Top 10 Most Powerful Tech Women To Inspire You

The crisis in the tech industry is that very few women are part of it. Even though it is a male-dominated society, many influential women inspire millions of other women to join the tech industry and find their voice. Here is an attempt to throw light on the top 10 most powerful women in tech right now to get inspiration from. 

1. Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube

Susan Wojcicki is one of the top influential women in tech who rules as the CEO of YouTube. She has also worked as a Google employee and has contributed significantly to the growth of AdSense and Google Images. Susan Wojcicki is also very vocal about the gender discrimination that exists in the tech industry and has commented on the same, saying, “Tech is an incredible force that will change our world in ways we can’t anticipate. If that force is only 20-30% women, that is a problem. 

2. Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble

Bumble is a popular dating app headed by Wolfe Herd, the youngest self-made female billionaire. Previously, she has worked as a VP of Marketing at Tinder which she left after she faced sexual harassment. Now, she works in Bumble, a female-centric dating website that takes strong actions against body shaming and lewd messages. 

3. Noushin Shabab, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky GReAT

Noushin Shabab is a cybersecurity researcher with a specialisation in targeted attack investigations and reverses engineering. She became an employee of Kaspersky in 2016 and has proved to be a valuable member of the company by becoming a member of Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team, consisting of only but elite 40 security experts. 

4. Kimberly Bryant, CEO of Black Girls Code

Kimberly Bryant is both the founder and CEO of Black Girls Code. Previously, she has occupied many leadership roles, particularly in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She saw the lack of diversity in the tech industry and founded Black Girls CODE to familiarise women of colour with tech and make it a Win-Win Lottery situation for all the girls across the globe. 

5. Gwynne Shotwell, Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX

Gwynne Shotwell is an American engineer and businessman who was featured as the 49th most powerful woman by Forbes. Further, in 2020, she was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. In 2002, she joined SpaceX, a popular space exploration company founded by Elon Musk and later after many successful launches, she was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX.

6. Sasikala Devi, Developer of LungXpert

Sasikala Devi is the winner of the MyGov Shri Shakti Challenge, a contest launched by the Indian government for the citizens to provide solutions for solving COVID-19 issues. She developed LungXpert, a prognostic tool that can be used for detecting pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases in their early stage, including COVID-19. The Government of India has been promoting the welfare of women with multiple schemes like Sthree Sakthi Lottery to help women manage their financial condition better.

7. Maureen Fan, CEO of Baobab Studios

Baobab Studios is a virtual reality animation company that aims to create an animated cinematic experience. “The Dam Keeper”, a short film of the animation genre created by Baobab Studios was even nominated for the Oscar award in 2015. 

8. Claire Boonstra, Founder of Operation Education

Claire Boonstra is a Netherlands based engineer with impressive experience in new media and technology. She is also the founder of Operation Education that work towards changing the traditional way of schooling by adopting technology in schooling life. Fast Company included her in one of the "Most Influential Women in Technology".

9. Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle

With a net worth of more than US$ 1.1 billion, she is one of the most influential tech women. Previously, she was the CFO in Oracle and in December 2019, she became the sole CEO of Oracle. She has been associated with Oracle since 1999. In 2017, she was the highest female CEO of the USA. Also, she has worked as a director in the famous The Walt Disney Company. 

10. Dr. Sue Black OBE, Founder of BCSWomen

Dr. Sue Black OBE is a professor of Computer Science at Durham University who also has been actively vocalising about women’s rights and social equality. She is also the founder of BCSWomen, which is an online networking platform for women who want and are working in tech. She further started a free course for mothers who want to improve their technological skills.