Heather Corallo Talks Women in Tech at Liautaud

On the evening of Monday, November 2, Groupon’s Heather Corallo made the trip across the loop to UIC Business to speak to an audience of Liautuad students about careers in tech. Her presentation, “Building Your Own Brand,” covered everything from job market basics like resumes, social media presence, and interviewing skills to broader issues about the challenges women face in the tech industry.

Corallo’s work sits at the intersection of diversity, education, and leadership development. While the main threads of her talk applied to aspiring techies at large, Corallo challenged old paradigms through new perspectives that were tailored to Liautaud women in particular. She pointed out some major career topics that get too little attention, such as basic financial literacy among women and the challenges of personal drive and finding good guidance.

Liautaud MBA student Beckie Bean found the emphasis on self-motivation especially meaningful. “Even the simple switch from ‘I could never do that’ to ‘I can do that’ can be a big shift,” from not even considering something as an option, to setting about how to get something done.

Corallo spent some time introducing the audience to different organizations that promote and support women in tech, national organizations such as the Anita Borg Institute and NCWIT, as well as Chicago organizations like Girl Develop It and Chicago Women Developers.

“During the presentation, I realized how many deeply ingrained obstacles women face early in their careers,” says Christine Knox, an MBA/MPH student at Liautaud. “Corallo underscored the importance of finding peer mentors, something I always assumed was of value but hadn’t taken seriously until now.”

UIC Business students who missed Heather’s November 2 talk can attend her presentation at devbootcamp this Wednesday, November 11.