Girls In Tech

We previously let you all in on the new book by Nicole Williams, Girl on Top. Here in her latest article, she gives practical advice on how to achieve it…

10 Ways to Become a Girl on Top

By Nicole Williams,
Author of ‘Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success’

She knows how to work a room, she’s always impeccably dressed, and no matter how hard you might try you just can’t seem to break her confidence. Hate her or love her, everyone wants to be her. Here are 10 tactics to achieving your own Girl on Top status:

1. Know what you want and have the guts to ask for it. There’s nothing worse than being completely tongue-tied when you finally get face time with your boss.

2. Never offer up too much information—maintaining an air of mystery is always better than being an open book. If you show all of your cards too soon, there’ll be no incentive to keep listening to you.

3. Know the difference between being nice and being respected, and always opt for the latter. This isn’t high school. There’s more at stake than a seat at the “cool” lunch table.

4. Don’t make excuses. If you mess up, take the blame and move on. After awhile, people won’t remember the mistake—but they will recall how you tried to weasel out of it.

6. Quit badmouthing in-house competition, but always be kept in the gossip loop. It’s fine to know what’s going on, so long as you aren’t the one whose lips are moving.

7. Don’t waste half a second on those who just aren’t that into you. For every one employer who doesn’t want you, there are 10 who do. Don’t waste your energy on those who don’t appreciate your talents.

8. Never let yourself become complacent. When it comes down to it, no one is indispensable.

9. Always have other more attractive options. When the time comes to move on you’ll want that to be your decision, not your employer’s.

10. Never, ever, let them see you sweat. Leave the room, leave the building if you have to, but never let on that you’re in over your head.

©2009 Nicole Williams, author of Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success

To read about the book & Nicole’s book tour, also see the following links:

The Book: http://www.girlontopbook.com

Book tour information: http://girlontopbook.com/tour

(Nicole is partnered with The Limited, Inc, and is touring around to different stores, hosting a book & clothing party. Another perk is that everything you buy that night at The Limited is 40% off) (Opinions expressed are those of the book’s author.)

Tags: Girl on Top book
Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco | No Comments »

What does Oscar de la Renta, Google, Armani, and coding have in common? Well, for one of Glamour’s Women of the Year only one person came to mind, Marissa Mayer. Marissa Mayer is Vice President of Search and User Experience, and is a 10-year veteran of Google.

Mayer was recently featured in Vogue and it’s not everyday that a woman in tech is featured in a Fashion magazine. However, it’s very refreshing, because Mayer is not a typical geek. Sitting in her office at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA, making decisions in Manolos and beaded Carolina Herrera separates, you’re going to stand out amongst all the other geeks.

In 1999, Mayer joined Google as one of their first female engineers. She led the user interface and web server teams at that time. As Google has grown, so has Mayer’s responsibilities. She oversees the development, code-writing, and launch of Gmail, Google Maps, iGoogle, Google Chrome, Google Health, and Google News.

For me, the tech industry is not only still defined by mostly geeky men, but even when we think of women that work in the industry, they are thought of as being just as geeky. Marissa Mayer really defies that stereotype. On her 34th birthday this past May, she happens to be at her office, on a Saturday of all days. She is interviewing people for the associate-product-manager position. Five o’clock rolls around and she goes home to San Francisco wearing turquoise-fringed Manolos and an Alberta Ferretti dress to celebrate her birthday. When I read that in the Vogue article, I thought to myself “I wonder which dress it was from Ferretti?” . My point is, women like Mayer are very inspiring for young girls that want to get involved with computer science, technology, or want to work for companies like Google, but still be “girls”.

Glamour also names the following as Women of the Year. Congrats to all!
Rihanna: Back On Top!
Maria Shriver: The Dynamo
Stella McCartney: The Designer
Amy Poehler: The Entertainer
Serena Williams: The Athlete
Jane Aronson: The Guardian Angel
Susan Rice: The Peacemaker
Euna Lee and Laura Ling: The Journalists
The Women of Iran’s One Million Signatures Campaign: The Activists
Maya Angelou: The Poet
The 2009 Woman of Your Year
Women of the Year Fund [main]
Michelle Obama: Your First Lady (Special Recognition)

*Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe in Mayer’s Google office in Mountain View, California

Tags: glamour, Google, marissa mayer
Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

Be Part of the Publishing Evolution

If you are interested in hearing about topics such as: The Mobile web, Evolving business models in publishing, Emerging standards for  content delivery, discovery & distribution, Financial modeling for digital products and more…

Registration for TOC Is Open – And Girls in Tech will receive a discounted rate:

Register by January 11th and Save $200 plus an additional 20% when you use the Discount Code: toc10git.

