August 25, 2022, Code Launch at Ohio Theater

We had a blast at this year’s CodeLaunch Ohio Startup Expo, where five technology software startups and their hackathon tech crews competed for the big win !!

~ photo credit - CodeLaunch Ohio

CodeLaunch, presented by Cyrannus.io, describes itself as a seed accelerator competition, tech trade show, startup conference and networking event all rolled into one.

CodeLaunch provides a platform for individuals and groups to showcase their technology startup ideas, and even provides seed services to competition winners and participants.

The big win !!!!!!!

July 27, 2022 - "Ask Us Anything - IRL"

We told them they could ask us anything... and they DID !!

We had a great time last night at the "Ask Me Anything" IRL event, where our Rini Das, Vinny Sanfillipo, Lisa Kagy and Robbin Bowman were panelists ! The event, held at Rev1 Labs, the innovation center of Rev1 Ventures, was co-sponsored by Zettabytes.Today and Tech Elevator.

Participants engaged us on various topics over pizza and beer, like: starting a successful career in tech; landing and crushing that big interview; gauging a company's culture; and contributing to workplace diversity initiatives.

            You won't want to miss our next event!! 

Throw Back Thursday: January 12, 2022 "Go Be You Coach: To be, or Not to Be...out in your workplace"

We had a GREAT start to 2022 with our January 12th session “To be, or Not to Be...out in your workplace”, featuring “Go Be You” Business Coach and speaker Scott Kirkendall and Jyllian Spikes, of our Community Organization Black, Out & Proud !!

After the drink demo during our fabulous Cocktail/Mocktail hour, Jyll Spikes discussed how her organization Black, Out & Proud provides a safe space for the African American LGBTQ community through advocacy, educational and social opportunities.

Scott Kirkendall then gave an inspiring and thought-provoking talk on how being closeted in the workplace versus being out affects LGBTQ folx; how things have changed over time; and how being out affects and empowers LGBTQ people.

Wonderful event !!

June 9, 2022 — Pride Kick-off with Olive A.I.

Friends! This past Thursday, we (Zettabytes.Today) co-hosted with Olive AI and pulled off our most Epic networking event yet, held at Club Diversity Columbus!!

Olive AI, a tech company creating the "Internet of Healthcare" through automation using Artificial Intelligence. Event participants got to learn about Olive, current job opportunities, and to meet the "RainbOlivians", Olive's LGBTQ Employee group.

Registration !

photo credit ~ Dhruva Vyas

Our own Vinny Sanfillipo and Lisa Kagy later presented on ways to optimize networking skills. 

We also had an interactive exercise where 3 lucky winners won Zetta Star Memberships!

Such a great time !

June 2022 — Lesbians Who Tech Pride Summit

We did it again!

We (Zettabytes.Today) attending another awesome Virtual Tech Summit presented by Lesbians Who Tech: Queer. Inclusive. BadAss !! The June Summit was perfectly timed to celebrate Pride Month. 🌈🌈

Lesbians Who Tech, the largest Tech group in the world, holds Virtual Tech Summits featuring lectures by world renown tech leaders, networking events, and career fairs held by the biggest tech companies in the world. 

The group's goals are:

~ to bring more visibility to LGBTQ people in tech

~ to bring visibility to others

~ to get more women, POC and LGBTQ folks involved in tech

~ to connect our communities to organizations and companies doing great work !!

Straight allies are always welcome to present and participate.

photo ~ Lesbians Who Tech

April 21, 2022 — Cbus Tech Community Spring Fling

Zettabytes.Today, along with co-hosts Level D&I Solutions, Tech Elevator, and TechLife Columbus, hosted a BLOW-OUT meet and greet networking event at Land-grant Brewing Company in the Franklinton District.

Perfect Spring weather, plenty of folks to meet, and plenty of tech talk!

Our event partners:

Level D&I is a minority and women-owned organization dedicate to creating equitable and work places and providing resources for underrepresented groups in business.

Tech Elevator provides intensive training to students hoping to acquire in-demand technology skills for today’s workplace.

TechLife Columbus is dedicated to providing a cultural and educational climate which fosters growth in technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

March 30, 2022 — “Why is Your P.O. Crying??”

On March 30th, Zettabytes hosted a fabulous virtual event where we got the lowdown on Tech Product Ownership and on our Community Partner organization Equality Ohio!

Delaney Barr, Esq. of Equality Ohio

The evening began with Delaney Barr, Esq. of Equality Ohio laying out for us the history of her organization and the way it advocates for the legal rights of LGBTQ Ohioans in terms of:  

~ non-discrimination protections in employment and housing

~ same-sex legal recognition and LGBTQ family law

~ hate crimes protection

Equality Ohio is also working to defeat the *unprecedented* wave of hateful legislation being introduced that would adversely affect our communities (Anti-gay/Anti-Trans Youth laws, censoring teachers so they can't talk about race and/or LGBTQ issues, etc.)

Later, our own Rachael Henderschott led a presentation on “Why Product Owner are like Toddlers”. 

Rachael Henderschott, Zettabytes.Today

Being a Product Owner herself, she discussed the responsibilities of her role; the day-to-day challenges of managing stakeholder interests and expectations, feature development and ROI, and understanding why product increments may or may NOT move forward (leaving P.O.s crying like toddlers who don’t get their way).

February 23, 2022 — Virtual Panel Discussion: "Leading Through Change

We were very proud to host the Virtual Panel Discussion "Leading through Change”, with panelists Karan Froom, a Transformation Change Management Leader at Clorox and Ann Beard, a Continuous Improvement and Organizational Expert at Alliance Data.

They discussed with our own Dhruva Vyas, the Importance of Change Management; facilitating and effectively implementing major Business Transformation projects; and fostering Enterprise Readiness.

Beforehand, we started the evening as usual with a Vinny Sanfillipo drink demo during our "cocktail/mocktail" hour. 

Our Community Partner Kimberly Sue Griffiths, Executive Director of OCTOPUS (Organizing Communities Transgender Outreach Promoting United Support) then discussed their organization’s advocacy for trans well-being, and being an active member of Central Ohio’s LGBTQ Round Table. 🌈🌈

#lgbtq #pride #lgbtqcommunity