Girls In Tech

As a big fan of Kiva.org, I wanted to share a great new campaign that LimeLife just launched called “Apps for Good”.  LimeLife, which is a women’s cross-platform digital media company, is contributing 10% of profits from its Hollywood Hangman iPhone game within a one-month period from May 21st to June 21st to Kiva.org.

Giving back to non-profits is so important and Kiva is a great organization because it gives women in developing countries the opportunity to achieve economic independence. By encouraging people to participate in Apps For Good, LimeLife will pave the way for people like Amavi Akoete, a Togoan 35 year-old mother of six to launch her jewelry-making business or Dulia Huanca, a Peruvian 23 year-old mother to launch her fruit stand.

If you’d like to participate in the Apps for Good Campaign, follow these steps:
1.)  Between today and June 21st, click on the following link to purchase and download Hollywood Hangman for your iPhone or iPod Touch:
http://itunes.com/apps/hollywoodhangman
2.)  You are encouraged to email, tweet, and update your social networking status to let your friends know how they can download Hollywood Hangman on their iPhone or iPod Touch
3.)  You can use the Facebook Connect feature within the game to ping your friends to join them in playing Hollywood Hangman to support Kiva
4.)  You can track the progress of LimeLife’s Apps for Good Campaign by following the LimeLife iPhone Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/LimeLifeiPhone

Are you a developer interested in creating your own iPhone app?  iPhone Bootcamp NYC is offering a great opportunity to Girls In Tech Austin and Los Angeles members on their upcoming workshops in these two cities.  They are kindly offering ONE full scholarship (value: $1699), plus five (5) 30% scholarships to qualified women from these two cities.

The iPhone Bootcamp is an intensive 3-day workshop for professional developers, taught by long time Mac software developers.  The workshop covers the fundamentals and advanced features of iPhone development and takes participants through individual instruction and hands on exercises. By the end, developers will have gained enough knowledge to create their own iPhone applications.

To apply for the 100 percent scholarship, click on the appropriate Eventbrite link below and enter GIT_1 as the discount code.  To apply for the 30 percent scholarship, enter GIT_2 as the discount code.  Resumes will be taken for the first 15 applicants, up to a cut off time of 11:59pm June 10th. Girls in Tech Austin and Los Angeles representatives will randomly select winners from those who have enough programming background to get through the workshop.

PLEASE BE AWARE: The program is an INTENSIVE 3-day workshop, and assumes you understand the constructs of OOP. Anyone registering for the workshop must have some experience with object-oriented programming, such as Java, .NET, or C++, and all students are interviewed for preparedness before final enrollment.  The program goes straight into the iPhone SDK, so there’s really no opportunity for “catch up.”

Los Angeles Workshop – June 14-16
MEETUP SITE: http://www.meetup.com/iPhone-Boot-Camp-Los-Angeles/
EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION site with discount for GIT http://www.eventbrite.com/event/261829138

AUSTIN Workshop – June 21-23
MEETUP SITE: http://www.meetup.com/Austin-iPhone-Developers-Boot-Camp
EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION site with discount for GIT: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/261829138$

Springboard Enterprises is hosting the first venture capital forum exclusively for women-led Life Sciences companies- AllThingsLifeSciences 2009.

The organization is actively seeking early and later stage biotech, diagnostics, therapeutics, pharmaceuticals, health IT, health care products and services, agribio, cleantech, and other life science companies led by women to present.  Companies that are qualified through the three-round screening process will have the opportunity to present to active angel, venture and corporate investors in Silicon Valley, New York City and Madison WI in October 2009.

Companies selected to present will also have the opportunity to participate in a coaching program which includes a one-day orientation Bootcamp held in Washington, D.C.  At this time, presenters will be paired with a dedicated team of at least three sector experts and investors who will play a critical role in assisting the entrepreneur with refining, and in some cases redefining, the content and effectiveness of her pitch.

Interested companies are encouraged to review the application guidelines and submit an online application here.  The deadline for applications is June 1, 2009. For more information visit www.springboardenterprises.org.

