Girls In Tech

Social Media Week (SMW) is here again taking place from February 7 – 11, 2011 across 14 cities internationally, including London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, São Paolo, Paris, Rome and Hong Kong. Owned and operated by New York based Crowdcentric Media, LLC, Social Media Week is a “distributed conference,” on a global platform that connects people, content, and conversation around emerging trends in social and mobile media.

Delivered primarily through a network of internationally hosted biannual conferences and online through social and mobile media, Social Media Week brings hundreds of thousands of people together every year through learning experiences that aim to advance our understanding of social media’s role in society and explore new opportunities in how we as a society connect and communicate. For more info about Social Media Week  visit: http://socialmediaweek.org/sanfrancisco/

As part of the SMW activities for San Francisco, Girls In Tech presents a special panel, “The Women Driving Social Media”, that explores how women have and continue to impact and transform the social media landscape. Kara Swisher, co-producer and co-host of All Things Digital, a major high-tech conference with interviewees such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many other leading players in the tech and media industries will moderate the discussion. Joining her is an empowering line up of panelists including Cathy Brooks, Producer and Host of The Conversation, a live talk show on which industry leaders and average folks share their experiences and stories, Jory Des Jardins, Co-Founder of BlogHer, Christine Herron, Director at Intel Capital and a Venture Advisor at 500 Startups and Shaherose Charania, Advisor at Opinno, an open innovation network for growth stage start-ups across web, mobile, cleantech and biotech, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Women 2.0, a network and pre-incubator for woman-led start-ups in Silicon Valley.

Event Details: “The Women Driving Social Media” Panel

Date: Tuesday February 8, 2011
Time: 12 noon to 2 p.m.
Place: PeopleBrowsr, 474 Bryant San Francisco, CA 94107
Tickets: http://gitsocialmediaweek.eventbrite.com/

Women are dominating the social web and representing the greatest number of influencers on Facebook, Twitter, various blog platforms and all around the social media. For women, social media presents opportunities to innovate, lead, and reach the top of their professions. Our successful women panelist will discuss how to not underestimate your abilities and move forward in your career.

Our event moderator:

Kara Swisher – she currently co-produces and co-hosts All Things Digital, a major high-tech conference with interviewees such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many other leading players in the tech and media industries. The gathering is considered one of the leading conferences focused on the convergence of tech and media industries. Previously, Ms. Swisher worked as a reporter at the Washington Post. She is also the author of “aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web,” published by Times Business Books in July 1998. The sequel, “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future,” was published in the fall of 2003 by Crown Business Books.

Our panelists:

Cathy Brooks – The owner of consulting firm in San Francisco.Cathy now helps companies and individuals navigate new technologies with the purpose of leveraging these platforms to tell stories. Through workshops and consulting services, Cathy walks clients through the story-telling process and towards the deep engagement that comes from authentic communication. Every week Cathy brings these discussions to life on The Conversation, a live talk show on which industry leaders and average folks share their experiences and stories. The program, for which Cathy is Executive Produce and Host, puts technology in human terms, and lets the audience interact via text chat and phone.

Jory Des Jardins – Co-Founder of BlogHer. She develops strategic relationships with Fortune 500 brands and leads innovative campaigns to integrate contextual marketing and advertising into communities of women interested in every topic, from food, health and family to business, finance and technology. Prior to co-founding BlogHer, Jory helped high-technology start-ups Pluck and Rojo launch successful blog syndication initiatives and produced Third Age’s network of bloggers. Jory serves on the advisory boards of RSS company FeedBlitz and Juno Baby. And she serves on the Board of Directors of the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Christine Herron – Director at Intel Capital and a Venture Advisor at 500 Startups. Previously, Christine was a Principal with First Round Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, and a Director at Omidyar Network. Prior to Omidyar Network, Christine held operational roles with Mission Research, NetObjects, and Microsoft, and was the founder and CEO of Mercury2. She started as an investor with Geocapital Partners, where she funded early Internet and network infrastructure businesses including Netcom and AXON Networks.

Shaherose Charania- Shaherose is passionate about open innovation in mobile and telephony startups. She is currently an advisor at Opinno, an open innovation network for growth stage startups across web, mobile, cleantech and biotech. Shaherose is perhaps best known as the CoFounder and CEO of Women 2.0, a network and pre-incubator for woman-led startups in Silicon Valley. She has led its growth to include tens of thousands of participants, hosting monthly educational and networking workshops and engaging entrepreneurs and investors from top Venture Capital firms and Angel circles. Over the years she has seen over 300 early stage startups through Women 2.0 and has a strong interest in supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Join us for our special panel event!

