The Tech Aunties Podcast Seasons 1 & 2

There are many perspectives on where great marketing starts. Many believe it is the customer but when it comes to technology, often customers are unaware of the possibilities. Great product design starts with the capabilities made possible by scientific and technical discovery, but it can’t stop there. Great product design encapsulates discovery into value that clients desire. 

Our guest: 

Alley Lyles-Jenkins

Alley describes herself as a product nerd focused on widgets that change how people interact, experience technology, and discover information. Her product design philosophy is: “Our job is not to design products; it's to help the organization win by creating a competitive advantage with Design.” As a Principal at Slalom Consulting, Alley collaborates with talented people to increase product value by leveraging human-centered design and testing market fit.

In true product nerd fashion, Alley enjoys playing with the latest technology and refining prototypes in a sandbox with the belief that all must understand technology.

Her award-winning efforts have created competitive advantage for many forward-thinking organizations and initiatives, including:

• The City of New York under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg
• Budweiser at Super Bowl LII
• Amazon's Echo Dot launch
• USAA's Chief Design Office
• Dell Technologies
• Columbia University's "1,000 Cut Journey" VR project for immersive storytelling
• And advising FemTech start-ups at FemTech Focus.

You can follow Alley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alleylylesjenkins/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When new technologies gain critical mass, the story of success is always focused on the technology and the engineering that went into its development. However, most successful technologies gain acceptance through the guidance of a skilled marketer. However, he or she rarely gets her well-deserved recognition.

Our guest

Brian Whitaker

During his corporate career, Brian worked on regional and global marketing for a wide range of alliances, data center technologies, and professional services. He has worked in the U.S. and Europe, led the marketing execution for a billion-dollar acquisition, and still gets excited by compelling technologies that support business transformation.

He's been immersed in technology marketing since 2005 and is currently the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zettabyte Content, an Austin-based content marketing consulting firm with 20+ years of industry expertise. Zettabye Content helps B2B technology leaders tell their stories in a world that’s obsessed with data, consumed by noise, and bored by dull marketing.

You can engage Zettabyte Content at https://zbcontent.com

You can follow Brian on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianewhitaker/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For better or worse, we live in a time where algorithms rule the world. But what happens when algorithms do harm? This has been a concern for about a decade. Articles and books have been written to sound the alarm about the harms we will see if we jump with both feet into automating AI processes (see Emily M. Bender's blog post for plenty of links). 

What are some historical examples, and can anything be done about it? Further, does the fact that women are still leaving the tech field mean we are losing important diverse minds that could help think through the impact of when algorithms do harm?

Join us as we talk to the OGTA (OG Tech Aunty) Marian Newsome. 

 

Show notes for Algorithms that do harm

• Introductions: Meet the OG Tech Aunty - throw back to being a woman in tech in the 80s!
• Why do women leave the field of engineering, and why hasn't that culture changed?
• Health scares and career choices.
• State of security field today.
• Algorithms from FORTRAN to today.
• Algorithms have been going wrong because humans write the code.
• How data is gathered to profile individuals with algorithms?
• Do algorithms do harm, or do the people pulling the data do harm?
• Who owns your personal data? Do you understand what you're opting into?
• Health data and bias.
• Law enforcement, digital personal data collection, bias
• Reinforcing old biases, continued with digitized data lakes
• You have to think about the "off-label uses" of an AI product, for example Ring lawsuits
• Have ceded data to institutions, and that seems normal to us now. Will it always be that way?
• How has the toxicity of the tech industry changed over the years?

Links

• Austin Women in Technology
• Period apps ranked by data privacy
• Automated License Plate readers
• Facial recognition leads to false arrests
• Weapons of Math Destruction
• Ring employees illegally surveilled customer
• History of using Social Security number as an identifier
• National Kidney Foundation

This week's guest: Marian Newsome

BIO: 

Marian Newsome is an esteemed technology professional boasting over 15 years of experience spanning Security, Product Marketing, Compliance, Organizational Transformation and Portfolio Management. Marian excels in roles that enable her to bridge various disciplines, allowing her to effectively contribute to business growth and sustainable success.