From authoring, editing, and layout to distribution and consumption, new technologies are changing all aspects of publishing. TOC, happening February 22-24, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis Time Square in New York City, will help you navigate these changes and understand how to apply them to your business or organization for a more profitable future in publishing. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in conversations that are shaping that future as often as they are describing it.

• Plenary and keynote presentations that frame the visions of publishing’s future into a meaningful picture — Including: * Ramy Habeeb, * Chris Brogan of New Marketing Labs, and * John Temple

• Focused, expert-led breakout sessions covering both analysis and practical advice

• Workshops that dive deep into necessary skills and tools

• A relevant Exhibit Hall connecting attendees with the projects, products, and services shaping industry change

• Networking events and hallway conversations designed to help all participants connect with like minds

Details:
O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC)

February 22-24, 2010

New York, New York

http://www.toccon.com/toc2010

The 4th annual O’Reilly TOC Conference is your opportunity to join those inventing the future of publishing. Register at:

https://en.oreilly.com/toc2010/public/register

For ongoing news on the conference, follow on Twitter using: #TOCCON

Tags: girls in tech, Publishing
Posted in All Chapters, New York | 1 Comment »

On the evening of Thursday, November 5th, the Chic Meets Geek event was held at the Automattic headquarters, home of WordPress. Overlooking the sparkling bay, Chic Meets Geek brought together members of the San Francisco Opera BRAVO! Club and the Silicon Valley tech scene.
The evening was one big convergence of mainstream arts and emerging tech, resulting in the ultimate in SF culture. The special guests ranged from a former Dallas Cowboy to a stem cell biologist. The most exciting part of the evening – coming from a true chic geek – was was tapping my toes to the incredible live jazz band while checking out the cool tech demos from MixMatchMusic, OneRiot, and NetworkedBlogs, among others. Just as I thought the evening couldn’t get any lovelier, I was offered a gift bag on my way out filled with treats from the generous event sponsors.
Watching salsa dancers, sipping on a local rosé, schmoozing with Randi Zuckerberg et al., and mobile-tweeting by the water in heels too high to handle: ahhhh, just another Thursday night in San Francisco.

Posted in San Francisco | No Comments »

1. Learn how to catapult your career in technology through workshops and presentations from top, successful women in tech
2. Network with over 250 eager and influential women in the tech industry
3. Understand industry trends, what models are working and what models aren’t working
4. Promote your ideas and your company to a group of very targeted women in tech
5. Learn how you can create change by using the web tools and platforms available for developing nations
6. Participate in the Girls in Tech + Vator.tv pitch contest

To register, please use the following link: REGISTER

For more information on the Catalyst Conference, please use the following link: INFORMATION

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, Arden Pennell, Cassie Phillips, Catalyst Conference, Commonwealth Club, girls in tech, January 26th, San Francisco
Posted in All Chapters | 15 Comments »

For Girls in Tech on the lookout for new ideas & ways to grow,  allow me to offer a strange recommendation: try doing nothing. Well, not nothing – not exactly, anyway. Rather, try meditation, which is the act of stopping and sitting quietly, and in many cases simply watching your breath and your mind.

Why am I bringing this up for Girls in Tech?  Tech, after all, seems to imply iPhone apps or Twitter add-ons, not a 2,500-year-old technique that takes merely the equipment we’re born with. For two reasons: 1) meditation can help cultivate an entrepreneur’s mindset, from openness to creativity! And 2) an amazing event for beginners is happening in San Francisco next weekend, November 14: Twheet, a daylong, donation-based conference on meditation.

Let me back up just a bit. Meditation isn’t quite a tactic for brainstorming the next Google. However, it can bring greater concentration and more awareness into daily life, allowing space for creative responses to quotidian challenges. Meditation can encourage qualities prized by entrepreneurs: being open to the reality of a situation, transforming tricky moments into learning opportunities, and learning that there’s nothing wrong with “failure.”

Many women working in technology learn early that it is their intentional attitude – rather than “inherent aptitude” – which allows them to creatively meet challenges and be open to the hectic pace of life in Silicon Valley. In this vein, basic meditation is basically awesome for your cranium.

Which is why I’m excited to announce that Turning Wheel Talks, or Twheet, a daylong conference on meditation, is taking place next week, on Nov. 14 in San Francisco. This nonprofit event was pulled together by dozens of creative folks in the Bay Area. It includes: a kick-off introduction to basic meditation, an informal un-conference where folks will lead their own activities, a talk on nonviolent communication & an open house with more info, among other activities.

If you’ve never meditated but want to try, if you’ve meditated and want to grow the hobby, or if you’re a frequent meditator (is that a word?!)  you’re welcome to stop by!  Feel free to bring a friend –or to forward this info to any communities that might be interested.

