Girls In Tech

This post is not related to Tech, but it is definitely related to women, so I think it’s appropriate for this forum. I was so pleasantly surprised to hear that Mireille Guiliano, former CEO of Clicquot, Inc., recently published a book about women and work titled “Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire.” I just finished the book, and I have to say that I loved Mireille’s approach to career advice.

My learnings from Mireille actually go back to her original book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” I picked up the book when I was struggling with feeling an overall personal unhappiness in my first job out of college as an investment banking analyst. As the job developed, I lost more and more sleep and I ate worse and worse foods. I thought that I had worked so hard in school so that I would be at my happiest, but I learned that maybe that wasn’t the case, and I had to take matters into my own hands. This is NOT a diet book but more of a lifestyle book. What Mireille explains to her readers doesn’t have to do with what exactly French women eat but more about how French women feel. A French woman never wants to feel full and sick to her stomach, so she eats healthily and in smaller portions. A French woman appreciates the little things in life, so she eats slowly with friends and appreciates the tastes and joy that comes with quality food. A French woman wants to feel full of energy, so she gets enough rest and drinks lots of water. I started to understand the secrets of svelte French women, but I was curious if this kind of “feel good” mentality applied to the workforce. I hoped that this was the case, but I wasn’t quite sure if such an enjoyable life was appropriate for a woman who has to compete her way to the top. Well, I’m happy to report that Mireille explains that being happy and living a good life are necessary ingredients to working your way to your own definition of success.

“Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire” has the same approach to career advice that “French Women Don’t Get Fat” has to diet advice – it does it in a completely upside down way that no one (or shall I say “American”) would ever expect. Rather than give concrete steps to make it to the corner office, Mireille takes a much lighter approach. Like her advice in “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” she continues to write about how a woman should feel along the way. She advises women to set goals in small doses, so she never feels overwhelmed or depressed when far-out goals aren’t accomplished. She recommends that women not get too caught up in the definition of “success” because there is no right answer, and a woman should define your own success- how freeing! She reminds her readers of the importance of balance and enjoying the simple pleasures of life so you can enjoy the ride. Of course, she talks about how to get ahead and be promoted, but she also dares to discuss topics such as clothes, food, wine and entertaining. Like no other advice author I’ve ever read, Mireille understands that nothing happens in a vacuum and life, work, food and relationships are all intermingled, so hard-fast rules never really work.

Mireille is an inspiration to me because she is proof that enjoying life’s many pleasures is a healthy and successful approach to life and work. I started off enjoying the French way of life during my off-time, but I now take the same approach in my work life, and I’ve discovered so much fun and pleasures in doing so. This topic reminds me of the speech given by Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, at the inaugural TEDWomen conference. She spoke about how women are extremely difficult on themselves and don’t realize their potential. Also, she points out that women are still not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world. In the corporate sector, women top out at 15% in C-level positions, and this number has not moved since 2002 and is going in the wrong direction. I can’t help to wonder that maybe if women enjoyed the ride a bit more, perhaps we would stay in the workforce longer.

I would love to ask the GIT audience your thoughts on this topic. Have you ever felt overwhelmed and exhausted by trying to find “success”? Has anyone made a conscience effort recently to slow down and enjoy the day to day a bit more? Has more success come from this? I hope my personal story has been interesting, and I’d love to hear more from our readers on this topic.

You can follow me on Twitter, @AlliStrouse

“Women, Work & The Art of Savoir Faire” on Amazon

Mireille’s Blog

Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

I had the pleasure of attending the first TEDWomen conference held in Washington DC last month.  I wrote a piece for Owni (in France) on one of the key takeaways I got from it: Empowerment.

As you may, or may not know, empowerment is one of the words that drives us here at GIT.

The article is below:

Empowerment is a great word. It’s positive, powerful and meaningful, and can be applied in a number of ways.  It’s the word that was on my mind earlier this month as I traveled back to New York from the TEDWomen conference in Washington DC.
There are many definitions of empowerment used both technically and in popular contexts.  The way I tend to loosely define it is the process of an influential person or group of people addressing and acting on issues important to them, which in turn fosters power that they can transfer to their own lives, their communities and their societies. In my opinion, the key words here are acting, influential and transfer.

