The drone industry has been at the forefront of efforts to encourage women to enter technical fields, and the organization Women and Drones has played an important role in this movement. The group offers UAV and STEM educational programs, including real-world flight training workshops and travel trek experiences through its Vertical Spaces initiatives. Women and Drones also provides professional resources and a wide range of networking opportunities as it seeks to inspire women of all ages learn about uncrewed technology and develop their careers.

Not surprisingly, representatives from Women and Drones had a strong presence at the recent Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas. In addition to fielding attendee questions from their booth on the show floor, Women and Drones sponsored indoor drone flying demonstrations and took part in sessions and workshops throughout the three days of the event.

To learn more about the organization and its achievements, Commercial UAV News spoke with UAS Educator Desiree Ekstein (aka “Drone Diva Desi”) and her colleague Dr. La’Quata Sumter at the Women and Drones booth at the Expo. Both women said that their presence in Las Vegas gave them an important opportunity to interact with individuals from all parts of the drone industry and learn more about what companies are looking for and how educators like themselves can help.

“I focus a lot on education and preparing our students for this work, so having meaningful conversations with the exhibitors about how to prepare our students for the workforce and actually seeing companies that are doing the work is really important,” Sumter stated.

In particular, Sumter and Ekstein were interested in learning how the needs of the commercial drone industry could be translated into more targeted and effective programs for women seeking opportunities in the UAV sector.

“For me, working with the generation coming into the industry, there’s still a stigma that engineering and technology is for males,” Sumter said. “So, we continue to show up so that they can see women in the industry, women who actually work with drones and women who actually work in engineering. And them seeing us at events like this encourages them to come into the industry.”

Looking forward to next year’s Commercial UAV Expo, both women expressed hope that educational and professional opportunities would continue to grow—and that they would see more women in leadership roles at the event.

“Next year, I want to see more workforce development. I want to see more young ladies that are skilled, trained, and ready to do what’s next,” Ekstein asserted. “I’d like to see opportunities and have a pipeline created for what they can do next and open those doors for what’s available.”