Episode 5: female entrepreneurship

July 6, 2012

I got so many good interviews for this show that I decided to break it into two parts rather than cram everything into a 20 minute podcast. Being a journalist and British, I walk around with a double level of cynicism. So when recently I started reading a bunch of posts, articles and tweets all raving about female entrepreneurship ('you go girl' was the general flavor), I got suspicious. I wanted to get behind the hype and find out what's really going on in the world of women entrepreneurs. In part two (a little further down) I'll have an interview with Amanda Pouchout, co-founder of The Levo League, a startup devoted to ambitious 20-something women. Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg is one of their funders. 

July 11, 2012

Here's part two, or episode six, featuring The Levo League. Who knew job postings were (unintentionally) woman-unfriendly? Tune in to find out more.

For data on entrepreneurship, you might want to visit these sites. The Kauffman Foundation is the largest foundation in the world dedicated to entrepreneursip and has just published a new book, A Rising Tide, about financing strategies for women-owned firms (much more interesting than it sounds). Check out this short 'sketchbook' video featuring one of the authors, Alicia Robb - it's fun and packed with good information. Womenable is a good source too. For the last two years they, along with American Express Open, have brought out a report on the state of female entrepreneurship in the US. Womenable also looks at female entrepreneurship around the world and its effects on economies. Astia helps women grow their firms and hone their leadership skills. It declares on its homepage that it doesn't intend to exist in ten years - it wants and expects its job to be done by then. (Down, inner cynic, down!)

The data on women's entrepreneurship offen differes sligthly depending on who's parsing it and which aspects they're looking at. But at the end of the day, despite all the current enthusiasm and excitement around women going out on their own, the fact remains that women's firms grow very slowly, it's harder for women to raise money, and only 17 percent of participants in Startup Weekend are female. We still have a lot of work to do. The better armed we are with information, the more we can achieve. For more on this and links to other participants in this show, visit The Broad Experience blog.

Episode 4: getting ahead

June 9, 2012

Finally, episode 4 is out.

I was delighted to be able to interview a Financial Times columnist I've been reading for years - Mrs. Moneypenny, or Heather McGregor, as she's known in her everyday life, business owner and author most recently of 'Sharpen Your Heels: Mrs. Moneypenny's Career Advice for Women'. I don't agree with everything she says, but it was great to talk to her. 

(Photo of Heather McGregor, courtesy H McGregor)
I also spoke to Joanna Barsh, a dynamic director at McKinsey & Company.  Joanna co-wrote a report McKinsey recently released called Unlocking the Full Potential of Women at Work.

McKinsey teamed up with the Wall Street Journal to discuss the report's findings at the Women in the Economy conference, which took place earlier this spring. Both women are incredibly successful but have somewhat different beliefs about what it takes for women to make it to the top - and the extent to which women get in their own way.  Listen and let me know what you think.

Outtakes from 'women in tech', episode 3 of The Broad Experience

May 15, 2012

I got so much good, uncensored stuff from my interviews with Vivek Wadhwa, Gina Trapani and Adda Birnir that I decided to put up a few outtakes that didn't make it into the final podcast. I'd love to know what you think. 

First, Gina on something I had never thought about before.

Second, Adda on the tech startup scene, and on how to make technology feel less exclusive.

And finally, Vivek Wadhwa on the pushback he got from some women in the tech industry when he started writing and talking about the lack of women in Silicon Valley.

I'd be very curious to know if this last comment rings bells for anyone. Fair, or not?

Episode three: women and technology

May 5, 2012
Women are avid users of technology, but few of us work in the field. In fact fewer women graduate with computer science degrees today than they did in the '80s. I'm your typical technophobe. Yes, I use technology all the time, but I've never learned how to code and frankly I've always though it's best to leave these things to the experts. 

Listen to this segment to find out why I'm completely wrong, and how any of us can become experts - as well as why it is that tech has been a male-dominated industry for so long. Great guests again this week, from Vivek Wadhwa in Silicon Valley to tech star and founder of Lifehacker Gina Trapani, to my fellow CUNY entrepreneurial journalism fellow Adda Birnir of Skillcrush. 

Episode two: men and equality, women and leadership

In the second episode of The Broad Experience I talk to Catalyst's Mike Otterman and Jeanine Prime about men and equality (hint: the more equitable your relationship, the better your love life). And I meet Tiffany Dufu of The White House Project, who reveals how her childhood led to a career promoting women and girls. We also discuss which qualities make for good leadership. 

Episode one: welcome to The Broad Experience

In the first episode of The Broad Experience we discuss why so few women write opinion pieces, and why doing so can help their careers and their confidence. Check out The OpEd Project to learn more about this - I'm about to take my first class. Also, various studies show that women negotiate less often then men and that many of them loathe doing so (me included). We look at how the negotiation-haters can improve their skills and get the raise they want. Anyone interested in this topic should read Ask For It by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever. It will leave you agog and quite possibly change your life.