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10 Questions with Jessica Valenzuela, Girls in Tech founderIf there were a President of the Web 2.0, Jessica Valenzuela would be the perfect candidate. With years of online experience ranging from project management to networking specialist, this gifted networker is now a CEO of Mavin Digital, Inc. and a co-founder of Girls in Tech. Jessica was able to carve some time out of her hectic schedule to answer a few of my questions. 
How did you all come up w/ "Girls in Tech" concept?
Girls in Tech was inspired by each of the co-founders' personal and professional desire to level the playing field for women in technology across all sectors by offering engaging and learning social events. We'd like Girls in Tech to be a source of inspiration, networking and collaboration for every woman in technology. Why did you feel that women needed "Girls in Tech"? Let's admit it, tech like finance and any other major professional field has been dominated by the "other half." Girls in Tech aims to level the playing field, open opportunities for women and hopefully increase our visibility in technology across all sectors. How did you, Adriana Gascoigne, and Davina Anthony meet? A bit of a long story...yet worth sharing and worth hearing. We all met by chance. I believe in being at the right place at the right time. Not about luck, but more about creating that "luck" or what I prefer to refer to as opportunity and recognizing when you hear/see the "opportunity." As a self-funded entrepreneur with a growing nextgen business which is Mavin Digital, Inc., I craved for the opportunity to meet like-minded women at networking events. In my search, I recruited Davina, a dear friend and colleague from my big agency ad days to help me launch a women's organization in New York City. During the course of our preparations Adriana and I were connected via Web 2.0 Expo. Adriana's strenghts very well complements a Davina and Jessica duo by way of PR reach and market exposure in the Valley. It was important for me to establish an organization that has roots in the Valley. After extensive conversation and realizing we all were in this for the same reasons and cause, Instead of simply sharing the booth we decided to go for full integration, thus formed the Adriana, Jessica and Davina trio for Girls in Tech. Who makes up your membership? Our membership base are primarily comprised of professional and entrepreneur minded women in all sectors of technology. We also have a growing interest of venture capital firms media in technology and professional services for technology. How many members do you currently have? And is there a fee the workshops and other events? We have approximately 800 members combined since we launched and it continues to grow daily! We charge nominal fees for workshops at the moment to cover for expenses. We're working with media partners to extend discount fees to our membership bases. We're also in the process of developing learning program sponsorships wherein a brand can sponsor an event to a targeted audience within our member base. It is all about creating a focused and well-targeted environment for both the sponsors and our members to ensure a win-win experience. I noticed that you have a sponsor page on your site, how difficult is it to get sponsors these days? With everything else on our list, we have not had the opportunity to seek out sponsorships actively - and we will! Our existing media sponsors are referrals or organizations who seek us out as a channel to get their message across to women in technology. What are some of the feedback you have gotten back from your members? Our members find the content on our blogs helpful and our events significant and important to helping them realize the wealth of learning and opportunity that they can tap into by being a Girl in Tech. Girls in Tech has three chapters, are there noticeable differences in the chapters (types of members, level of involvement)? The difference primarily is the location. The idea behind that is we'd like to create sustainable chapters that can help engage the community of women in tech who reside in that specific geographic market. We also intend to sponsor national conferences where there is collaboration among chapters. Have you had many success story from some of these women you've have helped through your workshops? In a social community, connecting people is one measure of success. So yes, there are numerous third-party and personal success stories that I can share. Do Girls in Tech work w/ other metro area web-based groups? Definitely. We are all about collaboration. We've already worked with Web 2.0 Expo and we intend to partner with them again in the future. We're working with O'Reilly media on their iPhone Conference in San Diego, we collaborated with nextNY at the Web 2.0 Expo booth and we're in conversation with the Astia Community for a conference partnership in 2009 and there is more to come! Do you offer online workshop seminars for members that are not in your three cities? We have not done so, though is something that we will consider for the future. Are there plans to expand? Yes, yes and yes! We're looking at Boston, Washington DC and London as expansion markets. |
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