Girls In Tech

Adriana F. Gascoigne

Adriana is the Vice President of Edelman’s Consumer Tech practice in San Francisco. In this capacity, she provides strategic guidance on digital marketing and new media campaigns including word-of-mouth marketing programs, social media initiatives, and digital integration project management. She is representing clients such as eBay, HP, Netflix, Palm, Adobe and Clorox.

Most recently, Adriana was the Director of Global Communications for hi5. Launched in 2003, hi5 is now one of the world’s largest social networks - ranked as a top 20 website globally and the #1 social network in 33 countries across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. According to comScore, more than 63 million individuals every month visit hi5, which is currently available in 50 languages options.

Previously, Adriana was the Vice President of the 360 Digital Influence Group at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide where she spearheaded operations for social media, word-of-mouth marketing and digital campaigns for clients such as Intel, Wells Fargo, Brocade, ACC, Sun Power, Case Logic, YieldBuild and Naked Juice. Prior to working at Ogilvy, she served as the Vice President of FutureWorks Media in San Francisco, managing all aspects of operations including business development, digital strategy and account management. Some of her clients included MeeVee, WooMe, Yojo Mobile, DocStoc, Magnify, Fantasy Sports Matrix, Ujogo, StreetAdvisor, Yoono, HeyCosmo, SayHeyHey, GoBig and YourTrumanShow.

A seasoned Web 2.0′er, Adriana is a vlogger for Mevio, Bubblicious, Revision3, MeeVee, TheWeakSpot, BuzzShout, publishes her own tech lifestyle blog and buzzes around Silicon Valley speaking at industry events such as the Billboard Interactive Music Conference, Streaming Media West Summit, Project Startup, Web Video Summit and Tech Innovations Summit.

In March 2007, Adriana launched Girls in Tech, an organization focused on touting women’s achievements in tech and beyond. Also, Adriana recently joined a select group of Web 2.0 enthusiasts that are known as the “Intel Insiders,” which serve as brand advisors for Intel. She is an advisor to Involver.com, Change.org and FantasySportMatrix.com. In Spring 2009, she will be launching Smitten With Mittens, a non-profit providing warm mittens and clothing to orphans in developing countries during their respective winter seasons.

Adriana holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Economics from the University of California at Davis, received a certification from El Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico, and was enrolled in Semester at Sea, University of Pittsburgh in 1997. Adriana is also fluent in Spanish and speaks some Japanese and French.

Girls in Tech Corporate Officers

Liz Levy, Art Director

Liz Levy is a freelance Art Director and Graphic Designer.  She currently freelances for Sugar Inc., a new media company that owns and operates several websites that cater to women.  She is also working on projects for the Sausalito Film Festival, Girls in Tech and several Silicon Valley startups. Previously, Liz has worked for Crispin, Porter, and Bogusky producing creative for Volkswagen, Burger King, and American Express and DDB LA.  Liz is a graduate of the College of Charleston, South Carolina and holds a graduate degree in graphic design. Website: Liz Levy Art

Mel Bolton, Director of Corporate Communications

Mel Bolton has almost a decade of public relations experience, mainly focused on technology and consumer Internet companies. In addition to her duties as a mom (and Mommy Blogger), she is a Web 2.0 enthusiast and blog junkie – both tech news and entertainment gossip – and runs marathons in her spare time.

Megan Price, Director of Corporate Development

Megan considers herself a nouveau techie. She’s worked as an Executive Assistant for a SaaS start-up and interned as a Sales & Marketing Assistant for a consumer goods technology company, but what really gets her excited about technology is seeing how many companies are pushing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility as an industry norm. Megan hopes to bring an eclectic assortment of events relating technologies’ role in social good programs to the San Francisco GIT chapter, and to inspire more nouveau techies to come out and unleash their inner geek!

Robyn Cohen, Executive Managing Director, LA Chapter Lead

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Robyn is a fashion and beauty maven with a passion for tech. Robyn has over ten years experience as a sales, marketing, and public relations professional in the beauty industry, having transferred to tech industry in 2006. Most recently, Robyn was the Client Relations Manager for Converdge, one of the leading Social Community Platform developers. Prior to Converdge, Robyn worked with such companies as M.A.C., Aveda, Smashbox, Stila, and Molton Brown as a Sales and PR manager. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, minoring in Communications, from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. When Robyn’s not engaged with the Web 2.0 world, she’s enjoying a good glass of wine, the latest Hollywood flick, or wandering the aisles of Sephora.

