Posted by stevi on April 28, 2013 under Announcements, Dinners | 
Light a Fire with IGNITE!
Seattle Girl Geek Dinners and IGNITE are excited to partner in our first fundraising event to support IGNITE’s mission: to educate and increase exposure of STEM related careers to young girls.
IGNITE™(Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution) is a nonprofit educational program that addresses the lack of women in STEM related careers. Originally launched in the Seattle School District, IGNITE’s program connects school-age girls to professional women in STEM careers who act as role models and mentors. IGNITE’s founder, Cathi Rodgveller (M.S. Ed.), has been recognized multiple times for her inspirational work including the Anita Borg’s Social Impact Award in 2012 and the Women’s eNews “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” in 2009. Since 1999, IGNITE has grown from a local presence in Seattle Public Schools to internationally with chapters as far away as Nigeria. With Cathi’s leadership and hundreds of volunteers, IGNITE has touched the lives of over 20,000 girls.
Seattle Girl Geek Dinners community and IGNITE have formed a partnership to achieve the following:
Volunteerism: Increase the number of mentors and event volunteers for IGNITE programs
Company sponsorship: To seek financial endorsement from corporations for IGNITE programs to continue to grow and make an impact at a local and international level
It is our job, as a community to increase the the representation of women in STEM and support educational programs that inspire the next generation of women on the career options available to them in the fields of science and engineering.
Please join us for an evening of networking and fun, as we tour the Microsoft museum and hear the founder of IGNITE, Cathi Rodgveller, discuss the IGNITE mission, program, and how we, as a local women’s community can impact the future of women in STEM related careers. We’ll even hear directly from the IGNITE Alumni! Drinks and light refreshments will be served.
Thank you to PACE Staffing for sponsoring this event and making this fundraiser possible!
Date: May 16, 2013
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: Microsoft Visitor Center, Building 92
15010 NE 36th Street
Redmond, WA 98052
Posted by stevi on April 25, 2013 under Dinners |
Hello Seattle Girl Geeks!
Great news — Capital One ShareBuilder is hosting our 19th Girl Geek Event on Thursday, May 9, 6–8 p.m.
This Girl Geek Event will focus on how ShareBuilder makes investing and saving for retirement straightforward and affordable. And they’ve come up with some pretty innovative ways to do it, including a customizable iPad® app that they built from the ground up. Plus, ShareBuilder’s website ranked #1 in design and usability among online brokerages in 2011 by Corporate Insight*.
So if you’ve ever felt intimidated by investing or have ever wondered how “investing” and “tech innovation” could go together in the same sentence, sign up for an evening of food, drinks, interactive demos and friendly conversation.
The event will be held in ShareBuilder’s offices, located in Pioneer Square’s historic Seattle Hardware Company building. Want to join us? Register now on Eventbrite and mark your calendar.
When: Thursday, May 09, 2013
Time: 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Agenda:
6:00-6:30: Networking
6:30-7:00: Panel discussion: How we get a product from concept to market at ShareBuilder
7:00-8:00: More networking, interact with our newest web, tablet and phone apps.
* #1 broker website for design and usability as ranked by Corporate Insight’s 2011 website study of 19 of the investment industry’s well-known retail brokerages. This comprehensive benchmarking study graded sites on 300+ attributes, using a 4-point scale of predefined criteria. In addition, the study used investor opinions (gathered in 1,000 interviews in April 2011) about the importance of site features to weight the grades for each attribute.
Securities products are offered by Capital One ShareBuilder, Inc. a registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC. Capital One ShareBuilder, Inc. is a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation.
Securities products are: Not FDIC insured • Not bank guaranteed • May lose value
Posted by stevi on November 26, 2012 under Announcements, Dinners, Speakers |
Happy Holidays Girl Geeks!
We are so fortunate to have a new sponsor for our Holiday Girl Geek Dinner! Cobalt will be making sure we end the year with a bang. So … get ready to party and hear what’s on the forefront of automotive technology.
