Girls In Tech

Are you wondering how to help Haiti? It’s noble and good to open your wallet and send money. But can you send $100,000? I can’t. That’s why I’m supporting Pencils of Promise, a group competing on Chase’s Facebook-based Community Giving Competition. POP is trying to win $1,000,000 to support their mission of building schools in poor areas. If they win, they pledge to donate at least $100K to Haiti.

It only takes about a minute to vote for them. You can vote here: http://bit.ly/4DYKIV. Please feel free to Tweet about it, too.

From the POP blog, here’s how young girls reacted to plans to build a women’s dormitory and library in Champhet, Laos, to replace the makeshift huts they stay in during the school week, before they walk home on weekends:

“At the start of each school week, hundreds of girls from faraway villages have to choose between their personal safety and their education. For them, though, the choice is obvious. The only way to personal empowerment, agency, and ability is through this education. The safety they will have to forgo. We ask many girls if they would like a place of their own to live—a dormitory for only females. Smiles explode onto their meek faces with eager yeses. They say they want a place where they are safe, where they aren’t scared at night.”

Inspiring stuff, huh?  If POP wins the competition, they pledge to build 50 schools throughout the world, including safe facilities for communities where women traditionally have less access to education.  POP is run entirely by volunteers and support they receive goes wholly to their projects. As of today, they are only a few votes away from being a finalist. Voting ends Friday. Your vote can have an impact!

To make it simple, here’s that math again:

60 seconds of effort =

50 schools +

100K to Haiti.

In Sum :  Impressive.

Girls in Tech is excited to announce a competition to recognize innovative women in charge of startups – and your opinion matters. The “Catalyst Competition: Awarding Leading Women-Led Startups” is open to tech startups with women leadership. Your vote will help determine winners. The Catalyst Competition is presented with the innovative Vator.tv and winners will demo at the  Catalyst Conference on January 26th. To enter the contest or vote, click here.

Here’s why should be excited –and vote for winners!

1. You Need To Do this. No, Really. For Your Business.

Raise your hand if you work in high-tech and your job doesn’t involve knowing about the competition. Or keeping abreast of market developments. Whether you’re a product developer or manager, hard-charging CEO, or biz-dev whizz, you need to know the competitive landscape. Checking out and voting on the Catalyst Competition will keep you informed – and present new business partners and opportunities.

If you’re running a company, entering the contest gives you a chance to gain major visibility to an audience of businesswomen, technologists, media and investors. As a runner-up, your venture will be evaulated by actively-investing early-stage VCs.  You could score advice — or funding. Winners will demo onstage at the Catalyst Conference to the 350-women-strong audience at the Catalyst Competition. Each and every entrant gets a discount on tickets to the conference. And letting your followers know they can vote for you allows you to activate your fan base. Beta launch of a new feature, anyone? …User-appreciation day?!

2. It’s the Ultimate New Year’s Eve Pregame

Seriously, what could be more uplifting than watching videos about innovative companies headed up by ambitious chicks? And then picking your favorite? For all the time we spend watching Andy Samberg sing silly songs on SNL clips on Hulu, or indulge our geekiness by reading 16 reviews of the exact same gadget on tech blogs, we can find time for this.  It’s an indulgent moment of Web entertainment that won’t leave you feeling like you just wasted 30 minutes. Voting closes Jan. 14, but we encourage you to vote now. It’s the most fun-yet-wholesome thing you’ll do between now and January 1!

3. Good Karma. (I’m Not Kidding.)

“One good turns deserves another.” Everyone can remember a time they asked a mentor to get lunch, a colleague for an introduction, or a family member to proofread a resume or business plan. The women in the Catalyst Competition want their hard and work and talent to be recognized. The Catalyst Conference team created the competition because we want to support our community. Voting is an easy way to make good on a New Year’s resolution to give back to the folks who’ve supported you. So go ahead. Make a nice cup of coffee, prop up your feet, and dig in.

We wish you a happy and innovative New Year!

For Girls in Tech on the lookout for new ideas & ways to grow,  allow me to offer a strange recommendation: try doing nothing. Well, not nothing – not exactly, anyway. Rather, try meditation, which is the act of stopping and sitting quietly, and in many cases simply watching your breath and your mind.

Why am I bringing this up for Girls in Tech?  Tech, after all, seems to imply iPhone apps or Twitter add-ons, not a 2,500-year-old technique that takes merely the equipment we’re born with. For two reasons: 1) meditation can help cultivate an entrepreneur’s mindset, from openness to creativity! And 2) an amazing event for beginners is happening in San Francisco next weekend, November 14: Twheet, a daylong, donation-based conference on meditation.

Let me back up just a bit. Meditation isn’t quite a tactic for brainstorming the next Google. However, it can bring greater concentration and more awareness into daily life, allowing space for creative responses to quotidian challenges. Meditation can encourage qualities prized by entrepreneurs: being open to the reality of a situation, transforming tricky moments into learning opportunities, and learning that there’s nothing wrong with “failure.”

Many women working in technology learn early that it is their intentional attitude – rather than “inherent aptitude” – which allows them to creatively meet challenges and be open to the hectic pace of life in Silicon Valley. In this vein, basic meditation is basically awesome for your cranium.

Which is why I’m excited to announce that Turning Wheel Talks, or Twheet, a daylong conference on meditation, is taking place next week, on Nov. 14 in San Francisco. This nonprofit event was pulled together by dozens of creative folks in the Bay Area. It includes: a kick-off introduction to basic meditation, an informal un-conference where folks will lead their own activities, a talk on nonviolent communication & an open house with more info, among other activities.

If you’ve never meditated but want to try, if you’ve meditated and want to grow the hobby, or if you’re a frequent meditator (is that a word?!)  you’re welcome to stop by!  Feel free to bring a friend –or to forward this info to any communities that might be interested.

What: Twheet, an event for young people (under 35)
When: Saturday, November 14
Where: 1187 Franklin Street, San Francisco, UU Church Conference Facility
When: Nov. 14, 2009 –Ongoing all day. Highlights for beginners: morning introduction to meditation, afternoon peer-led workshops & open house.

For more info: http://twheet.org/ Hope to see you there!