Friday, September 16, 2022

Record + participate: World Languages Project



Record yourself and participate in Kuishimbo's first creative community collaboration, World Languages Project. Are you learning a language or already fluent in a language? Share and contribute an audio or video recording to our interactive community art project.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Park Saeroyi & the Asian Pop Culture Getting Me Through the Pandemic

Park Saeroyi from Itaewon Class, encounters his arch-enemy, the boss' son and bully, Jang Geun-won
Park Saeroyi encounters his arch-enemy, the boss's son and bully, Jang Geun-won in Itaewon Class


I'm going to share all the Asian pop culture — movies, shows, podcasts, music, and language learning apps and resources — that's made isolation easier these past 3+ weeks. After a rise in anti-Asian racism, affection for my Asian cultural roots has grown, and now that it's culminated in finishing Itaewon Class (이태원 클라쓰) with Park Seo-joon (박용규), a story about the underdog hero, Park Saeroyi — the kind of hero we need right now  I'm ready to share. I'll save my favorite Itaewon Class for the end. I highlighted the shows that affected me the most, and tried not to include too many spoilers...

Monday, May 4, 2020

Super Grubby Cooking Show

Super Grubby Cooking Show
#SuperGrubbyCookingShow

I hosted a virtual cooking show with friends and family via webcast. Locally, we say "grubby" to describe food that's very delicious, and a kuishimbo (食いしん坊) in Japanese means someone who really loves to eat. Our Italian-theme menu and lineup: Jay made a Milano-Torino, Yusef made an affogato, and Laura and Andy made a ramp risotto. Jess and Julian from Europe joined too. As we can't travel and we're isolated, I'm connecting friends who love to eat, drink, and cook (and travel!) to share their cooking knowledge, make new friends, and enjoy international exchange in the kitchen.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

States Plug-In to Electric Buses


Yesterday, I headed out on the BART to Millbrae, then biked down to Proterra in Burlingame, where Environment America hosted a States Plug-In to Electric Buses tour inside the Proterra electric bus factory that was led by Kent Leacock from Proterra, which followed presentations from Alana Miller and Andrea McGimsey from Environment America, among others. Although no photos were allowed on the factory tour, here are just a few highlights from the electric bus ride. Thank you to Public Interest GRFX for having me document coverage of the event!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Meet the Press: Diversity, Inclusion, & Women in Tech (Photos)

PRSA Immediate Past President, Y'Anad Burrell, panel moderator Claudia Cruz, and PRSA Director-At-Large, Diversity, Rahel Marsie-Hazen (above, from left to right)

Last Wednesday, Bhava Communications and PRSA San Francisco co-hosted a panel event at the Parlor inside The Battery that centered around a meta conversation about the conversation about how diversity, inclusion, and women in tech are being represented in the media, the challenges that come with it, and what to look forward to in 2018.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

#GIRLBOSS Tour, Nasty Gal Santa Monica


On the first of October, I went to see an old friend Roseli, hear a Q&A with Sophia Amoruso, and catch Phases perform, all at the new Nasty Gal store on the 3rd Street Promenade, in celebration of the paperback launch of #GIRLBOSS. Roseli, who designs her own line of artisan-crafted textiles for Ilano, introduced me to a few of the other female creative founders, including Deena of Nouvella and Alicia + Natasha of Aeline, who are among the talented women building their creative businesses to receive grants this year through the #Girlboss Foundation

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Vincent's Coffee Pop-up #2 | Ryozan Park Ōtsuka, Tokyo



In June, budding coffee entrepreneur Vincent Young followed up his coffee pop-up in May with another "third wave" coffee pop-up at Ryozan Park, this time at Ōtsuka and he brought Yukari Toda of ABC Coffee Club on board to barista together. I recorded Vincent, Yukari, and Rachel (one of Ryozan Park's owners), to hear about the pop-up and how it came together: Vincent shares how he left a software engineering job to pursue his passion for coffee. Yukari, who runs operations at ABC Coffee Club, a monthly craft coffee delivery startup, talks about how it works (in 日本語), and Rachel shares a story of how Vincent incubated his coffee pop-up idea at Ryozan Park, where he lives.  六月に、ビンセントがまたリョウザン・パークで第 2 回コーヒーのポップアップショップを開きました。

Monday, August 17, 2015

VR x Art: One and Three Parallax Views by Mike Saijo, AES Power Plant


LA based mixed media artist Mike Saijo began developing his interactive VR (virtual reality) installation, One and Three Parallax Views, in early April after he was invited by Friends of Redondo Beach Arts to participate in their 4th annual CA 101 2015 art exhibition. Featuring roughly 126 selected artists, the group show was held inside the AES Power Plant, a large 'industrial cathedral' pop-up gallery, from its opening reception on July 31st through August 9th. 

