Girls In Tech

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 »

Lately, I have been doing a lot of reflecting about my life. I am originally from Canada, born and raised in Toronto. I have been involved with the Beauty and Fashion industries since I was fifteen. I started out modeling, moved on to makeup artistry, then to sales, marketing and education, and finally, currently working with Beauty and Fashion websites. A part of me thinks I have had a long career in this world and the other part thinks I have yet to develop a career at all. This is why…

Since I was 19 and when I first left home, I have lived in Montreal (if you ever visit Canada, I love my home town, but nothing beats Montreal), New York, Los Angeles, Park City, Reno, and back to Los Angeles. I have moved a total of  23 times and have worked for 27 companies, most of the time juggling three jobs at once. It was really a mix of my own choices, survival, and situations beyond my control. If there is anything that I have learned is how to survive. However, nothing compares to the last two and half years.

First, my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant. Who knew that after years of being in control of your sexuality would you ever come to a point when you had absolutely no control over it. Something that is part of life and evolution and should happen naturally, becomes so incredibly difficult on multiple levels. Also, within the last year I have been unemployed twice. Yup, twice! We all know about the global economic crisis and boy do I know it first hand. There are days when I think, “OK, this is just part of my journey”. There are other days when I say “OK, I’m done with this particular journey, get me out of here!” . 

With all this said, my reflection has been about being a woman and where I am in my life today and where I want to go. A part of me would like to have it all and a part of me would like to have a solid foundation in one area of my life if I can’t have it all. The other day, I was taking my usual Sunday stroll through Larchmont Village in LA and going through the current magazines on the newsstand. I came across the cover of TIME “The State of the American Woman“. Well, of course it caught my attention. A couple of the major points they discuss are, “by the end of the year, for the first time in history the majority of workers in the U.S. will be women” and that women are becoming “the primary breadwinner in their household (almost 40%) or are providing essential income for the family’s bottom line”. With that said, the article also mentions that we are more unhappy than we ever have been.

I am all for women having it all, but not if it affects our happiness and health. The question is, do we need to have it all to be fulfilled as a woman and if so, how can our society help us achieve our goals? I think for one thing, give us longer maternity leave.  When you check out the list of maternity leave from around the world, New Zealand is up there with the US, 12 – 14 weeks with NO PAY!

In light of my reflections, I was happy to hear that Maria Shriver is beginning a series called A Woman’s Nation. She will be discussing all the issues that affect women today. The series actually started this past Sunday and will be an on-going segment. 

What are some of the issues that you are facing being a woman today?

Tags: a woman's nation, state of the american woman, time magazine
Posted in Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

I normally do not write a post-event blog, but due to the success of our Tech Etiquette event Monday night, I felt it was necessary. It wasn’t the fact that we had a massive turn out, because it was Yom Kippur and a chilly Monday night. It was the fact that the topic was so interesting on multiple levels that it made for one of the most lively, dynamic panels we have had for the LA Chapter.

I felt our panel represented women in key areas of the technology sector. Marsha Collier has been in the tech industry since Web 1.0. She is the foremost author on eBay having written 15 eBay For Dummies books, selling over 1 million copies worldwide. We also had Lynn Langit, Developer Evangelist for one of the largest technology corporations in the world, Microsoft. Finally, Brette Borow is a young entrepreneur who founded Girlsguideto.com to give 20-something women a destination to share their stories, ask their questions and get advice in an environment that they feel safe being open and honest.

The topic was “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can You Say Online & Not Tarnish Brand”. The event started at 7PM with some mixing and mingling and the panel started at 7:45. The plan was to talk for about 30-40 minutes, then do a Q & A. Well, we decided to incorporate the Q & A as we went along and before I knew it, it was almost 9PM!

Our panelists spoke about how employers are going beyond the resume when hiring young people and checking them out online. Lynn specifically mentioned how important it is to do a search on your name to see what comes up. If you are careful about what you display online about yourself, nothing incriminating will pop up. She said and I quote “when in doubt, keep it out”. Then the discussion turned to using the different platforms and which ones people preferred – Facebook vs Twitter. Both Marsha and Brette felt that they can have a much more dynamic, engaging level of communication on Facebook. Someone in the audience asked, “well then, is Myspace dead”. Marsha said no, because she also uses the MySpace platform to engage with that audience. Then the next question was “is it important to use all the different social media platforms for your business?” The answer, “use the ones where your target market lives”. We also spoke about having a personal Facebook account versus having a “professional” one. Also, is discussing politics online or getting involved with political issues, such as what went on in Iran during their elections, proper protocol, our panelists’ opinions were a resounding no.

