ABOVE & BEYOND: Women making big change in their “spare” time.
By Ruthe Farmer, Chief Evangelist, CSforAll Consortium
I met Angela Cleveland for the first time a few weeks ago over hotel lobby dessert the night before a Counselors for Computing workshop at University of MD Baltimore County. She had driven hours from her home in NJ to spend a Friday and Saturday convincing school counselors of the importance of their role in students’ career journey in tech. She spoke passionately about her interest in supporting girls in STEM and how she came to a career in school counseling through her own experiences growing up. I was impressed.
However, I’d known of Angela’s work for some time. In the fall of 2015, posts tagged with #womenwhoreign began appearing on Twitter and Facebook featuring interviews of women in tech — many of whom were students and young software engineers I recognized from my work with NCWIT Aspirations in Computing. In short course, ReigningIT grew into a social media powerhouse elevating the stories of women in computing and technology, and creating visible role models for girls. To date, ReigningIT has published over 400 interviews with tech women, releasing a new inspiring feature every few days (including one on yours truly) and has built an online community of more than 5000 young women in tech. I’d imagined ReigningIT was led by a college CS major or newly minted software engineer from the Bay Area — someone in the thick of the tech world. I didn’t expect to find a NJ school counselor behind the #womenwhoreign phenomenon.
Angela and graduate school classmate Saqi Mehta founded ReigningIT to address the lack of role models available in STEM careers for women. While Saqi experienced first-hand the shortage of women in tech in her work as a university recruiter, Angela saw it in the waning interest in STEM careers among high school girls. They both began presenting and advocating for gender equity when the opportunity arose. The catalyst for ReigningIT came after witnessing a particularly compelling and heart-breaking student testimony at a #noceilings event at Spelman College, followed by a long night of brainstorming and conspiring. They vowed to do something to help young women see themselves in tech and ReigningIT was born.
So, while Angela has a full-time day job as a professional school counselor, she moonlights as a champion for young women in tech. She advocates for the infusion of technology into pedagogy, works with the NCWIT Counselors for Computing program to educate fellow school counselors about computing career pathways, and presents on a national level about the value of computer science as it relates to every content area and career.
Angela’s dual secret powers are empathy and imagination. She sees education as a social justice consideration, and because exposure to computing education and careers stands to change their lives, she makes darn sure her students see only open doors before them. — Jane Krauss, NCWIT Counselors for Computing
Angela’s advocacy and dedication has earned her several recognitions, most recently the 2017 NJ State School Counselor of the Year award. In her remaining free time, Angela enjoys writing and is the author of several therapeutic children’s books. Follow on Twitter and ReigningIT broadcasting on all channels.
Writer Ruthe Farmer has focused her efforts on diversity and inclusion in tech and engineering since 2001 and is currently Chief Evangelist for the CSforAll Consortium. She served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy focusing on President Obama’s call to action for Computer Science for All, and previously served as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer and K-12 Alliance Director at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT .
