The 2024 Women of Color STEM Conference is set to start on October 3.

WOC Online will feature Women of Color magazine's "40 under 40" from the spring edition.

This list highlights young STEM leaders who are already making significant contributions to the future of technology.

These professionals were nominated for awards by their employers at Career Communications Group conferences and the list was published in Women of Color magazine's Women's History Month edition.

The magazine compiles a list of trailblazers annually based on employer nominations for Women of Color STEM awards and WOC STEM Conference proceedings.

This year's Tech 40 list of women making waves in technology has been released. In the latest edition, you can learn more about these rising stars and all-star tech leaders and how they have navigated the STEM world.

Asya Peña has worked as a technical program manager at Google since March 2022, focusing on robotics impact and sustainment. Prior to her current role, she spent nearly seven years at Walt Disney Imagineering, where she advanced to the position of senior ride development engineer. Her responsibilities included overseeing the entire ride design and delivery process, from initial concept development to field installation for innovative ride platforms.

Asya contributed to the creation of the award-winning Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Trackless Vehicle and Disney's California Adventure Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters. In addition to her engineering roles, she has also served as a creative consultant and show writer. Notably, she played a key role in the development of the Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters attraction in Disney's California Adventure, which opened in March 2016.

As a design engineer, she was instrumental in the trackless vehicle body design and led the Accessible Vehicle design. Prior to her time at Walt Disney Imagineering, Asya held various positions, including as a vice president of NSBE at UCLA, an assistant director/business manager at the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program, a contracted researcher at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a maintenance engineer at Chevron.

Read more about their accomplishments and projects and how they are shaping the future of technology in the full article here.