ZOE Women in Tech Hackathon: Diverse Team Solves Complex Health Challenges

EVERYONE GATHER ‘ROUND FOR THIS EPIC FRIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR TECH WEEK We’re excited to partner with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement for The Experiment during Boston Tech Week. Their work expands economic opportunity for women and girls across Boston — strengthening access to leadership, entrepreneurship, pay equity, safety, and resources across the city. On May 29th, 50 builders gather inside Tech Superpowers for a different kind of Tech Week experience: deep work, creative practice, and real connection. Sound bowls. Collaborative art. A fireside on creativity + innovation. Not another fireside chat or happy hour. A reset on how a workday can feel, and why creativity is more important than ever when we’re peer pressured into moving “fast.” Built for founders, creatives, operators, and investors who build differently. Partnerships like this matter because they shape how more people can access, build, and thrive in the innovation economy. Spots limited, link to sign up below. Organized by Aria Ma, Alesia Razumova, and Morgan Martin, PMP. #BOSTechWeek #BOSTheExperiment

When I was younger and trying to figure out my career, it never even crossed my mind that tech could be for me. To be honest, it felt like an industry for boys. I had no idea what roles existed, what careers looked like, or how someone like me could fit into that world. I didn’t have an IT, computing or engineering degree. I’d spent four years learning about management and marketing strategy. I had no clue how that would apply to anywhere let alone a tech company. What I did know was that I wanted to create things, organise things, solve problems, and deliver cool shit. Fast forward 20 years, and every role I’ve had has been in digital and tech companies. And I’ve created, organised and delivered so much cool shit that I’m incredibly proud of — and along the way, I discovered an industry full of opportunities I never knew existed. That’s why I care so deeply about helping women see what’s possible. Growing up, no one around me worked in tech, so no one could explain the pathways into it. That’s why real-life experiences like this ZOE hackathon matter so much. They give women the chance to: ✨ see how their existing skills can apply in tech ✨ explore the huge variety of roles available ✨ meet inspiring role models ✨ hear honest stories about how careers really begin And most importantly? They get to solve problems, build something meaningful, and realise they absolutely belong in these spaces too. Please share this opportunity far and wide with any young women in your network. It’s going to be an incredible event filled with creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and the chance to build something genuinely useful. I just wish I was 18 again!!!

#BostonTechWeek feels less like a tech event and more like a convergence of institutions that have spent decades compounding talent, rigor, and consequential thinking. At the risk of overgeneralizing: Boston produces a different kind of company. There's always a balance of depth and virality. Less interested in shipping noise. More in solving problems that survive scrutiny. You can feel it in the density of researchers, clinicians, engineers, operators, and mission-driven founders building within a few square miles of each other. Pleasantly surprised by the level of involvement from institutions like #Harvard #MIT. Loved some of the events organized at their campuses. Boston is evolving, it seems! Excited for basys.ai to be part of it. #BOSTechWeek #BostonTechWeek2026

For 15 years, I have carried a question with me: What becomes possible when we finally design systems with the Black woman in mind? Today, I am proud to officially share the launch of Elevated Labs™ Studio — a strategy, research, and decision-intelligence ecosystem built from lived experience, scholarship, community insight, and a deep commitment to liberation that is practical, measurable, and humane. Elevated Labs™ exists to help institutions translate lived experience, social determinants of health data, ethical AI, and participatory research into measurable strategies for wellness, mobility, climate resilience, and economic development. At its core, this work recognizes something many people already feel but have struggled to articulate: Black women are often the invisible infrastructure holding together families, organizations, communities, and systems during periods of instability and transformation. This work is deeply personal to me as a scholar-practitioner, strategist, mother, creative, and Black woman navigating chronic illness while still imagining more humane futures for all of us. The website is now live, and this is only the beginning. Thank you to everyone who has supported the vision, challenged the thinking, and helped shape the ecosystem along the way. Welcome to Elevated Labs™! #ElevatedLabs #BlackWomenBeyondBorders #DecisionIntelligence #EthicalAI #LiberationInfrastructure #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth #WellnessEquity #ClimateResilience #EconomicDevelopment #Research #Leadership

I cannot wait to talk on Thursday about the Imagining the Digital Future Center report we just issued about human resilience in the Age of AI, especially as it applies to cities. I'll be covering some of the big surprises in our data and how they point the way to meaningful human agency with the help of key institutions. Our full report: https://lnkd.in/e4hFpTD5 I'm on at 10:30 AM alongside fascinating Erick A. Brimen, who'll be sharing lessons from a "startup city" - Prospera, Honduras - for us all.

