In honor of Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day (March 8th) , we are highlighting some of the many women who are impacting the childcare and early education space through their roles in technology and software design, implementation, and/or management.
Historically, the technology industry has been male-dominated. However, in recent years, we have seen a growing number of women join the field as universities and educational institutions have begun prioritizing STEM opportunities for female students. In contrast, early education and childcare is a widely female-dominated field. This collaboration between childcare and technology has allowed for a unique blend of both men and women leading the charge towards a modern, collaborative approach to early education and care.
For more information about what Women’s History Month is and why it matters, read this article by ABC News.
Aruna Durbhaka is an enthusiastic QA engineer who has extensive experience in both manual and automated testing. At LineLeader, her role is to analyze and test recent updates to our software’s code to ensure that our product is running smoothly and efficiently for our users. Aruna is a pivotal member of the LineLeader team and we are so happy to have her on board! Prior to joining LineLeader, Aruna served as a Software Quality Assurance Engineer for ADP and as a Software Test Engineer at Connor Information Technology.
Sara Mauskopf is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Winnie, a lead generation platform which is headquartered in San Francisco, California. While pregnant with her 3rd child in 2016, Sara was motivated to cofound Winnie in the hopes of helping fellow parents in their quest for quality childcare services. Due to Sara’s past experience as a Group Product Manager at Twitter, a Partner Technology Partner at both YouTube and Google, and most recently – a Director of Product at Postmates, Sara had the technological know-how and leadership expertise to begin building a product that now serves over 7,000 US cities.
Anne Halsall serves as the Chief Product Officer and a Co-Founder of Winnie. Anne was pregnant at the start of Winnie’s founding and was highly intrigued by the idea of creating a user-friendly database for working parents so that they can find reputable, affordable care providers when and where they need them. When Anne and Sara were building their first market database, they saw that nearly 2,500 providers in the San Francisco Bay Area had neither a business website or social media page. This platform has allowed smaller operators, often without the time or resources to build their digital presence, to be found by more families and achieve maximum enrollment capacity. Prior to founding Winnie, Anne was a Webmaster for Google, a Product Designer for Quora, a User Experience Lead at Inkling, and most recently a Senior Product Designer at Postmates.
Genevieve Carbon is an experienced marketing and product management professional with proven success working in growing startup environments of higher and early education companies. She is highly skilled in growth marketing, content creation, and leadership. Genevieve is a passionate advocate for women pursuing professional degrees and leadership positions. She works to empower the women around her each day through mentorship and professional guidance. She received a master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Saint Bonaventure University and a bachelor's degree from Canisius College.
JoAnn Kintzel is the Chief Executive Officer at Procare Solutions, a childcare management software company, based out of Denver, Colorado. Prior to joining the Procare team in 2016, JoAnn occupied the position of President for TaxACT for 10 years. She completed her education at Mount Mercy College where JoAnn received a Bachelor of Science degree in both Accounting and Business Administration.
Shadiah Sigala is a serial tech entrepreneur, having founded and now serving as CEO of Kinside, a modern childcare benefit. Kinside serves thousands of employers by connecting their employees to the most reputable and safe centers and home daycares nationwide, with access to exclusive rates and spots. Prior to cofounding Kinside, Shadiah cofounded HoneyBook, a SaaS tech company that powers over 50,000 freelancers in managing their business and clients. She states, “I broke ground in my first-gen Mexican-American family by receiving degrees from Harvard (Master's in Public Policy) and Pomona College (BA in Latin American Studies) by the age of 24”. Aside from her wildly impressive professional and academic pursuits, Shadiah has authored groundbreaking studies regarding the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the freelance economy, published on Fortune, Forbes, and Huffington Post, among others.
Brittney Barrett has over ten years of experience innovating outdated industries and scaling early-stage startups. She is a tech entrepreneur, digital marketing and product growth expert. Prior to cofounding Kinside and serving as the Head of Marketing, she ran digital marketing for OUAI Haircare, hailed as the fastest growing hair brand in history, and oversaw Business Development at HoneyBook, a SaaS tech company that powers over 50,000 freelancers in managing their business, payments and clients.
Di Girvin is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, previously serving as a Big 4 advisory specialist. She has significant experience in tax compliance and advisory services and has amassed a diverse knowledge, working with startups, mid-sized firms, to ASX listed entities across many industries including childcare, construction, IT, NFPs, health and manufacturing. Di has a passion for childcare, in particular, and enjoys assisting her clients with all aspects of their childcare business. She currently serves in both the CEO and CFO roles for Kidsoft, an Australian-based childcare management software.
Roxanne Elliott is a passionate advocate for the Early Childhood Education and Care sector. She has over 12 years of experience within the industry, and her experience of building CareforKids.com.au from scratch has established Roxanne as one of Australia’s foremost experts within the ECE sector. Roxanne specializes in information technology, digital marketing, and engagement and diversity programs. According to Roxanne, the energy in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector is extremely dynamic right now which is part of what makes this sector an energetic and stimulating area to work in.
An engineer at heart, Alana Frome is passionate about imagining and building technology from the ground up. She currently serves HiMama as CTO after cofounding the organization in 2013. Alana has more than 10 years of software development experience, but she’s also worked as an English teacher in rural France, a danger zone manager in East Africa, and currently volunteers to mentor curious entrepreneurs and girls who are interested in coding. Alana holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Tricia Han was appointed Chief Product Officer of Care.com in February 2020, following IAC’s acquisition of the Company. Since joining the IAC family in 2013, Tricia has held leadership roles at two other IAC brands, including CEO of Daily Burn, a leading subscription streaming fitness brands and Chief Product Officer for Dotdash (formerly About.com). Earlier, she led the product management teams at WebMD, DailyCandy and other technology start-ups. Tricia’s past teams are credited with building some of the first widely adopted mobile applications, including those for The New York Times and MapQuest. Tricia received her BA from Cornell University and sits on the Board of Directors of Empire State Realty Trust and Hudson Lab School.
If you find any of these women to be inspiring or motivating for you and your professional pursuits, DM or tag us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn! We’d love to hear from you.