[Read more at Owni]

Tags: empowerment, TEDwomen
Posted in Events, Girls In Tech | No Comments »

Girls in Tech is proud to partner along with MediaBistro.com, SocialTimes, and AllFacebook for:

Register by 1/8 for Early Bird Pricing! :: Girls in Tech get 15% discount (see below)

This one-day event will be all about “the importance of managing information, user expectations, and potential government interaction in the hotly-debated field of online privacy.” Brands like Facebook and Google have been at the forefront of privacy issues, continually adjusting their business models to handle mounting consumer concerns. Creating a secure interactive, transactional environment is critical to a good customer relationship, and the current environment is creating opportunities for businesses to respond with new solutions.

Key topics include:

• Marketing privacy services to wary customers
• The debate surrounding government regulation
• Cloud computing and location services
• A discussion about how user data can be used and disseminated
• Opportunities for privacy startups
• Are privacy concerns preventing online and e-commerce businesses from achieving real potential?

Talks will include:

Understanding Privacy in a Connected Age

The Personal Data Ecosystem

Privacy, Location and Social Networking &

Digital Privacy – Back to the Future: What Brand Marketers Should Know and Effects of Global Technology, Law and Legislation

…among others — With a host of speakers from many different organizations represented.

For all the details on the program, go to the MediaBistro event site at: http://www.mediabistro.com/digitalprivacyforum/.

To register, click here.  [Note:  Registering by Jan. 8th, Saturday, will ensure you the Early Bird rate of $375.]

GIT Members, get 15% discount with discount code:  DPGIT

Posted in All Chapters, Events, New York | No Comments »

As we quickly approach the new year and reflect on 2010, most of us are thinking about what we loved most about the past year and what kind of things we are hoping to do come January 1^st.

As the ladies of Girls in Tech know, today’s women have limitless opportunities for what to do with their futures, but with these options comes the ever-present question, “How do I pursue what I love?” The questions and infinite possibilities can be daunting, yet we are finding a way to balance passion and profession like never before. That’s why Levi’s^® created an online community called Shape What’s To Come for innovative women who are looking to connect with others, who are daring to be themselves and are defining their own futures. The community will help inspire and connect millennial women, provide exclusive on and offline events and act as a platform for women who are forging their own paths.

This year, Shape What’s to Come is partnering with Storify to tell the story of what’s to come in 2011 through a visual compilation of the photos, videos and status updates that millennial women from around the world…using the social media platforms that we have already grown to love!

But here’s where us techies get excited: Storify caught our attention with its concept of easily creating narratives using the stories that are already being told on the social web. Have you ever wanted to seamlessly pull in tweets, Facebook updates, Flickr photos or YouTube videos into a post with the sources already cited? Or how about notify everyone that you have included in your story with a click of a button (and in turn, help spread the reach of your story). If you’ve answered yes to any of the questions above, Storify may be your answer. While the site is still in Beta, Storify’s concept is one that may help grown the future of online journalism.

So how do can you get involved? Simply tweet and post on Facebook your 2011 New Year’s goals with the #SWTC hashtag. The posts will then be moderated and pulled in to the Storify story on Shape What’s To Come!

I am so proud to be a part of this campaign as I recently accepted a new position at Edelman Digital and Levi’s^®  is a client. I wish you and your loved ones a very warm holiday season and Happy New Year, #cheers!

Tags: #swtc, 2011, girls in tech, New Year's Resolutions, Storify, women in tech
Posted in Girls In Tech | No Comments »

Since graduating college around three years ago, I have been trying to get myself more focused on staying on top of my personal finances. I had heard rumblings from my parents that I should be checking my credit card bill every month, keeping an eye on my credit score, paying “myself first.” Ok ok, I know that this is important stuff, but I’m a busy girls…and I’ll just deal with all of this later when I finally have time to myself!
 
Well, I’ve recently had a change in heart because I finally decided to take some control of this part of my life, and I used a great new site to help me accomplish this, LearnVest.com.  LearnVest was founded by Alexa VonTobel who recognized that young women need help understanding their personal finances. Alexa understands that delving into this area of our lives can be scary, so she has kept the content extremely easy to understand with step by step advice, so you never feel overwhelmed. A great place to start is with the budgeting tool to get a better sense of your monthly expenses. The daily emails and bootcamp emails are a great way to get small tid-bits of learning in every day (so now I can’t use the excuse of being too busy!). 

Best of all, I feel like I have started off 2011 right!  I have been spreading the word about this site to my sisters and girlfriends because I now understand the confidence and strength that comes with feeling secure in the personal finance realm.  The site’s homepage currently says “You’re smart, sophisticated and in control. Now feel the same way about your money!” Hope you take on this challenge in 2011!

Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | 1 Comment »