Girls In Tech

February 25, 2010
6:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

As women in a mostly male-dominated field, it’s easy to have a tenuous relationship with the idea of ‘beauty.’ After all, we want people to focus on the skills and savvy we bring to the table, and not necessarily on the brand of purse we put down on top of it. If you’re a female who deals regularly with developers, this balancing act can be even more precarious. How do you justify spending time on hair and makeup when most of the men you’re working with would rather worry about HTML than hygiene?

But, it’s hard to ignore the effect your appearance has on your confidence. And, any successful woman – or man for that matter – will tell you that confidence is a key component of that success. So, many of us still take the time to do our hair. To put on a little makeup. To pick out that perfect outfit. It doesn’t make us any less skilled or savvy, it just makes us feel a little better as we go about our daily business. What we don’t realize is how lucky we are to be able to do that for ourselves. And, that’s where GlamourGals comes in.

GlamourGals is an organization that arranges makeovers and beauty treatments for women in nursing homes. By hooking young women up with their elderly counterparts, the organization provides both parties with opportunities to foster meaningful relationships, and also helps those elderly women to get that same little beauty boost we all know and love. It also has an amazing social media component, in its use of a proprietary networking site for all of its chapters, which helps the organization keep infrastructure costs low and connectivity high. Started in 2000, GlamourGals is now having its tenth birthday party in LA, giving glamorous gals across the LA area the chance to celebrate and support this very worthy cause.

The party is at Bimi Restaurant, on February 25. There will be complementary cocktails, raffle prizes, food and gift bags, and the whole thing kicks off at 6pm. Hosts include Lauren Berger and Laurel Kaufman of our very own GIT LA chapter, and Girls in Tech members get $10 off ticket prices through the first week of February. So, break out your best beauty products and start primping – this is one event worth getting all dolled up for.

What: GlamourGals 10th Birthday Party

Where: Bimi Restaurant, 11917 Wilshire Blvd

When: Feb 25, 2010 (6-9pm)

Register Here

Last Saturday I attended the Craigslist Foundation Bootcamp in Berkeley, California. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, however, was pleasantly surprised with the massive turnout and the caliber of talent and knowledge that was circulating throughout the UC Berkeley campus.

Thousands of passionate people gathered to translate ideas into reality and meet and greet with some of the innovators in the space. The theme was less about the non-profit sector and being philanthropic and more about how to create sustainable, automated change through technology, and even more specifically internet tools and web resources.

My favorite panel was on Social Entrepreneurship presented by Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anderson School and Nora Silver from Haas School of Business. This session provided case studies and information behind brands integrating social good themes within their products appealing to a certain segment of the consumer population.

Interface, Ethos Water, and TOMS, achieve widespread brand recognition and record sales while remaining true to their original principles. The session also integrated a hands-on workshop that enabled us to connect with our neighbors to discuss what social enterprise means to us. My neighbor and I decided that it is the intersection between passion and execution. You can’t have one without the other to succeed in this space.

Another highlight was learning more about the Extraordinaries, which proposes to deliver skills-based volunteer tasks to people whenever and wherever they are available by mobile phone. Essentially it’s crowdsourcing on steroids.

Over 80% of the adult U.S. population carries a mobile phone in his or her pocket and the higher-end of these diminuative devices, so called “smartphones,” are as capable as any laptop computer. Nearly anything that can be done on a personal computer can be done on a smartphone. The Extraordinaries dramatically reduce the barriers to giving back by enabling people to volunteer on-the-spot and on-demand.

I left the Bootcamp inspired and even more amped about what technology can do to help the world around us and those in need.

*photos courtesy of the Craigslist Foundation