over the world, from Austria, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and more, creating opportunities for women in tech to connect globally. What was your favorite city to work in?
I have worked remotely since 2017 and I used to choose my place to reside based on three criteria: work-life balance, business environment, and growth potential. And of course, food, weather, nature. I love traveling. It helps me learn new things, come up with new ideas and solutions. As per my favorite city, it’s hard to tell but If I have to pick one, I’d say Tenerife is a lovely place to work remotely.
3) Tell us about Women Tech Network, specifically the Women Tech Global Conference, where you organized the largest virtual celebration for women in tech/science. What was it like creating an event of that magnitude? What was your dream vision for that?
We didn’t see the conference of that magnitude coming in 2020. But Covid-19 pushed us to re-think the way we organize our events and find new ways to continue our mission, and in fact, grow exponentially. In March 2020, we had to cancel all our (offline) events (50+ events worldwide) and pivot into the virtual space. And we thought why limit ourselves when we can unite women in tech from all over the world? That’s how our mission of uniting 100 000 women in tech, minorities and allies came to life. It was challenging in the beginning, exciting during the conference days and rewarding at the end. I remember being so exhausted on the last day of the conference that I said to my co-founder “Never again!” But after the conference we received tons of positive feedback, including hundreds of personal messages from the participants about how the conference impacted their life. And due to popular demand this June 7-11 we will have the 2nd edition of WomenTech Global Conference, with a stronger aspect on inspiring keynotes, tech talks, and career networking.
4) As #Dreamcatchers, we have to ask, what is your next big dream?
Getting enough sleep during the night :) As a mom of 1,3 years old, uninterrupted recommended 8 hours of sleep is often a luxury, so yeah, I am dreaming of sleeping. And while it’s not a joke at all, my next big dream is to grow WomenTech Network and empower 1 000 000 women in tech.
And if you are interested in registering for the WomenTech Global Conference, register here: https://www.womentech.net/women-tech-conference
Thank you Anna for sharing your story! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
Bio: Featured in Forbes, Bloomberg TV, Entrepreneur, Fortune, CNET, DW, Silicon Luxembourg, RTL., Anna is a frequent speaker at large tech and business events like WeAreDevelopers World Congress, WEBIT, EBAN Summit, DrupalCon and more. Anna Radulovski is an award-winning entrepreneur, founder and advocate for diversity in tech, passionate about startups and innovation. She is Founder at Coding Girls, a global non-profit helping girls and women to get into technology and develop a tech-career as well as Founder and CEO at the Global WomenTech Network, connecting diverse professionals with companies that put diversity and inclusion first and provide an environment of belonging. As a partner at Tech Family Ventures and Regional Director at the Silicon Valley-based Founder Institute, the largest pre-seed accelerator worldwide, she invests in early-stage founders helping them to shape their business model, MVP and to raise capital.
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