Stay ConnectedThe Women in Tech Podcast is hosted by WeAreLATech’s Espree Devora and features inspiring Women in Tech from Engineers, Female Founders, Investors, UX and UI Designers, Journalists all sharing their story how they got to where they are today. The purpose of the show is for every listener to walk away feeling ‘If She Can Do It So Can I’. Espree calls it “actionable empowerment”.
Show style/content is to Startup Podcast, WeAreLATech, Nerdette, Rocket, Tim Ferriss & Recode
Copyright: © @2015 #womenintech Podcast
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Women in Tech: Remi Brixton
“The Original Faux Freckle Cosmetic”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
To support the Women in Tech podcast go to https://www.patreon.com/womenintech
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Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Remi Brixton of Freck
https://twitter.com/remibrixton
https://www.linkedin.com/in/remi-brixton-749339170/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
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Credits:
Short Title: The Original Faux Freckle Cosmetic
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Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com
Women in Tech: Kristen Gerhard
“Connecting The Austin Community To A Global Movement For Good”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
This episode is powered by SpyCloud - https://spycloud.com/- Protect employees and customers from account takeover & Impact Hub Austin - https://www.impacthubaustin.com/ - Inspiring coworking, shared office spaces, programs and accelerators in the heart of Austin.
To be featured on the podcast go to http://womenintechshow.com/feature
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Kristen Gerhard of Impact Hub Austin
https://twitter.com/ImpactHubAustin
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
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Short Title: Connecting The Austin Community
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Sharon Winter of Esports One
“Finding A Focus”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
- To support the Women in Tech podcast go to https://www.patreon.com/womenintech
- To be featured on the podcast go to http://womenintechshow.com/feature
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Sharon Winter of Esports One
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-winter-a6499865/
https://twitter.com/sharonwinter77
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
Listener Spotlight,
Samantha Diane
https://www.instagram.com/samanthadiane.co/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene:
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
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Short Title: Finding A Focus
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Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com
Women in Tech: Michelle Khare
"Overcoming Every And Any Fear Possible”
#womenintech Show is powered by https://www.upguard.com/ - UpGuard's discovery engine brings visibility to complex IT environments, enabling teams to quickly identify risk, confirm compliance and make business safer.
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
To support the Women in Tech podcast go to https://www.patreon.com/womenintech
To be featured on the podcast go to http://womenintechshow.com/feature
Guest Host, Brian Nickerson
https://twitter.com/briannickerson
Guest,
Michelle Khare
https://www.instagram.com/michellekhare/
https://twitter.com/michellekhare
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
To further immerse yourself into the LA Tech community go to http://wearelatech.com/vip
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintech.co/
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Credits:
Short Title: Overcoming Fear
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Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here: http://womenintechshow.com.
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Claire Wasserman of Ladies Get Paid
“Creating A Community to Help Women Negotiate for Equal Pay and Power in the Workplace”
**#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.**
- To support the Women in Tech podcast go to https://www.patreon.com/womenintech
- To be featured on the podcast go to http://womenintechshow.com/feature
**Host, Espree Devora**
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
**Guest,**
Claire Wasserman of Ladies Get Paid
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairewasserman/
https://www.instagram.com/clairewassermanxo/
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here: http://womenintechvip.com/
**Listener Spotlight,**
Arina Ponomareva
https://www.instagram.com/arishenry/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene:
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/
**Resources Mentioned:**
**Credits:**
Short Title: Creating A Community to Help Women Negotiate for Equal Pay and Power in the Workplace
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com.
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
Dr. Anita Sengupta
“Space Exploration and Entrepreneurship”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Dr. Anita Sengupta, Rocket Scientist & Aerospace Engineer
https://anitasengupta.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitasen/
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
Listener Spotlight,
Anna Kochetkova
https://www.instagram.com/annakochetkova/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/
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Credits:
Short Title: Space Exploration and Entrepreneurship
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com.
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Carolyn Rodz of Hello Alice
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynrodz/
https://twitter.com/carolynrodz
https://www.instagram.com/carolynrodz
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
Listener Spotlight,
Adam Marks
https://twitter.com/adammarx13
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammarx13/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/
Resources Mentioned:
Credits:
Short Title: Loving The Journey of Entrepreneurship
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Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com.