June 9, 2009
6:30 pm	to	9:00 pm

While the advantages of networking are obvious, it always seems to be a difficult task for me. I envy those who are naturally great at it. As outgoing as I am, I still get scared going to networking events alone. The awkwardness of going up to a stranger, trying to start a conversation and then keep the conversation naturally flowing and interesting is a lot of pressure. The worst part is ending the conversation and figuring out how to make your exit.

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way and that’s why Girls In Tech has decided to put a new twist on traditional networking with “speed networking.” We’ve come up with a unique format to not only make meeting people easier but also increase the number of people you meet.

So what’s different? I won’t give away all the secrets, but here’s the gist. We’re going to pair people up. You’ll have three minutes to get acquainted. During this time you can swap business cards and jot down notes about each other. You can speak about anything you want, but after three minutes, it’s on to the next. If three minutes isn’t enough, there will be plenty of time afterwards for more networking.

Sound like fun? Join Girls In Tech on Tuesday, June 9 for their first speed networking event at the YouNoodle office in San Francisco. You must pre-register for this event, so we can have an accurate count. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the event will start promptly at 6:45 p.m. Be sure to bring lots of business cards!

April 25, 2009
10:00 am	to	3:30 pm

In today’s economy, as the unemployment rate continues to rise, many people are thinking about ways to start their own business.  Some are taking this time as an opportunity to reevaluate their careers and determine what path they want to take.

Whether you’re looking to start your own venture, learning the ropes at your first entry-level job or leading a successful company and looking to reach new heights, the Stanford Women in Business (SWIB) group’s Spring conference will be one you don’t want to miss.

Entitled, “I Don’t Know to CEO: Inspiration at Every Milestone,” the mission of the conference is to educate you, motivate you and inspire you to achieve success at every point in your career.  It provides an opportunity to hear stories from successful leaders, participate in hands-on conference workshops, and in the process, broaden your definition of the path a career can and should take.

An impressive lineup of speakers will be featured including the Executive Director of Wikipedia, Inventor of Gmail, Founding Executive of Yahoo, Senior VP of Pandora, Co-Founder of Youtube, the Founders of Meebo and many more.

Click here to check out the complete list of speakers and workshops.

The event will take place on Saturday, April 25 at the Annenburg Auditorium and is open to both men and women.  Students attend free and the cost for non-students is only $5.  To register, visit http://swib.stanford.edu/idk2ceo/2009/home.html

About Stanford Women in Business
The vision of SWIB is to provide the women of Stanford University an opportunity to build a foundation in business and join an encouraging community of aspiring and successful businesswomen. SWIB intends to equip young women with the tools necessary to seize their talent and succeed in the world of business. Through events and programs such as business skill workshops, leadership conferences, career exposès, or mentorship pairings, SWIB is helping women find career direction, network with alumni and peers, and set and achieve ambitious career goals. To learn more about SWIB visit http://swib.stanford.edu/

One of the largest small business technology conferences in the world- BizTechDay- will take place in San Francisco this year on October 22-23rd.  Girls in Tech is proud to support BizTechDay and to help all women entrepreneurs create and grow their businesses through the power of technology.

What’s BizTechDay?

BiztechDay is the ultimate technology-made-easy day for small business owners and anyone else who want to fully embrace what technology and the internet have to offer, but who are not 100% sure where to begin.

This is the one event of the year where you will learn about powerful business ideas, inspiring technology and hands-on tools to take your business to next level. It is a program created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs! It is the only conference that puts your business first and technology second.

BizTechDay 2009 features an extraordinary lineup of visionary speakers in San Francisco and will also be streamed live to London, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Singapore, Cape Town and Sydney where it will be broadcasted to millions via the internet, television, and mobile phones!

To RSVP and take advantage of the Girls In Tech exclusive member-only discount (Code: GirlsinTech), please go to http://www.biztechday.com/register/

Forrester released an interesting study this week entitled, “Reaching Empowered Women Through Social Media,” that discusses how consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands can engage with a key audience segment- empowered women.

It’s interesting to see a study like this released because it highlights how highly influential women are.  Their status and influence in the online world is growing rapidly.
They are the decision-makers in their households, influential among their friends and a key demographic target for many brands.

