Join us!
Partners
Female Internet Hero: Audio Interview with Eileen Gittins of Blurb
As part of their Female Internet Heroes series, and in conjunction with NCWIT (the National Center for Women & Information Technology), The NextWomen will be publishing audio interviews highlighting 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 women discuss how they first became involved with tech, why they chose to be entrepreneurs and what advice they would give to young people interested in IT or entrepreneurship.
Eileen Gittins – Founder, President and CEO of Blurb
Listen to the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Interview with Eileen Gittins.
Eileen Gittins of Blurb
Throughout her career, Eileen Gittins has been at the intersection of the Internet, consumer and enterprise software, imaging systems, search, and digital photography. A passionate advocate for enabling technologies that offer new ways to do valuable things, Eileen is now democratising publishing for the rest of us with her company, Blurb, a software and services company that passionately believes in the power of books: making, reading, sharing and selling them.
Eileen has served as CEO of several pre-IPO venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley, including Personify, an e-commerce data mining and analytics company; and Verb, a context-based search engine company. Each was acquired by Accrue and Attenza, respectively. At Qbiquity, a viral marketing platform company, Eileen served as Board Chairman and interim CEO, where she was instrumental in negotiating the merger of Qbiquity into Collabrys. Read more
TNW Spotlight on Female Founders: Fiona Price and her Community for Horse Lovers
The NextWomen are always looking to make female founders and leaders notable and quotable. In our new series – ‘TNW Spotlight on Female Founders’ we look at ventures that are making waves online and the women that are leading them. Here we look at Horse Hero – Paradise for Horse Lovers on film – and its founder Fiona Price.
‘I thought I was the Only MBA Graduate Who Couldn’t Read a Balance Sheet’
I started out in the financial sector, having graduated with a degree in Psychology and an MBA. It was a shock to find myself in the City as I believed I was the only MBA graduate who couldn’t read a balance sheet! However, having begun my career at the same time as the first women’s networks were starting, I felt drawn to pioneer the concept of financial advice for women, something which was unheard of at the time. In fact, Harpers & Queen described me as “The first woman of finance”. I set up my own business at the age of 28 and sold it 18 years later with a staff of around 35.
It had been amazing creating something from scratch with no business experience and no finance, I’d won a lot of awards which I’m sure were due to the novelty value, but for someone with a short attention span, it was way too long a chapter! For the next few years, I had a more varied career as a non-executive director on a variety of Boards which gave me a new perspective on business. I felt I was finally being paid for turning up – a long term career aspiration! But it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and again, I felt it was time to do my own thing, even though I had said I would never set up another business. It’s amazing how time erases pain from your memory!
Fiona Price – The ‘Financial Expert’
Media was where I wanted to be, especially TV or video. In my years in the financial sector, I have done all the PR myself and latterly, it occupied a large part of my work doing TV and radio interviews each week, from the Today Programme and News at 10 to Women’s Hour! The term financial ‘expert’ was not one I was ever comfortable with. Maybe that’s a woman’s thing?
The Human Nature of Business Read more
Female Entrepreneurs Join Ladies Who Lunch at the British Library
This is a guest post by Mardi Latch, a pre-startup entrepreneur of an online ecommerce site Coax London and member of TheNextWomen.
On Women’s Enterprise Day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 18th 2009, Ladies Who Lunch held a networking event for female entrepreneurs at the British Library. Stepping in last minute and a budding entrepreneur herself, Mardi Latch – founder of Coax London – attended hoping to compare this with other free and paid for business events aimed directly at women.
Entrepreneurs at the ‘Thinking’ Stage Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Jenny Buccos of ProjectExplorer.org
Providing cross-cultural education without the cost of a flight is invaluable to children across the globe. With the recent launch of Brightwide – YouTube for Social and Politcal Cinema – we look at what is offered to children in an attempt to make the world a smaller place. Here, The NextWomen talk to female Entrepreneur Jenny Buccos of ProjectExplorer.org about the strengths of being a non-profit organisation, the effects her exposure to many cultures has had on her attitude to business and wishing she had founded Pandora.com Read more
Free Websites for Female Entrepreneurs in West London
A bit of local news…. For many, the cost of building a website from scratch can seem astronomical and with the economy as it is one that is sometimes neglected. For start-ups in W2, W8, W10 and W11, however, Christmas appears to have come early, as Notting Hill Internet Services have announced they are providing free basic websites in an attempt to give something back to their community.
Having launched their business over 10 years ago and now with a thriving business, the company recognises the bootstrapped nature of many businesses can often prevent them from having an online presence. By providing companies access to such a service, they hope they can move ventures from a fledgling start-up to a flourishing business.