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
Yasmin Alameddine of Witty Podcast
“Sharing Stories of Women Navigating the Tech Industry”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Yasmin Alameddine of Witty Podcast
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmin-alameddine/
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/
Resources Mentioned:
Credits:
Short Title: Sharing Stories of Women Navigating the Tech Industry
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Don't miss out on the next #womenintech podcast episode, get notified by signing up here http://womenintechshow.com. Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/ Eve Andersson of Google“Putting People First Through Accessibility” #womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production. To support the Women in Tech podcast go to https://www.patreon.com/womenintech To be featured on the podcast go to http://womenintechshow.com/feature Host, Espree Devorahttps://twitter.com/espreedevorahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/espree Guest,Eve Andersson of Googlehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/eveandersson Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/ In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/ Resources Mentioned: Google, https://www.google.com/ Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps Tinkercad, https://www.tinkercad.com/ Freakonomics, https://freakonomics.com/ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/386162.The_Hitchhiker_s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy Spacetime Physics, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1000529.Spacetime_Physics Ada Majorek on Dasher, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvHQ83pMLQQ Dasher on GitHub, https://github.com/dasher-project/ Eve on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/eveandersson/ EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Putting People First Through Accessibility featuring Eve Andersson, Director of Accessibility at Google: Women In Tech San Francisco Eve Andersson: I think it's important to think of things you do in life as an experiment. And it's almost true, no matter what you do, as long as it's not life or death. As long as you don't burn bridges on the way out. It's okay to step out on a limb. Espree Devora (Host): My name's Espree Devora, host of the Women in Tech show. The show means a lot to me. The reason why I wanted to create the Women in Tech show is I wanted to create a positive piece of content. Something where people can listen and say, "If she can do it so can I." Espree Devora: If you too want to connect and collaborate with more incredible women in tech, remember you can go to the Women in Tech Facebook group at womenintechvip.com. That's womenintechvip.com. The best business resource I have is my mentors private Facebook group. I've never found a community that cares more about one another's success. It inspired me to create the same thing for podcasters. If you're a tech company or startup looking to grow your podcast audience, I created getpodcastlisteners.com, a private group specifically to discover how other podcasters have grown their audiences so we could do the same. Check out, getpodcastlisteners.com. That's getpodcastlisteners.com. Espree Devora: For those of you who listen regularly know I am obsessed with software and tools to make you more efficient and productive. So new tool discovery of the week is things to No-Code MVP. Discovered a website builder called Carrd CA-R-R-D. It does look really cool. Admittedly, I have not used it myself, but I've watched tons of ways that it's been used. Like to recreate the buffer, the famous buffer landing page and all other ways. So check out C-A-R-R-D .co. They do not know I'm saying this, but it is really cool the power that is has. Espree Devora: Another website builder that I've come across is called web flow. That one looks so dope too. That's webflow.com, W-E-B-F-L-O-W .com. And it looks awesome. I think out of the two, the one I'm going to play with first is Webflow. No particular reason why. I just feel that way, but maybe after watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I'll go back and I'll play with Carrd. I don't know. We'll see. I'm looking for the one that is the easiest, easiest, fastest to do without any code and without any trouble. Hope that helps the little discovery, and enjoy the next episode. Espree Devora: Welcome back to the Women in Tech podcast, celebrating women in tech around the world. So excited for our next interview, welcoming Eve from San Francisco. Hello, Eve. Eve Andersson: Hi Espree. It's great to be here. Espree Devora: Oh my gosh. I am so excited to have you on. I can't wait for you to share your story. Why don't we kick things off with you telling us a little bit about who you are and what you do? Eve Andersson: I am Director of Accessibility at Google. And by accessibility, I mean that we create software that helps people with disabilities. I am also a mother to a beautiful three-year-old boy named Oliver. Espree Devora: And if you're comfortable, one thing that I love to touch in on is how to be a driven leader and committed to your family at the same time. The whole do it all. I think it's important to remember that no matter our gender, we can do it all. And I like to share examples of that. Espree Devora: But to kind of ignite the conversation, working in a space that definitely needs more attention. And especially in the podcasting world, that's something that we could