Fairygodboss Of The Week Leah Gilliam

Fairygodboss Of The Week Leah Gilliam Meet Leah Gilliam, an extraordinary lady who reached the pinnacles of academia early in zu sich career and then shifted course completely to start all over in tech, only to find a perfect spot at Girls Who Code. Leah encourages us to find things that inspire, provoke or obsess us constantly -- to keep us stimulated, curious and on top of our game. Leahs dream is to open an neuheit Hub so all the amazing ideas that are out there could get funded and built.Fairygodboss of the Week Leah GilliamVice President for Education at Girls Who CodeNew York, NYFGB Tell us about your career. How did you get to where you are now? LG Im the Vice President for Education, Strategy, and Innovation at Girls Who Code. Ive held the position for about four months now.Ive always been equally interested in learning, creativity, and technologyhow machines and systems work, the specific human and sociological history behind inventions, and what is considered progress. A fe w years back, I refocused my career objectives to leverage those interests and to work specifically with youth-centered nonprofits around innovation, which amounted to connecting them to the people, funds, and resources to help them implement new technological tools and approaches. My work at Girls Who Code is an extension of that interest. For me, working at an organization that seeks to close the gender gap in tech by inspiring mora young women to pursue computer science and experiment with computational thinking is a great way to inundate the world with new ideas and new solutions.FGB What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?LG Im an academia drop-out. I welches a tenured prof in film and electronic media at a small liberal-arts college when I was pretty young, but I decided to leave it all behind. Im proud of changing courses and just starting over. It wasnt easy or comfortable, yet it was really rewarding. After years of making my own art and teaching others about art/sc ience and technology, I shifted gears. I went back to school (NYUs Interactive Telecommunications Program) and used the time to experiment with a bunch of toolsgame design, code, computational thinking, wearables, to name a few. FGB What is a challenge that youve faced and overcome?LG To realize that I had achieved something that would make some people really happya tenured position in academiabut that no longer fulfilled me personally or professionally was a singular challenge. Facing that meant changing careers, getting more training, and really trusting that I could do something different and satisfying.Lightning RoundFGB What do you do when youre not working?LG I make sure to see people, places, and things that inspire me. It could be a book, a painting, music, podcasts, friends and fellow travelers. I just try to recharge and connect to my creative practice and other things that keep me curious. Recently Ive been designing games. FGB If you could have dinner with one famous per son - dead or alive - who would it be?LG Id love to have dinner with Attorney General of the United States Loretta Lynch. James Baldwin or Octavia Butler would also be dynamite dining companions. FGB What is your karaoke song?LG Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John. FGB What is your favorite movie?LG My Beautiful Laundrette, a superb 1985 film about a complex gay interracial romance directed by Stephen Frears.FGB What book would you bring with you on a desert island?LG Samuel R. Delanys Dhalgren. FGB What is your shopping vice? What would you buy if you won the lottery?LG I have a deep fondness for sneakers and a weakness for bespoke shirts and pants. I love the gender-bending tailors at Bindle and Keep. They focus on suiting for the non-gender-conforming set. After years of thrifting, its a thrilling experience to have clothes made to fit.Theres such a lack of diversity in products and experiences, Id invest in new ideas from some of the unlikely sources you dont hear from. Id open a n innovation hub or an investment mechanism to make and launch ideas until the money ran out.FGB Who is your Fairygodboss?LG My Fairygodboss is definitely my mom, Dorothy Butler Gilliam. Shes a true pioneer and is currently writing her memoir. She was the first black woman reporter at the Washington Post. She was hired in the 1960s, so DCnot to mention journalism itselfwas very biased and segregated. Shes my model for how to break barriers, be yourself, and do you what you lovewith style, wit, and aplomb.FGB What is the 1 career tip youd like to share? LG My big career tip would be stay (or get) curiouseven kind of obsessed. For women and underrepresented groups in any field, its important to keep yourself engaged with the people and ideas that motivate you. That motivator can be something inspiring or something infuriating. Sometimes inspiration comes from a strong reaction, positive or negative. But its those obsessions and areas of interests that keep you intellectually and emoti onally engaged with the worldand ultimately with your work. Whatever that source of inspiration may be, be curious and learn everything about it.Fairygodboss is all about women helping other women - so each week, we celebrate a woman who made a difference in another womans career. Is there a woman who has made a difference in your career?Celebrate her and thank her by nominating her here.