workshops. Page said 10 or 15 percent have gone on to pursue a career in technology. (The next Website Warrior Weekend will take place in December; check the website for details.)
Page said she’s tired of talking about the digital divide; what she wants to see now is action. “People in the neighborhoods [outside of downtown] feel like technology isn’t for them, but that’s not true,” she said. “We can do this, we just have to figure out how to get them here. Just get to me, and I’ll teach you.”
Page, a Cass Tech graduate and former Wayne State mortuary student, took a class on coding at Compuware about 20 years ago, which led to a job there. She created the company’s first diversity initiative, and she also briefly served as deputy chief information officer for the city of Detroit in the run up to Super Bowl XXL.
Although Page is definitely a supporter of the initiatives in Detroit to get girls interested in technology, she emphasizes that women can’t be allowed to fall between the cracks. “We are so into these kids, which we need to be, but what about the grown people?” she said.
