The opening day of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing attracted 18,000 attendees (a record turnout for the event), and included a number of women with inspiring stories. Among these were a former White House official, the previous leader of one of the largest public school systems in the nation and two pioneering technology entrepreneurs. And the common theme expressed by all of them was simple: persistence.

“It is a real resilience. The people that win are not the smartest, they’re not the fastest, they’re not the most intelligent, but often they’re just the most persistent,” said Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick, pictured, right), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio.

Frick offered his observations at the end of the first day for SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event in Orlando, Florida. He was joined by co-host Rebecca Knight (@knightrm, pictured, left), and they discussed lessons learned from industry veterans, the emergence of new leaders and the examples they offered, and redefining failure in technology.

Former White House official offers insight

Two of the experienced leaders in attendance were Megan Smith, the third chief technology officer of the United States, and Brenda Darden Wilkerson, who was just named the new president and chief executive officer of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, a nonprofit that advocates for women technologists. Wilkerson had previously served as the director of IT and science education for the Chicago public school system.

The two women shared stories of being given repeated negative feedback or being told they couldn’t accomplish their ambitious goals. “So many times today we heard about being told they couldn’t do it and then using that as a force to do it,” Frick said.

But attendees also included women who represented new approaches to professional success. Among these were Yasmine Mustafa, a technology entrepreneur who has developed a wearable product for self-defense, and Morgan Berman, the founder and CEO of MilkCrate LLC. Berman’s company provides a mobile app that connects residents in Philadelphia to local, sustainable businesses.

“We also had two up-and-comers,” Knight pointed out. “It’s really exciting to see the baton being passed.”

Failure is often viewed as a rite of passage in the technology industry, a part of the learning process before success can be achieved. But many of the conference participants advised not even using the word, preferring an unshakable belief that persistence will pay off.

“This is the Silicon Valley mantra right now: Fail fast,” Knight said. “No matter what, you cannot be deterred.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Photo: SiliconANGLE