On December 12, 2024, Oracle Academy, Oracle Volunteers and Oracle Alliance of Black Leaders for Excellence (ABLE) employees participated in the 13th Annual Tech Sassy Girlz conference. Raina Yancey, Edwin Wiggins, Leona Davis, Gbenga Ojo-Osagie, Karla Dixon, and Chelsea Anestal represented Oracle, helping with the Tech Sassy Girlz hackathon specific to brainstorming, ideation, and design. They also engaged with the campus tours, supported student registrations, and participated as panelists in the Cool Careers in STEM presentation at the event.

When sharing her experience of being a panelist, Leona Davis, Principal Technical Support Engineer, Analytics, at Oracle said, “Participating as a panelist for the Cool Careers in STEM presentation provided a direct opportunity to share my experiences on what science and engineering really looks like outside of the classroom. I appreciated the students’ reaction when I referenced a successful Oracle customer testimonial, from a popular company, which I believed helped their understanding of what Oracle does in the STEM world.”

ABLE’s Community Leader and Associate Consultant at Oracle, Chelsea Anestal, said, “The Tech Sassy Girlz event was fantastic and incredibly inspiring. It provided a great platform for young girls to connect with science and technology, and the speakers and activities were both insightful and engaging. I truly appreciated the energy and dedication of all the organizers in creating such an empowering space.”

Raina Yancey, Principal Technical Support Engineer at Oracle, who has been volunteering at the Tech Sassy Girlz STEM Conference for over a decade, said, “The gender gap in STEM education remains a significant challenge as women are still underrepresented. Inspiring girls to explore STEM early ensures a wider talent pool and empowers them to innovate solutions to real world problems, and create a brighter, more equitable future for all.”

Culture and inclusion in action

Within Oracle’s creative, solution-oriented culture is a community of employees who strive to make the world a better place. Oracle Volunteers lead and participate in virtual and in-person projects with hundreds of nonprofits and public institutions year-round. Oracle employees bring their whole selves to work, and many enjoy the affinity of employee resources groups (ERGs) like ABLE. The Oracle Volunteering program allows employees to volunteer up to 40 hours per year during the workday.

When asked about volunteering at the Tech Sassy Girlz event, Karla Dixon, Sr. Principal SaaS Practice Architect, said, “I find that volunteering with Tech Sassy Girlz events is a great way to connect with young girls and show that IT is a viable career path for them. They get to do hands-on activities that show that things like coding are not so complicated and scary. It is amazing to see them start to put the pieces together and get excited about the things that are possible. Additionally, we have the opportunity to highlight successful women in STEM, so the hope is that these young girls can see themselves in those women. The fact that they get to see Oracle as a company that supports women in technology is also a plus.”

Events like this also allow Oracle employees to help increase diversity in technology fields. Gbenga Ojo-Osagie, Senior Technical Support Engineer at Oracle, noted, “The Tech Sassy Girlz event provides the opportunity to highlight the importance of STEM as a career to the young ladies attending the event. Volunteering as an Oracle employee in an event like this not only inspires but plants a seed of opportunities for all. I cannot wait for next year’s impactful event.”

Workshops help girls learn

For nearly a decade, Oracle Academy has worked with the Oracle ABLE team, Oracle Volunteers, and Tech Sassy Girlz, both in-person and virtually, to provide workshop-in-a-box resources. These workshops offer students fun and engaging ways to develop skills in Java and database. Edwin Wiggins, Director, Customer Support E-Business Suite, at Oracle, says, “I have attended multiple Tech Sassy Events as an Oracle volunteer. The 2024 event was an amazing display of attitude meeting innovation. These young ladies display the desire, talent, and fearless ambition to excel in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Oracle Volunteers also were amazing. They provided a shining example of successful women working in technology, from panel member Leona Davis sharing her positive experience at Oracle and Chelsea Anestal sharing her Oracle message. I felt privileged to be part of the team with the other volunteers.”   

Oracle Academy provides resources for hands-on learning, including workshops that volunteers can use in their volunteering projects. As Oracle’s global, philanthropic educational program, Oracle Academy is open to educators around the world to advance technology education, skills, innovation, and diversity and inclusion. We offer academic institutions and their educators teaching and learning resources – including curriculum, cloud, software, and professional development – that help them prepare students with knowledge, hands-on practice, and career-relevant skills – for free. With hands-on practice in the latest technologies, students attain knowledge and skills that help power them to fulfilling careers across industries.

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