This time we meet up with GeekGirl Lauren Ingram, a senior marketer specialising in PR, events and social media, with experience in agencies and tech startups. In early 2017 she launched Power Suit Social, a creative community which aims to keep creativity commercially viable. As if all this was not enough, Lauren is also a mentor mentor for SheSays, as well as an active member of the DevelopHer community for women in tech, and a member of and mentor for ONE! She’s a winner of awards such as: “2017 The Drum 50 Under 30 women in digital” and “2018 Pitch 100 Superwomen in the creative industries”.

Connecting ‘things’ has always been GeekGirl Nicole Yershon’s driving force, and she made it her business. She is a well known and widely admired author, speaker and advisor to clients. The NY Collective is built on her experience in agencies and her work with Global brands and institutions all over the world. Find out more about this power woman and her business at https://www.nicoleyershon.com/

Meet GeekGirl Ellie Budd, the digital pro who is a leading digital products and digital transformation at some of the most respected charities in the UK. Her experience and knowledge ranges from best in class digital techniques to the delivery of large scale change programmes which help organisations realise their potential digitally. At William Joseph Ellie is putting this to use in creating great experiences for her clients users.

Ina Yulo is a GeekGirl who specialises in content. She has launched and grown BrightTALK's FinTech community to an audience of over 300,000 global professionals to become one of the leading sources of online content in the industry. Ina is working closely with a network of the top industry speakers to curate and publish timely content for both online and physical events. This inspiring woman has been listed on the Women in FinTech Power List for two years in a row and have been a speaker and moderator for conferences on Blockchain, FinTech, Payments, Women in Tech, and Marketing. She is also a mentor at The Factory in Oslo, SuperCharger in Kuala Lumpur, and the European Women in Payments Network. Listen and get inspired by her incredible story!

Let us introduce Abi Mohamed, a tech genius passionate about ethical software building and developing. She believes that developers should be more conscious about what they’re creating, as the boundaries of how far is too far can be vague. Abi turned down an amazing offer as a Project Office intern in Kenya to work and save money for her Masters in Information Systems Management instead. Now she’s changing investment for underrepresented founders at CGVentures.

GeekGirl meets is back again with some amazing stories to share! First up: meet Katerina Pascoulis, a coder and entrepreneur who’s passionate about getting other women into tech. Two years into her law studies at cambridge she realised that law wouldn’t be her thing. Katerina fell for the tech industry instead and founded Personably in 2016, since then she’d been helping teams onboard their new hires and enable them to get up to speed quickly.

There are some women that GeekGirl keeps missing! Honestly, we have relationships with women entirely through social who we've never been able to meet! And Lauren is one of these awesome ladies! One of our first remote interviews, GeekGirl was delighted to be joined by Lauren from 'Over the Pond'. Lauren has done a fair bit - we're pretty darn impressed! Her career and studies have taken her around the world, and she has a clear love of travel. She started her career as a freelance reporter covering tech trends in London for The Next Web and The Guardian, and now covers the impact of tech trends like AI on small business owners for GetApp, a Gartner company. In 2017 she helped organize Women Startup Challenge - Europe's largest venture capital competition for women-led startups, and was named to The Drum's 50 Under 30 list of women worth watching in digital in 2017. She's also spoken at events and venues on three continents, including the British Embassy in Washington, DC, and The Global Talent Summit at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. We get her top tips for putting yourself forward and chasing the opportunities ahead of you! There's a load of great advice in here from Lauren and you can reach her on Twitter @laurenmaffeo.

When GeekGirl gets a crush, it's a big one. Silja Litvin, is our most recent Girl Crush, the model-turned psychologist and now mental health startup Founder was ticking all our boxes in this podcast. We learned all about her love of psychology and how her startup is aiming to help people who are suffering from mental health issues. From the runway to Old Street, Silja is building her business in London and has definitely felt a culture change, but even sees similarities between the fashion and tech world. A fantastic chat with a true wonder woman! You can find out more about Silja at http://www.siljalitvin.com/ AND back her latest game on Indiegogo! Go check out eQuoo, the emotional fitness game: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/equoo-the-emotional-fitness-game#/

