Inspiring Woman
Vicki Saunders
By Emily Kellison-Linn
It was a moment that inspired an entrepreneur. Vicki Saunders was traveling in Europe right after fall of the Berlin Wall, and she was moved by the conversations going on around her.
“Every conversation at that time started with, ‘Now that I’m free, I’m going to do x,’ ” said Saunders. “All these people were dreaming about what they wanted to do with their lives and I thought, ‘I’m free too! What am I going to do?’ ”
Vicki Saunders is an entrepreneur and businesswoman who has founded many successful companies. She is currently the CEO of Zazengo, a company whose mission is “to support consumer and employee engagement around personal sustainability actions,” Saunders said. Zazengo’s program challenges individuals to take action, and enables them to track and receive immediate feedback on their actions. She is currently working with Wal-Mart to develop an employee engagement plan.
“We are looking for leading edge campaigns and companies focused on personal engagement because change starts with each one of us,” Saunders said.
Growing up, Saunders was inspired by her aunt and uncle, who had lived in many exotic places and always came back with amazing stories. They instilled in her a desire see these places herself and to explore different cultures. She was also influenced by her two parents, both entrepreneurs.
“I remember from an early age being very obsessed with ‘freedom’ and wondering how I could do something that I loved without having to really ‘report to anyone,’ ” Saunders said. After her inspiration moment while traveling in Europe, she stayed in Prague for four years and started two businesses—one, an English-language school, and the other, a business selling imported Indian textiles. “After that, there was no going back,” Saunders said. “I’ve never worked for anyone else since.”
Growing up in a family full of boys, Saunders is accustomed to dealing with the opposite gender. Though she has encountered some prejudices against women in her work, they don’t greatly bother her — she has learned to work around them.
Saunders wants girls interested in technical fields to know that it is a very exciting time to be entering the STEM field and the business world, and there are amazing opportunities for women in particular. Right now, she said, only 15% of programmers are female. “My experience has been that women bring a different perspective that is more ‘relationship-focused’ and that is needed more than ever in this field,” Saunders said.
In her free time, Saunders enjoys drawing and reading non-fiction books, as well as outdoor activities including kayaking and running. “And,” she said, “one of my favorite things to do is to mentor next generation entrepreneurs.”
Blog Bits: Geothermal Energy
By Veronica Hume
Geothermal energy involves using the heat from the earth as an energy source. Because it is a renewable form of energy, companies, such as AltaRock Energy, have focused on developing the technology to more fully explore geothermal energy’s potential. A 2007 study conducted by MIT concluded that EGS (engineered geothermal systems) can meet 10% of electricity needs within the next 50 years. Susan Petty, one of AltaRock Energy’s founders and the current President and Chief Technology Officer, will be a panelist at SDForum Tech Women’s Redefining Green on July 29th.
Blog Bits: Green Architecture
By: Diana Chen
As we are looking towards a greener future, many of us are probably wondering how we can contribute by make our own homes a bit greener. Sustainable architecture, used to build sustainable homes, seeks to reduce the negative impact of buildings and homes on the environment by increasing the efficiency and moderate the use of materials, space, and energy required. A few examples of sustainable building materials would include panels made from paper, clay, cork, wood fibre plates, stone, rock, bamboo, and fiber glass. Most green buildings tend to use high efficiency windows and insulation in the walls, floors, and ceilings to reduce energy use.
One popular and simple way to save energy is by installing and using solar panels. On average, solar panels range anywhere from 4% to 28% in efficiency. Another less used, but equally effective way to save energy is by using wind turbines. These turbines usually begin producing energy when winds reach 6-10mph. This is also known as the “cut-in speed”. Turbines reach their rated output at around 28-35mph, aka the “rated wind speed”. Small rooftop turbines can generate 10%-25% of the electricty required to run a household.
Now architects are looking towards passive solar. Passive solar architecture is when builders place windows, walls, porches, and trees strategically to keep the house cool during the summer and allow the most sunlight in during the winter.
To learn more about the green field, come join us on Thursday, July 29th for our Redefining Green panel. There you will be able to hear many professionals in the field give their views on the many new advancements in this rapidly expanding field. Hope to see you there.
SDForum Tech Titans of Tomorrow: Teens Plugged In 2010
On April 23, 2010, Microsoft hosted SDForum’s “Tech Titans of Tomorrow: Teens Plugged In 2010″ event. The theme of this year’s event focused on how teens stayed informed through social media and what they were doing to be socially responsible, such as going green. Throughout the day, representatives from various corporations spoke, high schoolers and recent college graduates presented their “Teen Success Story,” and attendees listened to two panels, one featuring college students while the other featured high school students. Teens also pitched their ideas and received feedback from experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
Veronica Hume and Diana Chen discussed the GirlsforTech website on the high school panel, moderated by Alison van Diggelen. Read about the panel on the Fresh Dialogues blog.
To read more about the event, look at photos, or watch video clips from the event, visit SDForum’s page.