Snacks and beverages will be provided, please feel free to bring your own lunch.

Tags: All Things Digital, Blogher, Cathy Brooks, Christine Herron, Intel Capital, Jory des Jardins, Kara Swisher, Shaherose Charania, SMW 2011, SMW 2011 Activities, Social Media Hour, Social Media Panel, women 2.0, Women and Social Media
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech | 2 Comments »

If you don’t already know the fabulous Girl in Tech @CathyBrooks this is a powerful workshop and opportunity to work one-on-one with her.

Thanks to popular demand, Other Than That is proud to be bringing another installment of Story Navigation to Southern California.  Even more fabulous, because of her sponsors, limited scholarships are available.

What is Story Navigation?

I’ll answer that question with another question … What’s your story?

It’s a common enough query, and when presented in a business setting it generally results in a common enough response – a recitation of the C.V.

Think about the most compelling professional stories you’ve heard. The stories that captured your attention and motivated you to act. Whether explicit or not, those tales share at least one thing in common – a deep connection to the teller’s personal motivation. Making that critical connection between “who” and “what” is hard to do. Take this workshop and you’ll learn how, and if you’re someone who already has a pretty strong grasp, you’ll get tips to help make your solid foundation even more powerful.

In this workshop you will learn:

• How to deconstruct your existing professional story
• To identify and/or better explain your personal “motivation” for your work
• Tips for crafting a more compelling story
• New questions to ask of other people (getting to *their* story)

You will walk out with:

• A well-defined personal “elevator pitch” that serves in business and can be modified for myriad uses/audiences.

For more information on Story Navigation, please visit the workshop web site.

For more information on your navigator, Cathy Brooks, you can check out this link.

Tags: business women, Cathy Brooks, girls in tech, laurel kaufman, Los Angeles, navigation, story, tech, workshop
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

We’re excited to showcase some of the new speakers that have confirmed participation as a presenter, moderator or a panelist at the upcoming Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference on January 26th at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. We will be announcing our first keynote in the coming weeks. To register, please click on the following link: http://gitcc.eventbrite.com/

Katherine Barr; Partner, MDV

Katherine Barr is a member of the investment team at MDV focused on Internet-enabled companies. Prior to joining MDV, she was a Negotiator at Vantage Partners (spin-off of the Harvard Negotiation Project), helping high tech clients such as IBM, Cisco and HP to negotiate with customers, service providers, suppliers, and partners. Before Vantage, she led a development team as a Senior Product Manager at HSA, an education technology startup in Boston. Katherine teaches a yearly Professional Education Negotiation program for the School of Engineering at Stanford. During her graduate studies at Stanford, she was involved in running the E-Challenge business plan competition for BASES (Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students). Katherine received her B.A. from McGill University, and completed an M.A. and the M.S. core curriculum in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

Cathy Brooks; Founder, Other Than That

Cathy Brooks has spent most of her life saturated in media – ranging from print to broadcast and, of course, myriad on-line platforms. Today, in addition to blogging for BitchBuzz and The Huffington Post, Cathy operates Other Than That, a strategic firm helping companies navigate the murky waters of strategic relationships and social media. Most recently Cathy ran business development for Seesmic, a technology company enabling threaded conversations online using video as the conduit. Prior to Seesmic, Cathy worked with Guidewire Group – a global analyst firm focused wholly on emerging markets and technologies. Cathy produced and hosted two podcasts “I of Innovation” and “Six Minutes With…” and also produced two of the firm’s conferences – Innovate!Europe and Leadership Forum. Cathy also headed the talent and booking departments at TechTV, curated content at LeWeb for several years and has held several executive positions with PR agencies.

