The Blogo’Shawn

Here I am up bright and early to say that I really enjoyed BlogHer. I knew I probably would, but the day’s final panel and cocktail party really surpassed expectations. Among others, I was pleased to hear Mena Trott (Six Apart) and Arianna Huffington during the closing session in a packed ballroom setting. What especially struck me was how personal and upfront they were in relating their experiences regarding a substantial ground of, not just tech and politics, but life at large. I was very impressed with their candor and what they shared with us - the talk was fairly intimate at times which was a wonderful change of pace.

Also I met some wonderful women I had seen in passing, but who I had wanted to meet more in-depth. BlogHer provided a casual, friendly environment for just that. I love meeting intelligent women undertaking significant initiatives in the tech space, and so I met some impressive ladies tonight one-on-one. In particular I want to point out Joanne Wan from the STIRR network. She, along with her partners, are working extensively to bring about a truly vibrant, emerging technology networking mixer in Palo Alto that i just had the pleasure to attend a few weeks ago. Check it out, next on Wednesday, August 9th!

Also, I have an admission to make. i have had an extremely technical education and career experience, but it has emphasized the logical, programmatic over business survival skills. I am yet endeavoring to raise my entrepreneurial pluck to the degree I desire. I have strong instincts within me and I have been sitting on a few startup ideas. That part is not unique to the Bay Area, but I do gain significant inspiration from strong female role models who light the way ahead. Not unreasonable, right? Honestly, I haven’t had the opportunity yet to talk to many female founders in tech. I don’t think I realized how vital that is until tonight when by serendipity I met CEO and founder Tracy Sheridan from Waxxi (recently blogged about in TechCrunch). We had an insightful conversation and I am impressed by her interactive podcast product and also with her as a person who is following her passion and steering her own ship ably. It’s amazing how empowering it is interacting with someone who is confidently pursuing her business idea. Very much so! I wish there was an accessible unconference/gathering of women tech entreprenuers, VCs, and vital connectors. That would be my idea of a primo conference, and admittedly I got a taste of that at BlogHer! Strong women doing it well!

I cannot resist also mentioning that Arianna Huffington was a stunner. She is a wonderful, engaging dynamo on stage and an approachable, gracious person off-stage. Check out her insights and overview of politics on blog and also she has an upcoming book about to be distributed! I figure she knows her stuff regarding effective life strategies, oh yes!

As an addendum, I am inspired to begin covering more personal career developments and revelations emanating out of my work as a consultant. I will have to be somewhat discreet and guarded due to these companies being more or less at a stealth or beta start stage but I should be able to generalize somewhat to points and practice principles. So please stay tuned - I vow to cover more than just tech conferences! Just needed to warm up the blog-writing muscles first!