In light of this event and how great it was, we are looking forward to organizing a part II some time early 2010. I not only want to thank our panelists for making this event such a success, but also a big thank you to Fox Audience Network for allowing us to have our event at their offices. Finally, a massive thank you to Epicurean Umbrella who provided the most amazing appetizers. For those of you that live in LA and love food, you must check out their Underground Chef Tastings. There is one tomorrow night which is $48 per person and you experience a three course meal with wine and a DJ! To RSVP, email info@epicureanumbrella.com with the following information -  your cell number, either the 7PM or 9PM tasting, if you want to eat steak, pork or fish, and they will respond with the location details.

And remember, mind your online manners …

Tags: epicurean umbrella, facebook, Myspce, tech etiquette, twitter
Posted in Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

Back in December of 2008, we were excited to be an affiliate organization for the Digital Family Reunion. It was the first event to bring together the people, companies, and brands of Web 1.0 and 2.0. It was about celebrating the trailblazers who first adopted the Internet and helped paved the way for the rest of us who now make up Web 2.0. Building upon the success of DFR ’08 comes Digital Family Summit.

DFS will bring together leading community builders, social media experts, application developers, marketers and digital media business leaders to explore the very timely topic of “Managing Online Communities.” In association with USC’s Annenberg Program on Online Communities and E-Poll Market Research, they are conducting the Digital Family Survey which will survey professionals from across the U.S. technology and business communities.

So, if you are a developer of communities, or someone within a company who is responsible for community outreach, take the survey (see link below). If not, you can forward this to anyone who answers this description. They are looking to capture the most valuable best practices of these professionals who are designing, managing and marketing Online Communities. The survey may be accessed at: http://surveys.epoll.com/epoll/surveys/askSurvey.htm?sid=20248

The results will be presented at the Digital Family Summit on Wednesday, September 23 at Wokano Restaurant, 1413 Fifth Street in Santa Monica. Jason Calacanis will broadcast “This Week In Start-Ups” (http://thisweekinstartups.com) live from the event to thousands of technology professionals and will interview two major executives in the “online community” sector, Peter Hirshberg, CEO of The Conversation Group, and Mike Jones, COO of MySpace.

Girls in Tech is part of the affiliate/host committee for this event. Please use code DFRGIT20 and get $20 off registration.

Tags: digital family summit, online communities, WITI
Posted in Los Angeles | No Comments »

Girls in Tech LA is excited to be sponsoring WITI‘s Summer Networking Social! This is an annual favorite for WITI LA and this year they are taking it ocean side to Shanghai Red’s in Marina Del Rey.

Before Yahoo or Google ever existed, there was Women In Technology International (WITI). Carolyn Leighton founded WITI in 1989 (known then as The International Network of Women in Technology) as a worldwide e-mail network for women in all technology sectors. At the time WITI was established, Ms. Leighton was President of Criterion Research, a research consulting firm for the high tech industry which she founded in 1984, as well as chair of the Core Competency Database Project at Stanford University. Due to Ms. Leighton’s leadership and vision, WITI has grown to be the premiere brand and worldwide organization dedicated to empowering women worldwide to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity. Ms. Leighton has 35 years of experience as an educator and entrepreneur. In addition to WITI, she founded four start-ups in the high-tech, legal sectors and, most recently, the pet industry. Ms. Leighton was named one of the “Top 100 Women in Computing” in 1997 and 2000.

We had the pleasure of partnering with WITI for our Summer Mixer last month, so it’s only fitting to sponsor one of their largest networking events of the year. All GIT LA members will be able to to use the code ‘gitwitila’ to get tickets for the WITI member price. Hope to see you there!

