Girls In Tech

 

Assistant Editor of Mashable.com, Erica Swallow mentions a San Franciscan Contestant, Tiffany Lan and her potential in The New York Intern Project.

March 31, 2011-San Francisco, CA – In these challenging economic times, companies are working harder than ever to build the strongest team. With a new set of undergraduates entering the market every year, businesses are finding new tactics to sift through the applications.  The New York based PR Company, Affect Strategies is looking for a summer intern and is pushing potential candidates to market themselves by hosting a competition! The competition is held all day long over the internet portals of Nyinternproject.com.  Each contestant must obtain votes by getting internet users to visit nyinternproject.com and register as a voter.  The New York Intern Project is ending its successful run on April 11, 2011 and a San Franciscan Public Relations Intern is 4th place in the running- Tiffany Lan- PR for Non Profits and Tech Startups.

“Tiffany brings real experience and passion to the table,” says Swallow. “These are two assets that are difficult to find in an intern.”

Erica Swallow, the Assistant Editor of Mashable.com shared her opinions on Tiffany Lan as a Leading contestant on techaffect.com, a Tech Blog by Affect Strategies.  She is one of the judges who will be choosing three contestants out of the top six entries with the most votes who will then get to fly to New York City for a formal interview.

“I am reaching out to organizations and networks I’ve built relationships with to support me.  I’m using the strategies I’ve learned in my PR internships for Grubcrawl.com and Rocksf.org to promote my entry in the contest. I’ve also utilized social media to the max and I hope it works in my favor!” –Tiffany Lan

She is leading as the 4th place contestant with 156 votes away from being in 1st place. You can Read Tiffany’s Bio and vote for her at:http://www.nyinternproject.com/entry/136118?=f1gtgn

You can register as a voter by allowing access to your Facebook account. Or, you can register with an email by clicking the link below:

http://www.nyinternproject.com/auth/register?destination=entry%2F136118

About Tiffany
Tiffany Lan utilizes her experience in Public Relations by working with Non-profits to obtain sponsorships with event planning and media outreach.  Contact her via Twitter: Tlan815. or at  lan.tiffanye@gmail.com

Tags: girls in tech, NY Intern Project, PR
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech | 2 Comments »

The San Francisco Chapter is thrilled to announce that Marissa Louie has been added as a panelist for next week’s PR for Startups event.

Marissa Louie brings the dual perspective of a startup entrepreneur (Dilemma, HeroEx, AD Village) and a PR and marketing consultant (Double Dutch, RateItAll, Trumpet, Compute.org). Her work has been featured in publications including TechCrunch, Mashable, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, TheNextWeb, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Huffington Post, and Shape Magazine.

As a reminder, the PR for Startups event will be held on Tuesday, March 8th at the Founder’s Den and features a panel of experts who will discuss how PR can play a role in growing your business. The final panelist lineup includes:

• Scott McGrew of NBC Bay Area and ‘Press: Here’
• Andrew Sinkov, Vice President of Marketing for Evernote
• Tracey Parry, Vice President of Airfoil Public Relations
• Marissa Louie, Serial Entrepreneur /Co-Founder & CEO at Dilemma
• Moderater: Kym McNicholas of Forbes.com

Tickets for the event are still available but selling out fast. To reserve your spot, register at http://gitprforstartups.eventbrite.com/

If you have any questions you would like to submit in advance or during the event, please tweet them to @christine1oneto or @luciagia or text them to: 650-283-8008

Tags: Andrew Sinkov, girls in tech, Kym McNicholas, Marissa Louie, PR, public relations, Scott McGrew, startups, Tracey Parry
Posted in Events, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | 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 »

Mayor Sam Adams gave a closing speech at OSCON this year – “Great beer selections, no sales tax; come to Portland, move your family and start your business here”. I’ve had the liberty to sit down with Mayor Sam Adams to chat about tech scene, start ups and a great lifestyle by living in Portland, Ore

Sam Adams – Mayor, City of Portland, Oregon.

