Makerspace Hosting Ladies' Night on Tuesday

HiCapacity, one of Hawaii's first makerspaces, is hosting its first social mixer for women with "Ladies in Tech Night."

The Tuesday night meetup is being organized by HiCapacity intern and UH engineering student Jessica Grazziotin, who was featured earlier this month for her presentation at the 'IKE Student Symposium.

"It's just going to be a mixer style social," she tells me. "For the most part I want to focus on how we can make a welcoming environment for all women that are joining the tech force in Hawaii... and how can we, as women specifically, contribute to the tech industry."

The HiCapacity event is a nice bookend for the summer, after the Hawaii Venture Capital Association's "Women in Tech" luncheon in June.

Diversity is deservedly an important issue in the tech industry, with even small gains making headlines: last week, Apple's diversity report showed "some of the largest gains for women and minorities of any tech company this year." Last month, a venture capital firm revealed that female founders outperform their male peers.

Although "Ladies in Tech Night" will be a very casual event, Grazziotin said she will have some conversation starters in her back pocket.

"We'll probably fan girl over some women in tech that are doing big things, such as Grace Woo who's developing VR codes, or Julie Sygiel, a chemical engineer who found it odd that most of her panties were designed by men, and decided to make a line of her own smarter panties," she said.

Grazziotin is no stranger to the intersection of technology and clothing. At the recent Comic Con Honolulu, she joined Oahu Makerspace founder Ross Mukai in presenting "Arduino and Wearable Tech in Cosplay," discussing how ultra-cheap, ultra-hackable, ultra-tiny wearable electronics called Arduino microcontrollers can be integrated into costumes.

Grazziotin is hoping to reach all women of all ages and skill levels, from the tech rookie to the senior developer. But she is quick to point out that men are welcome at the event as well.

"Just like programming night, hardware night, or any other event night at HICapacity, we are hosting a non-discriminating event where anyone that would like to participate is free and welcome to attend," she writes.

And after the ladies' event wraps up, HiCapacity's weekly hardware night meetup will follow.

"Ladies in Tech Night" runs from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25 at HiCapacity at the Manoa Innovation Center (2800 Woodlawn Dr., Suite #132). To ensure there are enough seats and snacks for attendees, Grazziotin is encouraging people to RSVP via email to jlblanke@hawaii.edu.

For more information, visit HiCapacity.org, or connect with HiCapacity on Facebook or follow @HNLMakerspace on Twitter.

Photos courtesy Jessica Grazziotin.