Lucia Giacomantonio, Operations Manager, San Francisco

Lucia Giacomantonio is a communications professional with five years of experience providing public relations, marketing and social media services to technology companies. She currently works with Matter Communications, a full-service PR agency specializing in the consumer and high tech markets. She is passionate about learning and enjoys attending workshops related to new tech and social media, roundtable discussions, and various networking events around Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

Candace Sweigart, Managing Director, Boise

Candace is a Lead Software Engineer and Producer for Wirestone, an independent marketing solutions company uniquely ranked on two Advertising Top 50 lists – as both an integrated marketing services agency and an interactive agency. Candace engineers software solutions for Fortune 500 companies to accomplish Channel Enablement, Customer Acquisition and Retention, Custom Marketing Applications, and Event Marketing initiatives. Candace brings her unique blend of strong technical leadership and web application aptitude with an ability to communicate with technical and non technical client contacts at a high level. When Candace is not engineering a new software solution, she is engaged in social media communities, playing strategy computer games with her family, and teaching her English Springer Spaniel pup some crazy new tricks.

Kate Brodock, Managing Director, Boston

Kate Brodock is Founder and Principal of the Other Side Group, a marketing strategy, new media & PR consulting firm located in Boston. She has worked previously in product marketing for Bose, and was part of two start-ups: a technology transfer firm called Ignition Ventures and a Critical Infrastructure Preparedness firm called Priority 5. In addition to her position with Girls in Tech, she is the Co-Chair of the New Marketing Special Interest Group for TiE-Boston and an active volunteer for the Taproot Foundation. She is also a correspondent for, an organization that focuses on empowering individuals and grassroots efforts with digital tools and concepts, and takes part in research efforts through the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative to identify whether new forms of citizen journalism can be used in early crisis warning efforts. Kate holds an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University, where she focused on Entrepreneurship and Marketing, an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and BAs in History and Political Science from the University of Rochester. On the side, she’s a very non-professional musician, a very non-professional athlete, lover of good food, wine and friends, and loves being outside in any weather, be it hiking, biking, skiing, sailing or just plain enjoying life.

Tommy Jenkins, Co-Managing Director, NY

Tommy Michelle Jenkins is currently focused on bringing her enthusiasm for information theory, business, communication and charity to the web through several internet initiatives and investment activities. She has a background as an associate with a New York investment firm where she has been responsible for investment analysis and management. Her areas of experience include marketing and written communications, visual design, and political PR and strategy. She was educated in computer science and the classics. Her interests include physics, writing, technology, natural health, nutrition, and good company.

Janine Just, Co-Managing Director, NY

Janine Just is a Co-Founder and CEO of the Avid Group.  Ms. Just holds a Bachelor of Science in fashion merchandising from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Concurrent to her enrollment at FIT, Ms. Just got her start in the nightlife and hospitality industry by joining the renowned Gabrielle Bernstein as a spokeswoman in her Public Relations Department. Along with working in the PR Dept with Sparkplug, Ms. Just served as a Client Services Representative and Event Coordinator at Del Frisco’s helping them realize annual revenues of $20 million. Ms. Just’s next venture was with the iconic McFadden’s Restaurant, owned and operated by East Coast Saloons. As marketing director, Janine helped grow the company’s revenues to more than $66 million among its 19 nationwide venues. It’s the combination of the aforementioned success coupled with her fondness of the entrepreneurial integrity of New York City that served as the catalyst to launch The Avid Group NYC.

Staci Brinkman, Managing Director, Dallas

Staci Brinkman is ambi(tious/dextrous), a wannabe techie and MBA student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Staci serves as Director of Business Development at Brinkman Financial Company where she employs strategic business, partner and marketing development of BFC and its subsidiaries. Staci recently founded NextBill.org, an advocate for the online (paperless) billing industry. She has lived, worked and studied in Africa, Europe, Asia and North and South America. Connect with Staci via links to her social and professional web sites found on her Google Profile.

