Yummy Breakfast, Great Coffee, and the Best Women in Tech
My WomenNow Breakfast Experience at Knowledge 2026
By Selva (Meena) Arun
I’m going to be real with you.
Knowledge 2026 had incredible sessions. The AI demos were mind-blowing. The keynotes were packed. But if you ask me what moment I will carry with me from that entire week — it wasn’t on the expo floor. It wasn’t in a session room. It was at a breakfast table, surrounded by women I admire, women I was meeting for the first time, and women who reminded me why I do what I do.
That was the WomenNow breakfast.
I walked in around 8 o’clock that morning. The breakfast had started at 7:00 AM. But the moment I got there — honestly — it felt like home. The pastries were yummy, the coffee was exactly what I needed, and the conversations at that table hit different. And the swag! I loved the WomenNow pin badge and stickers — small things, but I wore that pin on my badge the rest of the conference and it felt like carrying a little piece of that morning with me everywhere I went. It was the perfect way to kick start what turned out to be a crazy, beautiful, exhausting week.
The Sponsor Who Made It Happen
Before I say anything else — a huge thank you to Nick Sessa and EntruLabs for sponsoring this breakfast. Nick is a ServiceNow MVP, CISSP, and ServiceNow Security Researcher Hall of Fame member. But beyond the titles, he is a genuine ally. He doesn’t just say he supports women in tech — he shows up and puts his money where his mouth is. That kind of support matters more than people realize. Nick, we see you, and we are grateful. Thank you.
So What Happens at the WomenNow Breakfast?
People ask me this all the time. And honestly, I struggle to explain it because it’s one of those things you have to experience.
On paper — it’s breakfast. Women from the ServiceNow community getting together early morning before the conference kicks off. Coffee, food, conversation.
But in reality? It’s so much more than that.
“The room was full of women from every corner of this ecosystem. Developers, architects, security engineers, admins, consultants, MVPs, Rising Stars, first-time Knowledge attendees. Women who had been doing this for 10+ years sitting next to women who just started their ServiceNow journey months ago. And nobody cared about titles or years of experience. We were just women — showing up for each other.
That is what WomenNow has built. And I don’t take that for granted.”
WomenNow was founded by Paige Duffey and Maria Gabriela Waechter. Over the years, with founders and board members like Sharon Barnes and Sarah Toulson, and a leadership team that now includes Isela Phelps, Jillian Howell, and Kristen Dettman — this community has become something really special. They poured their hearts into creating a space where every woman feels welcome. I am so thankful.
What I Got Out of It — My Key Takeaways
I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I got back. Here’s what stayed with me.
I remembered why connection matters more than content. I love sessions. I love learning new things on the platform. But that morning reminded me that the best things I take home from Knowledge are never technical — they’re relational. The women I met. The stories I heard. The phone numbers I saved. Those are the things that stay.
I was reminded that I’m not alone. This sounds simple, but it’s not. I moved from Massachusetts to Austin for my role at eBay. I restarted my career after a six-year break. There are days when imposter syndrome creeps in and I wonder if I really belong in this space. That morning, sitting across from women who have walked similar paths — some who are further ahead, some who are just starting — I felt it deep in my heart: I belong here. And so do you.
I saw what real allyship looks like. Nick sponsoring this breakfast. The WomenNow leadership pouring hours of their own time into making this happen. Women making space for other women. That is what allyship looks like — not a LinkedIn post, but real action. Real investment. Real showing up.
I was reminded of my purpose. If you know me, you know I am a connector. I don’t just want to meet people — I want to connect them to each other. That morning, I watched women who were strangers an hour ago swap phone numbers, share career advice, make plans to attend sessions together. That is what lights me up. That is my gift. I walked out of that breakfast and thought — this. This is why God brought me into this community.
I left with energy I didn’t have when I walked in. I’ll be honest — I was tired that morning. Knowledge weeks are long. But something about being in that room, hearing those stories, feeling that support — it recharged me. I walked into the rest of the conference day feeling like I could take on anything. Good breakfast, great coffee, and the best women in tech will do that to you.
The Ripple Effect — It Doesn’t End at Breakfast
Here’s the thing about WomenNow that people don’t always see. The breakfast is one morning. But the connections? They ripple through the entire week and beyond.
My own hackathon team at K26 — Team NowSisters — was me, Isela Phelps, Shalin Baier, Jillian Howell, and Mahathi Veena. All women. Three of us were doing a hackathon for the very first time. We built “Women Beyond Walls: Where Education Has No Walls” — an app to connect incarcerated women with volunteer educators so they could upskill and build a different future when they re-enter society. We received an Honorable Mention in the Hack4Good category.
Five women. Eight hours. One shared purpose. And honestly — what we accomplished still amazes me.
“That kind of collaboration doesn’t happen out of nowhere. It starts in spaces like WomenNow, where women find each other, trust each other, and say, “Let’s build something together.””
To the Woman Reading This Who Almost Didn’t Go
I know you. Because I’ve been you.
Last year, I couldn’t make it to the WomenNow breakfast. Life got in the way. And I regretted it. So this year, I told myself — no matter what, I’m showing up. And I’m so glad I did.
So if you’re the woman who thought about skipping because she didn’t know anyone. Or the woman who arrived at Knowledge alone and felt overwhelmed. Or the woman who saw 7:00 AM on the invite and thought, “I’ll just sleep in and catch the keynote.” Or the woman who genuinely wanted to be there but just couldn’t make it — and felt that pang of missing out afterward.
I’ve been all of those women. Please come next year.
Nobody at that table cared when I walked in. They cared that I walked in. And they’ll care that you walked in too.
The table has room for you. It always does.
Thank You
Isela — thank you for asking me to write this. It made me sit down and really think about what that morning meant to me, and I realized it meant even more than I thought.
Thank you to the WomenNow founders — Paige and Maria Gabriela — and to Sharon, Sarah, and the entire leadership team. What you have built changes lives. It changed mine.
Thank you, Nick Sessa and EntruLabs, for investing in us. Literally and figuratively.
“And thank you to every single woman who showed up that morning. Whether you got there at 7 AM sharp or 8 o’clock like me — you made that room what it was.”
The technology will keep evolving. AI is changing everything. But the thing that will always matter most in this ecosystem? The people. The women who show up for each other. The community that pulls up a chair and says, “You belong here.”
I poured my heart into this community three years ago, and it keeps pouring back into me. That breakfast was proof.
Thank God for WomenNow. Thank God for these women. And thank God for mornings that remind you exactly why you do what you do.
See you next year. Same place. Same energy. 😊
