BABY STEPS ~ 4.15.19
2016. What does that year make you think about? Aside from the fact that it was three years ago. For me, it takes me back to the time of when the ideation of WhatSheTechs was just in it’s infancy. I was working at a startup in the development of software for classic and exotic car dealers. Yes, you heard that right. I was working in a men’s world where often a woman’s commentary was not as respected as a man’s. Sure, you must think, “it’s 2016, times have changed” but I assure you my dear, they have not. I led the Marketing efforts for our team and paved my own way to gain the level of respect I deserved, but no matter how much I tried, roadblocks often came my way.
It was then that I envisioned this community I have slowly built the past three years. After a series of incidents at this said startup, I took on my frustrations head on and immersed myself nights and weekends to develop the foundation of what WhatSheTechs has become and will be. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof of the day I pitched WST for the first time in front of a small group of family and friends. (I’m the one one in the orange pants.)
I didn’t know where this new venture would take me. I would often tell myself I was crazy for thinking I alone can change the stigma around ‘Women In Tech.’ It’s crazy I know! But I know deep down inside, this is something that is needed and I will continue to preserve until this community grows tenfold and more. I’ve been taking baby steps since 2016 to get to where we are today, and yet here we are, talking to you from The Daily Bits + Bytes I envisioned just three years ago.
Where will your baby steps take you? - CR
@alina.alef 👩🏻💻 A web developer with a penchant for beautiful design and style, we admire her way of showing the world how not not all who code look alike. In her words, “Being a developer is like being an engineer and an artist in one person.” We couldn’t agree more. Say hello to Alina!
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1st telephone installed: Boston-Somerville in Massachusetts (1877)
TODAY IN HISTORY
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JOB OF THE DAY
Director, Product Management, Marketing Technology
As a Director, Product Management: Marketing Technology, you will ensure the engine that drives Sephora’s explosive growth, our amazing digital marketing organization, is able to develop, execute, and measure the results across our multi-faceted marketing strategy. By partnering with our business team to develop a strategy and vision, and translating this in to a multi-year roadmap, you’ll seek out the tools, technologies, and partners Sephora needs to stay ahead of our competition and, most importantly, to speak to our clients in the right way, at the right place, and the right time.
THE WHATSHETECHS BOOK CLUB
By Invitation Only: How We Built Gilt and Changed the Way Millions Shop
On a warm September night in 2002, former acquaintances Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis reconnected at a mixer for new students at Harvard Business School. Alexis had just ended a four-year run at eBay during the dotcom boom and bust. Alexandra had just spent three years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Now they were entering the country’s top training ground for future titans of Wall Street and the Fortune 500.
Little did either suspect that five years later, they’d become famous not in finance or consulting or corporate management, but at the bleeding-edge intersection of fashion and technology.
GET YOUR SMART ON ~ TODAY’S BITS + BYTES
MON APR 15 - 2019Coachella is embracing augmented reality (AR) with an immersive stage experience that encourages the audience to take out their phones and participate with audio-reactive AR filters. The experience, which has been produced by Coachella’s digital innovation team, it debuted last Friday. (VARIETY)
Amazon now has more than 135 private-label in-house brands. However, Amazon’s in-house brands only account for 1 percent of its total sales, according to a Marketplace Pulse report. That means there is a lot of potential for Amazon to grow brands that ultimately make the company more money. Enter Belei, its new skin care range. (VOX)
Upstart clothing brand Everlane has a knack for upending—and resetting—fashion-industry norms. Can its effort to wean itself off virgin plastic help move an industry that’s drowning in carbon-intensive synthetics? (FORBES)
Best Buy has a new leader. The company on Monday named current CFO Corie Barry as new CEO. Effective June 11, current CEO Hubert Joly will step into a newly created role as executive chairman of the board. Barry, Best Buy's first female CEO, will also join Best Buy's board of directors. (BUSINESS INSIDER)
Earlier last week, scientists brought us the first-ever picture of a black hole. Katie Bouman, a 29-year-old MIT graduate student, led the team that developed the algorithm making this photo possible. She quickly became the face of the historical scientific achievement. Just two days later, however, a sexist video attacking Bouman was the top result for her name on YouTube. (MASHABLE)
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