 Hello and welcome to the CUBE Conversation. I'm John Furrier here in the Palo Alto studios with two great guests, Tara Slotowski Who's the founder and CEO iridescent and our Simpson global and that ambassador of Technovation. Thanks for coming in today I appreciate moving your schedules around to come in. Thanks for coming into our studio So Cindar Pakai was at your event. That's the big story this past week. It's been the Google memo from a low-level employee Who wrote some things that got the whole world shaken around? Gender biases role of women in tech and as do we do a lot of women in tech as you know at the CUBE Hundreds and hundreds of women of early years friends and also smart people This is a pretty big moment for you guys. You had an event at Google Cindar canceled his all-hands meeting to address this under fear of retaliation and safety But came to your event on the Google campus Surprising to many has written up on recode and the verge Pretty notable So tell us about what happened So so yeah, this was the 2017 Technovation world pitch competition and the award ceremony and Cindar came and he talked to a lot of the girls who were presenting their ideas to solve problems in their community and then He had a little bit of a one-on-one conversation to learn a little bit more about the kinds of problems they're interested in technology entrepreneurship and then he addressed the crowd of 900 plus supporters and Really re-emphasize that There's a place for women in technology and more importantly for him and Google that there's a place for these girls at Google great timing for you guys too and Want to drill more into what happened, but I want to just point out. This was a scheduled Stop for Cindar in terms of it. You guys have a program called Technovation Which was a 2017 world pitch folks around you the global ambassador take a minute to talk about what? Technovation is why was it on Google's campuses? What was it all about? What does global ambassador mean? Talk about your mission Right so Technovation's mission is to empower girls to become technology entrepreneurs and it's much more than just learning How to code it's really about seeing girls and telling girls that if there's a problem in their community Technology can help them have a very powerful voice. We've been running for eight years and Anar is our global ambassador who has helped us grow to more than a hundred countries, but um Technovation's relationship with Google is eight years long Google has supported Technovation was the very first technology company to support Technovation way before any other company Saw the potential and since then since 2010 Google has provided funding mentors spaces not just across the US, but globally and so this year It was a year-long worth of relationship where made with code, which is their arm focusing on on gender equality They basically provided funding but made this event possible at Google headquarters And I'll talk about the global ambassador role you have and kind of comes down to the question for Tara as well After is is it beyond entrepreneurship and beyond coding? I mean talk about specifically what you guys are bringing to Folks outside of Silicon Valley. Oh, sure. So, um, you know, my role is the global ambassador for Technovation is really Getting to girls all over the world and saying to them You need to be engaged in technology and what we found as Tara mentioned We've been doing this now. I've been doing this now for five years is that we're building a movement We're bringing in girls and we're bringing in mentors We're bringing in companies and governments together to make this a reality for for girls in tech careers in their own countries and I want to go back and and address Google's relationship with Technovation a little bit more because this is more of an anecdote I got into Technovation Not willingly Six years ago, I had a startup It was called parallel earth and I was working working hard at it And I was using the offices at Mozilla because they allow people to do that, you know people like me to work there And one day somebody sent me a note. It just came on the internal email system and they said, you know, you're a woman You're in tech There is an event going on at Andres and Horowitz Where the luminaries of the valley are gonna be talking and so the luminaries were Marisa Mayor who was at Google at that time Frida Kapoor Klein Padmeashree warrior and I forget there was two other people and so we went to this event and we sat in a packed room at Andres and Horowitz And these women the luminaries of the valley at that time Each one of them stood up and told us their story and afterwards they fed us, you know Odervs and and and offered his wine and then they said before you go We have one ask of you which is could you sign up to be a mentor for Technovation and I thought to myself? No, I am like over my head in my own company I don't even have time for myself and to mentor and you know the ask was be a mentor It's just two days Pardon me two hours a week for 12 weeks and I thought to myself. Oh God, man. I drank their wine I ate their order as I listened to them and now how can I say no and so I signed up and It was a stretch for me because what happened at that time the curriculum was still being delivered by a person And so they I'd been assigned to a to the Google campus in Mountain U and that somebody an engineer at Google had been able to get a room a very small conference room and So for 12 weeks I met this team of girls from Mountain U and there were other mentors like me You know and then there was a whole bunch of girls from Sequoia high school and John in that 12 weeks I was a changed woman those five girls. They blossomed under