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Startup Grind Tokyo | Fireside Chat with Emi Takemura Miller, Co-founder of Peatix


In June, Startup Grind Tokyo hosted a fireside chat moderated by Tamami Ushiki, Tokyo director of Startup Grind, and featuring Emi Takemura Miller, co-founder of Peatix, a global event registration platform and mobile ticketing startup that launched in Japan to give organizers "tools to create, promote, and sell out" their events. After expanding its offices to New York and Singapore 2 years ago, Peatix recently landed a $5M Series B round to grow its presence to more cities worldwide. Held inside TIP*S / 3x3 LaboEmi shared her Peatix startup journey in a conversation in Japanese with Tamami that you can listen to here. The event was originally part of #SGWomen, a global event series celebrating female founders of tech startups.

六月に、スタートアップグラインド東京が3x3 LaboでPeatixのコファウン竹村恵美さんファイヤーサイドチャットを開きました。

Sunday, May 31, 2015

PyLadies Tokyo + Javajo | Git for Beginners

Last Saturday, I documented an all-female Git for Beginners meetup co-produced by PyLadies Tokyo and Javajo for women engineers, programmers, and beginners learning to code.  Held at ALBERT's new location inside the Shinjuku Nomura Building, members from each group taught different aspects of GitHub. Afterwards, we went out together for a nomihodai, or an all-you-can-drink, and shabu-shabu dinner.

先週の土曜日に、PyLadies TokyoとJava女性部がGit for Beginnersの勉強会を開きました。数名の女性のエンジニアやプログラマー、初めての方が集まって、それぞれのグループのメンバーがGitHubの知識を教え合いました。そして、勉強会の後に一緒にしゃぶしゃぶを食べに行きました。私はそこで初めて日本の飲み放題を経験しました。

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Vincent's Coffee Pop-up | Ryozan Park


A few weeks back, Vincent, a Canadian and aspiring coffee entrepreneur I'd met at a Global Speakeasy, held a coffee pop-up event at Ryozan Park in Sugamo. After a screening of A Film About Coffee, Vincent and his friend Kevin served coffee he'd brought back from his favorite American third-wave coffee roasters from Brooklyn. Afterwards, a group of us took a tour through Ryozan Park with the founders, Rachel and Noritaka. 

三週間前ぐらいに、カナダ出身の人とコーヒー起業者になりたいビンセントがリョウザン・パークでコーヒーのポップアップショップを開きました。『A Film About Coffee』を上映した後に、ビンセントが一番好きなアメリカのサード・ウェイヴのコーヒー・ロースターから来たコーヒーをみんなに飲んでもらいました。その後、何人かがリョウザン・パークの中を設立者レーチェルさんとのりたかさん夫妻とツアーに行きました。

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Women in Technology Japan - 2015 Kickoff Dinner


Last week, I joined a Women in Technology Japan (WITJ) dinner in Roppongi to help kick-off planning for the year ahead. Made up of an international group of women, the members were all longtime residents of Tokyo, who hailed from Australia to Malaysia, and have either engineering backgrounds or hold executive roles at leading information technology or enterprise-level companies.

Before arriving in Japan, it was nearly impossible to find any tech conferences and events in Tokyo where women were visible, especially as keynote speakers. I knew they existed, as many of my female friends in Tokyo work in IT. That's when I googled "women in tech japan" and found an organization working to close that gap. 