Mayor Sam Adams of Portland, Oregon was elected Mayor of Portland in May 2008. Prior to being elected Mayor, Adams served as a Commissioner on the City Council for four years earning a reputation as a “policy-driven” advocate for sustainability, public transit, transportation planning, the arts, and gay rights. As a City Commissioner, Adams was Commissioner in Charge of Portland’s Office of Transportation and the Bureau of Environmental Services, and council liaison to, among others, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Association of Portland Neighborhood Business Districts, and Worksystems, Incorporated. In his role as Mayor, Adams is the lead Council member on Economic Development, Planning and Sustainability, Education, Arts and Culture, and Transportation.

During his first year as Mayor, Adams has launched a number of initiatives designed to showcase and provide support to Portland’s open source software community. Notably, Mayor Adams and City Council approved the nation’s first open source and open data resolution, which places open source software on equal footing with commercial software for purposes of City contracts. Also, Portland recently launched Civic Apps for Greater Portland, which is the nation’s first regional open data and open source app contest. Mayor Adams brings renewed focus to developing and implementing plans that will not only keep Portland livable, vibrant, and economically healthy, but will also increase Portland’s status as a national leader. He is proud of Portland’s open source software community, and he wants to do his part to ensure Portland maintains its reputation as an international hub for open source innovation.

Q&A

Exciting how the city of Portland is hosting OSCON again this year! How’s OSCON in Portland this year?

Portland, Oregon is the perfect host city for the open source convention. As a city, we have a wide breadth of un-matched talent; proprietary and open source software development, digital media firms, programming, coding and creative skill-sets. As a city, we are faster, cheaper and more creative. We have to be to compete with the other cities.  We have the quality and value – all in one city.

How has the tech scene evolved over the last several years?. What’s next? Where do we grow?

The Portland technology community has been able to take collaborative and open source philosophies to the next level. We’ve done some creative stuff; from digital development through productization.

Take Civicapps for example; CivicApps is an open data / open source project sponsored by several Portland-area government agencies to promote innovation in the public and private sectors. Currently over 120 civic data sets are available, including geographic, 911, transit, streets, and parks data. The aim is social change. The path is regional collaboration. The focus is local. A cool transportation app that displays arrival times for public transport in Portland, Oregon –PDX Bus—was developed using these public datasets, and it is available on a number of platforms including iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

Technology products and services developed in Portland are most appealing to end-users because from the underlying software to the user experience we really figure them out to the fullest–we have high expectations. In the future, we need to focus on delivering value, quality and creativity in the most competitive ways. Portland has the potential be the most creative technology community in the world. We have so much opportunity here!

What’s your thought about expanding the women/girls presence in technology in Portland?

I think a mentoring approach is the way to go. We’ve had success with Rock and Roll Camp for Girls, which is a summer program that helps girls build confidence as musicians and learn about the music industry. That model could be used to help girls learn about other industries –like tech.

What current device/technology could you not live without? iPhone. It’s the one source that I rely on to get all of my news, connect with constituents. I tweet a lot, and I rely on a couple of applications for tweeting, including tweet deck. Beyond that I’m a news junky.  I use fluent news, incorporate, dig, and other apps.

Favorite apps? Pdxreporter.

What do you want people outside of Portland to learn about one of the most dynamic cities in the US?

Besides our worldclass beer and no sales tax?  We are a very open city that rewards creative thinking and values innovation.

We seek to be the best place to have both a fulfilling career and a balanced personal life. You really can have it all.

Also, this is a welcoming place and one of opportunity for people who want to make a difference. I am an example—I grew up poor, worked hard in public service, and now I have the honor of serving as Mayor.

