Diversity & Inclusion
Career development / Events / Women in tech

We met these 4 awesome lady devs over brunch on Sunday

D.C. tech and brunch make for a delicious combo.

Yes, women who code also ❤️ brunch.

Women Who Code is set on making tech talk and professional networking much more tasteful. The D.C. chapter for this global nonprofit hosted a “Professional Networking Brunch” as its most recent meetup at the Le Pain Quotidien located in the heart of Penn Quarter.
Women Who Code is dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. This time, women from various backgrounds came together for conversations over organic omelettes, French toast and chai tea lattes.
Here are some of the attendees we met at Women Who Code’s Sunday brunch meetup. Yes, women who code also do brunch on Sundays!

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Anita Hall. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)

Anita Hall. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)


Anita Hall is a Richmond, Va., native with a non-traditional background in technology. The self-taught developer creates web and mobile applications for Clearly Innovative, a small, minority-owned solutions provider that develops digital products. Not to mention she’s an anime-lover, movie-watcher and quite the foodie.

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Caroline Catá. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)

Caroline Catá. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)


Caroline Catá is a self-taught artist who studied architecture, interned for the government doing graphic design and is currently working on transitioning into front-end development. October 2016 was her one year “code-iversary,” she told Technical.ly. In one year she’s managed to get to know the D.C. tech community, get involved in open source projects and even begin coding her own projects, like a portfolio website. She loves events like this where she can sit and relax with a small group of individuals, she said. That, and she can never say no to brunch.
Ask her about Women Who Code and she says it is an amazing organization full of insanely smart and talented women in technology. They have supported her every step of the way with her new journey into coding, and she doesn’t think she could have made it as far as she has without them. The funny part, she says, is when you’ve been chatting on Slack and then you end up finally meeting them in real life at a tech event.

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Priyanka Komala. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)

Priyanka Komala. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)


Priyanka Komala directs all thing tech in her role as technology director at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In fact, she’s in charge of creating and delivering the web strategy and future technological direction for a $30 million division.
She’s also a distinguished Toastmaster and public speaker. Ask how she discovered her love for public speaking and she’ll share the story of when she was five years old and gave her first impromptu speech about an airplane. How cool is that? When she’s not on the clock or speaking at engagements you can find Komala enjoying yoga, dancing or the occasional hiking trip.

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Pamela Vong. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)

Pamela Vong. (Photo by Jazmin Goodwin)


Pamela “Pam” Vong started teaching herself web development when she was around 12 years old. She later went on to study computer science at the University of Rochester before landing a job at EMC as a software engineer. These days, Vong is happily working as a “Tech Wizard” for a small consulting company called InfernoRed Technology.
Outside of work, Vong is co-director for Women Who Code’s DC chapter. When asked about her involvement with Women Who Code, she says the goal of seeing more women succeed in the technical world has brought her to where she is today with Women Who Code. She became aware of how significant her role as a woman in this field could be when her computer science department sent her to her first conference (the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing) during her senior year. Since then she has participated, coached/mentored and volunteered with several different women in tech groups in the D.C. area, including DC Web Women, RailsGirls and Girls Who Code.

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Interested in attending the next Women Who Code DC event? Join them Monday, Nov. 21 for their Front End Lab event at ECMC Innovation Lab. You can RSVP here.

Companies: Clearly Innovative / Women Who Code DC / DC Web Women / Girls Who Code / RailsGirls
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