Gail Thomas

In the last few years, I've had some Wizard of Oz type of relocations that have fortunately landed me in cities where I have been able to find some wonderful women professional communities along the way. It's a great way to network, make friends and get the real scoop on what's happening in the city. I was a volunteer for Digital Eve in Boston and Seattle, dabbled in Webgrrls in California, and participated in many other similar organizations. So, when DCWW asked me to write a few words about my experiences with so many organizations of the same type, I thought I would share my observations from a location view point, only proving to myself that location has nothing to do with it.

One would think that each community would be a reflection of the city; actually, I did not find this to be case. Rather, the ambiance of each seemed more like an undercurrent of women with moving forward with a mission, wherever they were located.

California was my first encounter with women based technology associations and admittedly I was overwhelmed with their knowledge base, as my interest in technology was just beginning via a work related project. They were a serious bunch, Birkenstocks and all, but encouraged me enough to realize that this was a new world I needed to continue exploring.

In Seattle, I expected to be surrounded by a group dominated by Microsoft, clearly the leading economic technology influence in Washington State, instead I found a large dynamic, grass-roots, and highly technical group of women really pushing the envelope of access, and surprisingly, quite a few men. The economy in Seattle was really taking a hit, the technology community devastated, and although I was a somewhat of a newcomer, they really opened their rolodexes to me, providing me with contacts for contract and part time work.

Boston had a different a flavor altogether; not quite as technical as Seattle, sponsor partnerships of all kinds ruled, and was perhaps the most diverse in industry memberships. Since the citizenry in Boston has a prominent duality between the locals and the "transplants," I expected to encounter this division in its membership. Not so! It was all left at the front door, and was amazed at how rapidly they pulled together their Six Degrees of Separation contacts for speakers and hosting events. With a number of women in technology increasingly becoming unemployed, we would brainstorm on how to help, doing everything from donating to babysitting, to finding temp jobs in our companies that could help them get by in any way possible. I made a number of friends and am lucky to still keep in touch with them.

I used to live in DC a few years back and recently returned for work, the city has certainly changed a lot, and so far, I have found another wonderful community with DCWW. Funny, they don't all seem to work on Capitol Hill.

Gail Thomas is currently an MBA Fellow with Department of Labor.