For over 15 year’s Microsoft’s Xbox team has held an annual Women in Gaming Luncheon. The event is intended to celebrate women who are a part of the gaming industry and particularly those who have made significant marks in contribution to the gaming industry.

Last week Microsoft did a little something different than they have previously. In the past, attendees were given gift bags with various gamer-related content, but instead of the gift bags this year Microsoft opted to donate $10,000 to the nonprofit Girls Who Code organization.

For those unfamiliar, the Girls Who Code organization is a relatively new initiative. Launched in 2012, Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit which works to close the gender gap in technology and engineering sectors. The organization also works to educate, and equip high school girls with the necessary skills and resources to eventually fill those missing voids in the gender gap in most computing fields.

According to Microsoft, “The decision to donate the money was made based on feedback from event attendees last year,” writes Tina Wood Summerford, 343 Industries director of programming, in a blog post. Tina continues on about her time and experience this year.

Finally, as I was getting ready to leave the ballroom, I was approached by a young woman who introduced herself as a relatively new member of the Microsoft family. She shared how much it meant to her to see a woman (me) on G4 over a decade ago, talking about tech and gaming. Hearing from her reminded me how seeing women in the industry – and making real connections with one another – can inspire more young women to pursue careers in gaming and technology.

You can check out Girls Who Code at the VIA link below.

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