Graphic designer turned self-taught software developer Lindsay Siovaila, received the Rising Star Award during TechPoint’s 18th annual Mira Awards honoring the best of tech in Indiana.

Lindsay Siovaila is a results-driven developer who has a passion for innovation, learning, and helping others achieve their technology goals. She is currently the Lead Solutions Developer at Salesforce where she builds apps and tools to improve workflow for Salesforce employees, and also Chapter Founder of Girl Develop It Indianapolis, a non-profit organization that offers affordable and judgment-free opportunities for women interested in learning web and software development.

Lindsay believes that in order to bridge the gender gap in tech, we need to create a community where women and men are working together on tech initiatives, and has strived to make GDI a local place where that happens.

The judges chose Lindsay from among an incredible class of Rising Star nominees because she demonstrated excellence in so many areas of her professional life and community involvement.

Her story includes teaching herself to code and building her own Salesforce Marketing Cloud app (Parcel) while working as a designer in the marketing department. After presenting Parcel to then CEO Scott McCorkle, she influenced features of the current Salesforce platform available to thousands of customers.

Lindsay founded the Indianapolis chapter of Girl Develop It in 2014, officially launched in early 2015, and since then, GDI has hosted over 60 multi-evening classes and networking events to a community of over 800 Indianapolis women and men. Lindsay leads a team of 30+ organizers, teachers, and assistants that make GDI events possible.

She’s also personally taught classes and raised more than $20,000 in company grants and individual donations to further advance the Indy chapter. Lindsay believes that in order to bridge the gender gap in tech, we need to create a community where women and men are working and learning together on tech initiatives, and has strived to make GDI a local place where that happens.

TechPoint, the growth initiative for Indiana’s tech ecosystem, honored the successes and innovation of Indiana companies, entrepreneurs, educators, and other leaders at The Westin Indianapolis during the 18th annual Mira Awards gala presented by Angie’s List, Genesys, and Salesforce.

A total of 15 award winners and three honorable mentions were chosen from the 90 outstanding companies, organizations, and individuals who were selected as nominees this year out of the 180 applications received highlighting achievements during the 2016 calendar year.

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Fifty independent, volunteer judges spent more than 850 total hours reviewing and ranking applications, interviewing nominees, and selecting this year’s winners. Judges included company founders, CEOs and presidents; CTOs, CIOs and software developers; professors and chancellors from Indiana universities; design, human resources and sales professionals, and a variety of other subject matter experts.

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The Mira Awards are named after the first of the brilliant variable stars to be discovered – the Mira Star. It is also the Latin root meaning “worthy of admiration, wonderful, marvelous.” The awards represent the best of tech in Indiana each year.