Yvonne Bryant J ohnsonIn a project called WomenBuild, a brainchild of Microsoft develop er
ev angelist Asli Bilgin, we used the LEGO Serious Play
methodology with results that allowed a team of one hundred Microsoft
women and men to begin crafting solutions to address industry-wide
barriers to attracting and retaining a diverse talent pool. We also
facilitated a Microsoft and Yahoo sponsored WomenBuild event with
a group of eighty participants at a Grace Hopp er Conference (the
larg est te chnical co nference for women in computing) to gain
additional insight into bringing more women into computing.
(WomenBuild was designed to he lp foster creativity, team-building,
and community among a global network of software developers,
especially developers who are women or from under-represented
groups.)WRIGHT^
So how do you give back in the community?
JOHNSON^
Giving back or volunteerism is a way of life for me. It is a habit I
developed growing up in my family, attending Spelman College, and
working for AT&T. I am involved with a number of organizations,
primarily those that focus on advocacy for children and business
owners. I give back to these organizations through leadership,
development, advocacy, and support. The Georgia Center for Child
Advocacy is one of those organizations where I served as Chair of the
Board of Directors. We serve ch ildren who have been sexually and
severely physically abused (www .georgiacenterforchildadvocacy.org).
Another organization is the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, a professional
th eatrical company whose primary programming goal is to develop
youth with the skills and d esire to succeed at whatever they do in life.
On the business side, I served on the board of the Atlanta Business
League, an information clearinghouse and referral source for minority-
owned businesses.