I have a keen understanding of the places where people, technology and media intersect. I've spent the last 4 years working with and advising companies ranging in size on the new role of e-marketing and the impact of technology on customer relationships.
I'm looking for a new home. A place where my creativity and my business savvy can enjoy a blissful co-existence. After 4 years of working freelance, I feel ready for a change - a change for the better. I look forward to joining forces. To co-creating. To being a part of a team that works together, sharing ideas and playing cumulative roles in conclusive successes. I feel ready to grow. To learn and absorb. To be educated by others and to share my knowledge in return. It's time to accomplish more. It's time to be challenged.
I'm forward thinking. I take chances. I try new things with little coercion. So it only makes sense that I would want to surround myself with like-minded creative thinkers, creative doers. They should embrace emergent technologies and trends. Like me, they should be strong believers in collaboration, and passionate about the sharing of new finds and new information. The team I join should be talent rich, masters of their respective disciplines, so that we can best meet the needs of our wide range of clients, both creatively and strategically.
As an interactive enabler. I know where to find the right tools for the job, and know how to use them to construct the final product. My strength lies in communication and in translation; in taking technical concepts and adapting them to fit thoughts, ideas, and wishes. I remove barriers and demystify technology through everyday language, empowering the client through knowledge and understanding.
While attending technology based events ranging in size from bar camp to O'Reilly's web 2.0 expo, one thing became abundantly clear; women are in the minority (at times nonexistent) within the tech community. It was this very realization that prompted me to become the co-founder of Women 2.0 Canada.
Challenge:
Increase the number of young women entrepreneurs
Encourage women to work with and in the field of technology
Provide resources that will lead to the launch of their self-led companies
Network women with other female entrepreneurs, experienced executives and investors
Help young women get access to early stage funding.
Approach:
Our first steps were to unify and foster collaboration and participation, within the existing female tech community, as well as offer a welcoming environment and encouragement to those wishing to participate and get involved in Toronto's tech community. This was achieved through a series of networking events, learning seminars, and related partnerships with organizations such as ?Girl Geek Dinners?. What was most instrumental in bridging the gap of the sexes in Toronto?s technology scene was ensuring the Women 2.0 members had a very visible presence at local technology events.
Solution:
Since the launch of Women 2.0 Canada, we have successfully developed a following that is steadily growing. We have been able to rally passionate women (and yes some men as well) to join our journey. Our group, either collectively or as individuals, have held keynote speaker positions at conferences, participated as panelists at seminars and we are currently in the process of creating a student mentorship program.
As Women 2.0, the use of web 2.0 technology is a no brainer and an obvious choice. The tools we use (twitter, flickr, upcoming, facebook and wordpress) have been chosen to optimize our ability to reach both our current and potential audience base. To date, our valuable and relevant content has also enabled us to grow and keep the interest of our audience. Internally, we communicate using online tools such as Google office, pb wiki and basecamp.
Women 2.0 Canada continues to work tirelessly to foster collaboration and participation from the female tech community, and entrepreneurial community at large.
Challenge:
To fill a void in the current writing community
Provide an online publishing environment for struggling writers
Build a safe environment for publishers to scout and discover new talent
Build a sharing community of up and coming writers
Give the public at large access to the works of talented and aspiring writers
Approach:
The StoryBank.com site was created to act as a virtual focus group for writers, allowing them to garner feedback from the community through online forums, chat and online voting functionality, while at the same time giving writers account access to upload, download, save documents, get story ideas from readers and communicate with other community members, through private messaging, at will. The site was also deliberately created with placeholders for engaging site owner information such as blogs, events, tips and tools and latest industry news.
Solution:
StoryBank.com turned out to be a great example of an offline community engaging in even greater real time activity online. We found that writers used the site in an ?ask the expert? manner and commented that the speed to resolution or in gathering feedback was alone phenomenal in of itself. This project has acted as my flagship case study when communicating with nontraditional off line organizations and companies. The result of the successful Story Bank launch shows others how they can triple community and member involvement and efficiency by taking their groups online.
Challenge:
To deliver an engaging training video to an otherwise boring discipline.
To engage sales team in learning and heighten their ability to be passionate about the product value proposition.
Approach:
A flash presentation was designed for each chapter of the training curriculum. Interactive e-learning components were also created to test the users retention levels.
Solution:
The AstraZeneca eLearning project gave me a chance to work with in-house agency art directors, project managers and account owners, while still involving a talented team of freelance flash developers, recruited and sourced by myself. The AstraZeneca project also exercised my ability to work with demanding timelines and still fulfill all of the project requirements and meet target launch dates. In the end, I was part of a team that deliverd a successful and wonderfully engaging product.
...of your time, your consideration, and for taking the time to visit.
