• Alba Colon – Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

 

• Kimberly Bryant – CEO, Black Girls Code

 

• Telle Whitney – CEO and President, Anita Borg Institute

 

• Shantell Martin – Visual Artist

“This powerful first-time collaboration—combining the forces of ESSENCE, PEOPLE and PEOPLE en ESPAÑOL—provides a diverse platform with broad reach to celebrate four extraordinary trailblazers from around the world, women whose work has broken gender barriers and inspired today’s high-tech evolution,” said ESSENCE President Michelle Ebanks. “Together, these influential Time Inc. brands and Intel are on the cutting edge of creating a movement to encourage future generations of female technologists to follow in the footsteps of these iconic ‘Women Who Spark’.”

"Innovative women have always been trailblazers in science and tech, but so often they are left out of history or are missing in our day-to-day media,” said United States Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. “In order to fully realize our country's potential, it's critical to celebrate all of our innovation heroes. Congratulations to this year's ‘Women Who Spark’ award winners and the organizers—ESSENCE, PEOPLE and PEOPLE en ESPAÑOL—who are working to bring this needed and rightful visibility.”

“Intel is proud to partner with Time Inc. and honor women technology leaders for their unprecedented accomplishments.” said Danielle Brown, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Intel Corporation. “Women such as Ada Lovelace, regarded as the first computer programmer, and Rosalind Franklin, who helped to unveil the structure of DNA, inspired us all to trail blaze. Alba, Kimberly, Telle and Shantell build on the early work of tech pioneers and pave a path for all women to follow.”

For more exciting news about the “Women Who Spark” Awards, including exclusive, behind-the scenes content, visit ESSENCE.com and PEOPLEENESPANOL.com.

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About Time Inc.

Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is one of the world's leading media companies, with a monthly global print audience of over 120 million and worldwide digital properties that attract more than 140 million visitors each month, including over 60 websites. Our influential brands include People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, Cooking Light, Fortune and Food & Wine, as well as more than 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom such as Decanter, Horse & Hound and Wallpaper*. Time Inc. is home to celebrated franchises and events including the Fortune 500, Time 100, People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the Essence Festival and the biennial Fortune Global Forum. Hundreds of thousands of people attend our events every year. We have been extending the power of our brands through various investments and acquisitions, including the formation of Sports Illustrated Play, a new company devoted to youth and amateur sports, and the acquisition of inVNT, a company that specializes in live media. We also provide content marketing, targeted local print and digital advertising programs, branded book publishing and marketing and support services, including subscription sales services for magazines and other products, retail distribution and marketing services and customer service and fulfillment services, for ourselves and third-party clients, including other magazine publishers.

About ESSENCE Communications Inc.

ESSENCE Communications Inc. (ECI) is the number one media company dedicated to African-American women, with a multi-platform presence in publishing, live events and online. The company’s flagship publication, ESSENCE magazine, is the preeminent lifestyle magazine for African-American women, generating brand extensions such as the ESSENCE Festival, ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood and Black Women in Music, Window on Our Women and Smart Beauty consumer insights series, the ESSENCE Book Club, ESSENCE.com, and ventures in digital media (mobile, television and VOD). For 45 years, ESSENCE, which has a brand reach of 14.2 million, has been the leading source of cutting-edge information and specific solutions relating to every area of African-American women’s lives. Additional information about ECI and ESSENCE is available at www.essence.com.

About PEOPLE

Time Inc.’s PEOPLE revolutionized personality journalism when it launched as a weekly in 1974 to celebrate extraordinary people doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Ubiquitous and still at the center of pop culture more than 40 years later, the PEOPLE brand is accessible on all surfaces (print, digital, video, mobile, social) bringing more than 75 million consumers a unique mix of breaking news, exclusive photos, video and in-depth reporting on the most compelling newsmakers of our time. In addition, comScore ranks the PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly Network No. 1 in the entertainment news category.

Each year major media across the globe anticipate the cover reveal of PEOPLE’s most famous franchise, the Sexiest Man Alive (which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015), sparking a lively debate on social media. With a trusted reputation and unparalleled access to the red carpet, celebrities and entertainment, an essential component of PEOPLE’s editorial vision remains human interest stories, which touch and often mirror the lives of our passionate audience. PEOPLE is an award-winning 24/7 news organization headquartered in New York City with reporters across the globe. For more information visit PEOPLE.com and Timeinc.com, and follow @people on social media.

About PEOPLE EN ESPAÑOL

PEOPLE en Español was launched in 1996 as a special issue and today has become the top-selling Hispanic magazine in the United States. Published 11 times a year, PEOPLE en Español reaches an audience of 7 million every month with its editorial mix of Hispanic and popular entertainment, fashion and beauty trends and compelling human-interest stories. PEOPLE en Español delivers original editorial content that captures the values, contributions and impact of today's Hispanics in the US. The brand’s social media footprint includes more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter, over 3.7 million “Likes” on Facebook, and 825,000 followers on Instagram. For daily news, photos, exclusive behind-the-scenes video and celebrity scoops, visit www.PEOPLEenEspanol.com and follow PEOPLE en Español on Twitter at @PEOPLEenespanol and on Facebook at facebook.com/PEOPLEenespanol.

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CONTACT:

Time Inc.
ESSENCE/PEOPLE EN ESPAÑOL
Dana Baxter
DBaxter@essence.com
Sheila Harris
SHarris@essence.com

People

Marnie Perez
Marnie_Perez@peoplemag.com