日本に来る前にテクノロジー・イベントをインターネットで調べたけどすべて男性の顔しか 出てこなかった。その後、そのギャップを埋めたい女性のグループを見つけた。

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Global Speakeasy | Tokyo, Japan


This week, I joined a Global Speakeasy dinner hosted at the Scandinavian Center in Akasaka, Tokyo. The pop-up event series is part of an interactive platform currently being prototyped by Todd Porter, who's also helped launch TedxTokyo and the now global FabCafe. Here are a few candids from the dinner prepared by Bob, who's wearing the shirt with red maple leaves or momiji 紅葉, featuring a few words from Moomin International Kindergarten founder, Barbara Zamora Väätäjä. 

今週, 赤坂で「グローバル・スピーキージー」のディナーに行きました。この ポップアップ・イベントシリーズは 今東京でプロトタイプされている インタラクティブなプラットフォームの一部です。

Monday, November 24, 2014

REACH | Byte into the Future of Now (PHOTOS)


TechZulu and Gadget Review hosted their 4th REACH event, REACH | Byte into the Future of Now at the Tastemade Studios in Santa Monica earlier this November. In the beautifully lit demo stations set up inside the Tastemade kitchens, we were invited to grub on Garlo's Aussie pastries and Chop Daddy's sliders via DoorDash, ride electrobikes courtesy of Curbside Commuters, take step-and-repeat pics from a mobile photo booth Selfie Truck, get on-demand massages from Zeel, enjoy Mama's Boy chili-agave-pineapple-lime infusions, and...then, in true REACH fashion, Efren and Christen gave away over $6k in prizes to the wildly ecstatic winners. Here's a visual recap of how it all went down...

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Dinner With a Cause 2014 | Downtown Women's Center


Last Thursday, the Downtown Women's Center held their annual Dinner With a Cause at the JW Marriott L.A. Live. The event honored longtime CEO Lisa Watson and successfully raised over $800,000 for their programs to provide permanent supportive housing and other services to unhoused women in Los Angeles' Skid Row community.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Social 25 Honoree Party | Social Media Week LA


In September, What's Trending and Tubefilter presented their 3rd Annual Social Media Week Los Angeles "Social 25" honoree party in honor of social media's top 25 influencers. Here are highlights from my photo coverage of the event, produced by 30 Miles North and @KurtyD at 800MAIN, and featuring music by Templeton, Slim Chillers, blowtorched s'mores and donuts by Fill r Up, and more.

Thursday, August 21, 2014


Photographing coverage in Downtown Los Angeles today for Karlin Ventures.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Girls in Tech LA | Summer Sip 2014


Girls in Tech LA hosted a Summer Sip mixer this August at General Assembly Los Angeles in Santa Monica. Here are a few highlights, including old-fashioned cocktail Jell-O shots by Ludlows Cocktail Co. (by co-founder of Coolhaus, Freya Estreller), raw superfood truffles by GoodBites, and a raffle giveaway from Belkin and Honest Company

Thursday, August 14, 2014

#TechLA Summer Jam 2014 (PHOTOS)



Leading LA startup incubator, Be Great Partners, hosted their #TechLA Summer Jam 2014 at the historic Mack Sennett Studios in Silverlake. Here are photo highlights from the day-long conference, featuring speaker panels, #BeGreatCup startup competition, and after-party.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Be Great L.A. Women in Tech Night Out (PHOTOS)

Host, Nanxi Liu, CEO of Enplug (top right) with L.A. Women in Tech Night Out attendees.



Los Angeles startup incubator, Be Great Partners and Enplug CEO, Nanxi Liu, hosted an L.A. Women in Tech Night Out this past Wednesday at the Sofitel in Beverly Hills. Here are photo highlights from the packed event. With an impressive turnout, the event attracted a diverse group of both men and women to meet one another, enjoy some delicious mojitos, and talk tech and startups.

Monday, June 30, 2014

REACH | The Wearable Future (PHOTOS)


Last Thursday night, TechZulu and Gadget Review hosted REACH | The Wearable Future, or #REACHWearables, at Cross Campus' new location in Santa Monica. 

