Girls In Tech

Happy early Thanksgiving!  

On behalf of the entire advisory board of Girls in Tech LA, I have to say how incredibly thankful we are for the amazing support we’ve received from you. Our last event, the #TechTrends2011 panel, sold out and received over 50,000 views on Justin.TV. It was an incredible evening, and you can watch it in full any time here.

We’re also thankful for the many wonderful events we have coming up in the next few weeks. Tomorrow, New Media Vault is hosting a fantastic pre-T-Day meetup at Libertine in Hollywood. Admission is free if you bring a toy or a non-perishable food item, and you’ll be able to network with some of LA’s best and brightest. Plus, you could even win a free turkey — although not nearly as free as the turkey Obama will be pardoning tomorrow. Either way, RSVP for the 730pm party here.

If you don’t get a chance to give back with New Media Vault, consider stopping by Gobble Gobble Give at the Echo on Sunset between 10am and 1pm on Thursday to help hand out food to those in need.

Also, make sure to mark your calendar for Career Opportunities in Digital Entertainment on December 2 at 11am in Santa Monica. This panel, hosted by Santa Monica College Office of Workforce and Economic Development, Insight 3.0 and The Executive Alliance Group, features a great lineup of speakers from all sides of the digital entertainment spectrum and admission is free. RSVP here.

Making the shopping rounds this week? Don’t forget to pick up some toys for the Nog & Noggins Toy Drive on December 8, hosted by our friends at Lalawag and Border Stylo.

And, be sure to stop by WITI’s Digital Family Reunion, also on December 8. This annual event is an LA tech tradition, and you can get $20 off admission by using the GIT LA discount code DFR09.

As always, you can stay up to date on these and all the other GIT LA news on Twitter and Facebook.

Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

With 2010 drawing to a close, Girls in Tech LA is proud to be hosting a diverse range of tech industry experts who will be sharing their predictions, plans and perspectives about what’s next for tech in 2011.

The 7pm panel discussion will be held at the Border Stylo offices in Hollywood on November 17, and will be followed by light refreshments and networking. It will also be streamed on Ustream, and details of that stream will be available via the Girls in Tech Twitter and Facebook pages before the event. Panelists participating in the discussion include Amanda Coolong (TechZulu), Heather Meeker (Whrrl), Tony Adam (MySpace), Erin Kotecki Vest (BlogHer), Laura Weidman (Border Stylo) and Lynn Langit (Microsoft).  Tickets are just $10, and space is very limited, so buy yours early to guarantee admission.

Tags: event, networking, panel, technology
Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

Girls in Tech LA is proud to be a sponsor of Women 2.0′s Founder Thursday networking event this week. Meet female entrepreneurs and founders, and enjoy food, drinks and networking with a gorgeous ocean view on the deck of Siemer & Associates in Santa Monica.

The event starts at 6pm, and the ticket price includes appetizers, drinks and the opportunity to meet Women 2.0 members and high-level entrepreneurs in the LA area.

Our hosts for the evening will be Giang Biscan (AsAble Founder and Mixergy Producer), Katrina Razavi (Marriage.com Founder and CEO), and Cassie Rice (SocialBlaze Co-Founder). Between the incredible women producing this event, and the great mix of women slated to attend it, this is one networking opportunity you don’t want to miss.

Use the discount code GITLA to get 20% off tickets, and be sure to RSVP by Wednesday, October 13, as space is limited for this exclusive event.

What: Women 2.0 Founder Thursday

When: October 14, 2010 (6pm)

Where: Siemer & Associates Ocean Deck — 1333 2nd St. #600, Santa Monica, CA 90401

RSVP Here

Tags: entrepreneurs, event, networking, venture capital
Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

Wanted: People who believe in the Girls in Tech mission of educating, empowering and advancing women in technology across all sectors of business, media and tech. We have openings on the Girls in Tech LA Advisory Board for men and women who want to help us plan and promote our events, recruit new sponsors and members, build our brand and grow our organization. It’s a purely volunteer position but the rewards – including exposure for your personal and professional brands, access to some of the best and brightest in the LA tech scene  and the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to create a powerful platform for local women in technology – are invaluable.

Requirements: Must be able to commit to at least a few hours of work each week, as well as a single 20-minute conference call each month. Must be passionate about promoting our group, and eager to work on all of the exciting panels, events and partnerships we’re building. Must love working closely with a fantastic team of amazing, inspiring women to build a truly great brand.

Responsibilities: Doing what you do best – whatever that may be – to help us take Girls in Tech LA to the next level.