improve on as an industry as a whole. Can you tell us more about that? How do you work with the disabled community and how do you empower them? Eve Andersson: It is all about listening to people and understanding what's important to them. What are the needs that aren't being solved? I think sometimes, people start with the technology and try to fit that into solutions. Whereas it should really be the opposite. Working with people, making sure that people with disabilities are part of the community working on the products in the company. Doing outreach to people around the world who don't work at your company. And really understanding and listening. That's the most important thing. Espree Devora: What's your day to day look like? Eve Andersson: Every day is very different, which works for me. I love it that way. I think my role, I'm overseeing accessibility across the company. Which means I'm working with hundreds of colleagues across Google. Who work on product development, who do engineering, who do marketing, or communications, or education. So many different things. So a lot of my time is spent talking with people, working with people, figuring out ways in which we can collaborate and just do things together. Eve Andersson: This is kind of off the cuff and something I've definitely never brought up on the Women in Tech podcast, but I think it would empower all of us. Can you share with us some things that we could do as a community to be better listeners and to make things more accessible? Like podcasting. What's something I can do as a podcaster, not to put you on the spot Eve. But if you don't mind, what's something I could do as a podcaster to make the women in tech podcast more accessible to everyone? Eve Andersson: Well, I think podcasting is a fairly verbal means of communication. There is no video component to it. So of course the most important thing is to have transcripts available to people. But there's also making sure that the words are clear. Because every disability, there's a range. It's not deaf or hearing. It can be anything in between. So sure that there's good audio quality, that there's not too much distracting noise, or music, or other things. Espree Devora: And are there certain terms that are empowering terms that we should be using as a community? Like earlier I used the word disabled. Is that not an appropriate word? Should I be using a different word? Eve Andersson: Well, there's no consensus on this really. There are things that some people prefer. Often people prefer what's called person first language. So you would say a person with a disability as opposed to a disabled person. Espree Devora: A person with a disability. I will remember that indeed. And when did you get started on this journey in becoming passionate about being supportive, about spending a lot of attention on accessibility? Eve Andersson: Well, I got started working on it seven years ago. And in a way, it was by chance. I was working at Google and I had a friend named Raman. He's a blind engineer at Google. And I just happened to run into him in one of Google's famous cafeterias. We had been friends for years, but on this fateful day, he mentioned that the accessibility team was hiring. And for me, it was pretty much a no brainer. It just seemed so exciting to me to be able to have an opportunity to work on something that helps fulfill Google's mission of making the world's information available to everybody. Eve Andersson: So I decided to do it. That was seven years ago, and I haven't looked back. It's been so fulfilling. Of course emotionally fulfilling, but also just intellectually fulfilling. Because accessibility isn't just about a checklist of things that you're supposed to do when you make software or hardware. It's also about innovation. And now that machine learning has taken off so widely and capabilities of machines are greater than ever before, this presents a lot of opportunities for building really innovative things for people. Espree Devora: It's funny is that I'm just going to call myself out and I'm sorry for anybody that may get upset with me. But I'm so ignorant. I've never thought that you could be blind and still code. That's so ignorant of me and it makes me want to champion more engineers who are blind and code. I'm really moved that really we could achieve anything we want to achieve, as long as we know that the resources that are in place. It's one of the reasons why I created this Women in Tech podcast. So what are some of the resources that exist for people with a disability to move forward in an engineering career? If we could talk about that just for a second. I think it's awesome. Eve Andersson: Yeah. Well, I love the broader point that you're making, which is that technology really can be something that helps level the playing field for people. As long as the people who are involved in creating the technology and deciding what technology to use in their schools, in their workplaces. As long as they actually take into account building and buying accessible software, we can enable people to do whatever they're good at doing and not be held back. Eve Andersson: So there are a lot of different assistive technologies. That's what we call technologies that help people with disability. So there are technologies that help blind people for example, understand what's on the screen, it can be a screen reader, it can be braille output. It really depends on the person's preference. Or if a person has low vision, magnification tools for example, or contrast. Eve Andersson: For people with