Kate Brodock- CMO of Girls in Tech @just_kate & Ivo Lukas- COO of Girls in Tech @MsSonicFlare will be at SXSW
Come join Girls in Tech on a panel discussion at SXSW: Sunday, March 11th, 12:30-1:30 Salon C, Hilton
Everybody’s a Bloody Entrepreneur! Or Are They?
There was an article – or 100 – the other day that said something about entrepreneurs being…The life blood of society! The new drivers of our economy! The largest employers of our citizens! The solution to our problems!
And what about all the LinkedIn profiles stating “Entrepreneur” as a title?
But are all these “entrepreneurs” really entrepreneurs?
We’ll be hashing through what entrepreneurship really means, what a startup really is, and what innovation really makes a difference on society and the economy (what is “making a difference” anyway?). Our panel will be a group of diverse “entrepreneurs” – from high-growth speedups as described by Startup America to social entrepreneurs who might not provide huge financial returns but contribute in other ways – and we’ll be talking about the similarities and differences between everyone’s idea of their own Entrepreneurship.
It’s a frank discussion on some of the realities and frustrations surrounding this debate.
Panelists:
Jesse Draper
CEO/Host, Valley Girl Show
Jesse Draper is CEO of Valley Girl, Inc. Draper, most commonly referred to as “The Valley Girl” is creator and host of “The Valley Girl Show“, named “Must see startup TV” by USA Today. She has pioneered the way of new media with “The Valley Girl Show” and has grown a following using non-traditional media sources. Under the Valley Girl umbrella, she also runs Lalawag, the largest technology-focused blog in Los Angeles.
Draper is an actress meets entrepreneur and is also known for her role as Jesse, the nanny, from Nickelodeon’s hit show “The Naked Brother’s Band”.
Kate Brodock,
CMO, Girls in Tech
Executive Director of Digital & Social Media, Syracuse University
Kate is Executive Director of Digital & Social Media at Syracuse University, where she leads university-wide efforts in the field. She is also CMO of Girls in Tech, a global organization for women in technology and entrepreneurship, and on the Strategy Board of the Meta-Activism Project, a think tank making digital activism smarter. She is Founder & Chair of Other Side Group, a social media marketing and content production firm that has a sweet spot for writing.
She specializes in social media marketing, content production and entrepreneurship and works diligently and passionately for issues around women in technology and entrepreneurship. She likes to write when she can, and regularly does so for Forbes Women, Mashable and several other outlets.
She holds an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory, an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and BAs in History and Political Science from University of Rochester.
When she’s not doing all that, she gets outside a lot – biking, hiking, skiing, sailing, whatever – is a very non-professional musician, likes dry humor, a great glass of bubbly or craft beer, great people, and loves life.
Nicole Glaros
Managing Director, TechStars
Nicole is the Managing Director of TechStars in Boulder.
Nicole got her entrepreneurial start in the 4th grade, orchestrating cousins into theatrical plays and charging neighbors admission. From there, she founded three startups including PropertyManagementShop.com, all of which are still operating. She has spent nearly a decade working to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Colorado through leadership roles at various organizations and incubators such as CTEK, Investor Avenue, CleanLaunch, and the Advance Colorado Center. She considers herself privileged to have worked with nearly 100 brilliant and gutsy seed-stage web software entrepreneurs.
Nicole graduated with her Master’s Degree from the University of Florida, likes to do at least one philanthropic thing annually, and shares the wonderment of parenthood with the love of her life, Mark.
When not thinking about TechStars, you’ll find Nicole on the slopes or on her bike, hanging with her big fat greek family, traveling to some exotic destination, or generally making a fool of herself to entertain others.
Kate Dohring
Founder, Rock It Media
Ms. Dohring is an expert in incubating and developing products and services and go to market distribution strategies for consumer brands that have social innovation at their core. With decades of finance, media & entertainment experience that target consumer passion points, she links custom content and strategic branding to ignite distribution, sales and awareness. Ms. Dohring has launched transformative lifestyle products and platforms that promote both innovation and sustainability. Revolve for Coke, launched Coke’s strategy to recycle its PET plastic bottles into t-shirts. She has also founded with John Paul Dejoria, the founder of Paul Mitchell and Patron Spirits, JP Selects, which is a sustainable ecommerce platform marketplace for products made with uncompromising principles. The brands pride themselves on the quality of their products, the sustainability of their production, and in the social causes that they support.
As Curator of the Starts With You Festival in Brazil she has created and curated the Global Sustainability Symposium which has hosted over 36 World Thought Leaders at the SWU music and Arts Festival, with both an online and in person audience. The 2010 Global Symposium event drew more televised viewers then the Brazilian Presidential debates and Neil Young, Bob Geldof, and Peter and Anna Gabriel have partnered with SWU to expand their sustainability activities in Brazil.
She has provided strategy and consulted for prominent International Non Profits including the Cleveland Clinic and its Wellness 180 /Patient Experience initiative and provided strategy with its executive team for its $100 million dollar partnership with the Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. She was a part of the launch team for the Freedom Center in Ohio and served as a board member of Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship’s International Youth Imagination Project, which included KnowledgeWorks, a funding partner of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
She is also a special project agent to Simon and Schuster and developed the first NFC Smart Book with Atria Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. Copies of the book, The Impulse Economy, by Mobile Entertainment Forum Chairman, Gary Schwartz, are stickered with a RFID chip allowing for any Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled phone to simply tap and engage with the book’s content. The RFID tag can be read by the consumer’s phone by taping the sticker. Any NFC-enabled phone will automatically perform the command embedded in the tag. In this case, the phone will open the phone’s mobile web browser on specific book related content.
She is a current advisory board member to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media and Geena’s non profit See Jane. She is also an advisory board member to The Newhouse School at Syracuse University’s Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship. Ms Dohring will be launching in late 2012 a national seed fund for college student start ups, Venture Classmates, which will provide access to annual funding for student based business ideas.
Ms. Dohring was a Corporate Officer at Allmerica Financial, a publicly traded Fortune 500 Financial Service company. She created Wealth Living and Giving, a Philanthropic Platform that included a donor advised fund and award winning custom publication that produced 400 integrated sales channels including accounting firms, international money center banks and community foundations nationwide.
Kate Dohring graduated with a BS in Finance from RIT, and attended the Executive Development Program at the University of Rochester.
Vanessa Keitges
President & CEO, Columbia Green
Vanessa has a dynamic 9-year global career reflecting optimal performance in the public and private sector in the area of business development, marketing and sales. Vanessa has served in numerous executive positions in business development roles, where she has managed rapid growth; both domestically and internationally. She has been responsible for triple digit increase within the companies she has worked for where she has played a leading role in the sales groups.
Vanessa is currently President & CEO of Columbia Green, whose core technologies in eco-roofs are based on sustainable functions that help manage the quality and quantity of storm water, energy use, as well as air and water pollution. Vanessa purchased the company along with local investors in 2009 and Columbia Green is currently experiencing significant growth under her leadership.
Ms. Keitges graduated from Oregon State University earning a B.A. in Philosophy. Her personal interests include: riding horses, traveling and meeting new people. She has an affinity toward kids and animals and sits on the Oregon Zoo Wild Life Board. Her true passion is helping others within her community.
#sxsw #bloody #SXSWGIT Be sure to join us!
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