Today is exciting for so many reasons, I hope you’ll let me share some of that excitement with you as Women 2.0 enters its next phase of growth.
Women 2.0, yesterday and today
It would have been impossible for me to have not known about Women 2.0 during the past decade. Shaherose speaks eloquently and personally about it, but for me, Women 2.0 has always been a leading, prominent voice in the women in tech space.
At each stage of our collective journeys through the tech sector, Women 2.0 has been creating the conversation, community and action that’s pushed us all forward – as members of the community, as corporate and startup leaders and founders, as businesses.
Women 2.0 has consistently held the perfect spot of being exactly aligned with what the market is able to handle, while pushing that market to the limit.
Women 2.0, today and tomorrow
From grassroots, to organized community, to media and events, Women 2.0 has a position of strength that makes a next phase, well, at least not that difficult (it’ll be a lot of work, as these things always are, but we have a nice head start).
We have several specific products, service and partnerships we’ll be working on, but our main goal is to provide tangible, action-oriented initiatives that directly impact the pipeline in four main area: tech talent, technology startup founders, technology investors, and leadership in technology companies.
We plan to maintain a strong community aspect of the company. In addition to giving our community tangible ways to progress, we also want other companies or organizations with action-based products or services to access our community in order to catalyze their own change.
I’m excited to work side-by-side with Elisa Miller-Out (our COO, say hello to her, it’s her birthday today!), who has impressed me for years with her drive, energy and sharpness.
We couldn’t start stronger with a group of amazing Founding Advisors:
In addition to Shaherose, we have Jesse Draper, Monique Woodard, Sean Branagan, Natalia Oberti Noguera, Meagen Eisenberg, Charles Hudson and Jenny Fielding
And Founding Partners:
untapt, Angel Labs, MongoDB, theBoardlist, Pipeline Angels and Republic
Thank you all for hopping on board (or staying with us, for some of you) for our next phase.
More to come on this, I hope you’ll join us for this journey.
Relationships matter.
I wish I’d known Shaherose, your fearless leader, a decade ago when Women 2.0 was started. Yes, partly because she was probably just as fantastic then as she is now, but mainly because, as our relationship has grown during the past few years, I’m selfish and just wish I’d simply had more time with her and could have journeyed with her more as we paralleled efforts to change the face of technology.
Even so, I’m so pleased to continue my relationship with her, learn from her and have her push me in her new role as an Board member and friend.
Heart, sometimes it’s all that matters.
That may be dramatic, but one of the things that’s so special about Shaherose, and therefore Women 2.0, is HEART. The relentless drive to make the world a better place, to create opportunities where they may not have existed, and to impact people, whether it’s one or 50,000.
There are days when heart gets me out of bed. So much of what’s driven that is the amazing, heart-forward, selfless women I’ve had the pleasure of working with around the world in various capacities (I can’t even begin to do shoutouts, there are too many of you, and you all know who you are…come play!), and the countless people who, likewise, come at the world with heart in the equation.
It’s one of the things that made me – without thought – pick up the phone and call Elisa to join the Founding Team (She was the first and last person I called for the job).
That heart has been a driver of major decisions of my life – positive and…not so positive – and I can’t wait to lead Women 2.0 with heart at the core.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly – [email protected] or @just_kate. I’m really looking forward to talking with all of you as we move forward.
