Guest blog post by Ashley Zuelke, Program Manager, Denver Regional Office, U.S. Economic Development Administration I serve as a Program Manager in the Denver Regional Office at the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). I joined EDA in August 2020 to support economic response to and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. My team and I work with applicants throughout our...

Guest blog post by Tanika Hawkins, Acting Director of Administration, Office of the Secretary I have served for 25 years at the U.S. Department of Commerce. I am the Acting Director of Administration with the Commerce Department’s Chief of Staff and oversee, coordinate, and perform all administrative functions and essential tasks for the Office of the Secretary. Each day, I directly support the...

The following is a cross-post from the U.S. Census Bureau Women-owned firms made up only 19.9% of all firms that employed people in the United States in 2018 but their numbers are growing. There were 6,861 more women-owned firms in 2018 than in 2017, up 0.6% to 1.1 million, according to the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey (ABS) . Women-owned employer firms reported nearly $1.8 trillion in...

Guest blog post by Rebecca Dorch, Senior Spectrum Policy Analyst, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) I am the Senior Spectrum Policy Analyst at the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences located in Boulder, Colorado. I have had...

The following blog is from the Commerce Department’s National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Women continue to explore new opportunities and make inroads into industries once almost exclusively male, such as manufacturing. The evidence shows that attitudes both in the industry and among women are changing. The industry is seeing the inherent value of an integrated and inclusive...

As technology becomes more central to everyday life, policymakers are paying close attention to who is reaping the benefits of these advancements and who is being left behind. At the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), women in key leadership positions are working hard to secure our networks, close the digital divide and bring the next...

Guest blog post by Estela Currid, Export Compliance Specialist, Bureau of Industry and Security I began my career at the Commerce Department as an Export Compliance Specialist with the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Strategic Intelligence Division (SID) in July 2016. In this role, I provide analytical support to BIS’s Office of Enforcement Analysis (OEA) and lead OEA’s Russia portfolio...

The following is a cross-post from the U.S. Census Bureau Thirty-four million women work in jobs officially classified as essential; and women represent the majority of workers in several occupations, including health care, education, personal care and sales and office occupations. Because women make up a large portion of the essential workforce, they have played a critical role in the U.S...

Guest blog by Tricia Van Orden, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Secretariat, International Trade Administration As the Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Secretariat , an office within the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA), I spend my days developing programs and strategies to promote U.S. exports. I work with a...

Guest blog post by Valencia Martin-Wallace , Deputy Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) As the Deputy Commissioner for Patents at the Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), I am responsible for leading the organization’s international patent cooperation programs and initiatives. I also have oversight of the technology centers...