me You know when I met them I said to them Yeah, I'm here. I am a type a and this is a company I signed up for the entries or wins Exactly and listen, I'm a type a and I've got my own start, but we're gonna win This is a competition. So they just roll their eyes at me like who the heck she is and we don't even want to be here Exactly, but but those 12 weeks changed my life and then we one way Well, it's you know, I have a degree in computer science. I have a master's in communication I went to Stanford for innovation and entrepreneurship. So I've been in the field for a very long time And what I saw in terms of the curriculum what I saw in terms of the mentorship what I learned about You know design thinking and and and being able to create an app. I never had that Right when people like me were going through university and doing we never had that kind of stuff And I thought oh my god, if I'd had that I would be like Soaring the skies right now and to have girls who who really came to this table with nothing and you see them becoming Graphic designers because they had a little bit of access to Microsoft Paint You know someone who has the ability to do PowerPoint one girl in my team of five almost never showed up You know, she was late. She never came and then two weeks or pardon me two sessions before the pitch She showed up and she realized well, you know, we've gone so far without her So here's what she did She took that little graphic that the woman who'd done it in paint and she got her mom And they went to some t-shirt shop and they got that graphic printed and the next time she came There were five t-shirts that said the name of our team which was intoxication station and one for me And then it turns out she's a really good speaker who knew so she almost never came brought these shirts was the speaker for the group and we won like the Local competition and then the next one and then we placed second in the fun She came in contributed with a t-shirt and gracious back in one the trust of the group Yes being the speaker and winning the award. Yes, they grew they literally, you know If you take a time-lapse and you see a flower blossom. That's exactly what happened Tell her about your credentials because you have a PhD So I have a yeah bachelors in physics and masters in aerospace and I was in a PhD program in aerospace But I dropped out because I wanted to start there. That's it. That's good. You're driving on a page for how's a good tracker Inclusive the big names we now know what what's some examples of in during your life where you had those kind of change moments? I think iridescent we are now in our 12th year and Every every couple of months. It's a change moment because it's a test of grit and just believing in yourself because I mean I started it with just an idea and Grew it to be an organization. That's all over the world and it doesn't come with just just full-hearted focus and a lot of Courage is what I've seen. I think I've also seen that How much you are passionate about an idea? Really swings how the other person is thinking and so the idea only matters so much I think it's of course. I mean the track record and everything has to be there But I think a lot of it depends on your own passion for it And I think I've come to realize that passion is maybe Proportional to the complexity and the and the impact of the problem you're trying to solve So if you're only trying to Solve a small problem you lose interest in two years, right? And maybe that's why I'm always curious like why do so many startups fail after two or three years It's because maybe you came in Not thinking that you're going to change the world Maybe you came in because you wanted to make quick money or exit or whatever and so I think for me it's this is my life's work and we want to bring bring more underrepresented communities into Innovation and so it's not something that's going to be solved easily Start-up success and then you know people working on teams really is about inclusion and letting things bloom and being ready for anything That's the greatest key Let's get back to the Sundar event that you guys are happy I think this is the good conversation to have because one of things that came out of the brew Haha that became that memo really was a conversation publicly now It's been polarizing and just some kind of a hate hate kind of mindset with it most of the time Plenty of stuff on the internet to go read there But there was actually some good conversations in the industry What was the conversation like during the event because this was in full full conversation mode while you guys were having your 2017 world pitch competition which he presided over and had a speech to the Entrepreneurs, what was it like? What was some of the conversations that were taking place? I think the most powerful piece of the whole evening was really the girls walking in and seeing the incredible Diversity that we have in this world, right? so we had girls from and and mentors and supporters from over 30 countries and just The them coming in waving the flags and different faces and different cultures all trying to make the world a better place I mean it's rare that you see that using technology and I think it's very fitting that Silicon Valley is the center of this but I Think I think there was not one dry eye in the in the in the group because you realize It's the conversation is so much bigger than one company one country It is something that affects us as all human beings and you're believing in human potential So I think seeing these young girls some of them ten years old. There was this I think maybe the crowd's favorite was These ten-year-old girls from Cambodia who want to Improve sort of the lives