To learn more about the city go to http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm

and be sure to follow @mayorsamadams

Be sure to join Girls in Tech Portland Chapter at OSCON 2010 this year at Portland Oregon. Girls in tech Portland is sponsored and powered by 24Notion

For More info for our local Portland chapter, go to our facebook page. If you are interested in being a guest speaker and/or panelist for our workshops and lectures, pls feel free to drop me an email: ivo@girlsintech.net

tweet @mssonicflare @oscon @24notion @gitweet #oscon #portland #opensource

photo by David Snyder

Tags: 24notion, business, creative, designer, Developer, girls in tech portland, gitpdx, innovation, ivo, ivolukas, marketing, mobile apps, mssonicflare, open source, oregon, OSCON, Portland, PR, programmers, startups, technology, user experience, VC, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, Portland | No Comments »

When it comes to today’s PR world, it’s all about the buzz. That particularly viral kind of word of mouth marketing that means big brand recognition and even bigger sales.

But, how do you build that buzz? How do you keep it going? How do you transition a PR campaign from traditional media to new media? And, how do you convince clients that all this tweeting and texting and typing is totally worth it? These are just a few of the topics we’ll be covering at our latest Girls in Tech LA panel — The Buzz: PR & Marketing 3.0.

The panel kicks off at 7, followed by cocktails and plenty of time to enjoy them. There will also be a full bar menu. And, we’re very excited to be hosting it at Hollywood hot spot H.Wood.

According to Citysearch, “this small, plush hideout has a loungey vibe with brown leather couches and low-lit vintage chandeliers. Inside the 1920s-esque bar and lounge, the see and be seen and celeb crowd plays chess on boards strewn on tables, shakes their hips on the upstairs dance floor, and snacks on upscale comfort food.”

Tickets are $10, and supplies are limited, so grab yours before we sell out.

Speakers include:

Rynda Laurel (moderator)- Rynda is currently managing International Strategy for AF83 (Paris/San Francisco), Bearstech (Paris) and Hackable:Devices (Paris). She is involved in coordinating and participating in numerous events and panels including: French by South West, Twestival, Social Media Club, TedxSoma, Musi2K, Digital LA, Girls In Tech and FAIRfund. She also is developing a socially conscious marketing and consulting agency which is a manifestation of her deep-seated devotion to the environment and sustainability.

Nicole Jordan – one of the premier PR/Marketing names in the LA area, she has worked as a social media expert on the Rubicon Project and as director of PR and Communications for Clearstone Venture Partners. She has also worked with This Next, Inc., Brenthaven, Buongiorno USA, David Lynch, Edelman, and Ogilvy, just to name a few.

Heather Meeker – Director of PR & Marketing at Whrrl.

Babette Pepaj – founder/CEO of BakeSpace.com, the Web’s first food-themed social network and 2009 Webby Nominee for “Best Social Network.” She is also the founder of TECHmunch and publisher of The Daily Bite. Brands she’s worked with include KitchenAid, ABC, Sara Lee, Kodak, McCormick, Reynolds, Universal, Sony Pictures and FOX Searchlight and has a unique knack for spinning traditional ad campaigns into unique PR opportunities. Also find us @BakeSpace.

Amanda Coolong – Executive producer for Tech Zulu & ThisWeekin.com, Principal and Founder of Beta PR.

Andrea Scott – Manager of Interactive Marketing for POM Wonderful

Christine Kirk – Social Media Marketing Consultant/Founder at Social Muse Communications and PR Manager at Girls in Tech LA. Previous work includes Online Communications Director at Murphy O’Brien, Senior Account Executive at Murphy O’Brien, Account Executive at Zeno Group and more.

Sponsored by: Mashable

Tags: Events, marketing, mixer, networking, PR, social media
Posted in Events, Los Angeles | No Comments »

Join Women 2.0 for Startup Essentials, October 13-15, 2009! Held in San Francisco, all three evening sessions will include networking and a discussion workshop. Each night features a speaker covering their topic of expertise: development issues, legal issues, and PR issues. Find out the best way to support your venture in each of these areas on a tight budget.

Food and drinks will be provided.