What: Twheet, an event for young people (under 35)
When: Saturday, November 14
Where: 1187 Franklin Street, San Francisco, UU Church Conference Facility
When: Nov. 14, 2009 –Ongoing all day. Highlights for beginners: morning introduction to meditation, afternoon peer-led workshops & open house.

For more info: http://twheet.org/ Hope to see you there!

Posted in San Francisco, santa cruz, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

As you probably know, the Bay Area hosts many of the top events for innovative new technologies, startups, and social media. We are also a world class music hub.  With venues ranging from The Fillmore to the Great American Music Hall, from the Boom Boom Room to the Red Devil Lounge, and with festivals like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Outside Lands, and Treasure Island Music Festival, there are few places in the world with a better selection of musical options. However, the specific field of music technology is rarely addressed in major start-up conferences today, despite bands and venues relying more heavily on the amazing local technologies being created regularly to help them grow and market, like Pandora, Blip.fm,  IODA, and BandCamp, just to name a few.
Music Technology is also becoming increasingly female friendly: classes, blogs and events are now being geared toward them. So, this year Girls in Tech is partnering with the premier west coast conference addressing the growing merger of music and technology:

The SF Music Tech Summit! – December 7th at Hotel Kabuki

SF Music Tech Summit draws over 600 musicians, developers, distributors, entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers, and managers from around the city and around the globe for a full day of informative talks, engaging discussions, and relevant networking in the cooperative fields of music and technology.  At the 5th show on December 7th, we’ll discuss the current challenges with and solutions for online publication and distribution, how social media is affecting music sharing and marketing, how Hollywood and video games are defining a new niche in the space, why mobile technology needs to be taken seriously by musicians, distributors, and marketers, the newest methods of music monetization, and much more.  Expect the leading innovators and executives in the field, including:

• Kevin Arnold; CEO, IODA
• Tom Conrad; CTO, Pandora
• Zoe Keating; Cellist and Composer
• Zahavah Levine; Chief Counsel, YouTube
• Sandy Pearlman; Music Producer, Schulich Chair at McGill University
• Tim Quirk; VP of Music Programming, Rhapsody
• David Ulmer; Director of Marketing, Motorola Media Solutions
• Emily White; Co-Founder, Whitesmith Entertainment
• With more being added to the site daily!

Despite being a multi-billion dollar industry, the meeting of music and technology continues to create unanswered questions and unaddressed problems; it is rife with opportunity for entrepreneurs, PR representatives, marketers, and performers ready to tackle the big issues.  And the decisions that are made will affect not only the musicians, distributors, lawyers, and startups, but also those of us who are the consumers, media producers, and press.  There is no better place than the SF MusicTech Summit to get all the newest music and tech news, see where the industry is headed, and learn what to expect for artists, marketers, distributors, entrepreneurs, and consumers.

AND as a member of Girls in Tech, you can receive 15% off your ticket to this industry-defining event, using the code “GIT” at the Eventbrite link: http://sfmts5.eventbrite.com.

Details:

Hotel Kabuki
1625 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
Monday, December, 7 2009
9am – 6pm + cocktail party

Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco | No Comments »

Girls in Tech Portland chapter(GIT PDX) hosted an event for inspirational speaker, Katherine Durham, Vice President of Marketing, Imaging & Printing Group, Americas, Hewlett-Packard. The event started off with social networking among women with backgrounds in technology who reside in Oregon. We had a great mix that included engineers, developers, social media specialists, marketing and PR professionals, entrepreneurs and others. The evening ended with a great presentation and Q&A during which Katherine shared her passion for the HP business and connecting with end users.

Katherine started off by sharing her background and then quickly dived in to how to shift the digital marketing and technology mindset to harness the power of an integrated approach. With constantly emerging digital trends and a new media-mix landscape, how does HP harness these trends and measure success?

Effective marketing has remained the same for years: connect the right customers with the right message at the right time and in the right place. What’s changed is that consumers are spending more and more time connecting through social networking, video and mobile.

In fact, consumers are now devoting more time online than to any other media, averaging a total of 14 hours/week or more. This amounts to more than 40% of their free time. In the last year, microblogging and social media sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, Blogger, Baidu and more have exploded in popularity. Video and mobile technology trends all continue to point up. There is huge opportunity if you look at total media consumption vis-a-vis the total U.S. advertising spend.

HP concentrates on maximizing the cross-channel shopping opportunities online, in-store and via advertising. This creates a synergy that delivers results.

