Amanda is an Air Force veteran with 10 years experience supporting the DoD as a civilian in systems design, architecture planning, and UI/UX. As an Air Force Sergeant, Amanda was respected by her leaders, peers, and subordinates . Her knowledge and accomplishments were as visible as the stripes on her uniform sleeve. In the military, well documented training, standards, and policy set the stage for a level playing field applied across a diverse workforce. Amanda separated from the Air Force in 2006 and assumed her first technical role in both technical writing and systems design. She believes that in order to break down biases to women and people of diverse backgrounds in technical roles that change must be delivered through inclusive policy. Today, Amanda continues to increase her technical experience, working as a Program Manager for Onyx Point Inc. In this role, she can be found developing websites, incorporating agile and collaborative methodologies, advocating for open source technologies, and marketing products in IT automation/security.