WITI Summer Networking Social

Thursday, August 27th from 6 – 9PM

Shanghai Red’s

13813 Fiji Way
Marina Del Rey, California 90292

Tickets $25 (use code ‘gitwitila’)

Register here

Tags: girls in tech, networking, Shanghai Red's, WITI
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

I know, you are looking at that title and thinking…what! However, after reading the Wired Magazine article “Laid Off? It’s Good for You and Good for the Tech Industry” I had to share it with everyone.

I was recently let go and went into panic mode. Back in October 2008, I was laid off and went into panic mode then as well. It is never a good feeling and you wonder what are you going to do about money and finding another job. In October ’08, I immediately applied for unemployment and thankfully I was eligible for the maximum. With my husband’s income, we were able to survive and pay our bills. Of course, the once a week date nights and Sunday brunches were not doable anymore, but like everyone else due to today’s economy/recession, you have to make those changes. Having just come on board as the Chapter Lead for Girls in Tech LA, I poured my efforts into building up that chapter and we are now one of the largest chapters in the US.

With this recent job loss, I was much more devastated. I poured my heart and soul into this job and thought there was a real future here. And then boom! I honestly did not want to collect unemployment and was depressed with the thought of looking for another job.

Then my girlfriend Laurie (Editor Extraodinaire of Lalawag.com) sent me the Wired article. After reading it, I felt so much better, even empowered! “Worker mobility gives the tech industry fluidity, velocity, and energy. It creates a culture in which people routinely jump from one job to another, looking to get in on the next must-have product or service” suggests Paul Boutin. He gives the example of Twitter being developed by people who quit their jobs to come to work with Evan Williams.

So, on to my next opportunity and I know it will be better than the job I had before. Like Boutin says, “…if you’re clinging out of fear to a job you don’t want, you’re doing yourself and the rest of us a disservice.” Sometimes it will be your choice to move on, sometimes someone will be giving you a kick in the pants, and if that’s what it takes to get ahead, so be it.

*WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.08, Paul Boutin

*Image by freeagentwriter.com

Tags: Laid off, tech, wired
Posted in Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? If this intrigues you, then you want to come and check out LA’s first Ignite event.

Girls in Tech LA along with LA Geek Dinner are sponsoring the first Ignite event in LA. Ignite captures the best of geek culture in a series of five-minute speed presentations on topics ranging from The Best Way to Buy a Car to Hacking Chocolate. Imagine that you’re on stage in front of an audience of hundreds of people, doing a five-minute presentation using a slide deck that auto-forwards every 15 seconds, whether you’re ready or not. What would you do? What would you say? Could you stand the pressure? Every week, find out how some of the smartest minds on the planet deal with this situation.

Started by Brady Forrest, Technology Evangelist for O’Reilly Media, and Bre Pettis of Etsy.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine, Ignite was inspired by Pecha Kucha Nights, where speakers are given 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds, giving each speaker 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame. The first Ignite took place in Seattle in 2006, and since then the event has become an international phenomenon, with gatherings in Helsinki, Finland; Paris, France; New York, New York; and many other locations.

LA Geek Dinner was kind enough to open up their dinner event to have Ignite host their first LA event. LA Geek Dinner, founded by Heathervescent brings people with a passion for technology and the internet together over a meal where conversations happen, friendships form, and collaborations on various projects occur.

So, come join us on Tuesday, July 21st at Cinespace. The event is free, please RSVP at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2473026/

Tags: Cinespace, ignite, LA geek dinner
Posted in Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

We are excited to be one of the sponsors for Green Business: Messaging Strategies, Operations Case Studies & Future Workforce Impacts on July 23rd in Santa Monica, CA. 

Santa Monica College and The City of Santa Monica bring together local business leaders for an insightful discussion on: how the “green” business opportunity  is being implemented today. Join Los Angeles Business and Industry Executives share insights and expertise on the direction of “green” in this new economy and the impact of messaging and communication on the consumer mindset, share examples of how corporations are changing their business practices and adjusting their business models to address the growing concerns of consumers, and what impact this will have on the future of our workforce.  

