Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders

Three simple suggestions for how women can fix the dearth of women leaders.
1) Raise your hand and keep your hand raised!
2) Enlist your partner - it will improve your sex life, too!
3) Don't leave before your leave!

Integrating Technology and Cultural Understanding to Improve the Health of Underserved Populations

sponsored by The Peninsula Chapter, The Global Health Research Foundation, and the Los Altos Public Library

Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Free to all; Cosponsored by the Santa Clara County Library
Refreshments: 7:00 pm
Program: 7:30 pm

Los Altos Youth Center
1 South San Antonio Rd.
Los Altos, CA

Frequently international health improvement programs designed to reach medically underserved populations fail because they are missing the key ingredients of sustainability and cultural integration.

By incorporating technical innovations and advanced computational techniques, along with integration of the cultural context of health and disease, The Global Health Research Foundation (GHRF) has developed a “Toolkit for Sustainability” to measure health outcomes and inform continuing improvements in health for medically underserved populations. GHRF tools allow program managers to pool multiple factors affecting health and disease, then determine and test key related variables. GHRF tools also allow resources to be tracked and appropriately targeted so that locally led health improvement efforts are integrated within the community and thus sustained. These tools have been successfully implemented to assist Uganda in its Malaria Surveillance Program through a rapid return of data to track the disease.

GHRF is assisting the Fresno County Asthma Coalition in delineating the role of pollution on the rapid rise of asthma in Fresno’s at risk populations. Recently, efforts have been focused on assisting the Kingdom of Bhutan’s Ministry of Health in providing effective, affordable health to all citizens, and in incorporating environmental preservation in its health improvement programs. The cultural background for these efforts are discussed as a major issue in implementing programs.

Erica Weirich is a practicing Physician and Stanford faculty, who lives and works in Los Altos Hills. With degrees in Medicine and International Development Policy, she has worked in maternal and child health in remote Northern Pakistan, reproductive health in the Republic of Georgia, and on Refugee Health in London, England.

Facebook, Fashion…and Flamethrowers?!

Women-led Casual Gaming Startup to Launch Fashion Creation Application

San Francisco, CA – December 13, 2010 – San Francisco-based company Real Life Plus (RL+) announces the launch of Style Studio and Fashion FaceOff, Facebook applications where users create 3D fashion designs and promote them in a fun-filled rating arena.

If looks could kill, this application would be in jail. Style Studio is comprised of easy-to-use tools to create 3D fabrics, clothing and outfits. Fashion Faceoff lets users be judge, jury and executioner to decide the fate of would be designers around the world. Budding fashionistas can rise through the ranks and earn points to purchase virtual goods inside any RL+ product. Flamethrowers and other instruments of destruction can be used to destroy designs deemed unworthy. It’s couture war!

“I wanted to create something easy enough for my mom to play, yet cool enough for my 15 year old nephew to try,” says Terry Redfield, Founder and Chief Creative Officer for RL+. “My goal is to make applications and virtual spaces that all tie together into one exciting experience.”

Both Style Studio and Fashion FaceOff may be downloaded at www.realifeplus.com.

About Real Life Plus
Our mission is to create a virtual entertainment space that is fun and simple to use for everyone. We focus on creating a comfortable environment to meet friends. Our motto is fun in 30 seconds or less, whether you are creating your own clothing brand with our easy to use tools, taking on a job activity to earn currency or meeting people just like you in our immersive 3D space.

The Real Life Plus Development and Community Team consist of social enthusiasts and traditional game/mobile developers that are looking to create the next generation of casual games and social experiences. The RL+ Team each have 10+ years of experience and are driven by a passion for social media. Team members have worked on popular games such as The Sims 2, Resident Evil, Toy Story, Tomb Raider, Psychonauts, SpongeBob Squarepants and Madden NFL.

Real Life Plus. It's Reality - Made by You.

Exceptional female entrepreneurs wanted!

Astia calls for applications to join its accelerator programme in Europe

LONDON and AMSTERDAM, 15 December, 2010 – The premier venture accelerator for women-led high- growth companies, is calling for applications from UK and European start-ups to join Astia and participate in its prestigious Entrepreneur Programme, to be held in London in March 2011. Technology, Life Science and Clean Technology companies are encouraged to apply.

Founded in Silicon Valley and held annually in Silicon Valley, New York, and London, Astia’s Entrepreneur Programme is transformative - providing entrepreneurs with access to a broad range of resources and experts that ensure access to capital as well as the successful growth of their businesses.

“I have seen the calibre of female entrepreneurs that Astia supports with its network and programmes and very much looking forward to the class of 2011 Astia Europe,” said Sherry Coutu of Cambridge Angels.

A handpicked group of just 255 companies across the globe have been invited to become part of the Astia programme since 2003. Invitations are extended only to those companies that pass Astia’s robust screening and qualification process.

Since 2003, more than 60% of the companies showcased at Astia Investor Forums have secured funding or an exit within one year, totalling more than $750 million raised and 21 exits including two IPOs.

