Las Vegas Women in Technology Awards Highlight Las Vegas Women

Girls in Tech Las Vegas, HiTech Vegas, and Women Advancing (formerly Women in Media Mentoring Initiative) presented the second annual Las Vegas Women in Technology Awards to recognize the achievements of women in the technology community in Las Vegas.
This year, five awards were given: High Tech Woman of the Year, High Tech Rising Star, High Tech Community Service, High Tech Entrepreneur and High Tech Mentor. The winners were recognized for their mentorship, community service, and entrepreneurship.
The Las Vegas tech community was invited to nominate local Las Vegas women for the awards.
“It’s time for our Las Vegas technology community to honor the women that are leading and changing the status quo in high-tech, and this award recognizes the great achievements of local women changing the face of technology today,” Lori Nguyen told NevadaBusiness.com in this feature. Nguyen is president of HiTech Vegas LLC and founder of the Las Vegas Woman in Technology awards.
At the event, Representative Dina Titus said she saw the beginnings of a solution to a national problem.
“We need more women in the STEM and high-tech fields, and Las Vegas is setting the standard,” she told the crowd.
Ciara Byrne, co-founder of environmental crowdfunding platform Green Our Planet, took the Woman of the Year award. Green Our Planet is a free, green crowdfunding platform where people with green ideas can turn their ideas into reality through green crowdfunding. To date, they have helped fund gardens in 63 Clark County elementary, middle and high schools, with seven more schools on the way. The team works out of The Innevation Center.
Jennifer Chin, a VegasTechFund-backed founder, took home the 2015 High Tech Rising Star award. After selling her startup, Chin took a position as a senior developer for WiseBanyan, a New York City and Las Vegas-based personal investment service, also backed by the VegasTechFund.
“I didn’t study what I do now in college,” Chin told VegasInc.com in this feature. “I’m a self-taught developer. The fastest way to learn is to make connections with people in the field.”