Her profound understanding of the tech sector and strategic acumen has solidified her reputation as a respected thought leader in her field.

Marian is also a published author. Her incisive article on 'Privacy and the Failing Dot.com Era' has gained significant recognition, being cited in the prestigious Virginia and Houston Law Reviews.

Marian is an enthusiastic advocate for inclusivity, tirelessly supporting the rights and recognition of women and neurodiverse individuals within the tech industry. She has committed herself to cultivate increased awareness in tech for underrepresented communities, frequently lending her voice at events and actively participating in initiatives that aim to encourage diversity and develop talent in the tech sector.

You can connect with Marian on LinkedIn and Twitter.

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When marketers are left to create, they deliver results that seem magical. The allure of a great marketing campaign hides all the technical skill that was required to achieve the result…but that’s the objective. Join us as we explore the technical side of marketing and how the best marketers create the illusion of ease. 

Our guest for this episode is Michael Pope. 

Germany born. Florida raised. Michael designs, builds and implements solutions for the web. When not spending time with his amazing family, he is hiking all of the things, brewing “drinkable” beer, playing soccer or building PCs. 

You can find Michael at:  

SomethingKiller.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-pope-6293795a/ 

Instagram: @somethingkiller 

Twitter: @somethingkillr 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What kind of compute does it take to train an AI model? And should we be concerned about the environmental impact? Professor Wondernerd (aka Tony Foster) is back for another Tech Auntie session with the deets.

Our guest for this episode is Tony Foster. He’s a Sr. Principal Technical marketing engineer at Dell Technologies, an adjunct professor of Technology at Kansas State University, or simply the WonderNerd! He describes himself as a VDI/EUC and GPU fanatic bringing Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI, and HPC to the virtual world. 

Show outline/notes 

• What is the baseline architecture required to support machine learning and deep learning architectures? 

• What sort of carbon footprint are these distributed architectures giving off? Does this taper off after the initial training is completed? 

• Do you think these services (like private GPT) will be offered as a service? Should consumers of the service be concerned about the environmental impacts?  

You can connect with Tony on LinkedIn, on Twitter, and on his website, Wondernerd.net.

Don't forget to check out https://techaunties.com and follow us on Instagram too! Have an idea for a show? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For all the focus we give innovation in corporate strategies, it’s clear that the new method of innovation is in the startup world. We live in an age where most large companies have a venture department that works to build a pipeline of innovative solutions for later acquisition or investment. Launching a startup can be a lucrative opportunity for marketers...now imagine you are a woman. Did you know that of all venture capital invested in 2022, only 2.1% went to women?* Is this an acceptable standard for the industry? Is this a standard that we must accept as professionals?

Join us as we discuss the journey from corporate professional to founder with our guest Nishita Roy-Pope. 

Nishita Roy-Pope 

Nishita Roy-Pope has a long and distinguished bio. She possesses 15+ years of experience working in high impact leadership roles in the tech and non-profit sectors. Nishita thrives in roles where she can innovate new models, products or programs to address unmet gaps.  

She is currently Founder and CEO of two quickly growing ventures:

• WorldRoo: an ed-tech start-up focused on empowering children to build key early learning skills, including STEM, and develop an appreciation for diversity and global cultures.
• Tribe Academy: a company focused on training, coaching and connecting motivated, diverse talent with leading corporations, including Fidelity Investments, Dell Technologies, Amica Insurance and Nike.  

Nishita is also a TEDx speaker - her engaging talk is titled, “Channel Your Kid Courage”. And recipient of many awards: 

• Rhode Island 40 Under 40 Winner 
• Rhode Island PBN Woman to Watch in Tech Winner 
• ATHENA Leadership Award® Winner and  
• Top Social Media Voice at Dell Technologies.  
• She has 7K+ social media followers and has been featured by LinkedIn multiple times for her inspiring and engaging content.  

