Posted by Rodrigo Akira Hirooka, Program Manager, Google Developer Groups Latin America
Lorena Locks is on a mission to grow the LGBTQIA+ tech community in Brazil. Her inspiration came from hosting Google Developer Group (GDG) Floripa meetups with her friend Catarina, where they were able to identify a need in their community.
“We felt there wasn't a forum to meet people in the tech industry that reflected ourselves. So we decided to think bigger.”
Image from GDG Floripa event
As a Women Techmakers Ambassador and Google Developer Group lead in Floripa, Brazil, Lorena worked with the local community to create a week of special events, including over 12 talks and sessions centered on empowering the LGBTQIA+ experience in tech.
The events took place every night at 7pm from June 21st - 25th and focused on creating inclusive representation and building trust among developer communities.
Lorena’s commitment to this underrepresented group gained the attention of many local leaders in tech who identify as LGBTQIA+ and volunteered as speakers during Pride Week.
By creating spaces to talk about important LGBTQIA+ topics in tech, Pride Week events included sessions on:
Speakers in photo: Lorena Locks and Catarina Schein
With one-hundred percent of the speakers at these events coming from the LGTBQIA+ community, Pride Week at GDG Floripa and Belo Horizonte was a high impact program that has gone on to inspire GDGs around the world.
If you want to learn more about how to get involved in Google Developer Group communities like this one, visit the site here.