Audra CarverThe NAIOP Arizona chapter hosted Randi Zuckerberg, a leader in technology and female advocacy, November 1st for the Signature Speaker Series.
For the 5th year of their Signature Speaker Series, Suzanne Kinney, the president and CEO of NAIOP Arizona, explained that NAIOP Arizona selected Randi Zuckerberg for her efforts in research and sharing about “issues we all care about because they directly impact ourselves and our children.”
Randi Zuckerberg is an entrepreneur, investor, bestselling author, and tech media personality. She is the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, which aims to educate and involve children in technology by intersecting it with their everyday lives in fun and creative ways. Zuckerberg has also written four books: Pick Three, Dot., Missy President, and dot Complicated. In each of her impressive accomplishments, Zuckerberg has made it a priority to speak to and on the female involvement and interaction with technology.
Zuckerberg draws inspiration to encourage other female leaders in technology from her own experience. She explained that although she absolutely loved her time in Silicon Valley, she grew tired of “being the only woman in every room that I was in. For a decade.” She brought up a time where she was speaking with her mom about the glass ceiling and how she refused to admit it still existed because “’it’s 1999 mom, there is no more glass ceiling.’” It was from her experience, later, in Silicon Valley that she came to the sad realization that women are still behind in participation in these highly lucrative technological positions.
Zuckerberg explained in her own research that she found it is around the age of nine that the gap between boys and girl’s interaction with technology begins to form. Because of this, Zuckerberg has put a huge emphasis on the younger generation by encouraging the use of technology in school. Beyond the impact that it has on increasing future female involvement with technological positions, Zuckerberg also noted that the addition of technology in the classroom acts as a “lifeline to the world and it completely levels the playing field for a child [on the autism spectrum] to participate with their peers.”
Zuckerberg is extremely aware that the world is always moving forward in innovation, technology, and job creation. For this reason, it necessitates the emphasis of using and teaching on these tools to the youth even more. Zuckerberg noted that in her own experience, the marketing job that she originally held for Facebook hadn’t existed before she started working there. Now, nearly 10 years later, these jobs exist all around the world. Zuckerberg’s statement summarizes the sentiment well: “the marketing jobs that will be around 10 years from now don’t even exist today.”
Zuckerberg’s hope with her initiative to push for tech and media education in the youth is to continue narrowing the gap between men and women in tech fields.
Noemi Santaella
Guest Contributor
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