Detroit, Michigan, aka Motor City, served as the Women of Color (WOC) STEM Conference’s home base for a second year. The three-day professional development and awards event ran October 15 through 17 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.

To mark the achievements of the now 20-year old conference, WOC STEM organizers adopted the theme “Transformative: Women’s Stories, STEM’s Strength” for 2015/16.

Over the last 20 years, Women of Color magazine, published by diversity media company Career Communications Group, Inc., has published thousands of stories of multicultural women in STEM.

WOC STEM’s hashtag #STEMISAGIRLTHING boldly celebrates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as a field in which girls and women are able to enter and excel.

The Women of Color STEM Conference provides a forum for girls and women in STEM to network, share ideas, discuss professional development challenges and inspire next generation computer scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Monica Emerson, chair of the National Women of Color STEM Conference and former executive director of the Global Diversity Office at DaimlerChrysler, says, “WOC STEM exists to connect people and organizations across the STEM enterprise.”

The conference ” presents boundless opportunities to recruit top talent,” Emerson added.

Sponsored by Consumers Energy, a public utility that provides natural gas and electricity to more than 6 million of Michigan’s 10 million residents, and General Dynamics Corp., one of the world’s largest defense contractors, the Women of Color STEM Conference will draw over 4,000 STEM professionals and students to the Motor City.

Since 1995, Women of Color magazine’s Women of Color Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Conference has been the forum of choice to recognize the significant contributions of women in STEM fields and attract and leverage talent in America’s scientific and technical workforce.