In a sea of hoodies and flipflops, we love a good outsider success story. And BlackLine's CEO, Therese Tucker, does not disappoint. Tucker created BlackLine, a software company, out of pretty much thin air, CNBC reports. That's no surprise though as Tucker is all about taking risks -- her trademark pink hair, for example, started as a marketing dare so customers wouldn't overlook "an older woman with gray hair." In the article, she relays some of her own #MeToo moments, advocates for women asserting themselves at work and also recommends that they start their own companies if they have a vision. She adds, "I think it's important for young women to see what I've done, and to know that it's possible, to know that you can go out and build a business from absolutely nothing, through a successful IPO, through life as a public company. Women can do that." (See WiC Leading Lights 2018 Finalists: Female Tech Pioneer of the Year and WiCipedia: Female Founders Find Funding & Automotive Careers for Women.)

Figure 1: BlackLine's Therese Tucker is not your average CEO.

The Women Transforming Technology conference was held last week in Silicon Valley, and Laila Ali was the unlikely keynoter. SF Bay View reports that the topic of the conference was inclusivity. Ali has quite the resume, from athlete to TV host and author, and she certainly knows a thing or two about fighting her way to the top. While her background in tech isn't so clear, her tips for creating a diverse ecosystem ring true in all industries. You can watch her full keynote in the video below. (See WiCipedia: Breaking Biases & Squashing Self-Limiting Fear.)

Women in venture capital (VC) had a big media week. Melinda Gates, who is an avid investor -- especially in female-run businesses -- is trying to pursuade other VCs to diversify where their money is going, Business Insider explains. "These big firms often believe in the white guy in a hoodie disrupting a whole industry. So we're going to disrupt it by making sure we're indexing for women and minorities because they've got great ideas," she says. Inc. also focused on funding for minorities from the VC community this week, with a round up of the biggest gains. Our favorite was New Voices, a fund that will invest $100 million for black female entrepreneurs. Maybe things are turning around after all... (See WiCipedia: Hiding Gender to Slip By vs. Flaunting It to Flourish and WiCipedia: The Barbie & Unicorn Edition.)

Curious who will be affected first by the fourth industrial revolution? Stuff says that women will be on the frontline to feel the heat. This is due to the breakdown of the jobs that will be replaced -- "algorithm (computational tasks), augmentation (automation of repeatable tasks) and autonomy (situational problem solving)." So what's the cure? Considering that "a staggering 85 per cent of jobs that will exist in 2030 have not been invented yet, according to a report by software giant Dell," we'd say it's pretty clear that upskilling is the new name of the game. On the bright side, "The disruption will even the playing field because everyone will be in the same situation and will need to learn a lot of new things," said Auckland University of Technology lecturer Mahsa​ Mohaghegh. (See Why We Need Diversity Before AI Takes Over.)

— Eryn Leavens, Special Features & Copy Editor, Light Reading