 · Kelton Research & PainePR will discuss cutting edge consumer research and communication strategies for navigating change and managing messaging and communications. www.keltonresearch.com & www.painepr.com

 · Westfield provides unique behind the scenes insight into carbon foot measurement for a global operation, and how they are identifying win/win/win reduction scenarios for emissions and green house gasses using solutions such as solar and fuel cells. www.westfield.com/corporate

 · City of Santa Monica ranked as one  of the top sustainable cities in the U.S. demonstrates the results of effective Green Marketing, driving active participation of consumers and businesses toward sustainable solutions. www.smgov.net

 Roundtable Panelists: Andrew Basmajian - Environmental Outreach Specialist, Office of City Manager, Santa Monica, Tom Bernthal – CEO, Kelton Research, Chris Chamberlin – Group Director, Sustainability at PainePR , James Darrish – Senior Director of Technical Operations, Westfield, LLC . Moderator:  Emily Della Maggiora, President, Treehouse Strategies Inc.; Santa Monica College, Workforce & Economic Development

 Location:

Santa Monica Library

MLK Auditorium 601 Santa Monica Blvd

601 Santa Monica Blvd

Santa Monica, CA 90405

July 23^rd, 8-11am

 Registration:

http://greenbusiness.eventbrite.com/

Free admission.  Registration Required.

 Sponsors: The City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, ThinkLA, GirlsInTech, LAWire, Small Business Development Center, and Spire Associates Inc.

For more information, please contact Sandra Sanchez at sanchez_sandra@smc.edu   

Tags: city of santa monica, green business, santa monica college
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | No Comments »

There are some things in this world that really bring people together. Wine is definitely one of them, but have you ever thought of using wine to help you with your career or business? Well, that’s what Julie Brosterman’s seminar series “Close Any Deal Over A Glass Of Wine” is all about.

Julie Brosterman is the Founder/CEO of Women & Wine. Women & Wine is a lifestyle company that creates signature experiences for savvy women (men optional!) who love wine, food, travel and living well. Through their events, and by partnering with the brands they love, Women & Wine connects their members with the people, the places and what’s in the bottle through storytelling (which is their expertise). They also provide lifestyle benefits for women’s organizations and experiential marketing for luxury products. They add a great “tasting element” to all types of events. 

Julie’s seminar “Close Any Deal Over A Glass Of Wine” empowers women in various ways. She shares tips on how to order great wine off the list and save money, to networking at social events to find your next job, to entertaining and throwing high level events, to even asking for financing. Julie is graciously opening up her beautiful home in West Hollywood for this event. Attendees will also have an opportunity to taste and purchase wines straight from her Beverly Hills store, Wine Valet. This is surely not an event to miss!

Please join us on Wednesday, May 27th at 7PM. RSVP and purchase tickets here. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Tags: girls in tech, Los Angeles, women & wine
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | 19 Comments »

As we all know the US economy was hit hard last year and since then there has been an enormous amount of people who have lost their jobs. I, for one, experienced this first hand by losing my job in October 2008. Not knowing where to turn at first and going into a panic, I decided to work on getting unemployment then figure out my next move. When the time came I thought, what is my next move? If you happen to be out of work and wondering what your next move is and you reside in LA, then I highly recommend attending LaidOffCamp LA.

LaidOffCamp was founded in January 2009 by Chris Hutchins. It is an ad-hoc gathering of unemployed and nontraditionally employed people (including freelancers, entrepreneurs and startups) who want to share ideas and learn from each other.

LaidOffcamp features an open, participatory discussion forum designed to educate, empower, and connect community members. Panels, workshops, and discussions will focus on building your personal brand, transitioning to a new industry, legal and accounting demands of launching a new business, finding affordable health insurance, alternative working spaces, alternative income sources, and how to become a freelancer.

LaidOffCamp LA will be held at Blankspaces, which is the perfect venue for this event. Blankspaces is a sleek, modern, co-working office space. It’s the ideal work space whether you are starting a business, do not have the funds to lease office space, or you have a home-based business and need a change of scene. You can rent space by the hour, day, month, or year. Also, it’s a great space to have events. Girls in Tech LA had their first Incubator event at Blankspaces called Startup Savvy in February.

For more info and to register for LaidOffCamp LA, please click here.

Tags: girls in tech, laidoffcamp, Los Angeles
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | No Comments »