To Apply: Email mollievandor@girlsintech.net with your name, area of expertise and the amount of time you think you’ll be able to commit to GIT LA.

Tags: hiring, networking, recruiting
Posted in Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – fashion week. And, from fashion blogs to the New York Times , everyone’s talking about all the sensational styles currently making their way down the runways of Lincoln Center. Of course, not everyone has a front row seat for all that fabulous fashion.

Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you don’t need a ticket to check out the latest trends on the runway. All you have to do is turn on your computer. Which is way easier than navigating the steps of Lincoln Center in your stilettos anyway.

Speaking of navigating, I’ve rounded up the best sites for finding fashion coverage on the web in this handy guide – How To: Find Fashion Show Videos & Fashion Show Pics Online. It’s full of the best places to find fashion show videos, behind the scenes coverage of fashion week, runway show reviews and more.

And the best part? These resources will last well beyond the trends they’re covering, so you can keep checking back for fresh fashion coverage during the rest of this season and beyond. Because the best fashion statement is the one that’s always in style. Well, that and pretty much anything by Chanel.

To see more fabulous lists, check out Ranker – home of the best lists on the web (if I do say so myself).

Tags: fashion, fashion sites, Internet, web
Posted in Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

We’ve all had those days. The days where you feel like no matter how many clothes are crammed into your closet, you still don’t own anything you actually want to get dressed in. Forget feeling fabulous. On days like that, it’s enough of an effort trying not to feel like a total fashion failure.  Which is, of course, the polar opposite of how fashion is supposed to make you feel.

Fashion is supposed to feel glamorous, exotic, inspiring. It’s supposed to take the everyday act of getting dressed and turn it into something bigger – the opportunity to outfit yourself in armor that expresses your personality and lets you take on the day with that special sort of swagger that only comes from feeling. .  .you guessed it – fabulous.

The fall 2010 fashion collections were about just that, featuring “conservative glamour, chic urban warriors, eccentric color combinations, and more” as Harper’s Bazaar put it.  In short, the prevailing theme for fall 2010 fashion seemed to be the powerful, professional woman, taking on her life – and her closet – one killer, creative look at a time.

It’s a theme that dovetails nicely with the upcoming Fashion’s Night Out event at Saks Fifth Avenue, presented by Girls in Tech LA. Five percent of proceeds from Saks’ sales that evening will go  to Dress For Success, “a non-profit organization that provides interview suits, confidence boosts, and career development to low-income women in over 75 cities worldwide.”  It’s truly an organization that helps women do good by helping them look and feel good. And it’s one we’re happy to help support.

The event itself will feature swag bugs stuffed with goodies, rock star makeovers, consults with stylists, cocktails and more.  Plus, there will also be giveaways from the brilliant fall collections by Elie Tahari and Pink Tartan.  Tahari’s travel-themed collection for fall was full of fur coats, casually elegant cardigans, military-inspired suiting and more. Pink Tartan also pulled together military-like precision and feminine details, creating a collection that was just the right balance of serious and sweet.

At Fashion’s Night Out, you can enter to win pieces from both designers on the fourth floor of the gorgeous Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills, while also swigging cocktails, swapping style tips and supporting Dress For Success. Getting the chance to finally solve the ‘I have nothing to wear’ problem while raising money for a great cause and also enjoying everything Fashion’s Night Out has to offer? I can’t think of a better way to get yourself feeling fabulous for fall.

What: Girls in Tech LA Presents Fashion’s Night Out

Where: Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills

When: September 10, 6-10pm

Register Here.

Tags: cocktails, event, fashion, networking
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | 5 Comments »

Girls in Tech LA is proud to announce its newest partnership – the Startup Demo event at Social Media Week LA.

Please join us for an evening of fun mingling with other startups, VCs, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts.  StartupDemo (www.startupdemo.com) is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. Founders use StartupDemo as an opportunity to get frank feedback from VCs, angels, peers and the technolust.  At StartupDemo, we’re all about one thing:  uncovering the latest and greatest technologies.  StartupDemo is produced by the same folks behind Schmoozd. Follow them  @startupdemo for more info and updates leading up to the event.

When: Wednesday,  Sept 22nd, 2010 – 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Where: Wokcano, 1413 5th Street, Santa Monica, CA

What: A Startup Demo event

Price: FREE

Register Here

Tags: event, social networking, startups
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | No Comments »

Posted in Events, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

Open – it’s a web buzzword so buzzy you can practically see the vuvuzelas flaring behind it. But, what does it really mean? And, why does everyone care so much?

