Lucia Giacomantonio

Vanessa Hudgens isn’t the only one taking note of how much Girl Scouts has stayed solid over the years! Girls in Tech – Los Angeles is proud to be a partner for this year’s STEM – IMAGINE program, and we’re asking you for only 8 hours of your time to help a sister out!

Girl Scouts has been one of those amazing organizations for girls that has stood the test of time.  With a mission to develop girls spiritually, physically, and mentally, it was Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low’s goal in 1912 to enhance the daily routine of her eighteen girls in Savannah, Georgia to a broader view of life through community service and fun activities they’d never been exposed to. Something incredible happened because here we are 100 years later and the Girl Scouts of America are as powerful as ever!

Join Girls in Tech – Los Angeles in their efforts to mentor the fab young ladies of Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles through STEM! Stop talking, take action, and get involved this summer! I’m sure you’ve got 8 hours to spare and touch the lives of some amazing girls.

Training for IMAGINE – May 26, 2012 – 10am to 12pm – GSGLA Center – 4551 Glencoe Ave. Suite 140 in Marina Del Rey

IMAGINE/STEM Mentorship – July 7, 2012  - 10am to 4pm –  Rio Hondo College – 3600 Workman Mill Road in Whittier

Email volunteer@girlsintechla.org to sign up today!

Girls in Tech recently became a Preferred Partner with Unreasonable at Sea and as such are looking for 2 or 3 of you (Girls in Tech members) to become Fast Track Applicants – You will automatically be accepted into Unreasonable at Sea’s final round of vetting: the interview!

To be considered as a Fast Track Applicant, let us know by sending us a quick email and we’ll have the team at Unreasonable at Sea contact you directly with a private invitation.

We are hoping to let the team at U@Sea know who we are fast tracking no later than May 20th, so if you are interested, just let us know as soon as possible.

What is Unreasonable at Sea?

To give you a little background, Unreasonable at Sea (www.unreasonableatsea.com) is a mentor-driven accelerator for technology entrepreneurs who desire to take their ventures into new international markets. In partnership with Stanford’s d.school and the Unreasonable Institute, this program will take place on a ship as it travels more than 25,000 nautical miles around the globe to 14 international destinations! They are currently searching for technology-based companies who are working to solve the greatest social and environmental challenges of this century and we now have the chance to select up to 3 of you as Fast Track Applicants! Watch their 2 minute video that best explains the program: http://vimeo.com/40384173

This article should’ve been posted prior to Mother’s Day or at least on Mother’s Day itself, however, we thought that these gift ideas could be a useful guide for gifts for Mom year round. Birthdays, anniversaries, or just because – they deserve it!

Tablet

Move over, soccer moms. iMom is on the loose! Whether it’s an iPad, a Blackberry Playbook, or one of the other weird knockoffs, a tablet is the No. 1 (with a bullet) way to go for Mother’s Day. While you’ll want to show your real love by getting her an iPad 3, there are several more affordable tablets for the cost-conscious kid. Sleeves and mods aplenty can make this gift both beautiful and Mom-friendly. Sign her up for Pinterest, teach her what a hashtag is, and download Draw Something, Flipboard, and Angry Birds before you give it to her for extra brownie points, and your Mom will be sending you status updates, irrelevant articles, and pin boards in no time flat.

New Computer

Second only to bringing her into the touch-screen world of the tablet, your Mother will love you for replacing her clunky ’90s desktop with a MacBook Air or a Netbook. Moms love to feel connected, so be sure to insult her intelligence by making comically large icons on the desktop with links to e-mail, Facebook, and your personal blog.