According to the report summary, “empowered women” are females ages 25 to 54 who feel that the Internet helps them manage family life. Author, Emily Riley, says that in order to engage these empowered women successfully and pull ahead of the competition, CPG companies must design campaigns that enhance communication and aid in consumers’ decision-making and influence.

While I didn’t get a chance to read the full report, I did read Gavin O’Malley’s summary on Media Post and pulled a few good tidbits of advice and some interesting stats on empowered women:

• Don’t sound generic. Pick a specific audience to talk to and create campaigns around that audience’s behaviors rather than brand objectives.
• Social media is not about sounding cooler than you normally do. It’s about making your brand more personal than on other channels.
• Social campaigns require long-term commitments. Once you’ve made a connection with someone, they are going to expect a higher level of interaction over a longer period of time than with a commercial or a banner ad.

Stats:

• 42% of empowered women visit social networks like Facebook and MySpace, compared to just 33% of all U.S. adults online engaging in such activity.
• One-third of empowered women use social networking sites mainly for communication compared with 23% of all online adults.
• Nearly one-third — 32% — of empowered women will actively go to friends’ pages on social networking sites to keep in touch, compared with only 21% of all online adults.
• Empowered women care about value and like knowing as much as they can before they buy. 81% of empowered women say it’s important for them to find the best deal they can on things they buy, compared with 63% of U.S. online adults ages 18 and up.

GirlSource will be hosting their 26th annual WAVE Awards Luncheon on May 1, 2009 in San Francisco.  The Women of Achievement, Vision and Excellence award is presented each year to exceptional women over the age of 70 who through their leadership and pioneering spirit have made significant contributions to our community.

This year’s honorees include Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., Kay Sprinkel Grace and Ruth Jones Villia.  These honorees are incredible role models for GirlSource participants, helping them see just what a determined woman can accomplish in her lifetime.

In addition to honoring these great women, the event raises funds to support GirlSource programs which provide meaningful mentorship, work and leadership opportunities for urban, low-income young women.

As a partner of GirlSource, Girls In Tech will be sponsoring a table at the event. If you’d like to join us or make a donation to GirlSource, please click here.

For more information on the event and this year’s honorees, visit http://wave.girlsource.org

The AP reported this week that Hillary Clinton and the US Department of State are embracing new media to spread the word about American foreign policy and help restore Washington’s image.

Its refreshing to see that the State is experimenting with social media to help carry out their mission of creating a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for Americans and the international community.  We saw this work successfully for Obama during the campaign and it will be exciting to see how “Government 2.0″ progresses in the coming years.

Here are some of the changes Hillary’s team took since taking office:

• They have revamped the department’s Web site (http://www.state.gov) and the Gi blog (http://blogs.state.gov and http://twitter.com/dipnote) with a fresh array of features, graphics and colorful posts.

• Users can track her foreign travel on an interactive map (http://www.state.gov/secretary/trvl/map/?trip–id5)

• They can keep up virtually with her every move through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/statevideo).

• They can pose questions through an “ask-the-secretary” column (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/117297.htm) that recently was revised to “text the secretary.” (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/120236.htm)

According to the article, Hillary’s staff says they also plan to venture further into the realm of social networking, an animated online world called Second Life, and cell phone technology.

Having moved to the Silicon Valley area in 2007, just as Twitter was emerging and Facebook opened up registration to non-college students, it’s been very interesting to see the progression of these tools to mainstream. Its essentially history in the making and we’re all watching it happen.

This Thursday, March 5th, Girls in Tech is pleased to host an event featuring one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent software engineers, Leah Culver.

The event will be an informal discussion where Leah will share with us her journey from a computer science major at the University of Minnesota to a successful entrepreneur.  She’ll provide insight on what it’s like to be a lead programmer at a social networking startup and how she got there.

Leah is an inspiration to many, as women continue to be underrepresented in the computer science and engineering fields.  In fact, a New York Times article from last year reported that women now make up less than 10 percent of the newest undergraduates in computer science departments!   Girls In Tech recently announced the launch of Girls In Tech University, a program we hope will change this.

Tickets to Thursday’s event are limited.  If you’d like to join us, please register on Eventbrite.

We hope to see you there!