Sahara Williams practices law in the areas of intellectual property and data privacy and security. Before her recent career change into law, she was an engineer for many years.
Becoming the networking director for Women & Hi Tech felt like a natural progression for Sahara. She’s been deeply involved with volunteering for most of her professional life, including with Eastern Star Church, the National Society for Black Engineers, and Alpha Kappa Alpha—just to name a few. In her role with Women & Hi Tech, she’s excited to deliver events that promote the organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
According to Sahara, networking starts with developing meaningful connections. And that’s the same for equity and inclusion. She went on to say, “Both networking and equity start with talking, communicating, and building relationships that facilitate support, friendship, and collaboration toward greater goals. It’s so important to have an environment where people can come together and feel welcome for exactly who they are, without feeling any pressure to change anything about themselves or where they are in their own personal life and journey.”
Over the next year, Sahara has set a goal to diversify member engagement. “We started a committee to lead the networking events planning efforts for Women & Hi Tech. And not just to do the planning ourselves, but to engage our members in the process. We want to know what their ideas are, what they’re experiencing, what they’re feeling, how they’ve been impacted by events, and what’s working well (and what’s not).” While we won’t share too many details just yet, Sahara and her committee have some exciting events planned for 2022 to help members connect with one another in more meaningful and intentional ways!
A few final notes from Sahara: “A member survey about the holiday event is now live. Please fill it out honestly and openly so we can ensure we’re being responsive to the needs of our organization. And, if you’re interested in sharing any thoughts or ideas about events, please email me so we can explore how to incorporate them into the planning process.” Sahara can be reached at networking@womenandhitech.org.