Speakers
Taye Johnson
Opening Address (8/23)
Taye Johnson (she/her) is an LGBTQ+ advocate and tech educator that soothes the curiosity of those who want to learn more about tech, but who do not know where to begin. Nicknamed the “Quiet Storm”, Taye is a proud introvert who spends most of her time divulging in a sea of data. Her love of data has propelled her on her mission to educate the masses.
Born and raised in the South Bronx, New York, Taye is no stranger to adversity. Originally a high school dropout at the age of 15, she has defied the odds of success. She currently works as a Research Consultant. Prior to becoming a consultant, Taye worked as an After-School Coding Instructor for a New York City public school.
Georgie-Ann Getton
Day 2 - Kick-Off (8/24)
Georgie-Ann Getton is a NY-based tech ecosystem trailblazer. She is an Execution Expert, mom of 2, and CEO of GSD Solutions, a business development agency she founded in 2019. Georgie is also a multimedia content creator, author, and thought leader through her personal brand GSD with Georgie. Georgie is passionate about educating people on entrepreneurship, resourcefulness, and getting shit done.
Workshop Presenters
Utkarsha Bakshi
Contributing to Open Source (8/23)
Utkarsha Bakshi is a Full-Stack Developer, technical writer, and speaker proficient in Web technologies.
Emily Chiu
Technical Resume Overview (8/23)
Emily Chiu is the Career Coach Manager at CUNY Tech Prep. She has spent her career working with students. She believes language holds power and is passionate about empowering individuals to find their narrative.
Rehman Arshad
Documenting Your Code (8/23)
Rehman Arshad is a City College Senior, a technology enthusiast, and CTP Cohort 5 Alumni with a passion for software development, with a focus on security, scalability, and performance. His current area of research is functional programming and DevOps.
Edgardo Molina
GitHub Best Practices (8/24)
Dr. Edgardo Molina is the Lead Instructor at CUNY Tech Prep (CTP). He develops and teaches the full-stack JavaScript curriculum and initiated the technical interview preparation curriculum at CTP. Edgardo has been with the program since its start in 2015 and is passionate about serving the CUNY community. Dr. Molina's interests are in the fields of education, product development, full-stack web applications, machine learning, and computer vision. He received a BS in Computer Science from the Macaulay Honors College at the City College of New York, and a PhD in Computer Science from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Lucy Samuels
Technical Resume Overview (8/24)
Lucy Samuels is a Career Coach at CUNY Tech Prep (CTP). Prior to CTP, she helped students and graduates launch new careers in software engineering and data science at a tech bootcamp. Her other professional experience includes corporate legal operations, language coaching, and career branding strategy. Lucy has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and certificates in TESOL and Business Spanish. She is passionate about empowering underrepresented groups to share their ideas and excel in the modern workforce.
Derrick Stroman
Job Searching Strategies (8/24)
Derrick Stroman received his B.A. in Psychology from the City College of New York (CUNY). Faced with an issue many students go through today of not knowing what to do after college, he followed his interest in Industrial-Organizational Psychology to pursue an internship in Human Resources where he learned about Talent Acquisition. In his career, he has worked with startups, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies to help build hiring relationships with partners such as Bloomberg, Cloudinary, Dstillery, New York Blood Center, and more. As the founder of What Now Works, he works as the lead Talent Acquisition Manager helping small to midsize companies implements strategies to build strong brands to attract and retain quality talent into high-performing cultures optimized for business growth.
CTP Alumni Panelists
Shelly Huang
Shelly Huang is a member of Cohort 3 and a 2019 graduate of Hunter College, where she majored in Computer Science. Shelly currently works for Google as a Software Engineer.
Alan Chen
Alan Chen is a member of Cohort 2 and a 2017 graduate of Baruch College, where he majored in Technology Entrepreneurship. Alan currently works for Rent the Runway as a Senior Engineer on the Membership Retention team. Outside of work,, Alan is passionate about financial literacy and routinely hosts personal finance workshops at Baruch for students and alumni.
Aaliyah John
Aaliyah John is a member of Cohort 6 and will be a 2022 graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she majors in Computer Science and Information Security with a minor in Cybercrime. Aaliyah currently works for Brooklyn Science and Engineering Academy as a Mathematics tutor. This summer Aaliyah interned at American Express on the Data Encryption team where she worked with digital certificates. She also conducts research in Cyber Threat Intelligence with her college’s Undergraduate Research Program.
Matthew Henschke
Matthew Henschke is a member of Cohort 3 and a 2020 graduate of the College of Staten Island where he majored in Computer Science. Matthew currently works for IBM as a Back-End Developer. His current position is his first ever full-time software engineering gig after graduation, where he was forced to learn new technologies he was never comfortable with that he feels he is now fluent in.
