Girl Geek Dinners was started back in 2005 by Sarah Lamb, a software engineer from the UK. In most of her teams that she worked on, she was the only woman. Being a hands-on woman, she figured that there must be other women out there dealing with the same hurdles than herself. She decided to set up a Meetup, so these women could connect, build friendships and help each other to establish themselves in professions where women were and still are a minority. While men are not excluded from Girl Geek Dinner events, every woman can only bring one man to the events, to ensure women represent at least 50% (usually more though) of the group. Girl Geek Dinners became a success right away and spread to cities world wide to connect women working in technology, science, engineering and other predominantly male professions. The main mission of the Girl Geek Dinners is to connect amazing women who share an interest in technology and science, so they can build a network of like-minded friends, supporters and mentors. And in April of 2013 it finally happened…

1. jupit er-labs.com http://jupiter-labs.com/jupiter-labs-sponsors-san-antonio-girl-geek-dinners/
Maria Haase
Exciting News: Jupiter Labs is the new Sponsor for the San
Antonio Girl Geek Dinner Meetup
I actually have two announcements that are pretty awesome! First, I am excited
to announce our partnership with the San Antonio chapter of Girl Geek Dinners
and I am happy to support such a great organization. And second, I was
chosen to take over the organization of this group as well, which means I will
be able to support this amazing group in multiple ways. But let me tell you a bit
more about Girl Geek Dinners and why it is so exciting f or me and my company
to get involved with this group:
What is Girl Geek Dinners?
Girl Geek Dinners was started back in 2005 by Sarah Lamb, a sof tware
engineer f rom the UK. In most of her teams that she worked on, she was the
only woman. Being a hands-on woman, she f igured that there must be other women out there dealing with the
same hurdles than herself . She decided to set up a Meetup, so these women could connect, build f riendships
and help each other to establish themselves in prof essions where women were and still are a minority. While
men are not excluded f rom Girl Geek Dinner events, every woman can only bring one man to the events, to
ensure women represent at least 50% (usually more though) of the group. Girl Geek Dinners became a
success right away and spread to cities world wide to connect women working in technology, science,
engineering and other predominantly male prof essions. The main mission of the Girl Geek Dinners is to
connect amazing women who share an interest in technology and science, so they can build a network of like-
minded f riends, supporters and mentors. And in April of 2013 it f inally happened…
San Antonio Girl Geek Dinners
On April 4, 2013 the San Antonio Girl Geek Dinners had their f irst event. Veronica Morales, who has been a
Gadget and Technology lover all her lif e, took on the role as organizer and together with Laura Mesia, they
started to develop a great community of amazing women f rom San Antonio. Af ter just 10 meetups and within
less than a year, they have grown to a group with over 80 new members and San Antonio Girl Geek Dinner
Meetups has become a thriving Meetup community with regular events every f irst Thursday of each month.
Veronica and Laura organized visits at Geekdom and the Microsof t store, dinners and craf t parties f or the San
Antonio Girl Geek Dinner women to connect and get to know each other. Thank you Veronica and Laura f or all
your hard work and bringing Girl Geek Dinners to San Antonio.
The Next Chapter

2. Last Saturday, I was approached by Veronica and Laura and
asked if I wanted to take over as organizer of the San
Antonio Girl Geek Dinner meetup and whether my company
Jupiter Labs would be willing to sponsor the Meetup Group
to of f set the Meetup.com f ees. I f eel very honored to have
been chosen by these two great ladies. I know I have some
big shoes to f ill, but I am very excited to take on this role and
I hope to continue to grow this community and enable these
amazing and inspiring women to connect, share their stories
and help each other grow. I am very passionate about women
making their dreams come true and not limiting themselves or
letting others limit them to predef ined gender roles. Science,
Technology, Engineering, Math and all these other topics are
f ascinating and are changing the world we live in. We need to expose, encourage and mentor girls and women
to join these f ields and f ollow their passion. In the coming months, I hope to strengthen and grow this great
community f urther and set up f un events that let us enjoy ourselves and encourage each other in our passion
about all the things that make us true Girl Geeks.
To join San Antonio Girl Geek Dinners, please sign up at Meetup.com to join the San Antonio Girl Geek Dinners
Meetup Group! We’d love to meet you!
Why I feel so passionate about the idea of Girl Geek Dinners?
I grew up on a construction site in Germany. Well, not really, but since my Dad was head of a decent sized road
construction company, I spent my youth surrounded by excavators, cranes and engineers. All of them were
men. In High School, I’d spent my summers working f or this company, even doing some technical things like
area measurements and calculations. I was f ascinated by the idea to actually build something that people use
on a daily basis. I still f elt kind of proud when I drove through Germany last summer and pointed out to my
husband: “See that bridge over there? Yeah, I helped build that!” Growing up in that industry, I also saw how
dif f icult it was f or women to establish themselves in this industry, especially in Germany, where gender roles
are still much more f ollowed than in the US. Many of the women that did make it in that world had become
manlier than some of the men. Instead of using the unique advantages of being a woman to do things
dif f erently (but maybe better), they switched of f their f emale side and pretended to be “one of the guys”. I tried
that f or a while, but it just wasn’t working f or me. I wanted a career, where I could be me and so I chose to build
communication strategies, not streets to bring people closer together. The smell of asphalt still makes me f eel
at home though…
Girl Geek Dinners helps women to f ollow their passion and build a network of women that of f er support,
mentorship and camaraderie. I am very excited to be part of this group and can’t wait to see where this will take
us!