International Ada Lovelace Day - Why I admire IT gal Sandra Lerner

Tuesday, March 24th is International Ada Lovelace Day. It is a day of blogging, and drawing particular attention to women who excel in the technology world. Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer, and one of the first people to recognize the potential for computers to be used for more than just adding 2 + 2.

Until recently women’s contributions in technology, among other industries, had often gone unnoticed. Today, with the advent of Web 2.0 and social media revolutions, a new world of tech savvy women leaders is emerging. But before the leaders of 21st century technology there were pioneers in the technology revolution, including one of my favorites, Sandra Lerner. Lerner co-found Cisco Systems (yes I mean THE Cisco Systems). She co-found the company with her then boyfriend and future ex-husband back in 1984.

This is not the only reason I admire Lerner, however. My admiration is for Lerner’s pioneer determination. After being fired from the company she helped to found in 1990, Lerner took profits from her stock in Cisco and began investing in start-ups, including Urban Decay Cosmetics, an alternative cosmetics business with the tag line “does pink make you puke?”. Further small business start up efforts resulted in some successes and some failures, but onward she blazed.

Lerner today is involved in many philanthropic efforts, including the restoration of the Jane AustenJane Austen family dwelling Chawton House, which is now a center for the study of English women’s writing [cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Lerner].

Despite Lerner’s early successes, however, her name is often not recognized as one of the early pioneers in technological advancements, which is what makes International Lovelace Day is so spectacular. As women and men of the world, we can recognize and pay homage to those women who have helped to bring about technological changes that even a generation ago would have seemed unattainable. Today we reach and meet technological advances in the blink of an eye, and more and more women are becoming the centerpiece of these developments.

It is, however, to these early women pioneers in computer science, technology, engineering, and advanced technical sciences that the first foundations of acceptance for women in the industry have been built. As it always is with advancements for women through the centuries, it takes those first few to break through and, despite opposition, determinedly accomplish their goals and at the same time, help millions of women who come after them find an easier route to their own success.

Though I have chosen Ms. Lerner as a women in technology I most admire, there are hundreds of others I would have liked to have mentioned as well, including many who have founded or co-founded some of the hottest social media sites out there and numerous start ups. Here are just a few from some of the sites and start ups I enjoy:

Caterina Fake - Flickr
Gina Bianchi - Ning
Mary Hodder - Dabble
Sandra Jen/Elaine Wherry - Meebo
Xochi Birch - Bebo
Halley Suitt - Top Ten Sources
Rashmi Sinha - SlideShare
D Millack - Zazzle
Linda Furrier - Podtech
Maggie Fox - Social Media Group
Arianna HuffingtonArianna Huffington - Huffington Post
Kelly Goto - Gotomedia

This of course is a very small list, but it is representative of the hundreds and thousands of women in technology today who have actively proven the ability of women to succeed in anything they choose, including technological and computer-related industries.

For all those women who have helped accomplish the unthinkable, and most especially for those whose credit was often always due, but not given, I salute and thank you for your efforts! These women inspire, and amaze me, and I feel lucky to be following in their worthy footsteps, to help take on the world of social media and technological changes of the future.

Reposted from Online Business Woman blog