“The programme has produced exceptional results over the years – our funding success rate is unmatched in the market,” commented Sharon Vosmek, CEO, Astia. “We are excited to see the growth and adoption of the Astia model in Europe.”

Participants in the European Programme in London will spend five days, 14-18 March 2011, in a series of workshops, one on one sessions and discussions with investors, entrepreneurs and business professionals designed to provide a blueprint for successful fundraising and growth strategies. This is followed by an eight-week advisory period which includes investors, CEOs and business professionals from the Astia community of over 1000 men and women. Select companies will then present to the investment community at the Astia Investor Forum on 12th May 2011. Prior Forum attendees include Accel, Octopus Ventures, Index Ventures, Atomico, and the Technology Strategy Board.

Janneke Niessen, COO and Co-founder, ImproveDigital, Astia Europe class of 2010, said, “We had an amazing week in the Astia European programme, talking to many interesting people and learning a lot. We know Astia can deliver a lot of opportunities to us, and we are looking forward being part of it! The Astia programme and community are invaluable to us in developing high growth and international plans of our company – and we have been able to establish extremely important relationships with outstanding investors and advisors through the Astia programme.”

Simone Brummelhuis, Vice President, Europe, Astia, said, “I am delighted to be rolling out Astia’s programme in Europe for 2011. The UK and Europe are bursting with entrepreneurial ventures, many of which are led by superbly talented women. We want to provide these women with access to the rich network and expertise that Astia has to offer. I encourage all ambitious female entrepreneurs to apply.”

The deadline to apply is 7th February 2011. Apply via www.astia.org. Online screening will be done by investors, CEOs and business professionals until February 18th, followed by in-person screening on February 24th.

Contact Simone Brummelhuis at simone@astia.org

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About Astia

Astia is a global not-for-profit organization with a distinct focus and mission – to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth. Guided by a proven philosophy that gender diversity is an essential element of innovation, Astia works with start-ups around the world as they access capital, grow their businesses, and hone the leadership skills of their founding teams.

The Astia model of engaging a community of 1000 experts to the benefit of the select start-ups it serves has resulted in an exceptional success rate: since 2003, over 60 percent of companies that have participated in the Astia Investor Forums have secured funding or achieved an exit within one year of presenting, totalling more than $750 million dollars raised and 21 exits, including two IPOs. Headquartered in San Francisco, Astia delivers programs for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, New York, London and India. Astia has also had significant press coverage in major media channels including The New York Times, Businessweek, Forbes and The Financial Times. For more information, visit www.astia.org.

Astia Sponsors

Astia is generously supported by The Three Guineas Fund, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft, Fenwick & West, AOL, Lowenstein Sandler, Moss Adams, Morrison & Foerster, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, SNR Denton, SVB Financial Group, Osborne Clarke, US Trust – Bank of America, Wells Fargo, AngelSoft, Cisco, Iron Creative, IF Communications, Tier One Partners, J. Sagar Associates, Alloy Ventures, AOL Ventures, Asset Management, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Levensohn Venture Partners, Golden Seeds, Prolog Ventures, StarVest Partners, and Rose Tech Ventures.

"I'm taking my cow, that cow belongs to me!"

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's surprise appearance at the TED Women conference

Embracing the Beauty of Balance

Halla Tomasdottir: A feminine response to Iceland's financial crash

What is the right time to be an entrepreneur?

The following is a guest post by Esha Tiwary.

This is one question I’ve been thinking about for a while, and that often comes up in conversations. It is an interesting one because it seems to have a “publicly acceptable” answer, regardless of what the individual might personally believe. It is a favorite topic of academicians to disseminate wisdom on, quite ironically I must add. And it is definitely one that has given every budding or struggling entrepreneur a sleepless night or two.

Of course, the well-known answer is, “When you have gathered enough relevant experience.” Everyone knows how important experience is to build a successful business. You can’t possibly know what to do if you haven’t been doing the exact same thing for the past 10 years. Current entrepreneurs will agree because that’s what they were told and they went and got the experience. Investors will agree because this is the only easy filter they can apply to choose amongst the hundreds of proposals they see every year. And academicians, well, serial (and hence, experienced) entrepreneurs make the best business school case studies!

Allow me to propose something drastic. The above answer is wrong. And it is wrong for the simple reason that the question itself is incorrect. I think the right question is, “What is the right attitude to be an entrepreneur?” It is a state of mind and not a biological age that determines when one is ready to be an entrepreneur. And no place better exemplified this than the Astia Doing it Right program this year. It was supremely inspiring to see the absolute range of entrepreneurs there – from a 21 year old to women who had been in the industry for two decades before taking the plunge. And one thing they all had in common was the spark – the desire to build something amazing.

A thing to note is also that you needn’t always have “the idea” to be able to take the plunge. One of the women I met at Astia said that one day she just decided that she wanted to build her own business. And once she made that decision, everything sort of fell into place. Because let’s face it, the right attitude and effort can turn the most commonplace of ideas into a stroke of genius.

- Esha Tiwary

Esha is the Head of Business Development at Embrace, one of the companies selected in the Doing it Right program this year. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.