New York - March 28, 2020
Essteem, the leading organization in equality and hacking for societal impact, and Brella, the leader in networking for events, join forces to support women in tech and nonprofits come up with a solution to combat the side effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.
This Saturday, March 28, the COVID-19 Equalithon kicks off a weeklong hack to support nonprofits and women tech come up with creative solutions in software and technology to combat the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak on our communities. This time, the weeklong hackathon will be completely virtual to comply with social distancing 🙏
The COVID-19 Equalithon promotes equality, diversity and inclusivity through the use of technology as an expressive medium.
"During the event we want to see how we can come up with solutions to best support the medical and humanitarian community, protect seniors and support the homeless, engage children at home, and support those experiencing anxiety or loneliness. The challenges will be guided by experience of our nonprofit partners with solutions proposed by the tech community. " -Carolina Castro, Essteem's Chief Community Officer
We hope to empower the tech community and nonprofits to work together during these times to connect, be inspired, collaborate, and find solutions to the challenges we are dealing with.
Hugues Seureau, Essteem's Co-founder and CEO, at a previous Equalithon with Nasdaq and Capital One
Compared to 2019, and as we adjust to social distancing to flatten the curve, it’s important to find ways for us to stay connected and informed. Community is at the core of Essteem, so we decided to switch to virtual events to continue supporting and harnessing our network and responding to the emergency situation.
Shifting to virtual events has been a huge learning experience, and it’s beautiful to see how we’re all in this virtual adjustment together. Also, having a strong network is necessary to develop your skill sets and further grow personally and professionally. So we had to find a solution that could also empower our people to keep networking, despite the challenge of social distancing. By partnering with an experienced virtual platform like Brella, we are able to bring to life our event through the interactive and networking features.
During a crisis, we see people and communities coming together to support each other, motivate, and inspire strength. Throughout history you can see that the essence of community is experienced strongly during a crisis. We are using this crisis as an opportunity to use tech for good, collaborating with nonprofits, and responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
The COVID-19 Equalithon kicks-off on Saturday, March 28 and runs until Saturday, April 4. For more information on the event and ways to participate, please visit: www.equalithon.io
For press inquires, contact Carolina Castro, Essteem's Chief Community Officer, at carolina@essteem.com
Brella provides the world’s leading event networking platform for conferences and exhibitions. With the world's first intent-based matchmaking algorithm, powered by Artificial Intelligence, Brella is used by the largest events in the world to help attendees and exhibitors reach their business goals. The company has enabled thousands of events across 56 different countries in the world, working with thought leaders like Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Informa Knect365, Ernst & Young, Qualcomm, IBM, TechCrunch, Techstars, Hubspot, Ericsson and The Linux Foundation. Founded in 2016, Brella’s headquarters are located in Finland, with regional offices in New York and San Francisco.
Essteem is a diversity & inclusion marketplace and community. Essteem hosts Equalithons, where engineers hack for Gender Equality, as a talent placement tool for companies with a reputation for inclusion. Essteem is actively building and engaging its community of 20K+ women, non-binary people and male ally technologists through events and professional support. A percentage of Essteem’s income goes to nonprofits supporting women in tech.
Women Who Code is a 180K+ members international non-profit organization that provides services for women pursuing technology careers and a job board for companies seeking coding professionals. The organization aims to provide an avenue into the technology world by evaluating and assisting women in developing technical skills.