KT McBratney, Managing Director, Omaha

Kt McBratney manages communications for nationally recognized multi-platform development company Phenomblue. Prior to that, she was in charge of public relations for Nebraska’s second largest postsecondary institution and worked in event planning and marketing for the Henry Doorly Zoo. Kt also works as a freelance style writer for print and web and co-founded and contributes to the blog If I Don’t Know, It Isn’t True. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communications with a minor in sociology and is in the process of completing her master’s in communication and technology. An admitted pop culture junkie, Kt has a passion for new technology, anything Marc Jacobs and zombie flicks.

Stefanie Noe, Managing Director, Tampa

Stefanie A. Noe is the Interactive Director and Founding Partner of NimbusBlue Software of Tampa Bay. Stefanie is rarely found without a pencil in hand or with Photoshop closed. Her talents in usability, front-end application development and graphic design have graced the portals of media moguls throughout the financial, entertainment, news and medical sectors. She brings her classical and commercial art training to the digital media realm with a deep understanding of the technology behind it, as well as the audience before it. Whether it’s custom CMS engineering, interactive design, web branding or application prototyping, she is right at home integrating modern web stylings with rich performance and functionality. In her spare time she dreams of being a NYC window designer, paints and repaints her house, and rebuilds the garden torn up by her retired racing greyhounds.

Ivo Lukas, Managing Director, Portland

Ivo Lukas is an independent consultant with over 13 years of experience in developing brand marketing, creative and digital solutions for Fortune 500 companies and other industry leaders. Most recently, Ivo served as the Vice President and Creative Director for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide(WE) where she founded the creative communications group which she later helped spearhead into a digital group. While there, she led global creative, digital, technology and brand marketing initiatives from concept development through implementation. Prior to coming to WE, Ivo was Creative Director for ShopNBC, a major e-commerce site and home shopping network. There she helped drive the business through strategic creative concept development, brand vision, and integrated multimedia and user experience. She was responsible for the execution of all internal and external campaigns including but not limited to direct mail and e-mail campaigns, web site, ad banners, search, affiliates, media, and brand identity.  While there, Ivo also helped launch a new “v-commerce” initiative that merged e-commerce and multimedia video, encouraging customers to shop and watch the TV channel online.

Seana Norvell, Managing Director, Santa Cruz

Seana Norvell has been in Silicon Valley’s tech industry for over 5 years. She is currently managing accounts in high tech public relations (focusing on consumer technology) and spends a lot of her time in the Twitter community and surfing the social web. Seana’s background is mostly in marketing and public relations forenterprise software and consumer technology, although she did do a stint in software sales. Seana is from a small beach town in California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated from the local University of California, Santa Cruz. Other then technology, social media and gadgets, she is passionate about traveling and has been all around the world, extensively through Asia and Central America. Her other passions include cooking and good wine.

Ritu Uberoy, Managing Director, New Delhi, India

Ritu Uberoy is the Managing Director at Saviance Technologies Pvt. Ltd. She has over sixteen years of experience in the Information Technology industry in the United States and in India. Before moving back to India, she has worked with Silicon Graphics in their CIO’s office at their Mountain View location. She has also worked with Hewlett-Packard in their Research and Development Team. She established the Saviance Center of Excellence for Web and Mobile Applications in Gurgaon, India. Recently she has helped the Centre to launch four SaaS products: Rivinium, iLuminix, SConnect and Viburnix, all of which are creating waves in the Indian market. Saviance figures in the prestigious Inc. 5000 annual ranking of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States and has been awarded as a Top Diversity Business in US. Ritu has a BS degree in Computer Science from Delhi Institute of Technology (now NSIT) and a MS Degree in Computer Science from Santa Clara University in California. She is a Disney Institute alumnus and a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
She is a Fellow at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Erica O’Grady, Managing Director, Houston

Erica O’Grady is the #1 Erica on Google - Most days :o) Currently she is a Social Media Consultant based in Houston, Texas (the damn near finest city in the South). Wearing many hats - including Social Media Consultant, Award Winning Web Designer/Developer, Creativity Coach, Writer, Part-Time Tutor, Aspiring Film-Maker, BarCamp Enthusiast, World Traveler, and Grown-up Girl Scout, Erica Specializes in Community Marketing and is considered to be one of the foremost experts on Social Media and Technology. She is currently the CXO of Peanut Butter Media, co-founder of Peanut Butter Café, and sits on the Advisory board for Knowbility.org, CreativeSpace, & Westwood College. She blogs at: http://reinventingerica.com and is the On The Road Correspondent for The Business Maker’s Radio Show heard on Talk Radio 950 KPRC.