GeekGirl sat down with our very first (on the show!) post-doc researcher, Vivian Tong, from Imperial College London, to discuss her career to date in Science, and her own personal experience with academia and mental health. Originally from Hong Kong, Vivian wants to show women, young girls, and just everyone, that science and engineering are fun, and a career is absolutely achievable! Vivian graduated with a Materials Science Degree in 2013 and went on to finish her Ph.D. in 2016, where she investigated metals used in nuclear reactors - specifically what happens on the microscopic structure when we heat and deform it. During her Ph.D. she went into schools to tell kids about science and engineering. She is currently studying the behaviour of metals for planes and nuclear reactors and use microscopes to link the behaviour of these metals to atomic-scale phenomena. She is one smart cookie, and her passion is incredibly obvious is this podcast. There is also a huge wealth of advice on mental health. You can find Vivian on Twitter, @vt_vivian1

Did you miss us? GeekGirl Meets is back, and it's business as usual as we look to interview awesome women in tech just for you. This week GeekGirl was joined by Riya Grover and Lyz Swanton, co-founders of Feedr. These two women are ones-to-watch in the world of Foodtech as they change the world of corporate catering and workplace canteens. Riya and Lyz’s combination of incredible business experience from management consultancy and banking (Deutsche Bank, Oliver Wyman) and startup growth (Osper, Pashion) and their passion for giving access to healthy sustainable food means that Feedr is on the road to success. Both women are recognised for their success and passion for business, including recent nominations for Women of the Future awards and the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30. Customers include Nike, Etsy, Chanel, Eve Matresses, DHL and more! Find out more! And check out Feedr: https://teamfeedr.com/

GeekGirl Meets the wonderful Lisa Williams in this episode, to hear more about her transition from journalist to Co-Founder of TantrumXYZ - the website designed for parents by parents, created while Lisa was on maternity leave. Tantrum is the go to network, shop, and inspiration destination for the modern parent. Lisa passes on a lot of advice in this podcast. From taking the leap to start a company, to managing a startup and a baby at the same time, and shares her career history working at publications like Tatler, and for the Press Association. We also delve into her love of podcasts, with some fantastic recommendations for anyone who loves to learn on the go. You can find out more about TantrumXYZ and it's unique take on parenting at www.tantrum.xyz and you can reach Lisa on Twitter @LisaSWilliams.

GeekGirl Loves Eileen. We just HAD to interview her, and we just HAD to make it a live recording. Thanks to our pals at Stripe's London HQ we hosted a live GeekGirlMeets for the first time ever - and Eileen Burbidge, a woman of many titles and talents, was our wonderful woman in tech for the occasion. Amazing advice and insight in this podcast. From Eileen's views on work-life balance, her career moving from engineering side to VC and her work with the UK government, we cover a lot in this interview, with loads of advice to you! Enjoy! Eileen Burbidge (@eileentso) is a Partner at Passion Capital, the pre-eminent early-stage VC fund based in London. She brings extensive operational experience to her investment activities gleaned from business and product roles at Yahoo!, Skype, Apple and elsewhere. In addition to Passion Capital, Eileen is also Chair of Tech City UK, the government-backed organisation supporting digital business across Britain. She also serves on the Prime Minister David Cameron’s Business Advisory Group; as HM Treasury’s Special Envoy for FinTech, appointed by the Chancellor George Osborne; and Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. She was made an MBE for services to Business in June 2015 and holds a BSc Engineering degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

