Girls In Tech

The San Francisco Chapter of Girls in Tech rang in December on Wednesday night with their annual Holiday Mixer.  As always, just social fun, eats and cocktails to celebrate the great year we’ve had, and ring in the holidays!  This year, we were also throwing the bash to benefit Girl Up, one of our partners, whose work for the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls we admire so much.  We were able to raise well over $300 in donations, thanks to the generous support of those who attended and, either, bought raffle tickets or simply made a voluntary donation.  So, thank you all!

And the winners were…

Our main raffle prize – A Girl Up inspired bracelet, designed by Ivanka Trump and with all proceeds going to Girl Up – was won by:

Tamikka Johnson (pictured here, on the right)

The second prize winners won an entrance to two events of their choice in GIT San Francisco’s 2011 calendar!   Those winners were:

1.  Sheila Lustiva

2. Chris Linn

It was a great way to round off our fabulous year at Girls in Tech — With our many great events from fireside chats with Evan Williams and Brian Solis, to our first Vator.tv/Girls in Tech AMPLIFY Business Pitch Conference & Competition and socializing and making connections, like the many that were made this Wednesday night!

Big thanks to the staff at 5A5 Steakhouse, our Girl in Tech volunteers who helped organize and run the event while we were there, and…

To our prize winners — and everyone out there — who came to celebrate with us & donated to UN’s Girl Up — Thank you!

(photos:  Rob Moody Photography & GirlUp.org)

Tags: Brian Solis, Evan Williams, Girl Up, girls in tech, GIT Holiday Mixer, holiday
Posted in Girls In Tech | No Comments »

Please join us on Thursday, September 30th 6pm for a fireside chat with Brian Solis:

GIT presents Brian Solis, social media guru, the author of “Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web”. He will introduce a concept behind his newbook and address marketing challenges in the social media realm.

Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media agency in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is among the world’s leading business and marketing online resources.

At Adaptive Path in SOMA, SF- click here for further details and tickets:
http://gitgetsengaged.eventbrite.com

Tags: Brian Solis, engage, futureworks, PR, social media, web 2.0
Posted in Events, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | 1 Comment »

I admit that this is a pretty self-indulgent blog post, but so many people ask me about my work experience and the launch of my new company, that I thought I’d dedicate a post to it.

I’m Christine Kirk, but many simply know me by my Twitter handle, @LuxuryPRGal. I definitely respond to both names so feel free to call me whichever you prefer. I started my career in PR at various in-house positions including a law firm, and renewable energy company. I eventually merged into agency life at a tech/consumer lifestyle shop in LA, where in the early 2000s, I was introduced to social media as we know it, with the start of Friendster and developing my blogger relations skills. I was hooked right away, and was then brought on-board at a luxury hospitality agency to introduce many of their high-profile clients to social media. In December 2009, I finally took the leap and launched my own company, Social Muse Communications, a social media marketing consultancy firm for luxury travel, restaurant, tech and lifestyle brands in Los Angeles.

Meet the Muse

PR agencies across the board have gone through hell and back in the past 2 years — due to the economic climate, and the rapid changes in traditional media as we know it – and at the same time. Let me be clear here — traditional media is not dying. It is changing, and in my opinion, for the better. Print and boradcast media outlets are interacting with their readers and viewers in ways they never had the opportunity to before — and it’s making the news much more relevent..and even accountable. For various reasons (including finances, fear, ignorance, etc.) many PR agencies have not quickly adapted to the changes taking place all around us. Some have done a great job, while others are still playing catch-up. Personally, I never want to “catch-up” to anything, and would prefer to be at the forefront of one of the most exciting revolutions in recent history. There are many PR people who have embraced this “new PR” and who are inspirations of mine including, @NicoleJordan, @BrianSolis, @skydiver (Peter Shankman).

Social Muse Communications is employing a whole new type of public relations and Return on Influence (the new ROI) – there is no one way for a brand to reach their target audience. Simply securing a placement in a glossy magazine, or a news segment on television, is not going to cut it anymore. To go from a good, to an excellent communications strategy, a brand must get in front of consumers through many different levels of media – print, broadcast, online, blogs, and social networking sites. This new world of PR gives PR practitioners the opportunity to communicate not only with media, but also with a brand’s customers directly — and that “high-touch” level of communications is what is most effective to enhancing a brand’s bottom-line. Through real relationship building, both online and offline, people (consumers) are more receptive to hearing and acting on PR messages when it comes from a PR person who has taken the time to get to know them. I personally have over 7,500 followers on Twitter and cannot believe the amazing wealth of knowledge, expertise, inspiration, new business leads, media contacts, bloggers contacts, humor, and friends I have made.

Social media is not, and should never be the only tool in a PR pro’s toolbox, but it just might be my favorite.

Christine Kirk is founder and principal at Social Muse Communications, a social media marketing consultancy firm for luxury travel, restaurant, tech and lifestyle brands in Los Angeles. She also holds the position of PR Manager for the Los Angeles chapter of Girls in Tech. She can be reached via e-mail at christine@socialmuse.com or on Twitter @luxuryprgal.

Tags: @LuxuryPRGal, Brian Solis, Christine Kirk, facebook, Friendster, HARO, Nicole Jordan, Peter Shankman, PR 2.0, PR 3.0, public relations, social media, social networking, twitter
Posted in All Chapters, Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

Girl in Tech hosted our first Journalism 2.0 event last week and we had an amazing group of women tech journalists represented on a panel moderated by Kara Swisher from The Wall Street Journal.  The panelists included VentureBeat’s Camille Ricketts, TechieDiva’s Gina Hughes, former San Francisco Chronicle tech editor Deborah Gage, ZDNet’s Jennifer Leggio, and Ubergizmo editor Eliane Fiolet.   Before the panel started, Kara sat down with with Brian Solis to chat with him about his book “Putting the Public back in Public Relations”.

Photo credit: Kenneth Yeung

The roundtable opened up with a discussion about how blogs have affected traditional media.  Everyone agreed that the blogosphere is often a big echo chamber where people retell the same story.  And while that can be the case, well written professional blogs are replacing what newspapers do, and citizen journalism is pushing traditional journalism towards new technology like twitter and video.

On the topic of women in journalism, our panelists shared their personal stories of being stared at, instead of listened to and taken seriously.  They believed that the best way to combat sexism in the workplace is to prove your knowledge and earn credibility through the quality of your work.  Everyone cautioned against the temptation of using sex appeal to get ahead — warning that employing it diminishes credibility over time.

Finally our panelists gave the audience a number of career tips from their own personal experience.  I’ve listed the ones that resonated the most with me below.

1. Learn the job and don’t worry about being female.
2. If you want to start in a new area – jump right in, don’t be afraid to take unpaid internships, and don’t think you’re “too good” for a job.  (ZDNet’s Jennifer Leggio started her journalism career as na obituary writer)
3. Follow your instincts and don’t be afraid to fail.
4. Don’t take “no” for an answer.
5. Don’t worry about slights or disappointments.  Learn from them.

Photo credit: Kenneth Yeung

A huge thank you to Kara Swisher and our amazing panelists for sharing their stories and experiences with us.  And big thanks to Allison Bethurem for pulling the event together on behalf of Girls in Tech, and FutureWorks PR for sponsoring the event.

Tags: Brian Solis, Camille Ricketts, Deborah Gage, Eliane Fiolet, Gina Hughes, Jennifer Leggio, Journalism 2.0, Kara Swisher, Tech Reporting, TechieDiva, Tina Tran, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, ZDNet
Posted in San Francisco | No Comments »