TechWomen Community Event and Celebration at Twitter

Copyright 2012: Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover Photography. All Rights Reserved.

On September 25^th, the new Twitter headquarters was vibrant with the voices of the TechWomen community. A special event, held in collaboration with Twitter, welcomed the TechWomen Emerging Leaders, 2011 and 2012 mentors, and other program supporters for an evening of discussion and networking.

Upon arrival, guests were met with a Twitter-fall that projected their live conversations on the screen overhead. Using the hash-tag #twtwitter, the participants documented their visit at the company. “Just love tweeting: tweeting from twitter… This is just crazy!!!,” tweeted an Emerging Leader.

The Bay Area world as a classroom

 

TechWomen Emerging Leaders are making the Bay Area world their classroom by learning about professional and cultural practices in the United States.  However, the emerging leaders are not the only ones gaining experience and knowledge.  “I am learning more from them,” said one mentor who is a VP of a well-known technology company.

Cultural immersion has proven to be an effective method to achieve tolerance, understanding and remove preconceived notions about races and cultures. This week, the TechWomen Emerging Leaders continued their second week of project-based mentorships at host companies. Their days have been packed with meetings with high-level executives from numerous technology companies, and their evenings have been bustling with cultural activities.  Most importantly, through dialogue and conversation they have been able to both teach and learn.

TechWomen mentorships begin!

The 2012 TechWomen Emerging Leaders began their project-based mentorships at host companies on Monday, September 10.

This year, thirty-one companies are hosting the forty-one women at their site. In addition to their host companies, cultural mentors represent an additional thirty-one companies.  “We’re excited to welcome the TechWomen program to Salesforce today. Can’t wait to meet our future leaders!” tweeted salesforce.com.

Beth Kanter and Sepideh Nasiri engage TechWomen 2012 at salesforce.com

On September 7, the TechWomen Emerging Leaders were greeted at salesforce.com where they engaged in workshops and dialogue by Beth Kanter and Sepideh Nasiri.

Sepideh, Director of All Things Offline at Women 2.0, addressed the 2012 cohort with a  motivational speech regarding how she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey as a young adult. She began her career as a Managing Editor of a Los Angeles Global magazine. Today, she advises early stage startups and is an avid technology enthusiast. “I wrote Oprah and asked her to be my mentor,” said Sepideh as she recounted how difficult it was to secure an influential mentor during her youth. Sepideh went on to speak regarding the 2010 launch of her first app, The Date Server Platinum in 2010. At the end of her talk she extended an invitation to the TechWomen to participate in Founder Friday, a Women 2.0 event to promote the creation of new networks among aspiring entrepreneurs, current entrepreneurs and investors in innovative cities globally. Heather Ramsey, Director, Strategic Partnerships at Institute of International Education, was a featured speaker at the event.

2012 TechWomen Welcome Orientation hosted by Oracle

On September 6, ambitious and powerful emerging leaders and mentors gathered at Oracle for the 2012 TechWomen Welcome Orientation. Many of the attendees live worlds apart, however, they encompass one vision—to share knowledge and change the way conversations are had.

Trish Tierney, Executive Director at Institute of International Education, and Liz Snyder, VP Human Resources at Oracle, welcomed the participants. Sheila Casey, Deputy Director, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of Citizen Exchanges, gave opening remarks and presented the TechWomen with a letter from Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. “This month, we all get to be diplomats,” said Sheila. She went on to emphasize that the TechWomen program pairs Secretary Clinton’s vision of, “smart power diplomacy,” with “ 21^st Century Statecraft”. Sheila then went around the room and introduced each of the TechWomen and their Professional and Cultural Mentors to the audience.