Take “Pioneer Woman,” one case study in success. The campaign features Pioneer Woman, a blogger with a growing following. HP reached out to her niche audience by having Pioneer Woman show how she incorporates HP solutions into her life. By leveraging this already-existing social community, they were able to bring more credibility to the message, in that the audience is not being told what to do, but is having information shared with them.

One key takeaway from the HP social networking presentation was how important and effective it can be to find ways for your brand or business to share and collaborate in the social media space.

Katherine closed with a few takeaways:

• Digital AND social media are the future…how do they work with and impact other assets?
• Use the data AND trust your gut if you have a good compass (or get someone who does)
• Leave enough room for innovation AND experimentation
• Traditional AND emerging measurement are both important

Thanks to 24Notion for the event sponsored. As well as for everyone who attended the lecture. For more info about Girls in Tech Portland, check out our Facebook group

Tags: 24notion, digital, girls in tech, HP, Ivo Lukas, marketing, media, Portland, social media, technology
Posted in All Chapters, Portland | No Comments »

It’s easy to dismiss anything with the words ‘good’ and ‘green’ in it as just another lame attempt to jump on the post “Inconvenient Truth” bandwagon. You know which bandwagon I’m referring to — the one that runs on ethanol, with the solar powered electric system and the big bumper sticker proclaiming the number of carbon offsets the driver purchased.

But, before you go and get all cynical on the whole sustainability thing, consider this: environmental consciousness isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for the green too. And by green, I mean money. In a Thomson Reuters study last year, 82% of investors said they consider environmental and social criteria when making decisions.  And, in just this one BusinessWeek article, there are five examples of corporations from every sector of the economy who saved significant money by ‘greening’ their operations.

This can be especially true for tech and social media, where the consumer is king and an increasingly conscientious customer base is demanding more social and environmental accountability from their favorite brands every day. In September, Apple even started releasing data about its corporate environmental footprint, a move that helped boost its branding as the go-to gadget maker for conscientious consumers.

And, when it comes to social consciousness through tech consumerism, it’s not just about gadgets and green. From Mashable’s Summer of Social Good to Twestival, the social media scene is getting a whole lot more socially conscious too, resulting in the growth of what the blogosphere likes to call the ‘social good’ movement. Whether it’s raising money, raising awareness or raising environmental accountability standards, the tech industry is certainly climbing atop that big, green bandwagon in full force. Now, the question is what impact that trend will have on the tech industry and on both the good and green movements it’s embracing. Not to mention how we as girls in tech and as tech businesspeople in general can do some good and make some green in the process — both kinds.

That’s why Girls in Tech LA is proud to present The Impact of Tech On Good & Green — a panel discussion featuring Sandra Sanchez (Creator of orGlamic.com & reality TV host/producer), Sarah Townsend (Editorial Director of Socialvibe.com & Creator of theoneinpink.com) and Tracy Helper (Co-founder of Yourdailythread.com). These amazing women will be discussing social good, sustainability, green gadgets and more at The Organic Panificio restaurant in Marina Del Rey on November 17. Of course, there will also be time for cocktails and conversation as well. And, a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to Free Arts For Abused Kids — an incredible organization that provides at risk kids with counseling and support through art.  Because what’s more in keeping with the theme of ‘social good’ than sharing good conversation and good drinks for a good cause?

What: GIT LA Presents The Impact of Tech on Good  & Green

Where: The Organic Panaficio in Marina Del Rey

When: Nov 17, 7-10pm

RSVP & Buy Tickets

Tags: event, green, networking, Social Good, social media
Posted in Events, Girls In Tech, Los Angeles | No Comments »

The next event on the GIT U radar is the Berkeley Stanford CleanTech Conference on Smart Grids, coming up this Friday in Menlo Park, CA. This is a great event for Girls in Tech University (GIT U) members at both the GIT SF and Silicon Valley Chapters.

This is the fourth in a continuing series of focused conferences highlighting clean technology solutions to address the planet’s multifaceted energy challenges. This fourth installment is made possible through the Stanford University Energy Crossroads. This conference will provide:

VISION: What is the Smart Grid today? Where is it going?
OPPORTUNITY: How can innovators make the most of Smart Grid opportunities?
EFFECTIVENESS: What policies will enable the Smart Grid? What are the constraints in the system?

EVENT DETAILS:
For more information and registration please visit their website at http://cleantech.stanford.edu
Location: Stanford Research Institute Auditorium International Bldg – Room T
333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Cost: Adults $85, All Students $20
Contact: Deep Sahni 650-305-9345
Website: http://cleantech.stanford.edu/bscc4/
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=168824359896&ref=ts

Tags: "mandy kakavas", CleanTech, conference, Girls in Tech SF, Girls in Tech Silicon Valley, Girls in Tech University
Posted in GIT U | No Comments »