International Womens Day: Build the Co-op, Run the World

A few new moves towards equality in CoLab.

colab

Poster about women's power

By McKenzie Jones

Some days feel different than others. Today is International Women’s Day, a celebration of achievements – and in many places, a strike for equality. To do our part, we’re exploring what this means for our industry. I invite you to see how these ideas move you, too.

Years ago, before having two children of my own, I earned a degree in human development and family studies. But anyone can see how women and feminine people lift everyone up. We can feel it everywhere, including in CoLab.

Here are some women from our past and present we’d like to recognize for helping us grow:

  • Shout out to Jessica Peery, mother, artist, future saint and partner of Rylan Peery in Taksu Media. The agency that was converted into the cooperative that is now CoLab.
  • Shout out to Maria LeMay Bey who was our original co-founder and left the tech world to pursue gardening in Detroit and to spend more time being a mother.
  • Shout out to Jenn Schilck who led our front-end development and is now digital project director at the MIT Energy Initiative.
  • Shout out to Sim Hurse for helping us build strong strategic partners and is now hosting a tech community for women in NYC.
  • Major should out to all of the women in CoLab who are keeping our heartbeat going strong.

Looking forward, here are a few ideas we’re starting to consider:

  • Think about ways we can apply feminist theory to our tech work.
  • Expand professional development opportunities for women in technology.
  • Explore how we can use the tools that we are creating in Innovation Org Area to empower women.
  • Include more women in senior, strategic, and technical leadership roles.

If you do, or have, or will identify as a woman, we see you. It is women who lift us up, and we see you doing it.

This is radical work that goes far, far beyond the workplace. And if you’re working on initiatives like these in any organization, let’s get connected! Please email me at mckenzie@colab.coop to share your stories.

Thanks for all that you do,

McKenzie Jones

Project Manager and CoLab Hive Office Manager