of these people working in cottage industries, right? And they they created an app like say Etsy or something but focused on Cambodian products and the courage of these little girls I think everybody walks away feeling okay There's hope there is it even in the midst of all of this discussion Yeah, it creates aware a lightning rod in some ways and hopefully we'll move on to the the subset of conversations How do you guys feel about what happened as you take this mission forward? You guys doing some amazing work. We'll do all know the segment. I think that's on that in a minute But given the landscape now, how do you view this and how you how are you talking with friends and colleagues and family members around it? Because I've certainly had certainly conversations with with my friends certainly on the east coast like no No, that's not the way to look in Valley is Google actually is very cool company It's not exactly what you think it is. They're very open They support a lot of great initiatives and they're candid and then I go on to explain It's like a university Surrey and Larry have this little little ecosystem that they've kind of built a university culture if you will But it's open and there's things that happen that get misrepresented and that was my take That's for the folks that don't know Silicon Valley, but what's your take? What do you think about what's happened? Um, so this is really really good that you brought up the university campus You know environment of it, so I have two girls. They're both millennials and they're both in the tech world and We had this discussion and here's the perfect answer, right? So one of my daughters cat she said that you know when she read that she thought it was basically a gathering of his thoughts And it was a gathering of his thoughts because He was probably asked to adhere to IND Stuff that's going on in every company right now, right? And so it was like a little bit of a wait a second, you know, he's he wants to sort of respond to his Being asked to go to IND stuff and then Katya said but you know mom It was just a gathering of his thoughts and if this this is an essay and it was a poorly written one And if I was grading it I would give him a C- then my older daughter said He didn't he tried to make it very professional and very academic and she said but it was a first draft He has not you know, he didn't proceed to Toughen it up solid solidify it find more evidence, you know have it critique It was just a gathering of his thoughts and he hasn't gone through the process and both these girls graduated from Berkeley And so I think they would know what a C paper looks like versus an A paper and then my older daughter said and the other thing is You know, it's not it's not like IND efforts are Actually bad But what we're trying to do is we're trying to condense the time in which we're trying to get women at the Equal pairing in the tech world now, you know, women have never been at equal pairing in many professions There were not enough doctors lawyers accountants You name it, right? Main Street Wall Street has never had equality and now we're looking at technology and the reason everything just flares up in Technology is because we live in today's world where news and information is available all the time So there's two things going on Information is readily available people can come into the conversation very quickly and whenever anything happens in Silicon Valley The effect is massive because all eyes are on Silicon Valley all the time So it's it's a bit of a distorted view, but We have gone through this it took a long time for women to become Astronauts it took a long time for women to become neurosurgeons It took a long time for women to become lawyers and dentists It will take a little bit of time for women to become top Technologists, but we're hoping that it'll shorten and things happen quickly in the valley and we're trying to get that quicker And so we're seeing a little bit of friction. This is Responses from millennials. So for me it was like interesting perspective. Yes, great perspective And then sooner said these things, you know at the world pitch I was sitting in the second row and every time he said something I would clap really loud and talk said Why are you being so good? And I said I need to hear that. I need to hear him say that because he said that Oh, he just said, you know, you have a place in technology and I said, yes, we needed to hear you say that Right away all the time and especially to these girls these eight to 18 year old girls And all of the ones that come from a hundred countries that weren't at Google But we're listening to the live pitch and I needed to hear it. I'm a veteran But I needed to hear it because it's interesting to the narrative that the millennials and certainly the younger kids Here is a an echo of what comes down and interesting my son who was 15 at dinner last night said dad I'm a white male. What is that? No poor guy. I'm like, oh my god Yeah, okay, so again things are shifting there out of context tower your thoughts on How this all evolves and the positive things that folks can do and your butcher perspective Yeah, I mean, I think I had a long discussion with my husband yesterday on this because he's a white male, right? And and but also he keep we have two daughters, right? And so there's this whole he for she campaign, right and that I think like our conversation earlier The discussion has to be very inclusive and you cannot polarize and I think I have to be careful because I mean My passion is what drives the work because the work is hard, but I have to also remind that okay There's a whole another segment of the population that cares right and so I think it's just a