The ITA was humbled and honored to receive the first Gender Equity Award from First Lady Amy Elaine Wakeland. The powerful keynote from the First Lady at the Inaugural State of Women and Girls Event highlighted the great progress made towards diversity in Los Angeles, while reminding the crowd of over 250 of the challenges still ahead. Speeches from the Mayor, Eva Longoria, and others made this an event to remember. The ITA won for leading the diversity efforts to bring in 40% female programmers and meet a goal of 50% female leadership. The ITA publishes its percent of female programmers alongside over 200 other tech companies in the Tracy Chou gender diversity rankings. It was a reminder of the importance of recruiting an IT workforce that represents the broad diversity of Los Angeles itself.