The val­ue of an engaged com­mu­ni­ty expe­ri­ence lies in how it can offer oppor­tu­ni­ties to align thoughts, feel­ings, and actions, sup­port­ing the entire­ty of its mem­bers’ jour­neys. This year, ASUG Women Con­nect com­mit­ted to this mis­sion by pro­vid­ing the ASUG com­mu­ni­ty with a shared space in which mem­bers could express them­selves, evolve, and con­nect. The inten­tion was sim­ple: ampli­fy and uplift the unique expres­sion of both our indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive voices. 

ASUG Women Con­nect was first estab­lished in 2017 and has since played a cru­cial role in pro­vid­ing sup­port and fos­ter­ing a sense of belong­ing for ASUG mem­bers. Since its relaunch a year ago, its mem­ber­ship has grown from less than 30 to over 300. The ASUG Women Con­nect offer­ings have enhanced mem­ber expe­ri­ences both in per­son and vir­tu­al­ly, with pan­el-led ses­sions at our con­fer­ences and online ASUG Women Con­nect Com­mu­ni­ty Con­ver­sa­tions fea­tur­ing guest speak­ers. Dis­cus­sion top­ics have ranged from DEI best prac­tices and expand­ing pro­fes­sion­al net­works to ally­ship and dis­tin­guish­ing one­self by build­ing a per­son­al brand. 

All of these events have been dri­ven by the desire to ele­vate our mem­bers’ jour­ney and deep­en the rela­tion­ships that exist with­in our pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ty. ​“Ulti­mate­ly, it’s the peo­ple who make these ses­sions impact­ful,” explains Mary Claire Goetz, ASUG Women Con­nect mem­ber and ASUG Account Exec­u­tive for New Mem­bers. ​“Their will­ing­ness to share unique expe­ri­ences, chal­lenges, and suc­cess­es cre­ates a space of con­nec­tion and sup­port. With­out these shared sto­ries, our ses­sions wouldn’t hold the same power.” 

It’s easy to pri­or­i­tize the big pic­ture of a jour­ney over the indi­vid­ual steps required to make it pos­si­ble, but we wouldn’t be where we are today with­out each moment of progress made this past year. 

In 2024 we:

• Cre­at­ed an online resource cen­ter to house all mem­ber-rec­om­mend­ed resources and ref­er­ence mate­ri­als in one place. 

• Intro­duced and pro­duced the ASUG Women Con­nect Com­mu­ni­ty Con­ver­sa­tions series, which drew near­ly 500 registrants. 

• Devel­oped in-per­son pan­el ses­sions and net­work­ing events to fos­ter con­nec­tions and strength­en com­mu­ni­ty ties. 

• Grew our social media pres­ence by 310% on LinkedIn. 

Each of these mile­stones rep­re­sents a step toward fos­ter­ing the sense of belong­ing and con­nec­tion we want our com­mu­ni­ty to rep­re­sent. While empow­er­ing mem­bers to sup­port one anoth­er, we explored strate­gies to advance careers while cul­ti­vat­ing a more inclu­sive and dynam­ic pro­fes­sion­al network. 

“Per­son­al­ly, I have great­ly ben­e­fit­ed from the in-per­son Women Con­nect ses­sions, form­ing last­ing rela­tion­ships with dynam­ic and inspir­ing women whom I deeply admire and respect,” says Alyssa Per­na, Pro­duc­er of Enter­prise Con­tent Pro­gram­ming at ASUG. 

In-per­son and online dis­cus­sions, mean­while, reflect­ed the com­plex expe­ri­ences of women in the work­place. From career devel­op­ment and lead­er­ship in the tech indus­try to fos­ter­ing work-life bal­ance, men­tal well-being, and per­son­al growth, ASUG Women Con­nect cov­ered top­ics rel­e­vant to women in the work­place — pro­fes­sion­als who can­not be defined by any one aspect of their iden­ti­ties but who are instead diverse and multi-faceted.

In 2024, we host­ed three ses­sions that pro­vid­ed mem­bers with oppor­tu­ni­ties to under­stand new per­spec­tives, take action­able steps for­ward, and enhance their net­work­ing abilities.

DEI 

Our DEI ses­sion focused on cul­ti­vat­ing self-advo­ca­cy, prac­tic­ing inclu­sive lead­er­ship, and address­ing men­tal health and work-life balance. 

Ally­ship, Men­tor­ship, and Spon­sor­ship 

Our Ally­ship, Men­tor­ship, and Spon­sor­ship ses­sion focused on career advance­ment, with atten­dees learn­ing how to fos­ter men­tor­ship and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, design a ​“per­son­al board of direc­tors,” and make the most of advance­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, from gain­ing inter­na­tion­al expe­ri­ence to tak­ing on mis­sion-crit­i­cal roles. 

Build­ing Your Per­son­al Brand

Our third ses­sion, Build­ing Your Per­son­al Brand, encour­aged mem­bers to dis­tin­guish them­selves pro­fes­sion­al­ly by cre­at­ing per­son­al brands that high­light­ed their unique pro­fes­sion­al nar­ra­tives, while learn­ing to bal­ance the per­cep­tions of oth­ers with one’s own identity. 

Acknowl­edg­ing that women bring their whole selves — pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al — to life and work, ASUG Women Con­nect offered empow­er­ing dis­cus­sions to ampli­fy wom­en’s poten­tial to thrive in all areas. Bring­ing pro­fes­sion­al women togeth­er at ASUG events pro­vides a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to fos­ter mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions, exchange valu­able insights, and cul­ti­vate a sense of belong­ing. Togeth­er, the 2024 ses­sions formed a cohe­sive strat­e­gy for pro­fes­sion­al growth, empow­er­ing indi­vid­u­als to thrive in their careers, sup­port oth­ers, and con­tribute to a vibrant, inclu­sive community. 

ASUG Women Con­nec­t’s 2025 ses­sions will build on this growth, with the fol­low­ing ses­sions planned: 

• Estab­lish­ing Your Lead­er­ship Brand & Nav­i­gat­ing Lead­er­ship Role — March 13, 2025, 12:00 PM CT 

• Devel­op­ing Emo­tion­al Intel­li­gence (EQ) — June 12, 2025, 12:00 PM CT 

• Effec­tive Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Pub­lic Speak­ing — Sep­tem­ber 25, 2025, 12:00 PM CT 

• 2025 Recap - Decem­ber 4, 2025, 12:00 PM CT 

As we look toward 2025, the ASUG Women Con­nect team reflects on how our com­mu­ni­ty has grown togeth­er — through the con­nec­tions we’ve made, the roles we’ve tak­en on, and the shared expe­ri­ences that have shaped us. ASUG Women Con­nect has been a space where we’ve nur­tured one another’s growth. Giv­en the momen­tum of this past year, we are excit­ed to con­tin­ue shap­ing the path ahead for women in enter­prise technology. 

There are sev­er­al ways to get involved with ASUG Women Con­nect in 2025, including: 

• Reg­is­ter­ing for 2025 ses­sions

• Join­ing the ASUG Women Con­nect LinkedIn com­mu­ni­ty

• Explor­ing the ASUG Women Con­nect Resource Cen­ter

We look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing these vital con­ver­sa­tions, and to the fur­ther growth of this vital com­mu­ni­ty, in 2025.