I grew up in a small farm town in northern Minnesota, United States. Throughout high school, I pushed myself to take challenging coursework. There were opportunities for college credit courses, but nothing in computer science. In fact, software engineering was a career option that never even crossed my mind. No one talked about it!! (Bear in mind that I was in high school from 2009-2013, why weren't we talking about it?!) My focus was on mathematics, and begrudgingly, physics too. I wanted to go to college for a degree in math education.

It was my first semester, freshman year of college, and I was struggling through college trigonometry. The professor would walk in each day, face the marker board and just start writing equations--no lectures, no talking, no context. I dropped the class like a bad habit. Meanwhile, I was taking C++ programming [as a requirement of the math major]. I loved the challenges that the course presented to me. For the first time I was working hard and being pushed outside of just studying to the test. I took a leap of faith and switched my major to software engineering with no prior experience or background; I had never even played a video game. I did not fit the build at the time, but I did not care. I never looked back after making that move. I was the only female in the major. That did not scare me or slow me down. It motivated me to work harder. The software engineering program at my college had just begun in 2012, so I was going to be the first female to graduate with the degree as well. In 2016, I did what I had set out to do. I graduated from Valley City State University (VCSU) as the first female in software engineering, earning my Bachelor of Science degree as well as a minor in computer science. I was honored with the computer science & software engineer (CSSE) department's student of the year. I was heavily involved in university clubs and organizations. I worked as a tutor in the library, tutoring in math, English, computer science, and sometime even sciences (i.e. biology, physics, earth science). All this I had done in three years at VCSU.

My advice to other women: Just go for it. It does not matter if you do not have the background or you do not feel that you "fit in." I am on a mission to support and encourage each and every woman in my field. Whether you are a woman that would like to become a technologist or you are a woman already in the field working as a technologist, I aim to support you in your role. The statistic I will change, or help to change, for every woman I work with: "Men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them." I have never had 100% of the qualifications, and I probably never will. That is what makes work interesting and drives me to learn. Please come hear about the work I have been doing for women in technology at Target and in the Minneapolis/St. Paul (USA) communities. The programming is simple and has low cost of entry for your organization.