Cell Phone That Doubles As A Stun Gun

If your mother lives in perpetual fear that she’ll be attacked at dusk in a suburban mall parking lot, and there’s nothing you can do to convince her otherwise (it’s OK — there’s nothing any of us can do, really), try equipping her with the latest in stun gun technology: a fake cell phone that shoots 5 million volts. It looks like a cell phone, but this bad boy can shoot a message to any would-be attacker, or even those neighborhood-roving Jehovah’s Witnesses she’s always complaining about. Bonus points if you don’t tell her it’s a stun gun and ask her to “bump fists to trade contact info” with your kid brother.

Kindle or Nook

If your mom is a reader, or just a gadget girl, she’ll love the gift of electronic books. Get her an Amazon Kindle or a Barnes and Noble Nook, and load it up beforehand — just to prove you care. Great books for Moms include: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Norah Ephron, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, and anything by Chelsea Handler. Bonus points for buying her any book on quarter-life crises and annotating relevant passages with quips that eternally absolve her of any guilt she might have about why you’re having trouble making it in the real world.

Camera

If you’re perennially single, and your Mother reminds you constantly that she’s waiting on you to have grandchildren, this is quite possibly the worst gift you could buy for your Mom. But if you’re not the most disappointing child in the whole wide world, there’s a plethora of camera types you can buy for your shutterbug Mother. Get her started on Instagram by buying her a camera phone, or get her one of the cool, vintage-looking Polaroid cameras. A third option is to finally help the woman go digital, and get her a professional grade Nikon or Canon DSLR. Bonus points for taking a bunch of pictures of you holding up handmade signs that say “I [Heart] MOM,” or giving her a camera that’s full of candid shots of you, just going about your day. You’ve got a face only a mother could love, so you might as well pimp it out while you can.

Photo Printer

Here’s the problem with being such a gemstone of a child: if you buy your mom a new digital camera, you’re going to have to get her a proper photo printer before your dad or your siblings outdo you. “Sure, you got a camera … but what are you even gonna do with all those pictures, Mom? Where are you going to put them? People won’t be able to see them! There’s absolutely nowhere on the Internet to upload high-res pics that you can share with your friends — especially not for free. That kid doesn’t care about your needs, Mom!” In all seriousness, a photo printer is a great gadget for a Mother’s Day gift. And with lots of portable options, she can snap and print pictures of her grand-nieces and nephews (because you haven’t given her any grandchildren yet, you ungrateful child!), various family gatherings, or those weird Thursday nights at the Olive Garden that her and her fellow menopausal friends have recently started to call “Sunday School.”

Designer USB Key

Louis Vuitton has hit the future. Is it time for mom to do the same? If you feel like wasting a mere $450, you can buy your mom a USB wand that you could get her at Rite Aid, but it will have a designer logo that might mean so much to the modern Mom.

Battery Backup

So maybe she has all the gadgets she needs, but does she lug around the accompanying cords all the time, too? Give your mom’s back a break with light battery backup mods for her various gadgetry. If your Mom (or yourself) is an eco-freak, you can even go green and keep her connected with a solar-powered option.

Foldaway Massage Chair

Who says that your gadgets have to be Internet-centered? Moms everywhere will love this funny little folding chair. When it’s completely unpacked, it boasts an ottoman-sized leg and foot massager that can ease even the most high-strung of Mothers. And with all the stress that you’re causing her being such a problem child, really, it’s the least you could do.

  Creepy Japanese Robot Baby

If your Mom’s an empty nester, a robot enthusiast, or just really, really weird, you’ve hit the Mother’s Day jackpot. CB2, the “Child-robot with Biomimetic Body,” was developed at Osaka University in Japan, and is basically a robot that develops at the same pace and in the same ways that human babies develop. It has 51 air-powered muscles and a creepy humanoid skin, and gets smarter over time — just like children. Or just like children should, anyway. It’s the perfect gift — as needy as a cocker spaniel, but without the muss and fuss. And if you’re a Lost Child, or just think your Mother raised you so well that she should function as Lord of the Baby Learning Robots, this gift is a sure-fire way to impress the woman that bore you. Nothing but the best (and creepiest!) for your beloved Mom.