But first, a little background. Most websites run like their own unique countries. They have specific rules, structures and languages in place to help the site communicate with its users, with its databases, with its developers, etc.  Because every site operates differently, it’s been historically difficult for programmers to create sites that can clearly communicate with each other in an efficient manner. That’s where the API – or application programming interface – comes in. To really simplify things, an API is like an interpreter that allows different sets of site code to communicate with one another coherently and consistently.

The past few years have really seen the rise of the API as an important part of a site’s structure, and as a major selling point for companies like Facebook and Twitter, whose API’s have allowed them to become more than just stand-alone websites. Thanks to API’s, these sites are now more like platforms, from which other developers can draw on the site’s databases and core functionality to create new features, programs and applications. They also allow sites to use information about the entire breadth of a user’s internet use – from the music you like on Pandora being promoted on your Facebook page to the friends you chat with on Gmail getting automatically loaded into your LinkedIn address book. And that’s where the whole open web thing comes into play.

The open web is basically a movement to standardize certain practices across the web, and to share data between developers and the sites they work for. It’s being heavily promoted by groups like the Open Web Foundation, who works to foster communication and collaboration across the web. But, it’s more conceptual than concrete.

Open Social, OpenID and the Facebook Open Graph are all concrete, code-based examples of the movement towards making the web more open.

Open Social, which was developed by Google and MySpace with help from various other partners,  is basically a set of APIs that allow users to sign in and share with one ID across sites that have implemented the OpenSocial code. Facebook’s Open Graph allows users to use their Facebook login information and data across a network of partner sites, and send and share content between their Facebook profiles and their profiles on these partner platforms.

Similarly, OpenID provides users with a single username and password, which can then be used across a variety of sites, including LiveJournal, Google and Yahoo. And, services like OAuth, which Twitter uses,  use the same sort of concept to allow users to give a single set of sign-in information for multiple sites – often with some restrictions on what kinds of data the sites you sign in to using those credentials can get access to.

These are all examples of a single service trying to make it easier for a user to take their login information, personal data and any content they’ve created or shared from site to site across the web. But, that’s not where this story ends. Now that so many of these services exist, there’s a bit of a battle going on to see if any one service can become the standard for everything social and shared across the web.

If any one service can stand out as the single place for users to get login credentials, store their data and share their content from, then the company behind it will have all sorts of power and influence on the internets. Not to mention major monetization opportunities, and unmatched access to all sorts of interesting information about pretty much every person who uses the web. Forget that silly little ring. On today’s web, it’s all about one registration to rule them all.

Of course, it’s not all as big brother as it sounds. In fact, these open web services are responsible for some of the coolest cross-site mashups and mobile apps around, and giving sites the ability to easily communicate with one another and share information across the internet is a surefire way to guarantee even more amazing innovations in years to come – and to save developers a whole lot of money on the Aspirin required to cope with the dizzying array of different standards and systems on the web today.

At this point, only time will tell how all of the new open web standards and services shake out. All I can say for sure is that it’s a really interesting time to be a web user – not to mention someone who works on the web.

And that, my friends, is what all the buzz is about.

Tags: Sharing, social networking, web
Posted in Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

BlueGlass LA is a unique opportunity to network with, and learn from, some of the top names in search marketing, social media and entrepreneurship. It’s also a great excuse to spend some time in gorgeous Marina Del Rey, and it’s already shaping up to be one of the summer’s premiere industry events.

Speakers include: Ben Huh (Cheezburger Network), Neil Patel (KissMetrics), Dave McClure (Angel Investor), Marshall Simmonds (NY Times), Jason Nazar (DocStoc), Vanessa Fox (Nine by Blue),  Jessica Bowman (SEM InHouse), Greg Boser (3 Dog Media), Todd Friesen (Position Technologies), David Szetela (Clix Marketing), Melanie Mitchell (Digitas), Adam Audette (Audette Media), Andy Liu (Buddy TV), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), Lawrence Coburn (Rate It All), Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly), Rand Fishkin (SEOMoz) and David Roth (Yahoo!).

The conference starts at 8am on July 19 at the Marina Del Rey Mariott, and it goes until 5pm on July 20. Sessions will focus on SEO, social media marketing, entrepreneurship, raising money from angels & VC partnerships, link building, InHouse SEO and much much more.

Between the amazing speakers and the incredible networking opportunities, this is one conference you can’t afford to miss. And, fortunately for Girls in Tech members, it also happens to be a lot more affordable, thanks to a generous 10% discount on tickets with the code gitbgla.

Tags: conferences, Events, networking, seo, social media marketing
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »