Community Work
St. Catherine University
Trustee, Board of Trustees (2021 - current)
The St. Catherine University mission is to educate women to lead and influence. The vision is to be respected globally for educating women who transform the world.
Everyday Miracles
Advisor to the Board of Directors and Executive Director (2017-current)
Board President (2016 -2017)
The Everyday Miracles mission is to improve birth outcomes and reduce health disparities by providing evidence-based education, compassionate and culturally aware support and a nonjudgemental, caring community.
Hack the Gap
Co-founder 2014-2016
Operator and sole owner 2016-2019
Acquired 2019
Advisor 2019-current
Mpls MadWomen
Founding Board Member & Director of Sponsorship (2014 - 2016)
Twin Cities Product Tank
Co-organizer (2015 - 2016)
ProductTank is the local gathering of product-minded people all over the world - meet ups for product people, by product people - by Mind the Product. Originating in a London pub, now the biggest (and best) conference for Product Managers that happens twice a year in London and San Francisco. Join us and get notified of our next local Minneapolis meet up. And if you're interested in sponsoring an event (space, food and beverages), we'd love to talk with you.
Twin Cities Geekettes
Co-Ambassador (2014 - 2016)
Programmed 26 events in two years! We built a model of rotating event topics: Learn to Code, Hack Night, and A Day in the Life of a Geekette. The Geekettes is a community of women dedicated to helping aspiring and established female tech innovators. We believe that the more women get involved with tech design, development and leadership, the more successful and diverse our companies and products will be in the future.
Twin Cities Product Meetup Group
Co-Creator (2014 - 2015)
Bringing people who are passionate about Product Development together for monthly meet-ups. conversations and activities focused on customer development, story mapping, agile software development and market validation.
Chestnut Lane Senior Living Center for the Deaf
Activities Volunteer (2003 - 2005)
Worked with the senior population to lead activities (exercise, art, etc.) in sign language.
Conferences, affiliations, community involvement; a running list to remember all the places I’ve been.
Product Led Growth, Reforge, Spring 2024 Cohort
API Platform Summit, Nordic APIs, Stockholm Sweden, October 2023
Experimentation and Testing, Reforge, Fall 2022 Cohort
Advanced Growth Strategy, Reforge, Summer 2022 Cohort
Product Leadership, Reforge, Spring 2022 Cohort
Global Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Course, Yale University, January 2021
FemTech Round Table, St. Catherine University, Minneapolis 2019
Art and Practice of Inter-professional Health Partnerships, Minneapolis 2019
Women’s Health Leadership TRUST 2019 Forum, Minneapolis 2019
Hack the Gap - All-Women Hackathon, Co-founder and organizer, Minneapolis 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
DevOpsCon Berlin CFP Committee, 2019
DevOpsCon, Münich 2018
Optimal Outcomes Birth Conference, Minneapolis 2018
Blacks In Tech Conference, Minneapolis 2018
DevOpsDays, Minneapolis 2017
API Strategy & Practice, Program Committee, Boston 2016
API Strategy & Practice Conference, Speaker, Austin 2015
Mind the Product Conference, Attendee, London 2015
Growth Series with Andrew Chen and Brian Balfour, Online 8-week course by Silicon Valley Business Review (now Reforge), Summer 2015 Cohort
A Day in the Life of a Geekette, Speaker, Minneapolis 2015
LAUNCH Festival and Hackathon, Sponsor and Judge, San Francisco 2015
NodeJS Workshop, Twillio & StrongLoop, Minneapolis 2014
Intro to NodeJS, Geekettes, Minneapolis 2014
Future of Web Apps, Ultimate Developer Event and Ultimate Hackathon, Sponsor and Judge, Boston 2014
Twin Cities Startup Weekend, Hackathon Participant, Minneapolis 2014
APIcon and Hackathon, San Francisco 2014
Mpls MadWomen’s How Success Happens, Speaker 2014
Google’s Women Techmaker Event, Speaker 2014
Groovy/Grails Workshop, GR8 Ladies 2014
Code Freeze, U of M / DevJam
2014 (Big Data), 2013 (Anthropology of Software)
2012 (Continuous Delivery)
2010 (Persona Driven Development)
Agile Day, DevJam 2013, 2012, 2011
DevJam Practical Agility, Member 2009-2014
API Strategy & Practice Conference, San Francisco 2013
Business of APIs Conference, San Francisco 2013
Belbin Team Accelerator Workshop, 3Circle Partners, Washington DC 2013
Agile Fundamentals, Watermark Learning 2010
Agile Development Coaching, DevJam 2009
St. Catherine University Annual Leadership Challenge (A Business Conference for Women), 2007 & 2008
Oregon Licenses: Life, Health and Law, 2002
In May 2015 Jenna Pederson and Kristen Womack, in partnership with the Geekettes, Gr8Ladies and other volunteers, organized Hack the Gap™, the Twin Cities first all-women hackathon. Event was sponsored by LeadPages, Runscope, SmartThings, CoCo, TrackJS, Punch Through Designs, Kinetic Data, KIND, Frontend Masters. Video Music by Caroline Smith and Lizzo with permission. #HackTheGapMN