“I love technology, and I don't think it's something that should divide along gender lines.” Marissa Mayer
As I was going through the news and checking my twitter feed, I found out that « Digital Woman Day » was to take place on the 7th March with the theme of “Change the future”. My first thought was “why do they need to dedicate a digital day to women?”. Then, later I read this article about the 40 French women below 40 who will drive the French economy and it all actually made sense. In France, even though it’s a constant work in progress, our government is more and more keen on letting women make decisions: Fleur Pellerin as our Minister of Digital Economy, or Anne Hidalgo and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet running for the mayorship of Paris…. These women are just a small sample of many who undeniably contribute to growing businesses in very original and creative ways.
Former president of the United States Woodrow Wilson declared more than a century ago, “We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this”. Today, we are more than ever aware that we ALL are citizens of the world and we have to make the most of it. That’s what these kinds of events are designed for.
This conference is launched by two French entrepreneurs: Delphine Remy-Boutang (@DelphineRB), founder of The Bureau agency (Paris & London) and Catherine Barba (@cathbarba) founder of several companies since 2003 (Cashstore, Malinea, Leetchi, SoJeans…). This second edition of the Digital Woman Day, which will also take place simultaneously in San Francisco and London, aims at stimulating the French entrepreneurship spirit through inspiring stories, projects and innovations of French business women. This year will be the year of women who’ve made change happen within their companies on a digital level. Three contemporary topics will be addressed during keynotes: Happiness at work, a priority; How to deal with failure and managing it in a positive way?; The future of digital and the evolution of economic models
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present
are certain to miss the future.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The 2014 edition, will address female entrepreneurs and will focus on innovation and how to welcome change in a society where change makes people uncomfortable. Indeed, as Spencer Johnson simply explains it in his motivational business fable Who moved my cheese?, the world is all about “change” and we need to embrace it in the best way possible. That’s what women try to do here. Being among minorities for generations, their voice was never really listened to. Today, women are leaders, entrepreneurs, digital influencers and most of all they are respected for what they do. That’s what it’s all about, respect regardless of one’s gender. There’s always going to be Marilyn Monroes to maintain the dream – had Twitter existed when she was still alive, I bet she’d have mastered it – but today women all over the world have found a way to turn digital into a business ally and spread their messages, defend their rights, and strongly contribute to build and reinforce our international community through social networks and technologies. “You can be good at technology and like fashion and art. You can be good at technology and be a jock. You can be good at technology and be a mom. You can do it your way, on your terms.” Marissa Mayer.
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