I’m Gry Stene
Inspirational Speaker, Award Winning Entrepreneur, and Neurospicy Advocate for Inclusivity & Belonging. I help individuals, entrepreneurs, and tech leaders tap into and celebrate differences so that they can innovate, create positive impact and grow without losing sleep or pulling all-nighters.
Leading the Charge in Tech Innovation, Inclusivity and Impact.
Mentoring & Coaching
As long as I can remember, I have been mentoring and coaching with focus on women and young people in tech / entrepreneurship.
Tech (IT) needs more diversity to meet the complex needs of all users. I am driven to encourage, enable, empower and inspire people who are underrepresented in tech to discover their superpower and step into IT.
My IT Girls Rock programs build on over 20 years of experience, combining tailored, personalised mentoring with business coaching, to inspire women to opt in and stay with IT.
Women come in all shapes, sizes, preferences, and vintages. IT Girls Rock is for anyone who identifies as a woman.
I am here to support the underrepresented and fix the system, and create safe spaces where allies of all genders are invited to ask questions and share their stories.
Keynotes & Conversations
I love to be part of conversations that aim to change the world for the better. After over 30 years in a rich and varied IT career across roles, industries and continents, I hope my experiences and perspectives can inspire others to soar.
My favourite topics include the future of work, building inclusive cultures and innovative tech teams, learner-centred differentiated learning, technology for good, 21st century skills & mindsets, girls & women in tech | IT, enabling underrepresented groups in tech | IT, entrepreneurial mindsets, and last but not least, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
Or a mix of all of the above, with a bit of my own unique perspective on the world for good.
Powering our future with AI & STEAM
In October 2018, I was fortunate to give a talk at the TEDxUWA Turning Points event where I shared my vision for a future powered underpinned by technology and a diverse and inclusive culture through STEAM.
As AI, bots and other technologies infiltrate our lives and become a prominent part of decisions and the way we do things, many of us wonder if we have jumped on a runaway train where we have no control.
In this talk, I share my optimism and vision for a future that is underpinned by diversity and a real connection between people and technology.
I firmly believe we need to inject Arts and Humanities into the STEM landscape to create the STEAM required to power our future. We need to ensure that we have not only technical expertise, but compassion, critical thinking, creativity, languages, focus on quality, subject matter expertise and a collaborative mindset to ensure that we have the diversity that is required to create humane and meaningful technologies.
Building on the ideas and vision from this talk, I have set up a social enterprise, STEAM Engine Global, to bridge the gap and build career pathways. We design and deliver programs that inspire and empower people who are underrepresented in tech to discover their potential in a digital world and work with organisations to create diverse and innovative cultures that foster innovation.
Coach & Mentor
If you’re not a young male who grew up gaming, it can be difficult to feel welcome, valued & inspired in the ‘tech space’.
I have always mentored & coached people around me. Over the past 20 years I have provided mentoring and coaching through organisations like The Smith Family, Startup Weekend, WiMWA, WiTWA, Inspiring Rare Birds, and in my own social enterprise STEAM Engine Global.
I love giving back and my programs are designed to raise awareness and create a more diverse and inclusive tech workplace.
I focus on women and youth, but I work with anyone who wants to find their superpowere and need a confidence boost in the world of IT/tech. And I love working with men who know they are part of the solution, but don’t know where to start.
Geek Whisperer
Technical people can have a different perspective on the world and things often go “missing in translation” between the idea and the end product. This often leaves the client frustrated that they did not get what they asked for. In parallel, the developers are pulling their hair out because of what they classify as changed requirements and scope creep. Budgets and timelines are often blown out exponentially.
Having worked both in technical & people centered roles, I have the ability to help people create real connection and collaboration, making sure entrepreneurs & business owners work effectively with their developers – and making sure the developers don’t go bald before their time.
Diversity & Inclusion Champion
In my experience, we can only develop meaningful and humane technology by bringing the Arts into the STEM landscape; STEAM = STEM + Arts to bring in different skills and perspectives. We need a combination of deep technical expertise, compassion for the user, design, focus on quality, and a collaborative mindset.
I give talks and generally love to speak about technology, diversity and STEAM.
Business Agility Consultant
Starting out as a programmer, I was always concerned that we were not listening to the user. This lead me down the path of Product Management, which essentially is the orchestration of everyone involved with with product development, starting with the users and their needs.
Having lead highly productive multi-skilled, culturally diverse and geographically separated teams for decades, I set up my first formal Agile team 15-20, before it became a buzzword even inside the industry. Agile and lean principles work for most problems you want to solve.
My experiences and focus on solving global pervasive problems, have helped me develop a strategy to streamline the organisation for product innovation.
What is a Geek Whisperer?
