Who’s a geek?

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/nivlek_est/319151008/sizes/m/

In December we were mesmerized by Ubicomp Jedi Beth Mynatt and her personal stories from the early days at PARC to the amazing work she’s doing today in health care. Last night we were spellbound by Jacqui Chew‘s life chapters – from rock-n-roll to the corporati and on to her current mission to help bring start-up stories to life.

So who’s the girl geek? They both are, and we love that.

The Atlanta chapter of Girl Geek Dinners is celebrating everything and everyone that makes us “geek out”. Our next meeting is February 5th at Southface and if you’d like to help us shape our geek-out agenda for 2014, please join us.

 

Getting the ATL GGD band back together Nov 6th, 6PM

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/rainiernavidad/2776596693

Over a year ago, the Atlanta chapter of Girl Geek Dinners kicked off with a bang. We had a packed house, the amazing speaker Joelle Silverio from CCP Games, and tons of enthusiasm. Overall it was just a good time.  It would not have happened if it were not for one person in particular – Pascale Perry (who I think has since returned to London). Pascale reached out to me and helped make it happen.

For a bunch of reasons (none of them good) I didn’t pull the trigger on the next event despite all the positive feedback from the kickoff. I knew a bar wasn’t the best place to meet because of the noise, I wasn’t sure what to do about food and drinks, I really didn’t think I could round up sponsors without a track record, but most of all I didn’t know how to ask for help.

It sounds like a simple thing but honestly, I failed to develop the skill of asking for help until just this past last year. I have always been proud of my self reliance – what a foolish notion. Asking for help is an art. Getting help is a blessing.  Art and blessings make the world go round.

All of that to say that we are getting this band back together! Thanks to the help of Laurie Baird and Beth Mynatt of Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology (two people and things I dig) we have a beautiful meeting space, some munchies, and a GGD special discount offer to attend the IPaT Forum.

Thanks also to Dr. Jennie Rivlin Roberts, who has agreed to be our guest speaker. Jennie is the Founder of ModernTribe which brings design-forward Judaica and Jewish gifts to the new generation via two online retail brands: ModernTribe.com and PopJudaica.com. ModernTribe also creates Judaic products including No Limit Texas Dreidel, the game that crosses dreidel with Texas Hold’em poker. Before founding ModernTribe, Jennie earned a Ph.D. in industrial & organizational psychology from Georgia Tech and worked for Fortune 500 companies, including Home Depot & Bell South, doing leadership development and strategic marketing.

So now we just need a little bit more help – from you. Please join us if you can, and please help spread the word to other girl geeks.

EVENTBRITE REGISTRATION and MORE INFO

Atlanta Inaugural Girl Geek Dinner – Game On

We’re just getting started, but the inaugural Atlanta Girl Geek Dinner was a smashing success!

Nearly 30 Atlanta-based girl geeks were treated to great service by the folks at 5 Seasons Westside while Joelle Silverio, game designer with CCP Games, shared her story immersed in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry including the MMORPG powerhouse EVE Online.

Our next event is tentatively planned for the last Thursday in June and while we started with a Facebook group, I should have our ATL GGD page up this weekend.