The original article was posted in Venture Village. Russia is now the largest internet market in Europe, with more than 55 million online users. Russian internet market leaders, Yandex and London-listed Mail.ru Group, both reported a year-over-year revenue growth of 50% for the first quarter of 2012.

The Russian market is growing at a supersonic rate and provides excellent exit opportunites for investors in Russian online ventures to create a brand-new breed of Russian internet entrepreneur.

So who are the trailblazers in the new web frontier to watch? Yankov Sadchikov, Russian startup blogger at Quintura.com, talks us through the hottest Russian entrepreneurs to watch right now…

Oskar Hartmann, founder and CEO, KupiVIP.ru

After launching online shopping club KupiVIP.ru in fall 2008, the Russian-German Oskar Hartmann added an eCommerce platform for the Russian retailers and launched online fashion store ShopTime.

In Russian online shopping, KupiVIP is growing – it racked up $200 million revenues last year. In 2010, Hartmann partnered with the French businessman Pascal Clément to set up a Moscow-based internet business incubator, Fast Lane Ventures that has already started eighteen internet businesses to date, of which two were already exited.

Marina Kolesnik, founder and CEO, Oktogo.ru

Following a consulting career at McKinsey and management role at DataArt where she headed complex software development projects, Marina Kolesnik has leveraged her Harvard MBA to launch her own online venture Oktogo.ru two years ago. Since then, Marina raised $15 million in venture capital from European and Russian investors to make Oktogo.ru, Russia’s leading online hotel booking and travel site or “Booking.com of Russia”.

Pavel Cherkashin, co-founder, Krible and Kuznech

Having been Russian manager for Adobe and Siebel as well as Microsoft Russia’s general manager of consumer and online businesses, Pavel Cherkashin made a number of angel investments in online businesses in Russia. He now works for his investee companies: online customer support service Krible and image search Kuznech as well as helps other investees: online video site Tvigle.ru and mobile advertising network AdWired.

Alisa Chumachenko, founder and CEO, Game Insight

In online gaming, marketing is key. The former head of marketing at Astrum Online that was merged into Mail.ru Group in 2008, Chumachenko started her own  social game publisher and developer Game Insight in late 2009. In 2011, she moved into mobile gaming to make Game Insight one of the leading gaming companies on Android.

Albert Popkov, founder, Sravni.ru

Popkov capitalised on the social networking boom in Russia. Back in 2006, he launched the social network company Odnoklassniki.ru. He then raised funding from DST and sold to it later. Odnoklassniki, which is part of Mail.ru Group, has some 25 million monthly users. In 2009, Albert launched consumer banking comparison site Sravni.ru, which is now the leader in its category.

Yulia Mitrovich, Entrepreneur in Residence, Svyaznoy Group

A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Mitrovich was a McKinsey consultant before going to Web Media Group in Moscow to head its online video site Zoomby.ru.

In 2012 Mitrovich joined Svyaznoy Group, the leading mobile phone retailer in Russia, as Entrepreneur in Residence. No surprise, Svyaznoy founder Maxim Nogotkov was named Russia’s Entrepreneur of The Year 2010 by Ernst & Young.

Igor Matsanyuk, founder, IMI.VC

If the internet incubators are the new black, then mobile-focused business accelerators are the new, new black. Entrepreneur-turned-VC Matsanyuk has made a fortune by cashing out shares in Mail.ru Group during its IPO in late 2010.

One year before, he merged his online gaming company Astrum Online Entertainment into Mail.ru. Igor currently seeds mobile startups viaFarminers business incubator and own investment company IMI.VC.

Elena Masolova, co-founder and CEO, Pixonic

The Higher School of Economics graduate, Masolova co-founded the AddVenture seed-stage fund in Moscow in 2008 and was a founding member of coupon site Darberry, which became Groupon Russia. She currently heads social gaming company Pixonic, a portfolio company of AddVenture. She also eager to make angel investments in online startups and lead them later.