The Finer Details
The package normally costs £299 + VAT along with hosting for a year of £99 +VAT and includes:
- Up to 5 HTML pages from our ready-made templates Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You
Since the advent of the Internet, networks have become an increasingly popular way by which to share knowledge and experience with like-minded people. For Mums and parents, the ease of access to such information provided by these networks has meant online communities are rapidly playing as significant a role in their lives as offline ones are. Here Iveta Tancheva talks to The NextWomen about launching Mums Like You, the merits of using social media sites and funding a business when the banks are not yet interested.
How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
I decided to set up Mums Like You, early 2009 when I lost my job in the City and was at home looking after my baby daughter. The idea was initially to create a networking site which enables new and first time mums to stay connected and find friends .
When I did research on what is already out there and what mums want, two things quickly became clear – that a lot of mums live away from their families and friends as a result leading them to feel quite isolated at times, and that they increasingly rely on the Internet to find the support and information they need when on maternity. In addition my research confirmed my own experience as a first-time mum – that word-of-mouth is an extremely important source of information. These findings were instrumental in extending the capabilities of Mums Like You to enable mothers to share valuable information and solve real-life problems online.
The Reviews section for example is becoming a place where mums share their opinions about products and services and find out what other mums think before making a purchase. Another example is the Marketplace area, which enables mums to list and sell baby kit they no longer need or advertise to find childcare help.
How did you form your team?
Mums Like You is an Internet based business, and at the moment does not require a large team or infrastructure to support it. The team is small and selected on the basis of their expertise and ability to contribute to the growth of the site. For example my technical team works remotely but is available on a 24-hour basis if there is an issue to be resolved. I also work closely with mum bloggers who are enthusiastic about building Mums Like You into a thriving community for mums online. What’s very exciting is that most of the members of the team are other mums, with their busy lives trying to juggle kids and family. So we don’t work office hours but we know that if we need to get something done we’ll do it even if it means working late nights.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
I funded the business with personal savings, as I couldn’t count on bank finance at this very early stage of the development. The start-up costs were about £10,000, and the time I have invested in setting up and developing the company over the past months. Read more
TNW Spotlight on Female Founders: Jenny Buccos and ProjectExplorer
The NextWomen are always looking to make female founders and leaders notable and quotable. In our new series – ‘TNW Spotlight on Female Founders’ we look at ventures that are making waves online and the women that are leading them.
Award-winning Children’s Films
ProjectExplorer.org is an award-winning children’s series that provides free, online films and multimedia materials aimed at fostering the next generation of global citizens, helping students discover the common humanity they share with the cultures and histories of the world. Founded by Director and Producer, Jenny Buccos in 2003, ProjectExplorer is a non-profit organisation that aims to open a door on the rest of the world, allowing children to experience different countries and cultures without the expense of leaving their own.
Marketing for Web-based Start-ups Ignited the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Arriving in New York City in 1999, Jenny Buccos began working with Credit Suisse First Boston as a marketing project manager on two web-based startup projects. It is here she gained experience with global media production as part of web-based marketing campaigns where she managed projects in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York.
$500,000 in Funding
In 2001, she left the corporate world and in 2003, Buccos founded ProjectExplorer.org: a NYC-based nonprofit organization that has since produced over 160 free films and multimedia materials designed for classrooms and students. In five short years, ProjectExplorer went from a simple idea to a world-class, award-winning program that has raised nearly half a million dollars in personal donations, grants, and sponsorships.
Three Series’ Later and with a Further Two in the Pipeline
After 18 months of fundraising, business development, and research – including educator, student and parent input – she produced and directed ProjectExplorer.org’s first educational program entitled “Shakespeare’s England”. The first time director/producer’s unique vision of learning and student-focused mini-documentaries attracted the support of world-renowned organisations such as The Old Vic Theatre in London, The National Archives, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Film London.
In 2007/2008, Buccos went on to direct and produc ProjectExplorer.org’s South Africa series; working with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. John Kani, the Apartheid Museum, Robben Island, The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, photojournalist Greg Marinovich and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In June 2008, and in recognition of the great work Buccos and ProjectExplorer have achieved, she was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine for her work in South Africa.
Not satisfied with her work in Africa, Buccos went on to direct and produce ProjectExplorer.org’s third series, this time in Jordan, whilst she is planning future series’ in Malaysia and Mexico. ProjectExplorer has placed a huge emphasis on global cross-cultural understanding and has as a result seen Ms. Buccos as the recipient of a GOLD Parent’s Choice Award for Excellence in Educational Programming.
Over 40 Countries and 2.5 Million People
The award-winning series is now used in over 40 countries, by over 2.5 million people – kids in London, Los Angeles, Lusaka, and everywhere in between, have logged on to become more globally aware.