Joyce Chung; Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures

Joyce Chung has over 10 years of operating experience in technology companies and 10 years of venture capital investing experience. She is a Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage fund focused on emerging technologies. Prior to Garage, she was a founding partner of Cardinal Venture Capital, a $125 million early stage venture fund. At Cardinal, Joyce was responsible for investments in Chipcon (acquired by Texas Instruments), Mobilygen, Valista, and Zilliant. She continues to co-manage the current Cardinal portfolio. Prior to forming Cardinal Venture Capital, Joyce managed venture investments for Adobe Ventures. Her portfolio companies included Vignette (Nasdaq: VIGN), DigitalThink, Digimarc (Nasdaq: DMRC), and Virage. Joyce also held operating roles at Adobe Systems, Sony Corporation, and Cambridge Technology Group. She received an S.B. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Joyce is active at the Stanford Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and is on the board of the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), Chair of the Northern California chapter of AMITA and Member of the Executive Council of Astia.

Leah Culver; Product Manager, Six Apart

Leah Culver was a co-founder and the lead developer of the social network and micro-blogging website Pownce, which was acquired by blog juggernaut Six Apart in November 2008. Now a software engineer at Six Apart, Leah uses her experience with Pownce to develop large scale social applications for future Six Apart projects. While creating the Pownce API she co-authored both the OAuth and OEmbed open API specifications and now maintains the popular Python OAuth library. Leah promotes open source, APIs, and the Django web framework on her blog at leahculver.com. In her free time she likes to play around with new technology and try new restaurants near her home in San Francisco.

Tags: Cathy Brooks, Garage Technology Ventures, Joyce Chung, Katherine Barr, Leah Culver, MDV, Other Than That, Six Apart
Posted in Girls In Tech | 3 Comments »

It may feel like South by Southwest (SXSW) 2009 just ended, but here were are again preparing for next year’s 2010 conference.

The ten day interactive, music and film festival draws thousands of people from across the globe to Austin, Texas. Whether you’re an Internet geek or an audiophile, the conference caters to many tastes.

Last year, Girls in Tech co-hosted several events throughout the week such as the WordPress and Conjunctured BBQ (check out the Flickr set). The Austin GiT members donated their time and cupcakes to ensure a great turnout.  It was the organization’s first year to be involved, and this year, with a bit of experience underneath our belts, we plan on making an even bigger splash this year.

For the first time, GiT has submitted a panel proposal. Entitled, Beyond the Cigar Room, this panel will feature an array of leading women in technology. Each panelists will discuss why they’re successful, how they got there, and why it’s no longer a man’s game.

Panelists include:

Cathy Brooks: Cathy’s life-long passion for communications began with her first job ripping wire copy in 1982 and has evolved to encompass nearly every platform and aspect of media – from reporting and editing to broadcast management, talent casting and guest booking. She also has curated several of the technology industry’s leading conferences.

Tara Hunt: Tara is an entrepreneur, a frequent public speaker and the owner of Citizen Space, a co-working space in San Francisco. She is also the author of the recent book, The Whuffie Factor.

Jeanine LeFlore: Jeanine is CEO and Founder of LiveHit, Inc., a stealth mode start-up in the Social Discovery space focused on the Social Generation. Jeanine has over 14-years of experience in business, product management, and product marketing specializing in media and online communities.

Eve Phillips: Eve is an entrepreneur and investor in technology companies. Most recently, co-founder and CEO of Chirp Interactive. Previous experience includes software strategy and product management (Zazzle, Microsoft, Trilogy) and technology investing (Greylock, Vector, Amadeus, Inflection). Education: MBA from Stanford, BS & M.Eng in Computer Science from MIT.

Susan Wu: Susan is currently the CEO of startup Ohai. She has been featured by Fast Company as 1 00 of the Most Creative People in 2009.

In addition, make sure to check out another GiT submitted panel proposal from two local Austin members, Is Technology Weakening Interpersonal Relationships? This panel will explore the role of technology within interpersonal relationships. Specifically, analyzing the negatives and positives in three distinct relational categories: professional, familial, and romantic.

Public voting for these panel submissions are open until midnight on Friday, September 4, 2009.

Please make sure to vote and to pass the information along. If you’re a GiT member and have submitted a panel submission, please email me (gloriakt1 @ gmail.com). We plan on compiling a master list for the entire organization.

Lastly, if you plan on attending SXSW 2010, let us know. The Austin chapter is always looking for an extra hand and new creative ideas. SXSW is a huge event, and we’d love your help!

Tags: Cathy Brooks, Eve Phillips, girls in tech, Jeanine LeFlore, South by Southwest, Susan Wu, SXSW 2010, SXSW panel picker, Tara Hunt
Posted in All Chapters, Austin | No Comments »