Women in tech inspire Girls in Tech at the nonprofit's Catalyst Conference

A worldwide nonprofit, Girls in Tech says it "works to put an end to gender inequality in high-tech industries and startups." The Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference in San Francisco features keynote speeches, panel discussions and breakout sessions with leaders in technology and business. It runs June 19-20.

Adriana Gascoigne, founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, launched the nonprofit in 2007. It now has more than 62,000 members in 33 countries.

Poppy Northcutt was the first woman to work in an operational support role at NASA's Mission Control Center. 

NASA's Poppy Northcutt holds up an image of a woman who says she became a rocket scientist after seeing press coverage 50 years ago of Northcutt.

Danielle Feinberg, director of photography for lighting at Pixar, says she was one of few women in the room when earning her bachelor's degree in computer science at Harvard. 

Feinberg, who's worked on films including Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Wall-E, urged women to weave art into tech to help people feel more connected. "Create a world like no one has seen before."

Meera Bhatia, chief operating officer at Stella & Dot, previously worked at Microsoft, Hotels.com and LinkedIn.

"The single most important aspect and driver of how our future looks is who shows up," says Pamela Rice, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at Earnest. "It's time to start thinking about where the world is going and show up for that."

"When inclusion and diversity are done well, they work," says Summer Simmons, director of product creative strategy at streaming service Netflix. "So make room. Make room for yourself, and when you get in those rooms, make room for others."

Kristin Robertson is vice president and general manager of Autonomous Systems, a division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

Guy Kawasaki is chief evangelist at Canva, maker of an online graphic design tool. He was previously chief evangelist at Apple.

Pilar Manchón, vice president of artificial intelligence at Roku, spoke about the importance of incorporating humanism into AI. 

Mayim Bialik, a neuroscientist and actress who starred on The Big Bang Theory, says she enjoyed working on a show where she was surrounded by others who also knew and loved science. 

As a young student, The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik struggled with math and science, until a female tutor helped and inspired her.

Mae Jemison is the first African-American woman to go to space. 

"Empowerment starts with you," Jemison says. "Empowerment requires that, first of all, you believe you have the right to be involved. Then you have to believe you have something valuable to contribute. That comes from you."