WE'RE BACK! Did you miss us? We're sorry we've been silent for a while, but aren't you happy we've returned for 2017! We figured this year could do with some kick-ass inspiration! In our first new episode of the year, GeekGirl went to Westminster to meet Tracey Jessup, Deputy Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service. From wanting to be an actress and singer, to finding a career in Parliament, this is a great interview - with lots to learn about what the PDS is up to and what we can expect to see this year! This is a massive project and Tracey is a women in tech at the front. About Tracey Tracey is Deputy Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service. A joint department of both Houses of Parliament, the Digital Service is responsible for the strategic direction of Parliament’s digital offering, transforming ways in which the citizen can connect with Parliament including building a new website, the delivery and management of Parliamentary digital platforms, and providing technology services to members and staff in Westminster and throughout the UK. Tracey led the restructure which brought together the teams which managed the online and technology services into one digital team. Culture change has been a huge part of this, moving to an Agile culture and transforming and shaping the team which will develop and deliver excellent digital services for a modern Parliament and enable people to access Parliament in new and meaningful ways. Prior to joining the digital team Tracey had a long career as a House of Commons Clerk working in a variety of roles in the Committee Office, Public Bill Office, Overseas Office and finally the Table Office in the Department of Chamber and Committee Services (DCCS). From October 2005 to 2008 she was Private Secretary to the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive working directly with House of Commons Board members on delivery of the strategic priorities of the House of Commons. In the Table Office she led on the business change and digital transformation of Commons Business Papers ensuring that this was grounded in a high level vision of how users would engage with procedure, and what steps were needed to achieve that vision. This included transforming the presentation of the House of Commons key business papers enabling digital presentation and consumption through any device as well as improved intelligibility for core users, and working with ICT colleagues on the Parliamentary Business Programme, transforming critical services for the Chambers and Committees. You can connect with Tracey on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @traceyjessup.

GeekGirl recently hosted its annual conference and Nancy is just one of the many amazing women in tech that spoke at our event. She just HAD to be on this podcast, and GeekGirl was eager to interview her - you'll find out more when you listen! Nancy is the Founder of The Inspire Movement, a new role after a great career in VC and in tech. She joined us for our Mental Health, Wellbeing and Our Devices panel and shared LOADS of useful insight. Enjoy! Nancy Fechnay is a founder, investor, mentor, and advisor for startups and accelerators. She is passionate about helping others find their purpose, achieve health of the mind and body, and – most of all – be happy! Nancy is the founder of The Inspire Movement, a new community of innovative thought leaders, who believe in the power of positive thinking and sharing personal stories of life's greatest challenges. She was previously Partner at Flight Ventures, the largest online group of investors in the world, brainchild of well-known angel investor Gil Penchina. Nancy oversaw their UK/EU operation focusing on large seed or Series A ($3M+) investments. As a mentor and advisor, Nancy's expertise span across innovation, strategy, business development, fundraising, and U.S. expansion. She currently advises several U.S. and UK early stage startups, and serves on the advisory board of a stealth wellness startup based in London. Nancy has worked for several U.S. based investment firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GE Ventures, and Core Capital Partners. She is the co-founder of Duke Ventures, a venture capital educational and deal-sourcing engine that advises founders on business strategy and highlights the best Research Triangle Park startups to a network of active investors. Nancy has a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering (UVa), an MBA focused on entrepreneurship (Duke), and an MEM focused on energy (Duke). Website: http://www.theinspiremovement.com/#welcome Twitter: https://twitter.com/NancyFechnay

Ever wondered how you switch from one career into being a developer? Hear first hand as GeekGirl meets Anna Leach, ex-journalist turned web developer for financial technology company, Zopa. Following a career as a tech journalist, Anna started using Code Academy to pursue a new path - lots of great tips for budding technologists and those looking to code. In Anna's own words: I work on front-end and Ruby code for this peer-to-peer lending platform as a junior developer: taking data from APIs right up to the user interface. My Ruby expertise includes integrating internal and external APIs, writing a private gem, & working with Rails and Sinatra. I keep the code tested with Rspec and Cucumber. On the front-end, I make mobile-optimized web pages with the latest CSS and semantic HTML, using Javascript to create user interactions and work with UX to make prototypes and implement multipage AB tests.

VR Guru or VR Wizard? Either way, this lady is becoming a VR legend in the UK. GeekGirl had a great time interviewing Sam Kingston on her transition from theatre to VR and her journey as a co-founder of a VR marketing company. Loads of great tips and loads of insight into the future virtual world. Samantha is the Co-Founder and Client Director at Virtual Umbrella. Building on the current buzzing Virtual Reality community through projects and events. They provide marketing to developers and growing companies in the industry. Virtual Umbrella is not your traditional company: it has a fresh style and can't wait to help grow this amazing industry. Samantha won the New Business Award at the Southampton Venus Awards 2016. She is also apart of the BIMA100 and was nominated for Unsung Hero in MCV Women in Game Awards 2016.

