PHOENIX (Nov. 5, 2023) – The Phoenix Chapter of Girls in Tech (GIT PHX) is not alone in recognizing there’s something special about Melissa Drake.
Drake, one of the founding members who in 2017 established GIT PHX, was featured this month by PHOENIX Magazine as a member of its Great 48 class of 2023.
The annual feature honors community members who demonstrate “brilliance or exceptional accomplishment in their field,” based on public nominations solicited each spring. Editors of the longtime staple among Phoenix print and online publications then select their favorites, toss in a few nominees of their own from which they curate a list of notable Valley residents. Organized by field, the inductees represent the best of local leaders in business, sports, the arts, media, philanthropy, politics and more, the official description published on phoenixmag.com states.
The competition to be included is significant. And not everyone is accepted.
Drake’s nomination noted her recent retirement from the public school system teaching math to middle-schooler math and advising an extracurricular all-girls robotics team. She maintains her role as a mentor, however, by continuing to work with the women of GIT PHX as co-managing director. She is also part of Google’s Women Techmakers program and continues to support this year’s robotics team from arms length.
Drake is in good company. She was selected to appear alongside fellow leaders in Valley Education. Her class category co-horts include Randy Paraz, executive director of the Arizona Education Association; Pauline Cheong, a professor with Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation focused on the relationship between tech and social issues; and Janel Huyett, conductor of the Phoenix Children’s Chorus and winner of the 2023 O.M. Hartsell Excellence in Teaching Music Award.
Copies of the magazine are on sale throughout November.
For more information about Drake or the Phoenix Chapter, contact RuthAnn Hogue, GIT PHX Advisory Board Member, Public Relations.
