An Insider's pitch · George R. Brown · Nov 2–6, 2026

A community contributor, not a sponsor — for the decade year.

She & HER is a community app for sapphic women (women who love women), built in Houston by an AFROTECH Insider with fifteen-plus years in ML and data science — alongside CTO Mike Castner, a 9-year Google alum (Safe Browsing, Spanner, Android Privacy Sandbox). We'd like to bring sessions, moderate panels, and contribute on the tech side at AFROTECH 2026 — not as delegates, as contributors.

FromDesirée Mayon (Insider) + Mike Castner

ForLesley Fondren · Insider Team

AskProgramming + tech, not dollars

The pitch in one line

A Decade of Innovation. Infinite Impact.

Bring me in as a community contributor. I'll lead sessions, moderate panels, and help fix what's underbuilt — for AFROTECH's decade year.

— Desirée Mayon · She & HER · AFROTECH Insider

2016 → 2026

A decade of innovation

40,000+

Attendees

300+

Speakers

100+

Vendors

Houston · GRB

Nov 2–6, 2026

Why this offer is real

The engineering bench behind She & HER. Not a marketing claim — a resume.

Desirée Mayon

CEO & founder · ML / data science

Google Microsoft / Xbox Cambridge Etsy Nordstrom MS · Texas A&M

15+ years in ML and data science. Recommendation systems, behavioral data, ranking, search relevance. MS in Bioinformatics from Texas A&M. Built She & HER's matchmaking + community-recommendation layer end-to-end.

SpecialtyML, recsys, behavioral

Houston sinceFAANG-eng career

Mike Castner

CTO · Infra / privacy / AI

Google · 9 yrs Pelidum Safe Browsing Spanner Android Privacy

9 years at Google (Safe Browsing, Fuchsia, Spanner, Android Privacy Sandbox), 58 peer awards. Built the MPAC GenAI engine at Pelidum. Brings infra-at-scale + AI-product engineering to She & HER's stack.

SpecialtyInfra, privacy, GenAI

StackFlutter + Firebase

Most cold inbound to AFROTECH partnerships pitches founders about tech. This pitch is from people who build tech — and want to contribute to AFROTECH's tech the way they'd contribute to a project they care about.

A direct call-out

Sapphic techies show up to AFROTECH every year. They've never had a gathering that's theirs.

The headline activation

Sapphic Techies @ AFROTECH 2026 — mixer + leadership panel.

Black sapphic women in tech are at every AFROTECH. Engineers at FAANG, founders raising seed, designers at startups, ML researchers, PMs. They show up. They network. They take selfies in the keynote room.

What they don't get is an AFROTECH activation that names them directly — a room, a moment, a night where the implicit becomes explicit. We're proposing it. We bring the room. AFROTECH co-presents.

In one sentence One night during conference week — mixer + a short panel of sapphic Black women in tech leadership — at Pearl Bar (or an AFROTECH-adjacent venue, your call), with AFROTECH co-amplification across channels.

Tap each to expand

The value exchange

A small ask, a real offer. Insider-grade.

What I bring

The offer

✓
Up to 4 sessions of programming — talks, workshops, fireside chats. You pick. I prep, present, moderate.
✓
Tech contribution at FAANG level. Conference app, scheduling, attendee networking, livestream, registration — wherever you want us. Mike leads infra / privacy / GenAI; I lead recsys / community-data work. Pre-event, on-site, post-event. No invoice.
✓
Co-marketing across our channels — landing pages, social, partner email lists. Routes back to AFROTECH 2026.
✓
An on-floor presence as an Insider, not a delegate. Embedded across the week.

in exchange for ⇌

What I need

The ask

★
Community contributor / Insider speaker recognition on partner pages and conference materials.
★
Badges for me + a small core crew.
★
Programming slots for whichever sessions you greenlight.
★
Permission to be named on whatever I help build on the tech side. Open-source contributor credit, basically.
★
A confirm by mid-June so we can lock programming slots, prep the Sapphic Techies venue, and pull our crew roster.

That's it. No sponsorship dollars, no booth, no logo placement.

The Houston angle

Same venue. Same Houston founder. Twice the city's tech-conference moment.

She & HER is Houston-built. AFROTECH 2026 returns to George R. Brown for the decade year — the same convention center we've already committed to as community partners for Dream Con (July 2026). Two anchor moments for Black + queer Houston tech and culture, four months apart, both at GRB.

Which means: I'm not flying in. I'm not staying for the week. I'm here, year-round, with on-the-ground presence in the city AFROTECH calls home. That changes what "show up" can look like — pre-event, during, post-event, and in the months between.

5 days

Nov 2–6, 2026

George R. Brown

Same venue, decade year

0 mi

My distance from GRB

The team behind the pitch

Building from values up. Engineered from FAANG out.

Desirée Yvonne Mayon

CEO & Founder, She & HER · AFROTECH Insider · Houston

I built She & HER because the community app I wanted for myself didn't exist. I built it the way someone with fifteen years in machine learning at Google, Microsoft / Xbox, Cambridge, Etsy, and Nordstrom would build it — data-first, behavior-aware, recommendation-engine-grade, with privacy and safety as architecture decisions, not afterthoughts.

AFROTECH is the room where that profile is supposed to be on stage, not in the audience. I've been an Insider; I've taken the privilege seriously. For the decade year, I want to give back at the level the credentials suggest — by leading sessions, by contributing engineering, and by bringing the queer Black tech crowd that's already in the room into the visible part of the program.

I'm not coming alone. Mike Castner, She & HER's CTO, is the engineering partner on this pitch. Nine years at Google (Safe Browsing, Fuchsia, Spanner, Android Privacy Sandbox), 58 peer awards, builder of the MPAC GenAI engine at Pelidum.

The split: I lead the founder-craft sessions, the Sapphic Techies activation, and the data + matchmaking work. Mike leads infra, privacy, and AI on the tech contribution side, and any infra-shaped session AFROTECH wants to program. Both of us on the floor across the week.

One frame Mike and I share: in rooms we're guests in, we come to learn alongside the room as much as we contribute to it. Come learn with us before come let us teach you. AFROTECH is one of those rooms.

Houston is home. AFROTECH is the conference our careers have been building toward in spirit for fifteen years. I'd like to make that mean something on November 2.

15+ yrs

ML / data science · Desirée

9 yrs

Google infra · Mike

She & HER

Delaware C-corp, 2025

AFROTECH

Insider · Houston

Let's get this on the calendar.

Programming for AFROTECH 2026 starts locking in late spring. The right move is a 30-min conversation in the next two weeks — happy to come to you on whatever's easiest.

Reply to the pitch Email Desirée direct

Parallel-track note: Sessions are also being submitted through AFROTECH's official Sessionboard speaker form. This page (and the email it goes with) is the Insider conversation — not a workaround for process.