International Women’s Day 2023: Embracing Equity

Every year, March marks Women's History Month in the U.S., and March 8th is celebrated globally as International Women's Day. This year, the emphasis is on embracing equity, and the United Nations is taking it even further with their theme, DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

In a world where women like Malala Yousafzai are still fighting for the right to an education, it's disappointingly unsurprising that there's gender disparity in technology, too. Today, only 22% of artificial intelligence workers are female. And where women aren't present, biases can – and do – creep in.

In fact, 44% of AI systems across industries demonstrate gender bias, according to UN Women. This will only add to the obstacles that women face, especially as AI becomes a more prominent tool in fields like healthcare, human resources, and education.

This International Women's Day, Yext is focused on celebrating and empowering women in tech. From the first computer program to the first content management system that generates content on its own, we know where a woman's place is: squarely at the frontier of technological innovation.

We also know that women in tech can have various roles. From programmers and engineers, to UI/UX designers and product managers, women are present in every facet of technology and business – so let's highlight some of them today.

Ada Lovelace - Programmer

Ada Lovelace's name may be forever tied to the history of the computer today, but it took over a century before she received credit for her contributions, which include writing the first program. Lovelace was truly at the forefront of modern technology as we know it today, all the way back in 1843.

Deborah Washington Brown - Computer Scientist

Deborah Washington Brown was the first Black woman to be admitted and graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D., earning her doctorate in applied mathematics in 1981. But this wasn't her greatest achievement, only one of her first; Brown went on to have a very successful career in artificial intelligence and specialized in speech technology. Brown secured at least 10 patents over her career, including a 2013 patent on an AI-powered system that categorized speech transcriptions based on their content, according to her Harvard alumni profile. As voice search enthusiasts here at Yext, we're very respectful of her work.

Susan Kare - UI Graphic Designer

Susan Kare was an original member of the Apple design team in the 1980's. She designed many of the classic graphics and fonts in Apple's user interface (UI). Many of the icons she created are still in use today across many platforms, including the "Grabber" and the paint bucket icon. Today, Apple technology is famous around the world for its gold-standard UI.

Aly Kruglak - Software Engineer, Technology

Based out of our New York office, Aly is a software engineer. Aly's team is the primary owner for services that help clients create and manage user-generated content, including Reviews.

"There are many reasons why I wake up excited to come to work everyday – the people, the collaborative culture, and the opportunities," Aly says. Outside of work, Aly enjoys ice cream, baking, tennis, and the NYC dining scene.

Lauryn Chamberlain - Manager, Editorial Strategy

With over 8 years at Yext, Lauryn is a driving force behind our thought leadership content. Thought-provoking content on cutting-edge technology isn't created in a vacuum; Lauryn is often found conducting interviews, gathering insights, and compiling data on the latest trends in technology. She has read, written, or edited nearly everything Yext has ever published. Outside of Yext, Lauryn is also a twice-published author and wine sommelier in training.

Dana Fesjian - Senior Product Manager

Dana – Senior Product Manager, Solutions – is based out of the Yext Berlin office. Dana is involved with Marketing, Support, Commerce, and Workplace solutions. After office hours, Dana (a retired professional dancer herself) attends dance performances with her friends. She also teaches yoga in Berlin – and sometimes, on the Yext rooftop.

Ashritha Kanuri - Senior Manager, Services

Ashritha has been with Yext for over 4 years, and today, she is the Services Senior Manager. "My favorite part about my role is the day-to-day people management," Ashritha says. "It's so exciting to watch your team grow and thrive as Yexters. My team has left a lasting impact on me and I'm really grateful to work with them." In addition to her passion for people management and platform services, Ashritha enjoys painting, working out, and coffee.

Ariana Martino - Associate Data Scientist

Ariana, a data scientist, recently presented research conducted on machine learning clustering algorithms at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Big Data 2022 conference. This paper, A Hybrid Score to Optimize Clustering Hyperparameters for Online Search Term Data, represents the first published piece of peer-reviewed research from Yext's research and development function. Prior to joining Yext, Ariana worked in an astrophysics lab building space telescopes. Outside of work, Ariana enjoys gluten-free baking, yoga, and reading.

This International Women's Day, we're calling on Yexters all over the globe to embrace equity – and then take it a step further. Think about how your celebration of this day could be more inclusive of women from different backgrounds and walks of life. Embrace and elevate the perspectives of Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and other women of color.

Some practical ways to do this today:

• Compliment a teammate's performance. It'll help make sure that, unlike so many throughout history, their contributions will be acknowledged. If you've been especially impressed recently, be sure to let their manager know, too.

• Listen to the perspectives of others. Please focus on the perspective that is being shared with you, whether it's with a colleague or at one of the many events that our Employee Resource Group, Empower, has planned for the month of March.

• Take some time for self-education today. We mentioned the threat of gender bias in AI systems at the beginning of this post; Empower is hosting a book club for the month of March. Interested Yexters will be reading Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. We still have a handful of books available to any Yexters interested in participating – contact ERG leads for details, and be sure to reference the Inclusion Calendar for more planned events.

Interested in joining Yext? View and apply to open roles here.