When I joined Atlassian in June as our first Global Diversity Programs Lead, it was clear to me that the company was full of incredible people who believe in our mission: to unleash the potential of every team. It was also clear that our leadership understood that diversity (and its close cousin, inclusion) need to be improved – and quickly. The biggest question was, “How?” What is the underlying principle we’ll use when defining and improving our diversity initiatives?
Thankfully, I had to look no further than our mission.
Helping a team reach its potential means ensuring each team member has the chance to grow.
And that means making sure our diversity programs focus on giving people from underrepresented groups opportunities to show off their capabilities, plus gain new skills and experiences.
That’s why we’re partnering with Galvanize, an organization that advocates for increased diversity in the tech industry, to provide scholarships for their Full Stack Engineering program. We’re offering four $5000 scholarships to Black, Latina, and Indigenous women who want to build their technical skills through either the Austin- or San Francisco-based program. In addition to the financial aid, each recipient will be paired with an Atlassian mentor to provide technical guidance and emotional support along the way.
We chose to offer this scholarship specifically to women of color because it’s obvious that the voices and perspectives of women of color are some of the most underrepresented in our industry. We also know, in the words of Ms. Viola Davis, that “the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” We want to play a role in providing these opportunities, and we believe opportunity starts with education. Along with my fellow Atlassians, I’m looking forward to seeing how greater representation and inclusion of women of color will help our entire industry reach its potential.
Interested in our scholarship? Check out the application here!