In December, I had the pleasure of joining a group of amazing speakers at the Designer Fund “Women in Design” event.

The Designer Fund has published a recap of the event with audio and slide links, and I recommend you check it out. The presentations are filled with great stories, smart insights, warmth and humor. Every speaker showed the passion and courage that are key to doing great design work and loving what you do. Two other summaries are here: this Fast Company article and an article on The Paly Voice by Kate Apostolou.

At the event, I spoke on a topic that seems to never go away, and is particularly hot right now: How to be successful in a business with a gender imbalance. The recent conversation about whether Silicon Valley is a meritocracy has helped to crystalize my thinking on the issue. (For backstory, see posts like this one by Eric Reis, the CNN documentary Black in America and responses such as this from Vivek Wadha.)

It doesn’t matter whether there is bias in the Valley. Even just the threat of bias is enough to cause women to leave the field, to avoid putting themselves out there at conferences and in the media, and to perform below their actual capabilities. This is a well-documented social phenomenon called Stereotype Threat.

So how can women succeed? Be confident. Believe that you (women) are up to the challenge that a possibly biased environment would present. Then go forward and Run The World (girls). Here’s my talk and the related audio:

If you have a chance to attend a Designer Fund event, do it! The community is smart, engaged and passionate. It was one of the most exciting events I’ve been to in the past few years.