Media

The Myth of Being a Nice Girl with Fran Hauser

MONTREAL – Being a nice person is not a sign of weakness in the workplace. Not anymore.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to have a nice chat with one of the coolest woman in the world. No, I’m not exaggerating.

Fran Hauser is a long-time media executive (dream goal of mine), a startup investor and a best-selling author (second dream goal of mine haha) of my bible The Myth of The Nice Girl. Yep, she is preaching us that it is okay to be a nice and strong person at the same time.

During her career, she navigated in some of the biggest senior positions at some of the world’s largest digital media companies such as PEOPLE,  In Style (omg), Entertainment Weekly and AOL.

Here’s my interview with the fabulous Fran Hauser coming at you:

Fran Hauser

 

Thank you for my Fairy Media Godmother for being an inspiration!

The Myth of a Nice Girl Book on Amazon – Fran Hauser

http://www.franhauser.com

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Felt like a Rockstar at day 2 of the Web Summit

Written by Sabine Demosthenes

MONTREAL – The feeling I had when I woke up last Wednesday was super happy and confident. I suddenly felt like a rockstar! Before I left for the summit, I grabbed a big glass of orange juice and my dear friend for the week, Grace, a beautiful dog whose home I was staying at, along with amazing hosts: Ana, Bruno, and Paola. Grace was looking at me with those big beautiful eyes and this look: “Oh no you are leaving…” I told her that today (Wednesday) would be a fabulous day at the summit and I would be back that night to tell her all about it.

Yes, I do have conversations with dogs. They are such good listeners… I think.

On my metro ride to the Summit, a young lady introduced herself. She saw my media bracelet and she asked me if I was going to the Summit.

I was happy to tell her yes. Her name wasDiana. She is a young, smart journalist for the Youth Association of Journalists in Lisbon (I hope I got the name right). Diana was a dear companion during the rest of the summit. We met every now and then and I truly cherished our new friendship.

One highlight of the day before I forgot to write about was walking through the Alexis Ohanion Sr interview for CNN. I kept my cool and I tried to listen. At the end of his interview, as I was on my way out and without any expectation, I told him to go see a talk on the main stage that I will tweet a picture of. I heard him say “oh ok cool”.

As I promised, I tweeted the picture I took. I didn’t expect that in the next 5 minutes, he would have liked the picture and retweeted it. Boom!!!

Only at the Web Summit things like this happen, or maybe in the subway.

Back to Day 2. I was sitting in the main auditorium during the early afternoon (around2 pm) to see the amazing Dr. Ben Goertzel of Hanson Robotics, a company creating expressive, life-like robots with friendly personalities. Dr. Goertzel wasn’t on stage by himself, Sophia and Hunt were rocking the stage with him.

Who are Sophia?

Here is Sophia:

Interview with Sophia

It’s so amazing to see them and to have to privilege to be invited to the press conference given by Dr. Goertzel and Sophie The Robot. Good questions were asked.

The Internet wasn’t at it’s best, so Sophia was under the weather, unfortunately. We did witness all the beautiful work that the Hanson Robotics Family has been building. The future looks promising for all of us.

Thirty minutes later, I went to another press conference. This time, it was with the brilliant artist, Imogen Heap. She is such a multi-talented musician, producer, engineer, philanthropist, and a kick-ass woman (yes, kick ass).

Mycelia is a research and development hub for music makers (Hallelujah!).

I even got the opportunity to ask her a quick question!

After this beautiful day, I went back to the place I was calling home for the week I was in Lisbon. Grace (the dog) and I hung out and she listened (again) to all the adventures I had during that fabulous day.

The next thing you knew, I was dreaming about the next day, the last day of the Summit with dear Grace next to me.

https://www.reddit.com

http://myceliaformusic.org

http://www.hansonrobotics.com

The beat goes on at the Web Summit Day One!

Written by Sabine Demosthenes

MONTREAL –  It took me two days to get my groove back from flying home after this year Web Summit in Lisbon. More importantly, to get back to Earth after having the time of my life at the best tech conference in the world and reliving the pleasure of discovering a city I first visit six years ago.
If you don’t believe me, please have a look at a few home videos of myself (my cameraman aka The Educated Fool is not with me). I apologize for the quality of the video, but it does capture the emotion.
 
You know what, here is a better video from The Web Summit family. Ah, much better!
Last Tuesday was Day One of the Web Summit, and what a day it was! I met some inspiring startups like Newsadoo; a News version of Spotify. I have met so many friendly people who genuinely want to change the world through their startup ventures. During Carlos Moedas’ press conference, he is The European Commissioner of Innovation and Research, I took a big breath and had a little talk with myself. I said, “Go Sab, it will be alright.” I asked this question. Check out the video and I’m sorry for my French-speaking accent :
 
I have had the pleasure of speaking with João Andrade of Chromatikborn.  Chromatikborn’s goal is to change the way fashion retail is organized. I’m a fashion lover and so for me, it’s a no-brainer to be excited about his startup.
During the afternoon, I saw Stephanie Mc Mahon on stage twice! She is one of the architects of the WWE Evolution. She talks about the evolution of women in male-dominated sports entertainment, specifically wrestling.
She also talks about where she wants to see the WWE in ten years. She wants it to be as big or even bigger than Disney. With everything Stephanie has accomplished, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen.
After a day of stars in my eyes and going weak in the knees (Thank God for my Adidas Superstars and no, this is not product placement… Hmm Adidas, call me!), I went to have dinner near the place I’m staying all alone.
Walking the streets of Lisbon during the night is mystical and magical. It’s my second time visiting this beautiful city. I will almost call it my third home away from home.
I’m falling in love with Lisbon all over again.
I went to a local restaurant (Chu Chu). I just wanted to eat, to relax and to enjoy memories of the day.
I ordered a half bottle of Vinho Verde and watched the sports network on their TV. By the time I finished my dinner, a friendly man had come to sit right next to me. Next thing you knew, we were having a really interesting conversation! We started talking about where I’m from, The Chronicle, and The Web Summit. Later, we spoke of his moving to Lisbon from France, yesterday’s mid-term election, and iconic French actors as we drank Porto.
When I finally put my head to my pillow last night, I couldn’t believe the day I had. 
I fell asleep and woke up with a desire to repeat the same day I had yesterday.
Guess what?
Wednesday was as fun and magical as Tuesday!