Because I sit somewhere between the real geeks, the designers, the users, the management team and the customers, it has always been challenging to explain to people what I do.
I have used ‘Universal Translator’, ‘Babelfish’ (for those who are familiar with Douglas Adams’ ‘Hitchiker’s Guide to the galaxy’ books), ‘Orchestrator’ and ‘Tech Muse’, but none really captured the essence of what I do until a friend recently suggested ‘Geek Whisperer’. Nailed it!. And guess what… everyone seems to get it.
In essence, I translate between business and technical speak and manage the process between tech and business in general so that we develop the right technology on time and on budget.
How might I help you?
Need help finding your feet in the tech/IT world?
Many of us feel alienated and undervalued in the tech industry. If we don’t spend our entire lives in front of a computer, whether that is in the workplace, gaming or programming in the latest tech at home because it’s cool. We find it hard to relate to the majority of the tech-heads who are predominantly young, introverted men.
So, if you identify as a woman, over 30, or maybe from a different cultural background, it can be difficult to be heard.
When I started out in tech, I didn’t really notice too much. I thought it was kind of cool to be the only girl programmer – and extrovert. The sad thing is, it hasn’t changed much. In Australia today, we are back to the levels of the 1980’s.
I use my own journey to help guide women, youth and other underrepresented people through the pathways and pitfalls in the tech industry. The diversity is sorely needed to ensure we develop humane tech.
Looking for a perspective on diversity, inclusion & STEAM?
We have a major challenge in the tech industry. Most players in the technical roles are young, male, and introverted. Like most people, they prefer to hang around with people like themselves, share experiences.
If we are going to have any chance of shaping our future, we need to bring other skillsets into the mix. There is a lot of focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as skills of the future. However, the thing that is often missing when developing technology, is the compassion, the artistry, the languages & communication, the collaboration, the creativity, the focus on doing things right. We need to bring the Arts into the STEM landscape to create STEAM.
I am available for keynotes, panel discussions and other forums focused on diversity.
Are you asking why technology & IT has to be so complex?
Entrepreneurs & business owners often struggle to get their IT systems and technology developed. Where do I start? Who can help me? What is it that I need? How much should I pay? What will I get for it? When will my app be ready? Is the timeline going to blow out? What happens when it is ready? What if I think of something new? What if I don’t like it? Is it going to cost extra to fix? What do all the technologies mean? Will I be dependent on them forever?
I work with my clients to help them validate their idea, walk in their customers shoes, articulate what it is that they need, collaborate with and manage the developers on behalf of my client, and help source the right team for the job.
Do you want to streamline for product innovation?
One of the major challenges in developing technology is to get the right mix of people, technology, processes and culture. And the solution is different for every organisation.
Throughout my career, I have put in place processes that have created innovative products & solutions across industries and geographies. I have serviced every type of organisation including my own tech startups, major software conglomerates like Oracle, transport & logistics organisations like Wallenius Wilhelmsen lines, manufacturing leaders like AMCOR and Carlton United Breweries, as well as orchestrating the teams to deliver the next generation Primary Care for Telstra Health.
I immerse myself with the team to create the best culture.
About Gry
Gry Stene is an award-winning thought leader in digital transformation and product management. She leads businesses through significant change and transformation by translating between ‘geek speak’ and business. Many people refer to her as ‘the Geek Whisperer’
Through her 30 remarkable and passionate years in the industry, Gry has pioneered technological innovation for social change. She brings that to life for audiences world-wide via her keynote speaking and in her role as mentor and coach to women and young people aspiring to what she calls ‘STEAM-powered’ careers.
Gry is the founder of STEAM Engine Global and runs a global online community for women in technology, IT Girls Rock. She previously co-founded and ran of KinChip Systems, a digital health company and has honed her skills with Telstra Health, Oracle, Gemcom (now Dassault), Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines, Viewlocity (now Axway), Moodle and more.
She holds a BSc (Hon) Computation from The University of Manchester and an MBA from The University of Western Australia.
She connects globally and lives in Perth, Western Australia.
Testimonials
Product Manager
“Gry built the product management team from scratch. She was always focused on improving the way things were done, and looking for opportunities for improvement. She has a knack for identifying problem areas, whether technical or organizational. She has tremendous drive and energy and was always pushing hard to get work done, and done better.” – Ben, R&D Manager
Mentor
“Very positive engagement experience. Our sessions were always very focused and thought provoking. Gry asked a lot of probing questions which made me reflect on answering the what and why questions.” – Angela, Mentee
“I had the pleasure of working with Gry for five years. Her energy, enthusiasm and knowledge were an asset to all the projects on which we collaborated. Gry is an excellent team builder and facilitator, bringing people and ideas together to solve problems and achieve goals. ” – Joanne, R&D Manager