#WIM2014 Outpasing the sceptics

“Outpase the skeptics” – Cristina Stenbeck

On saturday (International Women’s day) Women in Tech day was held by MTGx, Spotify and Google at the Hilton in Stockholm. It was a fun afternoon with awesome speakers from Sweden’s Startup ecosystem such as Mai Lee Hammargren (Mutewatch), Rochelle King (Global VP of Design at Spotify) with her brilliant speech on how to lead new design principles and Michelle Guthrie (Google).

Amongst other Swedes the scene was also occupied by Stina Ehrensvärd (CEO at Yubico) and Karin Nilsdotter (CEO at Spaceport Sweden) who we had at GeekGirlMeetup last year for our enter.space theme – she is always a pleasure to watch.

The key takeaway that I took with me was Cristina Stenbeck’s (Kinnevik) quote on people doubting you for whatever reason. Few of us will inherit an empire, never less all of us regardless of financial background can understand the emotion of doubt being directed at us. “We have to outpace the sceptics” – and with that I get on with my business!

High-five Spotify #StudentTechFest

Earlier this year I spoke about the ABC of API’s at Spotify’s event #StudentTechFest in Stockholm, Sweden. It was a brilliantly arranged event by Sofia von Celsing from Spotify who also curated the experience.
After more than five years of making GeekGirlMeetup events around the world, it was a pleasure to participate in something so aspiring and inspiring for students. Over 100 students were chosen from the several hundred applicants from the Swedish (tech and media) schools as Spotify is aiming to work with best developers and talent in the world as a growth and recruiting strategy strategy.

I high fived my wonderful moderator Navid Modiri on stage, right here and the presentations will be here shortly (Slideshare.)