it's just constantly remembering these kinds of things I think In terms of what the industry can do I think that the normal thing is that people are doing which is really well investing in the lower in the pipeline Investing in young girls and all of that kind of stuff and and also sort of the inclusion and diversity stuff in the workforce But I think there are some other segments other industries that we can learn from and I think one very unique Place is actually the aviation industry, but the experimental aircraft So which is this aviation enthusiast, right? And so they have this Gathering yearly annual gathering and 600,000 people come from all over the world the thing that makes it unique and And there's almost equal representation The two things that make it very unique first is the family affair And I think the tech industry has done a very good job sort of convening these developer conferences But they are closed and most of them are a hundred percent male, right? I think there could be something there where the it's a it's again much more than a company. It's it's That the industry has to do and to make it maybe non Not commercial but do it as a fun family gathering and not in Silicon Valley And then I think the second would be to actually lean on the veterans of the industry to share their passion with the young ones And I think one of the problems with technology is that it's moved so fast That has become very abstract and nothing is very hands-on if you open up something you will not understand anything And so what the aviation industry has done really well is to showcase the core Fundamental principles of how these things work using the old airplanes old engines combustion engines But you can see how things work, right? And so fundamentals like kindergarten It's like exactly start that way and then you can go into the more complex But I think there's a role for the veterans of the tech world to play here and I think it's not just sort of gender, but it's also maybe age and and Making it much more about the family rather than just the developer in the family Tara and now you guys are inspiration and thanks for taking the time and you know I've had you know my age luxury of spending nine years at Eulah Packard company before was split back on the lady These early 90s when Bill Eulah and Dave Packard were around and one of the things that really influenced me And I think this is something that I see a positive light coming in this industry to your point about some changes is that we seem to be going back to a Crowd that wants to see respect for the individual and citizenship These were company values at Eulah Packard when I was there that I always remember it was unique They get hey you can have differences But if you have respect for the individual and you have a citizenship mindset That seemed it has been lost in tech and With the whole this whole movement you see and you know win at all costs, you know Being an asshole, but what are you going to do to be a CEO or you know flip it fast or you know Brogues program, you know, so it became a very selfish Environment It seems to be shifting that with this conversation your thoughts So I have to say, you know doing a startup is not easy Getting successful in this world is not easy Shaking the status quo is not easy. So I have to say that The same people and you know, we're not gonna name names, but the same people who are You know very arrogant and and have little respect for the laws and rules They have given us products that are changing people's lives. There is no question about it without their bravado without their sort of You know, I don't care. I'm just gonna go over you if you don't comply with me, you know a lot of ride-sharing wouldn't even have happened and To me when you provide employment when you provide alternative services when you provide something that Takes away the way things were I see that as a plus Okay, I think what we're seeing is that's needed to a certain extent and then you realize okay now We have to get back to growing it and working it and if you keep going in that mode You probably want to so being tough and determined and having grit Yes is what you need to break through those walls as a startup You don't need to be necessarily a jerk But your point is if you're creating value if you're creating value and that sometimes you actually have to be a jerk Because there are very few brave non-jerk people who have gone against big unions and big monopolies Right you and I I would not be able to go against the Taxi Commission You need somebody who is a complete a-hole to do that and he did that and it made a difference He doesn't have to continue to do that and that's there was a mean going around the internet You want to make friends sell ice cream So you can't always win friends when you're pioneering right right and and you know There is a balance and maybe maybe we've we fostered the fact that you need to be That attitude for everything and that's not true So you know the pendulum shifted a bit too much But I think you shouldn't that we shouldn't Scorn them because really they have made a difference. Let's just let everybody get it's a tough world out there to survive And you have to have it that kind of elbow sharp elbows to make things happen I think and but it's the value you're providing how you do it. Exactly. I mean question too Well, thanks so much guys for coming on appreciate you spending the time talk about your awesome event the 2017 world pitch It's about a Technovation with Sundar Represented Google and your great program with young girl coders and and tech books. Thanks for sharing Thanks, this is cute conversation here in Palo Alto. I'm John Furrier. Thanks for watching