All Articles Tagged "IT"
Behind the Click: Veteran and Tech Entrepreneur Sophia Marnell On the “Power Of a Woman With IT Skill”
This installment of Behind the Click features Sophia Marnell, owner and president of Washington D.C.-based Alexton, a software development, network configuration, and system administration company, all under the IT umbrella. Her clients include NASA, just to name one. Not bad, huh? Sophia also participates in some special philanthropic activities as well — and, she’s a veteran! Read on to get the full scoop.
Favorite website: Amazon
Favorite read: The Way We Were by Arthur Laurents
Recent read: 50 Shades of Gray… “Fell into the hype!”
2013′s ultimate goal: Continue to provide our high quality services to our current clients and grow.
Quote Governing Your Mission or a Quote that Inspires You: To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. – e. e. cummings )
Twitter handle: Do not have one!
Madame Noire: I read in your bio that you attended Maine Maritime Academy. Not your average school! How did you decide upon that institution?
Sophia Marnell: Deciding to go to Maine Maritime seemed like a standard next step to get guidance to becoming a mechanical engineer. My father was a Master Sergeant in the US Air Force, career military, and was stationed in Maine. I love the structure, organization, and challenge of attending the school. However, at 17, we are naive on how the world really works, and must learn valuable lessons to build the steps to success. Being the only African-American girl was challenging and it made me adapt to an environment that I was not accustomed to. I realized that hard work and humor was the key to making it through many things.
MN: So it seems you acquired your interest in IT prior to college. How did it come about? I read that you are a veteran — our first as a profile! Did you work somehow in IT while serving?
SM: I was in the Army Intelligence Corp as an intelligence analyst. Being in the Army as an analyst gave me the opportunity to work with high level technology systems and solutions that most people dream about. With knowledge gained from my college courses and an interest in the emerging technology scene, IT became a good fit quite quickly. As a veteran, you have to make hard choices as to where you go next, while remembering all the things you learned. By using my analyzing expertise and technology, it soon became my mission to create and develop IT solutions as a career.
MN: Your earlier positions after school were at places like the the State Department and NASA. Tell me more about what you did.
SM: Government contracting looked to be a promising career. With my background and plenty of agencies looking for good people, the Washington metropolitan area became my home. I worked as a IT consultant developing and creating solutions for identified problems in various aspects of the government spaces such as software, financial, trend analysis, or career development.
Technology was moving quickly, and I worked my full-time job during the day and studied emerging technologies at night while trying to be the best wife and mother I could. I was very lucky to have a strong family support that helped me to get to the next level and understood that at times I was off my game! I tried to keep up with the changes knowing that information technology was going to change the way the government operated. I wanted to be a part of and lead that change.
Behind The Click: Ayori Selassie Came From Humble Beginnings to Work for Forbes’ Most Innovative Company
So here we are! Our last “Behind The Click” profile for 2012. (Don’t worry… there’s a special year-end piece in the next few days as well as much more to come in 2013).
Ayori Selassie is helping us wrap up this year with a bang. Not only is she a product manager at SalesForce.com (voted most innovative company by Forbes magazine), but she also has some very special involvement with a particular part of the U.S. State Department (of which I’m a huge fan). Read on to find out about this very busy and talented member of the technorati!
Current Occupation: Product Manager, SalesForce.com
Favorite website: Mashable. “Great resource for tech, startup and innovative stuff in general.”
Favorite read: Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes. “The fables, folk tales and stories in this book (less so the analysis of the stories) helped me recover from a failed marriage engagement and learn to trust my gut. I still refer to these stories for personal experiences and when giving advice to other women.
Recent read: Rebuild the Dream by Van Jones. “He is one of my role models.”
2012′s ultimate goal: Taking my daughter to see our nation’s capital. I did that in October and will be doing it again for her birthday with a very special surprise visit to a very important place. I’ll have to let you wonder about that!
Quote Governing Your Mission:
First choice:
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Twitter handle: @iayori
LdC: So, let’s always start with the basics. Give me a bit about your background.
Teen Tech Camp Promote Youth Entrepreneurship
bdpa-news.blogspot.com
This summer you may have let your teens enjoy relaxing on your couch and playing on Twitter all day, but next summer, think about enrolling your teen in a summer camp that they can really benefit from. As the IT field continues to grow and develop, programs across the nation are springing up to ensure the next generation is ready to participate and make positive impacts on their communities through technology. Inc.com details that these teen entrepreneurship camps are gaining ground nationwide.
In Philadelphia, the TechGirls summer camp starts up this Monday in collaboration with DreamIt Ventures and StartUp Corps. The program aims to get more young girls interested in technology and start-ups. It provides girls from sixth through eighth grades hands on tech experience and the opportunity to develop business ideas with the help of mentorship from local entrepreneurs and developers.
Although this camp is only for young girls, StartUp Corps has its own young entrepreneurship in Philadelphia. In collaboration with various high schools and youth program in the area, it provides continuous mentorship for high school students. 150 students are involved in its programs. They meet a couple times a week to report on their start-up class and learn from mentors. According to the organization the program works; many of its young students launch non-profit and for-profit ventures that serve their communities.
In Los Angeles, Urban Teens Exploring Technology (UrbanTxT) is working to bring high school boys into technology fields and help them learn how to assist their communities. The program was started by Oscar Manjivar, a Watts native who targets participants from inner-city areas such as South Los Angeles and his own neighborhood.
“We found that lots of students that we talked to did not [know] what a website was, had never seen how to make a website, but they were brave enough to try,” Menjivar said in a 2008 interview at UrbanTxT’s launch. Through participation in the program, the high school boys learn project management skills and how to use Web 2.0 tools.
Cheap IT an Expensive Mistake, Study Says
(Inc.) — If you’ve cheaped out on your office technology, a new study claims you’ll pay the price. Yes, the study is from Hewlett Packard, but still the results are eye-opening: Nearly every small business surveyed (93 percent) admitted they tried to save money instead of buying what they really wanted. Of those, 89 percent reported at least some problems as a result of penny-pinching. The survey – conducted by Wakefield Research – polled 500 small business owners.
Five Ways To “Green” Small Business Tech
(Inc) –The “green IT” movement brings an interesting layer of complexity to the IT function. Depending upon your political and/or social interests you will either embrace the extra work required to implement a successful green IT program or you will grudgingly check it off your “to-do” list like any other part of your job. For small businesses like the one I work for, a PR agency based in Silicon Valley, the process of greening your IT can have its challenges, but it also has valuable rewards.
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