Calling All Women in AV & Tech: Share Your Inspiring Origin Stories!
Update: Thanks to everyone who contributed their stories! You can find the article here.
Are you a woman in the AV or tech industries? In honor of International Women's Day, I'd love to hear your AV origin stories! I'm delving into the crucial topic of how early exposure to technology can ignite a lifelong passion and career path for young women. Your personal journey can play a pivotal role in illustrating this.
Think back to what inspired you to pursue a career in AV or technology. Was there a person who opened your eyes to the possibilities? Perhaps you attended a particular class, camp, or program that fueled your passion. Did your family cultivate a tech-friendly environment, or was there a teacher or mentor who guided you along the way?
I'm compiling these narratives in an Xchange article to highlight the various ways young women can be encouraged to explore the tech world. By sharing your story, you can help illuminate the path for the next generation of female tech enthusiasts and underline the importance of representation.
Add your voice to this conversation! Share your story in the comments below or send me an email at djelter@avixa.org. At a time when representation and inclusivity matter most, your journey might just be the inspiration someone needs to step into the world of AV.
Don't forget to join AVIXA TV and Diversified for our International Women's Day live stream this Thursday March 6! You can get all the details here.
As AVIXA's manager of editorial content, I bring to the role fifteen years of marketing experience and ten working predominantly in editorial and video content. I've spent many years in the entertainment industry working for Nickelodeon, Lucasfilm, Disney, and even a small theater in the heart of Florence, Italy. I love great stories and finding the perfect hook. I am also a stop-motion animation aficionado who makes puppets and writes books. And a lover of food... all kinds of food.
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I didn’t have one single “aha” moment that led me to AV—it was more of an evolution. I wanted a career in an industry that gave me options, kept me learning, and was always changing. AV turned out to be exactly that. I started in customer service support, helping my sales team, learning the business from the ground up. From there, I moved into junior sales, then account management, then senior account management, and now I’m a director, managing a team and growing new markets.
The first InfoComm I attended 10 years ago was a game-changer for me. I was fascinated by it all—the massive displays, the seamless integrations, the way technology could transform spaces and experiences. But what really stuck with me was seeing women on the show floor, leading conversations about AV. I remember thinking, I want to be that.
I didn’t grow up in a particularly tech-heavy environment, but I was always drawn to industries that offered endless possibilities. AV turned out to be exactly that. I started in customer service support, helping my sales team, learning the business from the ground up. From there, I moved into junior sales, then account management, then senior account management, and now I’m a director, managing a team and growing new markets.
What’s kept me in AV for over 12 years is the constant innovation—the technology is always evolving, and there’s always something new to learn. I’m fascinated by the way AV connects people, enhances experiences, and drives business forward. This industry is full of possibilities, and I’m excited to see what’s next.
Thank you, Gisela! The constant innovation is definitely what intrigues me the most, too. I love that InfoComm was what really solidified things for you. Hope we'll see you there this year!
Like so many AV folks "of a certain age", I fell into AV rather than choosing AV because we weren't told AV was "a thing" back then. IT, as we know it, was barely "a thing" in the 80s and early 90s... I was lucky that I had an uncle who had the first personal computer in our town (Radio Shack TRS-80!) and he showed me amazing things, like using that box to write to people in other states and countries about whatever you wanted. (He was a stamp collector and active on BBS message boards for philatelists.) That stupid TRS-80 blew my mind as a 5-year-old, and inspired an early interest in STEM - or techy nerdy stuff, as STEM was known back then... the acronym came much later!
At heart, I'm a liberal arts gal... I was an English and Dance major in undergrad, but I still had that geeky streak - I worked on campus in the computer labs, and as a Physics/Astro TA. And as time went on, I was the one in the family who always wanted to try the newest tech out there first and learn as much as I could about it... hand coding HTML in Notepad to make a Geocities web page (in color! with pictures!) and I programmed all the family VCRs. Still, after college, I went into a fluffier English-major kind of job.
At the time, I was seeing a guy who happened to work in AV... and as soon as he explained just what it was that he did, and that AV was an actual job and a career path and a goal, I was hooked. This was the early to mid 90s where AV and even computer technology wasn't as ubiquitous or advanced as it is today, so it was a kind of big leap of faith to jump into this new world. Still, it seemed so cool and exciting - shiny new tech and "grown up toys" to play with every day AND get paid to do it? Yes please!
I've been in AV ever since... yes, first in fluffier marketing and sales roles, but later (and now) in design engineering and more hard-technical roles. It is still such a cool and exciting industry, but now folks recognize AV is a thing, and some of the things we do, and why we're vital, and I wouldn't work anywhere else!
Love it -- thanks for sharing your story, Dawn! Philatelist is a new word for me today. Bravo for coding your Geocities page, what a time! I do miss the early days of web page building; it's how so many of us cut our teeth on HTML!
Great idea!!, I'm sharing my story with you!!! Thank you for taking me back to my journey!!!, I had a blast remembering all the we did!!!
https://xchange.avixa.org/posts/breaking-mental-barriers-latin-america-and-the-inauguration-of-videoconferencing
Amazing! Thank you for sharing your story, Susana!
I just posted new project depoyment in Stamford for solar powered wayfinding
Solar-powered wayfinding kiosks. Free to city and offset by ad revenue. Five of them to start and looks like e-paper displays (monochrome). Impressive.
https://kioskindustry.org/solar-kiosks-for-wayfinding-information-stamford/
Soofa, which was founded by women in the MIT Media Lab in 2014, is providing the kiosks for free, with the caveat that the company will recoup revenue from selling advertising through the devices.