Cobalt, which is based in downtown Seattle, offers customers nothing less than a reinvention of traditional automotive marketing. Cobalt has the most comprehensive suite of digital marketing services available for both automotive dealers and manufacturers.
Lisa Koutek, Sr. Director of Customer Experience, and one of Cobalt’s first employees, has seen (and been part of) major changes in how the automotive industry reaches its customers through technology. Lisa’s got well over a decade of seeing how women have influenced how car shoppers find what they’re looking for online. Lisa will be talking to us about how women have helped shape the future of the auto industry.
Agenda for the evening:
6pm – 6:45pm – networking, wine, cheese and dessert
6:45pm – 7:25pm – speaker
7:25pm-8pm – more networking and wrap up
One request to the community – please limit the number of guests you register/bring to the dinner to one person per attendee.
See you on December 13th!
Liz and Stevi
Directions:
The Cobalt Group, Inc (Division of ADP)
605 5th Ave South, Suite 800
Seattle, WA 98104
(The Entrance to our Building is in the courtyard across from Tully’s)
206-219-8000
Please allow sufficient time to park since parking is limited here in the International district. Here are some parking and public transportation options:
- There is a parking garage (Union Station Parking Garage) located at 550 4th Avenue S. Go to P2 Level and find the signage for “605 Lobby” elevator. Bring your ticket with you and the Front Desk will validate it for you. Park anywhere other than “2-hour parking” (unless your interview will be 2 hours or less)
- Diamond Parking has a series of pay parking lots roughly four to six blocks southeast of the building across from Dearborn.
- Light Rail: stops in bus tunnel – International District Station (5th Ave South and South Jackson Street)
- Metro Transit Bus: stops in bus tunnel – International District Station (5th Ave South and South Jackson Street)
- Sounder Train: (stops at 5th Ave South and South Jackson Street)
From the South:
1) Take I-5 North
2) Take exit 164A for Dearborn St toward James St / Madison St
3) Follow signs for Dearborn St
4) Turn right at S Dearborn St
5) Make a U-Turn
6) Turn right at 5th Ave S
From the North:
1) Take I-5 South
2) Take the I-90 E exit toward Bellevue / Spokane
3) Keep right at fork, follow signs for Dearborn St
4) Turn Right at S Dearborn St
5) Turn right at 5th Ave S
From the Eastside:
1) Take I-90 West
2) Take exit 3B for Rainier Ave N
3) Merge onto Rainier Ave South
4) Turn left at S Dearborn St
5) Turn right at 5th Ave S
Posted by stevi on September 13, 2012 under Announcements, Dinners |
It’s that time again, Seattle Girl Geeks!
Our next dinner is being hosted by Microsoft’s Online Services Division, Windows, Windows Phone Division and Interactive Entertainment Business on October 11 – and they are mixing it up for us this time around! Rather than meeting on campus or at a restaurant, we’ll be meeting at the swank new event venue in downtown Seattle, 1927 Events.
Come prepared to enjoy great food, learn first-hand about the exciting new products launching this fall, and win some great prizes! This event is sure to please, so RSVP today!
See you next month!
Liz and Stevi
Date: Thursday, Oct. 11
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location:
1927 Events
1927 3rd Ave / corner of 3rd and Virginia downtown
Seattle, WA
Agenda:
6:00 – 6:30pm: Arrivals, Networking & noshing
6:30pm – 7:00pm: Welcome & introductions to the evening
7:00 – 8:00pm: More networking, mixing and learning at the demo area
Parking:
There are four pay public parking lots within one block of 1927 Events. For a map of the area: http://1927events.com/info.html
Posted by stevi on July 25, 2012 under Dinners |
Hello Seattle Girl Geeks!
Amazon.com will be sponsoring sweet #16 for our girl geek dinner community on Thursday, August 23, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Our event will be held in their new urban South Lake Union campus. If you haven’t been yet, it’s about time to check out South Lake Union and experience how Amazon, Vulcan, and SLU designed a thoughtful, walkable and attractive campus right in the heart of the city. Please register on Eventbrite to attend.