GeekGirl was incredibly excited to interview Cindy Gallop at FutureFest in London. If you want to feel like you can do anything and take on the world, this podcast delivers a real hit of useful and real advice. Our talk focuses on Cindy's career post-BBH, with the creation of MakeLoveNotPorn and her own struggles and learnings as a sextech founder. Cindy is real, authentic and holds no punches - with a great mix of class and humour. Some amazing lessons in here. You can follow Cindy @cindygallop and @makelovenotporn on Twitter. Cindy Gallop has turned an illustrious advertising career into a lifelong pursuit of changing the world, her way – one daring project after another. After all her success in the agency world, Cindy resigned as Chairman of BBH New York in 2005 in order to do something different. Today she continues to work in branding, marketing and business innovation as a consultant while also operating at the cutting edge of digital and the internet as a tech entrepreneur. She launched MakeLoveNotPorn at TED 2009 with this talk as an attempt to counterpoint the way in which hardcore porn has become default sex education, by encouraging an open healthy dialogue around how real people have sex, and will take this forwards in 2012 as MakeLoveNotPorn TV. In 2011 she published ‘Make Love Not Porn: Technology’s Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior’ as a short TED e-book available on Amazon and iTunes. As a highly action-oriented person, Cindy observed that the single biggest pool of untapped natural resource in this world, is good intentions – both human and corporate – that never translate into action. She launched IfWeRanTheWorld at TED 2010 as the marketing and business platform of the future, to turn human and corporate good intentions into collective action, one microaction at a time, to deliver– you are what you do – and build your Action Graph. Harvard Business School considers IfWeRanTheWorld such a ‘unique and innovative business model’ they wrote it up and taught it as a case study in March 2011 when it was only a year old in beta. Cindy has a significant reputation as a highly compelling and inspirational speaker at events and conferences all around the world. Cindy’s 30 years of experience in brandbuilding, marketing and entrepreneurialism, combined with a razor-sharp analytical mind, wide-ranging business experience, future-forward approach to technology, a compellingly charismatic presence and a uniquely inspirational approach, equip her perfectly to address the theme of leadership and inventing the future across a range of business sectors.

GeekGirl loves spending time with other awesome ladies who are empowering women, and Lu is one of them! Not only did she start Blooming Founders to promote and support female entrepreneurship, but she's also created and published "Dear Female Founder" a book with 66 different female entrepreneurs sharing their wisdom for aspiring women. For more info on the book, go to www.bloomingfounders.com/book and check out @BloomingFoundrs. The inspiration for Blooming Founders came from Lu's own journey, from management consultant to entrepreneur - learning what her true passion was along the way. Great advice for anyone looking to find their calling. Lu Li is the founder of Blooming Founders, a London-based platform that supports and promotes female founders through events and a professional network. She is the UK ambassador of Women's Entrepreneurship Day, a judge at the MassChallenge accelerator, a mentor at the Google Launchpad accelerator and part of the Techstars community leadership team. In her previous corporate career, Lu has launched FMCG products for Procter & Gamble across Western Europe and has worked on several consulting projects for McKinsey, BMW and T-Mobile.

GeekGirl finally pinned down one of our UK Co-Founders this week for an interview while she was in town from New York! We sat down with Josefine (Josie) Hedlund, who aside from Co-Founding GeekGirl Meetup UK, is also a Project Director for AnalogFolk, a global creative agency. Josie has travelled, worked in numerous cities and has had an interesting path that led her to discovering Production in the creative industries - leading her all the way to her new role in New York. Lots of great inspiration in this one for anyone looking to take a a big leap and move for work! And some lovely little stories about the origins of GeekGirl! Enjoy! Twitter: @josefinehedlund

GeekGirl loves spending time with enthusiastic people, and this lady is one of the most passionate people we know! GeekGirl sat down with the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology's (CAST) Ellie Hale, to talk ALL about tech for good, the key drivers of her career to date and to share her wisdom with you! Ellie is fascinated by the potential of technology to transform lives, systems and mentality, and keen to promote those already doing it well. She is an Associate at CAST (the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology), which helps social-impact organisations build scalable and sustainable digital tech. As well as running the PR, marketing and events for this small but powerful 'tech for good' org, Ellie co-ordinates its Digital Fellowship: inducting senior nonprofit leaders into the world of technology, and helping them better understand and develop effective digital products and services.