SXSW
Ladies Get Love in Tech: Meet the Fempire of SXSW Interactive
By Melissa Jun Rowley, Sunday, Mar. 14 2010 @ 1:22PMComments (5)
Categories: SXSW
Taylor Davidson
Sarah Evans, Shauna Causey and Sloane Berrent
The old adage that ladies get no love in tech is a thing of the past, at least here in Austin, TX. On Saturday March 13, a group of 90 wave-making women gathered at the top of Frost Bank Tower (the building that looks like a giant nose hair trimmer) to honor eight powerhouse female players in tech and social media. Organized by cause-based consultant Sloane Berrent and publicist Sarah Evans, the “Digitini” luncheon celebrated raconteur Cathy Brooks of Other Than That, Altimeter Group’s Charlene Li, CNN’s Jennifer Martin, Read Write Web’s Jolie O’Dell, Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg, Comcast’s Shauna Causey, Porter Novelli’s Stephanie Agresta and PGi’s Jackie Yeaney.
Randi Zuckerberg, Cathy Brooks, Jolie O’Dell, Jennifer Martin, Shauna Causey, Stephanie Agresta, Jackie Yeaney, Charlene Li
Friends old and new, including plenty who were meeting for the first time in real life, praised one another’s work and developed strategic partnerships over martinis and quiche. From coders to account managers to CEOs to entrepreneurs, the women of SXSW Interactive are in business for a reason.
Berrent said an afternoon with boys on the side made for a perfect Saturday. While there was no shortage of gratitude and esteem among the dynamic group of women, the shortage of females at South by Southwest overall was mentioned.
“Men have a lot of opportunities to connect at South by Southwest, and there’s such a smaller number of women here,” said Berrent. “So bringing everyone together in an environment that was really welcoming and empowering was a great for us all to pay our respects to one another.”
During the recognition session, Randi Zuckerberg said she didn’t realize there were this many women at South by Southwest. In response Cathy Brooks said, “There’s only three that aren’t here and they’re all on panels right now.”
But if the speed of tech innovation and the power of Web 2.0 are any indication of what’s to come, it won’t be long before the panels are packed with fempower.
It’s lovely that you want to honor these women who are all very accomplished.
But none of them are really in tech. They work around tech. They are PR and Marketing women, with a little analysis (Charlene) thrown in. Those roles have a plethora of women in them, and in fact could use some affirmative action for men because they barely have men doing them.
None of your honorees are women technologists, in engineering, data or web/mobile development, and none are building businesses in tech (as in the CEO or COO of tech companies).
You are celebrating women who work in categories that are overrun with women.
I’d love to see you celebrate some women who build, develop and run tech shops, know how to code and take on CEO-ship, or otherwise do something that is an uncommon role for women in tech.
But none of them are really in tech. They work around tech. They are PR and Marketing women, with a little analysis (Charlene) thrown in. Those roles have a plethora of women in them, and in fact could use some affirmative action for men because they barely have men doing them.
+1
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