GirlGeeks leader: Site aims to help women feel empowered, challenged, safe

Hanna says a GirlGeek is "a woman who is passionate about technology"

Kristine Hanna, president and CEO of GirlGeeks.com, talks with Marsha Walton about GirlGeeks.com's mission.

Walton: What is a GirlGeek?

Hanna: A woman who is passionate about technology and is interested in expanding her career in that field.

Walton: What percentage of the high-tech workforce are women?

Hanna: Anywhere from 25 to 30 percent of the IT workforce is women. It's partly a stereotype, women are reluctant to enter the field because they're afraid their options will be limited or they'll be perceived as geeky. And sometimes when they do enter the field they feel isolated or intimidated because there are more men than women.

Walton: Tell us about your cooperation with Comdex (massive computer industry trade shows).

Hanna: We're proud and we salute Comdex for "getting" that more women need to be involved in the field, for doing something about it. We're really excited about this partnership. It's been GirlGeeks' mission since the beginning to empower women in technology.

Walton: What does a visit to the GirlGeeks Web site provide?

Hanna: It gives women the tools and training to advance their careers. It's important that when they come to our site they feel empowered, they feel challenged, and they feel safe, to be able to ask the kind of questions that they need to. And it's really important that we treat them with respect, we assume they're smart, and that we get them results.

Our Web site is really about diversity and integration, about men and women working together, to create products, to solve problems, to really advance this whole picture in technology. And it's (also) important (that) 10 percent of our site are men.