Follow Nishita

LinkedIn 

Instagram @nishitaroypope 

References

https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is AI is the killer app that came from the most recent round of digital transformation? If it is, what are the components of an AI workload?

Our guest for this episode is Tony Foster. He’s a Sr. Principal Technical marketing engineer at Dell Technologies, an adjunct professor of Technology at Kansas State University, or simply the WonderNerd! He describes himself as a VDI/EUC and GPU fanatic bringing Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI, and HPC to the virtual world. 

Show outline/notes 

• Welcome & Introducing Tony Foster, AKA Professor Wondernerd.
• What is AI?
• What components are necessary to build AI?
• Can you give us an example of AI/
• Are there things labelled AI that are not AI (chatgpt)? What are they?
• Should we be afraid of AI? 

You can connect with Tony on LinkedIn, on Twitter, and on his website, Wondernerd.net.

Here are the slides from our VMworld Session.

Neural Network zoo

Free resources and model zoos for DL

The grandma exploit explained

Don't forget to check out https://techaunties.com and follow us on Instagram too! Have an idea for a show? Email us at [email protected].

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part 1 of this Episode -- The Road to Wussville: Or Marketing's Not so Grand Adventrue -- we discussed how the marketing discipline has been diffused across the corporation and has lost much of the control and accountability that could be used to progress the discipline.

In this episode, we move on from Wussville! We will switch from looking at the problem to looking at the opportunities we have to take back our power and reshape the role of marketing.  

Our guest is Anna Pickard.

She's a digital and social marketing leader who enjoys navigating the constantly evolving digital landscape. She has a sharp eye for strategies that drive sales and loves turning curious browsers into loyal fans - all while working within a tight budget. 
 
On the social media front, Anna has experience in corporate social strategy and as an independent creator on TikTok and Instagram. She has partnered with over 25 consumer brands, helping them to build brand awareness and boost sales through her savvy social media skills.  

She also boasts deep skills and experiences in web strategy, e-commerce, customer experience/social support, and product marketing - all across both B2B and B2C markets. 

Follow her:

• LinkedIn
• TikTok: @Newmommytalks 
• Instagram: @newmommytalks 

Show Outline:

• What are the opportunities for marketers? How have they changed with the digitization of everything?  
• The rise of social media and the opportunity within corporate as a creator. 
• Navigating a corporate career as a marketer who specializes in social media. What are the benefits? Challenges? 
• Making the decision to become an influencer and what was the tipping point.
• The benefits of building an independent social media business?
• What is your advice for others starting to build a marketing capability on the side?
• What do you see on the horizon? What is the next big social application?

Notes from 2023 Side Hustle Statistics

From 2023 Side Hustle Statistics: The Ultimate List - Luisa Zhou Blog :

• 1 in 3 American’s have a side hustle 
• Almost 50% of people with a side hustle do it because they want to, not because of financial constraints 
• 50% of millennials have a side hustle vs. 70% of Gen Zs have a side hustle 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marketing is a critical discipline to the success of any company but so much of our responsibility has been diffused across modern corporations it is almost impossible to deliver the value we know we bring. How did we get here? 

Don't forget to check out https://techaunties.com and follow us on Instagram too! Have an idea for a show? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our first technology episode, we set the table to talk more about AI.

Show notes:

1. What is ChatGPT? We talk very high level about how generative AI tools work. GPT = generative pretrained transformer, so this is a pretty cool technical innovation. It's not a magical mystical new tool. We keep it high level, but we talk about the components of an AI application to ground our future discussions about AI. 
2. We talk about some of the things ChatGPT can do well.
3. We cover some of the unintended consequences of rushing to use AI on everything. 
4. You have to review the output of generative AI tools. Understand the dataset that was used to train the generative tool, and what the tool was trained to produce. Also, if you have ESG initiatives, it is important to understand the environmental impact, as well as the impact to the people who clean the data are treated. 
5. Should you be afraid of ChatGPT?

We don't have a guest for this episode, but it will set the stage for the other technical episodes that we have planned. Please let us know what you think about ChatGPT on Techaunties.com or Instagram.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.