Register at: http://www.eventbee.com/view/startupessentials
Startup Essentials: http://www.women2.org/october-2009-startup-essentials/

Tags: development, legal, PR, start-up, women 2.0
Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco | No Comments »

Last month it was that time of year again: Panel Picker Voting for the Annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin, TX. Sound familiar? Check out fellow GIT blogger Kristine Gloria’s post about it here: http://girlsintech.net/2009/08/31/girls-in-tech-at-sxsw-2010/

Each year the public votes online for which proposed panels should make it through to being accepted for the conference. I submitted a panel proposal, titled “Impact of Women in Technology”. Whether the panel makes it through to the final round and becomes an official SXSWi panel or not, I do want to share some of my thoughts on the subject, as well as hear everyone else’s and get some great discussion going on this.

For all you girls out there, was there a female presence that got you excited about tech? Maybe it was a mother, sister, aunt, or friend. Perhaps someone well respected in technology today, like Social Media Strategist Erica O’Grady, or Ad-Village CEO Marissa Louie for example?

If you do have an example like this, what about them or their journey in the tech world inspired or empowered you to pursue your dreams? How important do you think their roles are as pillars of Women in Technology to the future of Women in Tech? For me, two of those people are Tekzilla Co-Host & Gadget Guru Veronica Belmont, & New media producer and star of “The Guild”, Felicia Day. These two women are strong willed, have shown great initiative in their respective spaces, and have become pioneers and tastemakers in the fields of Journalism & New Media.

How have women influenced and changed the face of technology as we know it? This includes anything even remotely tech related, whether it be Journalism, Gaming, PR, Marketing, Social media, & more. Are there any famous cases of companies or brands that have seen great success due to Women in Technology? What issues as a Girl in Tech have you had to face? What issues have other women who’ve made a major impact in technology had to face on their paths to success? What would you tell younger or newer women entering the tech space to help them overcome these hurdles and encourage growth of the amount of women in the tech field?

Why are women in tech important to you, or the Tech Space in general?
I hope this post serves as some great food for thought, & would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and discussion (preferably in the comments below) about this!

Thanks!

Tags: community, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, gamer, girls in tech, GIT, Internet, iphone, journalism, Los Angeles, marketing, networking, PR, public relations, social media, social network, social networking, tech, technology, twitter, venture capital, video games, women, women in business, women in tech
Posted in All Chapters | 1 Comment »

Working in the public relations and marketing fields for pretty much my whole career, I’ve observed a major shift from traditional ways of promoting a company, brand, person or service through mailed press kit packages, faxed press releases and b-roll tapes to multimedia links, Twitter, blogger lounges and Facebook.

A point of contention is that new media is losing credibility, value and the due-diligence nature that traditional dailies hold in high regard and reporters with high standards. That is not to say that bloggers aren’t as good as traditional reporters (I’m a “blogger,” so that means I would be self-depricating at this point); what it means is that there is a disruption in the system and some think that the middle man – i.e. PR and marketing folks are no longer needed. Are traditional PR and marketing professionals going to have to become social media experts? Is social media killing PR or is it just enhancing it?  

Because this is such a hot button topic, Girls in Tech and The Horn Group are producing a lively debate on the future of the media ecosystem - Jason Calacanis thinks you should fire your PR agency. Robert Scoble thinks you should ignore it. Michael Arrington says PR as its practiced today is “broken.” Jeremiah Owyang sees value in PR, in some surprising places, while Steve Rubel wonders if the thrill of discovery has made PR as we know it obsolete. 

But one thing is completely clear. As the media industry becomes increasingly more social, so does the ecosystem around it, which means, everyone—from editors to CMOs to PR professionals—is a connector, a hub and a source. 

So if everybody’s a communicator, what is the value of PR? No question that it’s changing, but helping our clients connect with influencers is only a piece of what we do. Much of the value we offer to clients is the thinking and strategy we provide, which media benefit from but may never see directly. And that never goes out of style.

Please join us as we invite journalists, analysts, bloggers, PR folks and various combinations thereof to have a drink and a bite as we discuss the new media ecosystem.

The date, time and panelists for this event is still being determined, but it will definitely happen on either the first or second week of November. We’ll keep you updated and we really hope that you’ll be able to make it. 

Tags: girls in tech, Horn Group, marketing, PR, social media, traditional journalism
Posted in Los Angeles, San Francisco | No Comments »