Recap of Women’s History Month at Mapbox

We remain committed to our DEI focus on allyship as a company, and as the chair of Mapbox’s Gender Minority (GeM) Employee Resource Group (ERG), I wanted to share the many ways we celebrated and recognized Women’s History Month at Mapbox.

CELEBRATE AND RECOGNIZE

This year’s theme was “Women Who Tell Their Stories.” Our focus was empowering women to tell their stories to bring light to both the daily barriers and the successes women face in and outside of the workplace.

Live Women’s Panel

We kicked off Women’s History Month with a fireside chat to give women in tech a platform to tell their stories. We were joined by:

• Meaghan Praznik, Head of Communications at AllTrails, who built a career in the communications field and dove into the tech world when she joined AllTrails. She shared how some situations ignore the unique needs and contexts for women both in the workplace and outside of it, talking about her own experiences as an Ironman athlete. 
• Angela Navarro, Head of Directions and Services at Mapbox, opened up about her experience being a minority in tech and the challenges she has faced in trying to prove her competence. Angela has found great gratification in knowing that she didn’t succumb to the status quo and pushed on with her career to get where she is now. 
• Kristen Morgan, Head of Maps SDK at Mapbox, touched on the double-bind concept that women are often faced with, which can be a battle of coming across as warm and nice, or competent and tough. 
• Laurel Finch, General Counsel and Secretary at Mapbox, gave advice on building resilience in her career by learning to care immensely about her job and to not care at the same time. Finding work-life balance will always ebb and flow. Sometimes you’re a C+ employee and a B- family partner, and that’s ok. 

We took some of the highlights from this internal panel and put together this quick video to share!

Company Donation Matching

To further our commitment and understanding of the importance of capital in regards to equity, we also launched an internal donation matching campaign with National Coalition against Domestic Violence, along with Women in Aviation, and in support of the recent events in the US around Roe v Wade, Planned Parenthood.

#EmbraceEquity

On March 8, we recognized International Women’s Day and this year’s theme of Embrace Equity. We celebrated by bringing our women together in our Helsinki and Tokyo offices and our Head of Support and Solution Architecture, Ty Huynh Chhor, joined AWS’ Embrace Equity panel alongside AWS, Boeing, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Laserfiche. Check out the AWS Embrace Equity panel here.

Women's History Trivia

Part of moving forward is looking backwards and so to do that in a fun way, we partnered with BarNone for a Women’s History Month themed trivia focused on women’s history, current events, and music.

‍STRENGTH IN STORYTELLING

We invited women across Mapbox to use their voice and share their stories. From Poland to Finland to the US, we heard personal stories that shared a common thread - similar barriers they have faced in their personal and professional lives. Examples include the bias they faced as being a single mother interviewing for a job, to the need to prove oneself in a room full of men in order to have the same opportunities in leadership. Bringing these stories into the light offers great comfort in showing that none of us are alone as we continue to fight for equality and equity.

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION

Celebrating women’s history and our future is not just for March, but for everyday. As we continue to push for equality and equity in and outside the workplace, our ERG is committed to continuing these conversations and creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We encourage all women and allies to support one another and always choose to be their most authentic selves.