Today is Ada Lovelace Day, so I’m celebrating by blogging about a few of the ladies I admire in technology.
Who the heck is Ada Lovelace and why should we be celebrating her? This fine filly born in 1815 (sprung from the loins of Lord Byron and Annabella, no less) cooked up the first computer program for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, which, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, is ‘generally considered the first computer.’
You can peep a trial run of one of these steampunk-tastic things here.
In honor of our techie foremother, I hereby honor the following brilliant women (and, more importantly, friends) in the tech field!
Mary Jo Foley is the most bad-ass Microsoft journalist there is. If you’ve ever wondered about who or what makes Bill Gates wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, it might be Mary Jo. She is the go-to person for all things about Microsoft — which is why her blog is called All About Microsoft. She also wrote Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era. Not only that, if I might toot her horn, she has a Master’s in Women’s Studies and she’s a certified organic cook. (I expect some of that banana bread in exchange for this, MJ.)
Next up! My fellow Texan grrlie Libe Goad.
I met Libe at my first ‘real’ job outta college at a video game website, and we’ve been friends ever since. She is now the Editor-in-Chief of AOL’s GameDaily and my go-to grrl for expert video game skills. And Guitar Hero parties. Same thing. She’s tireless, creative, funny, and unstoppable.
And my gal Audacia Ray kicks ass and takes (techie) names. She’s a published writer, blogger, movie-maker, media maven, sex workers rights advocate, and Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women’s Health Coalition. Follow her Tweets for the latest on reproductive rights, sex, technology, and damn coolness.
The awesome thing is that I know so many more great women techies that I can’t really list them all here. I hope you do too. Give ’em a shout out in the comments!