In the spirit of shaking things up a bit … Amazon has asked Laura Baldwin, President of O’Reilly Media to come speak to at our event! Check out her bio below:
Laura Baldwin started with O’Reilly Media in October 2001 as Chief Financial Officer and added Chief Operating Officer to her responsibilities in October 2004. She became O’Reilly’s first President in March 2011. Laura is largely attributed with managing O’Reilly through the tech downturns of the past decade, and is currently responsible for O’Reilly’s worldwide businesses. Prior to O’Reilly she was a consultant to the publishing industry through BMR Associates and managed several large consulting engagements across all genres of publishing. Laura’s publishing career started at Chronicle Books the large, premiere publisher of popular culture, art, and children’s books as well as gift products where she served as CFO for ten years, establishing Chronicle’s successful distribution business as well as helping bring Chronicle’s Gift Business to market.
I can’t let the entire cat out of the bag, but what I can share is that Amazon has a very fun evening in store … so, register, mark your calendars and see you next month!
Date: Thursday, August 23, 2012
Time: 6:00-8:00pm
Agenda:
Networking/Dinner: 6:00-6:45pm
Speaker: 6:45-7:15pm
Topic: TBA
Wrap up: 7:15-8pm
Address:
Van Vorst Building
426 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
Parking:
For a list of parking lots close to campus, please visit:http://www.standardparkingnw.com/locations/default.asp#south_lake_union_seattle
Thanks,
Liz and Stevi
Posted by stevi on April 11, 2012 under Announcements, Dinners, Speakers |
We’re excited to announce that Catalysis will be hosting the 15th Seattle Girl Geek Dinner on May 10, 2012, from 6-8 pm.
At Catalysis we believe that data is at the core of every successful digital marketing campaign. We’re a 20 year old marketing agency with start-up heart and we’d love to show you around our beautiful home – a repurposed, turn-of-the-century church on Capitol Hill. Join us for a night of networking with other marketers, developers and analysts where we’ll share our vision of the future of digital marketing and the roles of data and privacy in successful campaigns.
When: Thursday, May 10th
Time: 6:00 -8:00pm
Location: 1601 East John Street, Seattle, WA 98112 (directions: http://www.catalysis.com/connect)
Parking and public transportation: We have a parking lot in the back of our building with very limited parking. There is a pay lot next door to us and street parking is typically available in the evening hours. In addition, there several bus stops within a block of our building on Thomas St.
Agenda:
6:00 – 7:00 Networking game (please bring a smartphone with you if you have one)
7:00 – 7:30 Game recap, presentation and Q&A
7:30 – 8:00 Wrap up
Beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Presenters:
Nancy Hadley, Managing Director
As the Managing Director at Catalysis, Nancy is responsible for the operational and financial performance of the organization. In addition to her management responsibilities, Nancy is also the company’s privacy officer and holds a CIPP/US designation from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She holds a BBA in marketing from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Washington.
Vivian Lim, Software Solutions Architect
Vivian is the fearless leader of the software development group at Catalysis and has been with the company for two years. Prior to Catalysis, Vivian’s jobs included technology strategist, program manager, developer/tester, and human tissue engineer. She has two Bachelor’s degrees, one in Engineering from Concordia University and one from McGill University in Science for Microbiology/Immunology.
Posted by stevi on January 16, 2012 under Announcements, Dinners, Speakers |
We’re very excited to announce Dinner 14, which will be at Expedia’s offices in Bellevue.
Be sure to sign up on Eventbrite to ensure your spot!
Expedia loves travel and we love technology. Join us for a fun night of networking with other women in technology. Enjoy refreshments, games & prizes. Hear from our passionate panel of speakers as they discuss how technology has affected the travel industry. They’ll also share their experiences, insight and travel tips from Expedia, where we are revolutionizing travel through technology
When: February 16
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Where: 333 108th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98006
Map: http://binged.it/xrDyJp
Parking: There are two entrances to the parking lot. One on 4th Street and the other on 108th Avenue NE. Parking will not be validated. There may be free parking in nearby establishments.
