Roxanne Varza

Tell us your story.

Even though I grew up in Silicon Valley, I never really had an interest in tech until much later on.

One of my first jobs out of college was working for the Invest in France Agency, trying to help US companies open offices in France. The types of companies that I was assigned to work with were Silicon Valley tech companies.

At first, I didn't really think much of it. But as I began to meet the passionate, creative, brilliant people who founded these young startup companies, I grew more and more enamored with the tech industry.

Being surrounded by such smart, creative and often overly optimistic people is just infectious. Once you start, you can't really picture yourself working with anyone else!

What do you most want other women and young girls to know about being a woman in our digital culture?

A while ago, Microsoft held an event whereby several hundred young girls came to discover what it means to work in tech. I was so shocked to hear that they did not want to work in this industry because they thought we do not work with humans! It's just not true!

Whatever you think you know about working in tech is probably wrong. All those clichés about geeks sitting behind a computer all day, being anti-social of whatever, that's not what working in this industry is all about.

And whether you like it or not, all of the jobs of the future are going to require a minimum of tech education. You want to be the Marketing Director at Chanel? You'll probably be way better off if you have some technical skills.

But I would like young girls to know what a creative industry it is! This is an industry where ideas come to life! And you don't need to be a programmer to work in tech. There are so many different roles :)

Pass it on!

So many people have inspired me! I meet inspirational people every day!

I have loved working with my Girls in Tech MDs in France - Mounia Rkha, Audrey Soussan and Samantha Jérusalmy. They are all working for French investment funds and they are incredibly smart and talented women.

The Women in Tech campaign exists to help redefine what women in technology means in the 21st century. Started independently by a group of professional women who, after many impassioned discussions about women in tech knew we wanted to expand this definition beyond 'traditional' technology skills. To us, it includes most every current, emerging or evolving role within an organization. By featuring leaders and emerging leaders across industries who embody this we hope to collectively 'stand up', be proud of our place in the digital world and inspire young women or those new to the 'tech space' to get involved.