On February 23^rd, Talener Group launched its networking event program focused on promoting female professionals in the technology space, Women Inspire Technology. The kick-off event was led by Tiffany Roesler, Group Manager at Talener, and was held at the company’s NYC headquarters. The event was well attended by women in technology who came together to network, build a support system, discuss challenges and opportunities, as well as further develop and cultivate their leadership skills. One important skill focused on was the importance of learning to take pride in, and even bragging about their accomplishments.

The featured speaker at the inaugural event was Jane Silberstein, QA Manager at Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Jane provided insights from her own successes and challenges as a woman in the technology industry, as well as spoke on the importance of creating a community for women in the field to share ideas and discuss leadership development. She commented on the amount of younger faces who have a lot to benefit from a group like WIT.

Our next WIT event will take place Thursday, March 29^th at 7pm at Talener’s NYC office. Our hope is that through this continued grass-roots initiative, women professionals will inspire each other to reach higher and speak louder. If you are interested in attending, please R.S.V.P. to Tiffany Roesler at troesler@talener.com

I feel like I’m riding the crest of a beautiful wave, being a Woman in Technology in New York City. 

I plan on surfing this wave for one hell of a ride.  My mission is to spotlight Women in Technology in New York City and create a meet-up for us to connect as peers, mentors and friends.  As Marlo Thomas put it on the new Women’s Page of the Huffington-Post that launched this past August; “You need to lift up many women, not just one woman.  For women there’s safety in numbers.  If you have only one woman at the table, she’s a pest.  Two women? That’s a team. But three? Now that’s a coalition.”

This past December Caroline Turner wrote in her article, Why women abandon the C suite-and how to get them back, “Women now represent about half of the hiring pipeline, entry-level positions and total workforce.  But at each level of management, women represent a lower percentage.”

The 2011 Catalyst Census showed women representing 47.6% of today’s workforce; in the 2011 Fortune 500 women represented only 14.4 percent of executive officers, and only made up 7.6% of top earners.  The good news is that Prior Catalyst research also revealed that advancing women to leadership positions is good for women and good for business.  The census found companies with more women in top leadership positions, on average, far outperform those with fewer.  Another new Catalyst release, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards (2004–2008), indicates that sustained gender diversity in the boardroom correlates with better corporate performance―and not by just a little. Companies with three or more women board directors in four of five years, on average, outperformed companies with zero women board directors―by 84% return on sales, 60% return on invested capital, and 46% return on equity.

My research has shown me that women even if they don’t literally leave, they disengage or just quit climbing.  As women in leadership roles, we need to strive to inspire our people and inspire our fellows.  Helping and connecting with other women in the NYC Tech frontlines will produce high level support in turn re-engaging ourselves while simultaneously making us more confident leaders

Our Time is now and these women are doing it.  Let’s take a look into who they are, where they work and what they’ve accomplished.

Arianna Huffington is the president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of thirteen books. Her news blog site has become the most widely read, linked to and frequently cited media brands on the internet.  She has been twice named to Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. 

Heather Harde

Vice President, TechCrunch

Heather Harde has help bring TechCrunch from her boss’s living room to being acquired for a reported number between $40-50 million by AOL.  Heather spent the previous decade at News Corp., where she learned much of the discipline and skills needed to turn a group of bloggers into a media powerhouse.  In Fast Company magazine Harde says, “I had an appreciation of how difficult it was to create a brand in media. TechCrunch had become a brand. It now needed to scale into a media property.”

Chloe Sladden

Media Partnerships, Twitter

Sladden is responsible for partnering Live tweeting during media broadcasts.  In 2010 she brought “Live Tweeting” to be a key part of the MTV Video Music Awards which resulted in over 11 million viewers, the highest rated show since 2002.  Sladden also pioneered the first time a major news organization partnered with Twitter during the 2008 election.  She had a call to action to vote in the morning via twitter, and then journalists followed up with a live chat in the afternoon.  She is currently working to bridge Twitter’s API and TV, news and entertainment platforms.

Rachel Sterne

Chief Digital Officer, New York City

Sterne started GroundReport in 2006 and has become the Web’s best real-time-news portals according to Fast Company Magazine.  The role has led her to be the Chief Digital Officer in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration.

Jessica Kahn

Vice President of Engineering, Disney Mobile

Jessica Kahn is the brains behind the Tap Tap Revenge which is the most popular iPhone game.  She manages engineering, operations, and strategy.  Kahn thought she’d be a lawyer, until she took a coding class her senior year at Dartmouth.  Kahn was also an Apple software engineer for almost 10 years.

Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss

Co-Founders, Rent the Runway

This duo’s e-commerce company Rent the Runway allows women across America to rent instead of purchasing luxury designer dresses and accessories.  Hyman and Fleiss are on track to revolutionize the fashion industry.  The pair met at Harvard Business School and is taking a customer behavior of buying to renting.  Converting those I’ll only wear that once purchases into rentals.  The site works as a hotel reservation site and women can rent a dress for an occasion starting at $50 receiving the dress for up to eight days. 

Enter W.I.Ny.C;)

Let’s take action and impact ourselves and support other woman.  I present to you,  Women, Inspire, New York City – W.I.Ny.C .  A technology based meet up for Women in NYC. 

On the last Thursday of every month we will meet up and have a selected speaker lead a topical round table discussion.  W.I.Ny.C.;)’s meet up will be a place for women to share their story, future goals as well as current challenges.   Our first meet-up will be February 23, 2012 at my office, located at 11 East 44^th Street, suite 1200.  We will start at 7pm, please let me know if you would like to join us.

I can be reached at troelser@talener.com

I look forward to meeting you.