Public Transit: If you are planning to take buses, the closest stop is Bellevue Transit Center. You will have to walk a couple of blocks to the Expedia building.
Agenda:
Networking Game
Panel discussion & Q/A
Dinner: We will have pasta and wine for dinner. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available.
Welcome & Introductions: Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO
Expedia Panelists:
Kristen Graham, VP Engagement & Communications
Kristin has been at Expedia for 5 years and leads employee programs for Expedia, Inc.’s companies, which have more than 100 sites in more than 60 countries. Her team oversees employee communication & events, philanthropy, learning & development, diversity, and engagement/branding initiatives. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Aman Bhutani, VP Development
Aman Bhutani leads the engineering team for the Expedia brand. The brand technology team focuses on the web tier of our global platform and services that offer differentiation from other brands. The Expedia technology team is at the heart of the brand’s product based growth strategy and has team members in many cities across the planet. Aman joined Expedia in 2010 after many years in financial services and consulting.
Katie Lykins, Software Development Engineer
Katie Lykins is a developer on the Package Discovery Service team at Expedia. She’s been at Expedia for 4 years and prior to Expedia, she worked at two different local small companies. She’s a true local, having been born and raised in Seattle and going to the University of Washington. In her free time, she’s active in playing basketball, volleyball and tennis.
Diane Omuoyo, Performance Engineer
Diana Omuoyo graduated with a Masters Degree in Information Systems from Baylor University, Waco. Her career in IT has spanned different roles and industries; including Web/Application Development, Network Tech, Business Intelligence and now Performance Engineering. She’s originally from Cleveland, OH and relocated to Egencia last year. During her free time she enjoys playing tennis and music, reading books and travelling adventures.
Sign up on Eventbrite! We look forward to seeing you there!
–Liz and Stevi
Posted by stevi on November 17, 2011 under Dinners |
Happy Holidays Geek Girls!
For those of you that are new – welcome to our community!
This invitation is coming at the 11th hour, but better late than never, right? Microsoft Advertising has agreed to sponsor our Holiday Geek Girl Dinner.
Online Advertising is one of the fastest growing businesses on the Internet today. Microsoft is innovating rapidly to grow its share of this market by providing the advertising industry with a world-class online advertising platform and service. Come learn more from the women who influence and create the strategy behind Microsoft’s digital marketing, display, search, mobile & games advertising solutions.
We would also like to dedicate this dinner in memory of Elise Arnits. Elise was part of this community since we first started in 2008. Elise was a Database Developer for Mantis, and a single mother of two amazing boys. She lost her life in a tragic motorcycle accident this summer. We will be holding a fundraiser for her this evening.
If you would like to make a donation, please write your check to the Elise Arnits Memorial Fund.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=152784866
Lastly, due to space constraints, I ask that you only bring one guest if you decide to bring a friend. Men are welcome, but will need to attend with a geek girl.
So, grab your party hats, business cards, and come celebrate the holidays with your fellow geek girls and Microsoft Advertising! I will provide everyone with more information on the speakers and parking after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Date: Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Time: 6-8pm
Location:
Club Contour
807 1st Avenue
Seattle, WA 98014
See you soon!
Liz and Stevi
Posted by stevi on June 21, 2011 under Announcements, Dinners |
All registered attendees should have received an email with these same details.
The location for the June 23, 2011 dinner, hosted by Bing, has changed to:
City Center Building
555 110th Ave NE, 26th FL
Bellevue, WA 98004
Parking WILL BE VALIDATED. Please bring your ticket with you to the dinner. Be sure to bring a business card to enter in the gift card drawing!
Our agenda will be:
6-6:45 – networking game/dinner
6:45-7:30 – Bing Design team panel discussion
7:30-8pm – drawing for Bravern gfit card and wrap up
Posted by stevi on May 23, 2011 under Announcements, Dinners, Speakers |
Hello again Geek Girls!
