Getting Started with the Women of Sitecore

It’s been a slow (but steady) progression to our kick off at Sitecore Symposium 2018 in Orlando, Florida. Not only did we get started with a breakfast meetup on Ada Lovelace day, but we started seeing women (and men) popping up all over the place with Women of Sitecore enamel pins, glittery stickers and Rosie Symposie t-shirts. What started as idea, has grown into a community with a great deal of support and commitment to growth. Amy Winburn (if you didn’t learn about data sources for Sitecore fields from Amy, the person that taught you did) got us started by launching the idea, initial website and slack channel that saw the leadership team connect together. Whilst this was happening a group of female MVPs connected through Isabel Tinoco and submitted a session proposal for Symposium that was (eventually) accepted and saw 18 of us on stage discussing the challenges and benefits of being a woman in technology.

We all wanted to keep the momentum going after Symposium and to provide a place for women to connect and grow together. We hope our forums can provide a safe and open place for discussion and that the website can provide a wealth of knowledge and resources for everyone. To make the discussion live, we also have a Women of Sitecore Slack (in addition to a #womenofsitecore channel in the Sitecore slack) you are welcome to join if you identify as a woman in any way that’s meaningful to you.

Now you know a bit about our history, let’s talk about what we’re doing.

Sitecore MVP Applications and Nominations

If you’re looking at applying to become a Sitecore MVP in 2019 please fill out our form. This means we can find a Sitecore MVP to review your application and provide assistance and nominations. The sooner you can do it, the more we can help out! If you feel you need one or two more points to bolster your community support section we’re also on the lookout for people to write blog posts and be involved in webinars.

However, if you haven’t been working towards being an MVP throughout 2018, the year, we can help you get ready for applications in 2019! If you want to be part of the MVP mentoring group please submit your details in the 2020 form, and also join our forums. We’re also working on providing more resources on what it means to be an MVP and how to become involved in the MVP community starting with a post from our community superstar Una Verhoeven on the road to becoming an MVP.

Mentoring and Career Support

The Women of Sitecore Community is made up of women working at a range of levels in a number of different roles for organizations large and small all over the world. If you’re looking to grow into a new role, want help on developing leadership skills or are even looking at starting your own company there are women here that have been there, done that and are willing to help and share their experience.

Public Speaking and Presentations

In November we’ll be kicking off our webinar series with a look back at Symposium 2018 and sharing our vision going forward. Women of Sitecore webinars will be ongoing activity and we’ll be on the lookout for people willing to present! There will be both in person and online opportunities for people wanting to share their work and ideas, and people that want to develop their skills in preparation for speaking at events like SUGCON and Sitecore Symposium. The community can also help if you’re a SUG looking for speakers and/or unique ideas or you want to get in touch with a local (or far off) SUG.