NCWIT Heroes is a series of magazine-style audio interviews highlighting
women entrepreneurs in information technology (IT) careers, sponsored by the
NCWIT Entrepreneurial Alliance, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and Qualcomm. An extension of our Entrepreneurial
Heroes series from 2007, the 2008
series includes interviews with a
diverse group of women innovators from small companies, larger corporations,
and non-profits, whose ideas and products are changing the way we think, work,
play, and communicate. Listen as these successful, creative, and technical
women discuss their lives and their work -- how they first get involved with
technology, why they chose to be entrepreneurs, and what advice they would
give to young people interested in IT or entrepreneurship.
Interview with Gail Goodman President, Chair, and CEO, Constant Contact
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: March 16, 2010
Gail Goodman joined Constant Contact in 1999, when the company had six employees. Today it has 625 employees, with more than 300,000 customers worldwide.
Interview with Beth Marcus Former Founder and CTO, Zeemote
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: January 22, 2010
Beth Marcus has been
Founder and CEO of several successful startups, most notably EXOS, Inc., which
was venture-backed and sold to Microsoft in 1996.Since then she has been involved in 14
start-ups in a variety of fields as a founder, investor, or advisor.
Interview with Caterina Fake Co-founder, Hunch and Flickr
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: November 16, 2009
The creation of Flickr, says Caterina Fake, was "very much a phoenix from the ashes...a story that ended happily."
Like many entrepreneurs, Emily Olson saw a niche, got an idea, and ran with it. Foodzie uses technology to share great food from smaller producers with a larger audience.
Women are quite multi-faceted creatures", says Elisa Camahort Page -- women are interested in technology, the economy, parenthood, politics, and much, much more. That's why the BlogHer network comprises 2,500 women writing about a broad range of "verticals", attracting more than 14 million unique visitors per month.
Interview with Ellen Siminoff President and CEO, Shmoop University
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: June 1, 2009
Entrepreneurs are "people who would be just dreadful employees", says Ellen Siminoff. For those who go the entrepreneurship route, however, the appeal is in "the idea and the people and the excitement of creating something."
Interview with Lisa Rau Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Confluence
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: April 27, 2009
Lisa Rau wanted to create something rewarding, something of her own, something of value when she created Confluence. As she discusses here, entrepreneurship is scary but incredibly satisfying: "with the risks come the rewards."
Interview with Rashmi Sinha CEO & Co-founder, SlideShare
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: April 27, 2009
"It was entirely an accident" that Rashmi Sinha became an entrepreneur, she says. After backing into technology and entrepreneurship, however, she advises that it's important to decide what interests you, and then follow your interests.
Carol Realini is an imaginative pioneer whose foresight and business acumen have changed the landscape of technology, and whose global vision is providing hope and a future for people in developing countries.
Interview with Mena Trott Co-founder and President, Six Apart
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: March 24, 2009
When Mena and Ben Trott started Six Apart in 2001, starting an Internet-based business in a stagnant, post-9/11, post-Internet-bubble economy seemed like a big gamble. But their success can be credited to some fundamental entrepreneurial tenets: Know your business model. Be passionate. Aspire to sustainability. Be open to new ideas.
Interview with Anu Shukla Founder & CEO, Offerpal Media, Inc
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: February 7, 2009
Anu Shukla and her co-founder Mitch Liu brainstormed the idea for Offerpal in response to a good cause: helping friends donate to a favorite cause by participating in offers. They built an application to connect clicks with causes, made it vailable to a variety
of other applications, and watched as the idea took off.
Interview with Dina Kaplan Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, blip.tv
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: December 22, 2008
blip.tv wants to provide a great service for great shows. A new class of entertainment is emerging that is being made by the people without the support of billion-dollar multinationals. blip.tv's mission is to support people by taking care of all the problems a budding videoblogger, podcaster or Internet TV producer tends to run into. They take care of the servers, the software, the workflow, the advertising and the distribution, leaving clients free to focus on creativity.
Interview with Lena West CEO, xynoMedia Technology
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: November 17, 2008
From blogging to Facebook, Lena West, CEO of xynoMedia, helps hi-growth companies make sense of everything they're hearing about social media and the best ways to use these online outlets to their advantage.
Jessica is a remarkable social entrepreneur who is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of www.kiva.org -- the first peer-to-peer micro-lending website. Kiva connects lenders with entrepreneurs from the developing world, empowering them to rise out of poverty.
Interview with Lee Kennedy CEO and Co-Founder, Tricalyx, Inc.
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: September 17, 2008
Lee's got some great advice for getting kids interested in IT and entrepreneurship. In fact, you might want your kids to listen to this interview.
Interview with Jean Kovacs Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Sterling Commerce
Entrepreneurial Heroes 2008-2010
Date: August 19, 2008
Jean Kovacs is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances for Sterling Commerce, responsible for driving global strategic alliances, including the AT&T strategic relationship, and all corporate marketing and communications.
When Kristin McDonnell and theLimeLife team thought about what they wanted our cell phones to be able to do for us, more fun and more help were at the top of the list: more games and downloadable content like recipes, horoscopes, and lifestyle tips; less blood, bullets, and galactic aliens.