motor impairments, which means that they might have trouble using their hands or other parts of their body. You can use things like mechanical switches. You can use voice control of applications. Eve Andersson: So really, a lot of assistive technologies are about changing a mode of input. So not having to tape, not having to use a mouse. Or changing a mode of output. So not having to see, or not having to hear. So really if it's done right, nobody should face limitations in the work that they do. Espree Devora: I love that. I love that. And something I am inspired to ask is one that's something I think about all the time with the community I work in Los Angeles tech and women in tech globally. I have this desire to get to understand as many people's perspectives as possible, so that we could be a good representation. It's hard to describe, I feel like I still don't do the job that I desire to do and end that I strive to do. The question I want to ask is how do you feel you've evolved in the last seven years pre working in accessibility and now? What's something opening that we could all learn from so we could evolve too? Does that make sense? Eve Andersson: Oh yeah, it definitely makes sense. And I think I continue to evolve, even though I've been working in this area for seven years. I continue to learn about different people and their stories, and what they care about. And it really is about listening and meeting people, and talking to people, and not generalizing. Not thinking that everybody with a disability or really anybody from any group is the same. So I have some really great colleagues who I just love spending time with. Eve Andersson: I'll tell you about one of them. His name is Dimitri Kanevsky, and he's a research scientist at Google. Brilliant mathematician. He has been deaf since he was very young, I think age of two or so. And he was having difficulty having conversations with his colleagues at work. And one of his colleagues decided, "Well, let's build something. Let's create something to help." Eve Andersson: And so he started engineering this thing, which we actually released last year. It's called Live Transcribe. And it transcribes the words that somebody is saying when you're talking with them live, or even over video conference you could use it. So it's made such a difference for Dimitri. And for me, when I'm with him. For example, before this lockdown started and I was having lunch in Google's cafeterias, I ran into him one day. And I was able to just sit down with him at the table in the cafeteria. And we just had a normal conversation. And previously, we would have had to schedule somebody to do remote captioning, or something else to be able to understand each other, especially in a noisy environment. So that was really meaningful. And I think the coolest story for me is that he is able to use this now to communicate with his twin six year old grandchildren. Espree Devora: Oh wow. That's so cool. And that's for several reasons, it's so important to understand a diverse range of human beings. Because we're able to more effectively communicate with one another if we understand that, on top of every other reason that it's important too. But the innovation that comes out from having the desire to understand more people and having that desire to serve and to help creates innovation like you're talking about. That's really, really cool. So what were you doing before this seven year evolution? What was your dream in tech before then? What were you working on? Eve Andersson: I've done a whole bunch of different things. My job immediately before this one was pretty exciting too. And if accessibility weren't something I'm so passionate about, I don't know if I ever would have wanted to leave that either. Eve Andersson: I was leading technical partnerships for Latin America, for Google. I was living in New York at the time, but I got to fly down all the time to various countries, especially in South America. My team was in Argentina and in Brazil. and we were working with partners all around the continent to help them have better technical integrations with Google's ad products. So that was lots of fun too. Espree Devora: And we're going to get into the very, very beginning. But just before we go there, what was the spark that you had before you were presented the opportunity to work in the division you're in now? Did you have a spark in that subject matter beforehand? Or did it come with the role? Because you have a sincere passion. I see the smile on your face, and it's awesome. It's bright and it's vibrant, and so genuine. But was it an educational process and you developed that passion, or was it a curio…
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Fei Wu of Feisworld Media
“Helping Independent Creators Live Their Financial and Creative Freedom”
#womenintech Show is a WeAreTech.fm production.
Host, Espree Devora
https://twitter.com/espreedevora
https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree
Guest,
Fei Wu of Feisworld Media
https://www.feisworld.com/
Be featured in the Women in Tech Community by creating your profile here http://womenintechvip.com/
In LA? Here’s some awesome resources for you to become immersed in the LA Tech scene -
For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com
Get Podcast Listeners, http://getpodcastlisteners.com/
Resources Mentioned:
Credits:
Short Title: Helping Independent Creators Live Their Financial and Creative Freedom
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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