In addition to leading ProjectExplorer,org she is a contributing writer for AWEARNESS: The Kenneth Cole blog focusing on issues in Southern Africa, the environment, and education. Ms. Buccos also serves on the Board of Directors of Artists Striving To End Poverty (ASTEP).
The NextWomen Invite Female Entrepreneurs to Dine with Facebook
As Christmas draws closer, The NextWomen are excited to announce their latest Kitchen Dinner – Dine with Facebook – in which Tracy Yaverbaun, Head of the pan-European and international sales team for Facebook EMEA will give a keynote. If you have ever wanted to understand the long road Facebook has followed to make money, now is the time to find out.
To get you into the mood of The NextWomen Kitchen Dinners, check out the video from our last event which Chloe Nicholls of Newspepper ran for us:
Tracy Yaverbaun and Facebook
Tracy Yaverbaun
Tracy Yaverbaun joined Facebook in January 2008 and now runs the pan-European and international sales team for Facebook EMEA.
Her team’s job is to help major advertisers and brands with global digital strategies and implements these strategies not only on a local but also on an international scale.
The international sales team helps brands connect with and become part of the conversation with users on Facebook in a meaningful way that rewards both the user and the brand. The team also consults and advises brands on their social media and Facebook strategy, and provides cost efficiencies for brands wishing to work in a central manner, while providing local market support among the Facebook network.
Major Achievements
Major achievements so far include the Adidas Global Partnerships, the 20th Century Fox first international engagement campaign and the iTunes Europe live festival on Facebook.
Tracy joined Facebook in January 2008 as Client Solutions Manager for the UK. This became an international role in late 2008, after which she went on to start the pan-European team in January 2009.
Prior to Facebook
Prior to Facebook, Tracy worked for AOL Time Warner for three years, from January 2005 to December 2007, as Client Services Manager on the Entertainment and CPG categories. In March 2007, she moved into a commercial development role, monetising AOL products and services for brands and advertisers.
She has a BA in Economics from Trinity College, Dublin and a Graduate Diploma in Marketing (IMI).
Female Internet Hero: Audio Interview with Emily Olson of Foodzie
As part of their Female Internet Heroes series, and in conjunction with NCWIT (the National Center for Women & Information Technology), The NextWomen will be publishing audio interviews highlighting 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 women discuss how they first became involved with tech, why they chose to be entrepreneurs and what advice they would give to young people interested in IT or entrepreneurship.
Emily Olson, Co-Founder of Foodzie
Listen to the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Interview with Emily Olson.
Emily Olson of Foodzie
Emily is co-founder of Foodzie, an online marketplace for small passionate food producers and growers. She heads up marketing, community management, and overall social media strategy for Foodzie. Part of her role is to bring a robust food community online and has done so through community tasting events and street team sampling promotions. She also keeps content flowing on the Foodzie blog, Twitter, Flickr and Foodzie Facebook Fan Page to help facilitate community growth. She’s also an alum of the 2008 class of TechStars, an early stage tech incubator program based out of Boulder, CO.
Prior to Foodzie, Emily worked for The Fresh Market, the third largest specialty food chain in the US, as their Private Label Brand Manager. She saw the flaws in the bricks and mortar model for small food companies and believed that an online marketplace gave them the tools they needed to connect directly with customers and share the stories that make them unique.
NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology. They are a coalition of more than 170 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase women’s participation in information technology (IT). NCWIT was established in 2004 with startup funding from the National Science Foundation, Avaya, Microsoft, Pfizer, Bank of America, Intel, HP, the Kauffman Foundation, and Qualcomm.
The NextWomen’s Highlights of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 – Part 1
As Global Entrepreneurship Week draws to a close, The NextWomen reflect on the week’s events:
Wednesday 18th November – The NextWomen BIG Kitchen Dinner
Organised to coincide with Women’s Enterprise Day, the Big Kitchen Dinner saw 83 women and men leading and investing in web 2.0 ventures enjoy a keynote from Stephanie Phair of theOutNet.com. To get a taste of the evening, read the detailed coverage of Stephanie Phair’s speech and have a look at the complete set of photographs taken on the evening.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Monday 16th November – Pitch 2009
The Pitch 2009, which has seen five regional heats over the past six months, came to its conclusion with the grand final at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, where Tony Lau and Cyclehoop were declared overall winners and bagging themselves £50,000 worth of business services.
A great collection of T-shirts from The NextWomen and Pitch 2009 Winner Tony Lau
A day of free seminars included a success story from Karen Darby who gave her ‘top tips on founding and running a business: Read more
- br/>
Extras
-