Boston is investing in the future of how people work. We’re excited to partner with the City of Boston Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement for "The Experiment" during Boston's 1st TECH WEEK by a16z. Their work expands economic opportunity for women and girls across Boston — strengthening access to leadership, entrepreneurship, pay equity, safety, and resources across the city. On May 29th, 50 builders will gather for a different kind of Tech Week experience: deep work, creative practice, and real connection. Sound bowls. Collaborative art. A fireside on creativity + innovation. Not another Tech Week event. A reset on how a workday can feel. Built for founders, creatives, operators, and investors who build differently. Partnerships like this matter because they shape how more people can access, build, and thrive in the innovation economy. Thanks to Deputy Director Hali Smith, M.Sc. for making partnership like this possible for our community. [RSVP in the comments] Organized by Aria Ma, Alesia Razumova, and Morgan Martin, #BOSTechWeek #BOSTheExperiment

A TECH WEEK by a16z event built around deep work and real connection instead of pitch decks and pours. The partnership behind it matters too — the City of Boston Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement is expanding access to leadership, entrepreneurship, and pay equity across the city, and events like this are how that work shows up in practice. Thank you Morgan Martin, PMP and the CoApt Projects team for putting this on, and Aria Ma and Alesia Razumova for co-organizing. RSVP in the original post.

City of Boston Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement are supporting the future of work. A more sustainable hustle. A truly inclusive approach to innovation.

When the AgeTech SF leadership team started planning this spring's programming, we kept coming back to one question: what's a problem in aging that keeps resurfacing, and still doesn't have a good enough solution? The "discovery gap" kept rising to the top. It's the time between when an older adult living alone experiences an emergency at home and when someone realizes help is needed. That's what we're focusing on this spring — a roundtable on May 21 to hear from the people closest to the problem, and a hackathon on May 30 to start solving it. Grateful to Mari B., Katey Webber and Sam Ward for making this happen, to Saeko Tsuchihashi and Claudia Siegman of AgeWell Innovators for grounding the work in lived experience, and to Mary Furlong for joining as a judge and for the continued mentorship, and for the partnership that gives winning teams a real path forward at the Longevity Venture Summit. I'm also excited to share two more confirmed judges: Sophie Boudreau,(SafelyYou) and Victor Wang (care.coach). We'll be rounding out the panel with diverse voices from across the ecosystem. And a big thank you to Stephanie Shin and Andrew Farah of Routines and Lovable for supporting the cause. Older adults shouldn't have to wait hours, or days, to be seen. May 21 and May 30 — hope to see you there.

How long would it take for someone to know if your parent, or you one day, needed help at home right now? For many older adults, the answer is hours. Sometimes days. Family may be far. Neighbors may not know. Care providers aren't watching in real time. Emergency services only arrive when someone calls, and often, no one knows to call. This is the discovery gap: the time between when something goes wrong and when anyone realizes. It can turn a survivable emergency into a life-altering one. It is one of the most urgent challenges in aging today, and no single field can solve it. So we are bringing all of them into the same room. 🗓 Roundtable, May 21: AgeTech SF and AgeWell Innovators are convening older adults, caregivers, clinicians, emergency responders, aging services leaders, and technologists. Not a panel. A working conversation, where the people closest to the problem help define what needs to be built. 🗓 Hackathon, May 30: A full day for designers, engineers, founders, researchers, operators, and people with lived experience to build alongside one another. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend the roundtable first. The best solutions in this space start with listening. 🏆 Mary Furlong, a longtime champion of this ecosystem, will join the hackathon as a judge alongside other industry leaders. Winning teams will receive with mentorship and feedback at the What's Next Longevity Venture Summit in June. If you have ever wanted to build something that meets people in their hardest moments, this is the work. Come help us close the gap. 📍 Both events in downtown San Francisco. Registration links in comments 👇 #AgeTech #Longevity #AgingInPlace #Hackathon #HumanCenteredDesign #AgingWell #DiscoveryGap