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👸🏻 Celebrating Women in Tech

Names we ought to know

Women in Tech

In honour of International Women’s Day on 8 March, I want to dedicate this post to celebrating women who have and are defining the landscape of technology.

Historical Women in Tech

Kicking things off with trailblazing women who shaped tech history. Tech wouldn’t be the same without these innovators.

1. Ada Lovelace

The First Programmer | 1815 - 1852

  • Her Contribution: Wrote the first-ever algorithm for Charles Babbage’s early mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine.

  • Quote: “That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal, as time will show.”

  • Read: Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist

2. Grace Hopper

The Queen of Code | 1906 - 1992

  • Her Contribution: Developed the first compiler, created the COBOL language & coined the term “debugging”.
  • Quote: “The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’”
  • Watch: The Queen of Code

3. Heddy Lamarr

The Hollywood Inventor | 1914 - 2000

  • Her Contribution: Co-invented frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology, the foundation of WiFi, Bluetooth & GPS.
  • Quote: “I’m not ashamed to be a woman, and I’m not ashamed to be a thinker. I love life and I love creating.”
  • Watch: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

4. Katherine Johnson

The Human Computer | 1918 - 2020

  • Her Contribution: Calculated the trajectories for Apollo 11’s moon landing & ensured the success of John Glenn’s 1962 orbit around Earth with her precise manual calculations.
  • Quote: “Go where there is no path and leave a trail.”
  • Watch: Hidden Figures

5. Radia Perlman

Mother of the Internet | 1951

  • Her Contribution: Revolutionised network efficiency by inventing the spanning tree protocol & pioneered work for network security and internet scalability.
  • Quote: “The stuff I design, if I’m successful, nobody will ever notice. Things will just work, and will be self-managing.”
  • Read: Interconnections

Women in Tech Content Creators

Inspired women inspire others, and I’m so grateful to have stumbled upon them on the Internet. Some of them I’ve even gotten the chance to meet up with in real life! ☺️

My little one-liner about each of them does not do them justice - you’ll have to check them out for yourself!

This list is not exhaustive and there are so many other amazing women in tech creators out there that have inspired me too!

Code

  • Hello Mayuko - OG software engineer YouTuber (that inspired me to get into tech! 🥹)
  • The Code Dose - Documents the journey of coding creative projects on YouTube
  • Patt Vira - Creates super cool YouTube tutorials on creative coding
  • Nashallery - Makes fun & cute coding projects that go viral
  • Sopi is Coding - Films aesthetic cozy videos of life as a researcher in tech

Data

  • Lillian Chiu - Vlogs life as a business strategist with bites of informational insights working with data
  • Julia Fei - Vlogs life as a data scientist & grad student in New York
  • Thuvu.analytics - Creates informative YouTube videos about data science & AI
  • Shirley Wu - Data visualisation designer & software engineer
  • Nadieh Bremer - Data visualisation designer & astronomer

Design

  • Rachel How - Creates informative YouTube videos about UI/UX design & solopreneurship
  • Edgy Katrina - Vlogs life as a designer & creates aesthetic whimsical graphics
  • Meshtimes - Documents life as a designer & makes cool design projects
  • SandraCreates - Shares about graphic design & content creation journey
  • Nicole Bernadette - UI/UX designer and creative entrepreneur sharing about life and faith

Special Mentions

  • Cleo Abram - Video journalist making Huge If True, an optimistic show about tech
  • Chloe Shih - Product manager and creative spilling everything about work, life and love
  • Hardi Bui - Creates aesthetic & motivational wellness content (inspired me to start creating on IG!)
  • Heylinni - OG tech YouTuber & product manager with lots of creative hobbies
  • Maisy Leigh - Frontend engineer and designer creating cozy lifestyle videos

Books and Podcasts on Women in Tech

1. Broadband

The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

  • Summary: Uncovers the overlooked contributions of female pioneers who shaped modern computing and the Internet.
  • Takeaway: We need to recover women’s technological legacies not just because it’s fair, but because we won’t be able to build humane technology without their insights.

2. More Than a Glitch

Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech

  • Summary: Explores how sexism, racism, and ableism affect software design, algorithms, and AI decision-making, highlighting how bias is embedded in technology.
  • Takeaway: We’ve been trained to trust technology, but technology is made by humans, and humans have biases.

3. How to Talk to Robots

A Girl’s Guide to a Future Dominated by AI

  • Summary: Explains how to engage with AI, instead of fearing it, and why women must take an active role in shaping the future of tech.
  • Takeaway: The question isn’t whether AI will change your career—it will. The question is whether you’ll have a say in how that change happens. Women need to be in the room when AI is developed, not just as users but as creators.

4. Lost Women of Science

  • Summary: A podcast about forgotten or untold stories of remarkable female scientists and their groundbreaking work through history.
  • Fun Fact: I really like how the storyline is accompanied by sound effects, even having custom compositions as background music!

5. Women in Tech Podcast by Espree Devora

  • Summary: Each episode features interviews with inspiring women in tech from all walks of life. The purpose of the show is for every listener to walk away feeling ‘If She Can Do It So Can I’.
  • Fun Fact: I was a guest on this podcast in 2019! 🥹 We recorded the episode in Toronto during Red Bull Basement. I had a fangirl moment coz I was already a fan of the podcast before 😆

© 2026 Magdeline Huang