The Bing Design team has offered to host a design centric Geek Girl Dinner. For the first hour of our dinner, we will have an amazing panel composed of several key designers from Bing. They will discuss the latest innovations in design and the various career paths you can take in this discipline.
Not to mention, Bing is hosting our dinner in the café on the 23rd floor of Bravern 2 Bldg in Bellevue. Be prepared for some amazing views of Lake Washington! Side note: parking will be validated …
In the spirit of girl power, the Bing Design team will also be raffling off a $100 gift card to Bravern. You must be present to win!
The dinner is on June 23, and starts at 6 pm. Space is limited, so be sure to register at the Eventbrite page
Below are the biographies of our panelist. We look forward to seeing you again next month!
-Liz, Stevi, and Vanessa
Laura Kerr
UX DIRECTOR, Bing
Laura is a firm believer in the power of people and the strength of emotional design. She has over a decade of large-scale, consumer-facing services experience at Microsoft. She SKUs toward V1 problems, of which she still believes Search is one. At Bing, she is working toward an integrated approach that redefines a cultural balance between experience design and technology.
Laura is a Minnesota native but has been in Seattle long enough to truly appreciate the fog and rain and the quiet reflection it offers. She has an eclectic collection of higher degrees, has lived in Greece, Italy, and speaks several languages. She loves to swing dance, explore food culture, and play with her most awesome 2-yr old daughter, Chloe.
Mira Lane
Bing Design PM Lead – Studio Management, Prototyping, UX PM
Mira Lane has been leading User Experience innovation in Bing for the past 5 years. Her most recent accomplishments include the successful launch of Bing where her team was responsible for much of the visible innovations in the product from the homepage to results page. Her innovations have resulted in numerous patents for Microsoft spanning aggregation of categorized opinion data to different methods of previewing and displaying faceted search data. Upon returning from her second maternity leave, Mira has shifted her focus to design validation, prototyping and PM for horizontal user experience features.
Mira graduated from the University of Waterloo with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. She has worked as a developer at Quack.com in the silicon valley, which was acquired by AOL, and later at Nuance building speech-driven applications.
Outside of work Mira has a full plate as an artist, a mother of two, and outdoor enthusiast. Though her recent family additions have limited her to Rattlesnake Ledge, her outdoor pursuits have taken her from the mountaintop of Kilimanjaro, to Everest basecamp to backpacking around Asia.
Christina Koehn
User Experience Designer, Bing
Christina has been working professionally as a graphic designer since 2007 and is currently a User Experience Designer for Bing.com. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and is changing the way that people think about search and finding information on the web.
Prior to this, Christina spent time working with the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices division on interface and information design for connected entertainment and for various print and web design agencies in the Seattle area. Her most recent projects at Bing include a redesign of the global visual language system, as well as many design iterations around html5, and the next generation of search.
Christina graduated from the University of Washington in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design and a minor in Art History. When not working, Christina loves to stay active by running and training for half marathons, playing volleyball, doing yoga and volunteering as a dog runner at the Seattle Humane Society and also enjoys traveling and reading about design and technology.
Goldie Chaudhuri
Program Manager
Goldie Chaudhuri joined Bing in the last year and has worked on Windows 8 and the Bing iPad app. She recently joined Bing Design as one of their first Program Managers, working on cross-device cross-team projects. Prior to Bing, Goldie worked on various experimental prototypes like Seadragon and Pivot at Live Labs and Spatial Databases at SQL Server.
Goldie graduated with majors in Computer Engineering and Studio Art from Case Western Reserve University, a weird but awesome campus spread out through 80 of Cleveland’s museums and non-profits. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and now lives in Capitol Hill where in her spare time she likes printmaking, soldering glowing costumes, geeking out about food and Belgian beers, wandering farmers markets and folk festivals, travelling, doing yoga, and biking around when it’s sunny.
