About

Women talk design event

At Women Talk Design, we’re on a mission to see more diverse speakers on stage.

We elevate brilliant women and gender non-binary speakers and their talks so organizers can better discover them, provide tools, information and resources to organizers on how to design more inclusive events, and offer training, events, and community for new speakers.

We believe everyone – of all genders, races, religions, ethnicities, abilities, and backgrounds – should be able to attend an event, look up on stage, and see someone giving a talk on stage that looks like them, and think ‘that could be me’.

Women Talk Design was started by Christina Wodtke, an author, professor, speaker, and designer. As a conference speaker, Christina often found herself the only woman on stage. She was tired of hearing excuses from organizers, and she created Women Talk Design in 2013 as a directory of women speakers in design.

In the summer of 2017, she initiated a GoFundMe campaign to hire a paid design intern to research and redesign Women Talk Design. Thanks to hundreds of generous donors, Melissa Kim and Jennifer Kim spent the summer researching, architecting, and designing a new website for Women Talk Design.

In the fall of 2017, Danielle Barnes came on board as CEO to create a sustainable and impactful organization, as well as a broader vision for Women Talk Design.

Today, we offer a platform to highlight incredible women and gender non-binary speakers in design and tech. We are also a resource for conference organizers on designing more inclusive events. In addition to working with event organizers, we want to see more talented women and gender non-binary practitioners and leaders raising their hands to speak. We organize events and training to empower new speakers and an online community to connect new and experienced speakers to ask questions, offer advice and share speaking opportunities.

We hope this site can be a resource for you – no matter where you’re coming from. If you are an organizer looking for speakers, a speaker looking for opportunities, someone looking to get into speaking, or a company looking to develop speakers on your team, we want to help. Check out our directory, On Speaking and On Organizing resources pages, our training and events, and get involved page for more information.

The Team

Christina Wodtke

Christina Wodtke

RoleFounder

Christina is an author, lecturer, and established thought leader in Silicon Valley. She has helped grow companies like LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Zynga, as well as numerous startups. Christina is the author of three books. She teaches at Stanford in the HCI program.

Danielle Barnes

Danielle Barnes

RoleCEO

Danielle is passionate about empowering designers and technologists at all stages in their career. She co-founded and organizes Austin Design Week, and prior to Women Talk Design was an early employee of tech education company, General Assembly.

Liz Francis headshot

Liz Francis

RoleMarketing

Liz is a practiced storyteller using her background in marketing and customer experience to help companies communicate. A proponent of the human-to-human approach, she has developed strong identities for multiple small organizations across industries.

Frances Bagette

RoleOperations

Frances has extensive experience in customer service and the entertainment industry, coupled with her leadership experience in hospitality, marketing, and events, Frances helps companies drive engagement and implement innovative process improvements.

Jessica Hinkle headshot

Jessica Hinkle

RoleSocial Media

Jessica is a Creative Professional with passion for uplifting people through community. She is a published photographer, writer and LA based clothing designer. Self-taught in multiple mediums, she believes in removing limits and life-long learning.