It's International Women's Day- a day women around the world are recognized for their achievements. Today the women in operations group at Microsoft Reno celebrated the day with a reception.
"It's all about gender equality and recognizing what women bring to the workforce, to politics and to education," said Microsoft Reno General Manager Carey Serfontein. "It's just a thrill for us to be able to celebrate women's achievements and women's history today."
International Women's Day started back in 1911. Today is a time to reflect - and to look forward.
"I think progress is better than perfection," Serfontein said. "There's been some changes in the past couple of years. If you think about the March on Washington, the Me Too Movement, all of these things are raising awareness and awareness is where it starts; people getting educated and then progress happens and I'll take any progress we can get."
The celebration has become a tradition here at Microsoft Reno. It's a topic that hits close to home.
"The tech industry is one of the areas we recognize we need better representation," Serfontein said. "We want our companies to reflect the societies, the cultures, the towns and the cities that we're working in. Our company has a huge focus on diversity inclusion and we recognize women bring different skills, different perspectives and a different outlook that we need in business. That ultimately results in profit and revenue and connecting with our customers and partners outside of the company so it's huge we have that representation in our company."
One of the companies at today's event - was local nonprofit Dress For Success. They help ladies get the clothes for the career they want. Now they're launching a new group for professional women.
"It's a series of 12 sessions that will be taught by different experts from the business community," said Executive Director Patti Weiske. "Teaching them the five pillars of Dress for Success - and one of them is work-life balance, which is the theme for International Women's Day today."