Anna Znamenskaya, founder, Workingmama

Following a ten-year executive career including CEO of Digital Access (online video portal ivi.ru), Rambler‘s commercial director and B2B Media CEO, Znamenskaya has ventured into entrepreneurship with her own online project for mothers, Workingmama.ru in late 2011. She is also receiving Master in Digital Marketing from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid this year.

Olga Steidl, partner, dots’n‘spaces

The St Petersburg State University graduate Steidl has headed marketing at mobile software maker SPB Software before it was acquired by Yandex last November. After a short stint withYandex, she has settled in Zurich to help mobile startups via dots’n’spaces and organize mobile industry events. Steidl is also startup CEO herself and mentor at Seedcamp where Yandex recently invested.

Springboard Enterprises is seeking women-led, investment-ready businesses in the media and technology industry to participate in Springboard: Media & Tech 2012 – part of Springboard’s 23rd forum program supporting and promoting women-led emerging growth companies seeking equity investments and/or strategic partnerships.

Springboard: Media & Tech 2012 program is a community-driven accelerator that gives participants access to unique opportunities for building relationships with industry experts, including targeted in-person and virtual coaching sessions, a one-day Bootcamp workshop in NYC, and a variety of presentation assessment sessions that will showcase selected companies to potential investors and strategic partners. Since 2000, Springboard has helped 480+ women-led companies raise $5.5B in equity financing and offered ongoing support to program participants through access to its vast network of industry experts, investors and seasoned entrepreneurs. This program is about building relationships, not just about raising capital.

Don’t miss the June 5th application deadline! Learn more or apply now at www.springboardenterprises.org/2012

Post this to your event calendar! Title: Springboard: Media & Tech 2012 Application Deadline Event Date: Application Deadline: Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 (11:59 PM) Cost: $100 application fee, $2,000 program fee Location: International Event Website: www.springboardenterprises.org/2012

Description: Springboard is recruiting for Springboard: Media & Tech 2012 – a community-driven accelerator designed to promote and support women-led, media and technology companies seeking equity investments or strategic partnerships. Companies that apply will undergo a rigorous screening process before being selected to participate in the forum program which includes a targeted, hands-on coaching process with industry experts and a day-long intensive Bootcamp workshop in NYC on July 26th. Participants gain unique exposure to Springboard’s nationwide network of VCs, angels, corporate investors, seasoned entrepreneurs and strategic partners through a variety of virtual and in-person events, and presentation assessment opportunities.

President and CEO Cheri Beranek was named a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2012 program in the Upper Midwest.  The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Beranek, who was selected from a strong pool of nominations by a panel of independent judges, has been widely recognized for her success in turning around the company. Her direction to rebrand Clearfield (formerly APA Cables and Networks) and re-establish shareholder confidence in the firm by establishing profitable revenue growth and generating the vision for the firm’s potential, is credited in large part with Clearfield ’s success.

Awards will be presented at a special gala on June 14, 2012 at the Marriott City Center hotel in Minneapolis . Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs , California , on November 17, 2012. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

About Clearfield, Inc.
Clearfield, Inc. sets the standard for fiber performance with FiberDeep, while lowering the cost of broadband deployment with the FieldSmart fiber management platform and the CraftSmart OSP enclosure system. FieldSmart is the only fiber management platform to be designed around a single architecture – the Clearview Cassette and xPAK— for the inside plant, outside plant and access network. Scaling from 1 to 1728 ports, FieldSmart supports a wide range of panel and cabinet configurations, densities, connectors and adapter options, and are offered alongside an assortment of passive optical components. CraftSmart is the industry’s only field enclosure system optimized for fiber deployment. FiberDeep is a new class of fiber patch cords that guarantees performance at .2dB insertion loss — fully half that of the industry standard. Clearfield is a public company traded on NASDAQ: CLFD.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^®
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.