October 2026: Part of WIT Week

Empower Together's October open mic, part of Women in Tech Week, hosted at Kraken Technologies in Circle Square. The format hands the stage to eight women from the community for short talks rather than booking an outside headliner. The line-up is Ella Worsdale on delivering two things at once, Tetiana Drebot on how legal thinking strengthens the start of technology projects, Mrigna Singh on career transitions, Chelsea Nidikum on building visibility in tech, Farah Shaikh on her career journey, Natasha Rinaldi on saying yes to yourself, Thea Shen on navigating uncertainty, and Aaalia Ahamed on showing up. Everyone is welcome, not just women; three hours including time to talk afterwards. Why go: eight first-person accounts in one evening is an unusually high signal-to-noise ratio, and these are practitioners rather than circuit speakers. Best for people early in a tech career or thinking about changing track.