Here are highlights, including a showcase of wearable tech by Muse, Melon, OwnPhones, TouchT, PetBot and others, as well as up-and-coming startups like Postmates delivery service and the world's first 3D pen, CreoPopLA Times' tech reporter Andrea Chang led a panel with speakers including ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross, the Calbi Truck gave out free tacos, and TZ and GR gave away over $4K in prizes.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Be Great At Sea 2014 (PHOTOS)



L.A. tech startup incubator, Be Great Partners, hosted their Be Great At Sea startup yacht party last week with 300 startups and entrepreneurs aboard Marina del Rey's largest private yacht, the FantaSea One.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Be Great Partners Spring Social



LA-based startup accelerator and incubator, Be Great Partners, behind startups like change.org, Enplug, and MeUndies, held their LA Startups Spring Social atop the Roof on Wilshire, just two blocks away from the Be Great office and coworking labs. Set poolside, surrounded by a 360 degree view of the city, the event brought together a happy crowd of tech startup founders, entrepreneurs and investors.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

REACH 2 + TechZulu 6 Year Anniversary Tomorrow


Join 
TechZulu and Gadget Review tomorrow as they host and celebrate their 2nd REACH event and TechZulu's 6 Year Anniversary at Dave & Busters' new LA location in Westchester. REACH will feature panels on cleantech, gaming, wearables and more, and the lineup will include keynote Cody Simms of startup accelerator, Techstars, plus speakers from Two Bit Circus, Indiegogo, Wearable World, and UCLA Institute for Innovation among others. We're excited to participate as a sponsor. See more photos from the last REACH event here and register here to attend. Hope to see you tomorrow!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Founder Friday Los Angeles 2014

Tina Hay founder of startup CardBlanc

On Friday, founder Tina Hay spoke at the Women 2.0 Founder Friday Los Angeles event at the Regus. In an intimate group, Tina shared her experiences as a real-life founder of her startup CardBlanc, a secure and free virtual debit card app now in early-access beta, addressing topics including the most important thing to focus on when you're developing a minimum viable product (MVP), challenges of raising funding, how to protect your startup in its early stages, the pros of hiring good people and cons of hiring based on price, and other lessons and common pitfalls to avoid when starting up.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Women In Tech Network - 2014 Planning Sessions

Women In Tech Network 2014 planning sessions
The Women In Tech Network (WITN) kicked off its 2014 planning sessions this week. The planning meeting, hosted by Freeman, Freeman & Smiley and sponsored by Elance, brought together female tech startup founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals across diverse industries, from entertainment, media, finance, law, gastronomy, fashion, and tech to public relations, to produce and organize a series of Angel Investor and VC panel events aimed at connecting more female startup founders with funding, which are slated to take place this Spring and Summer.   

Monday, December 16, 2013

Digital Family Reunion 2013

Digital Family Reunion 2013 at Skirball Cultural Center

On Wednesday night, the Digital Family Reunion held their 6th annual holiday party at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and celebrated the inaugural socalTECH 50, a list of emerging "up-and-comers" in the Southern California tech ecosystem, boasting founders from some of the heaviest-hitting startups our region has to offer.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Techweek LA 2013

Techweek LA 2013

Chicago-based Techweek kicked off their very first Techweek LA event recently in a large industrial conference space called L3 inside the Santa Monica Place. The two-day conference featured a number of speaker panels, a LAUNCH competition with 50 startups, an expo and hiring fair, and culminated with a much-anticipated fashion tech runway show, followed by an after-party at 41 Ocean right by Santa Monica beach.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Digital LA Startup Fashion Show


Last Friday, Digital LA held a Fall 2013 startup fashion show at Cross Campus in Santa Monica. I captured highlights from the catwalk, which featured new fall designs from local LA startups, including costumes and sports clothing designer, ShapeShifterZ, featured above.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Silicon Beach Fest 2013 (Photos)


Silicon Beach Fest just wrapped over the weekend. Here are some highlights from events I attended last week, including the Digital Women Luncheon, opening party, fashion tech panels, and the Women Developers panel.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

LegalTech West Coast 2013

Therese Miller, Of Counsel, Shook, Hardy & Bacon (right).

I recently shot the LegalTech West Coast 2013 conference, an ALM event, for the Los Angeles-based video production and content marketing agency, 4WT Media. Here are a few shots from the conference, including keynote by D. Casey Flaherty, Corporate Counsel for Kia Motors, speaker panels, and a Cisco code of conduct discussion with Law Technology News Editor-in-Chief, Monica Bay.

Renegade Women's Conference 2013

Gracious hosts, Donna Queza (left) and Nailah Blades (right) with speaker, Dr. Danielle Dowling (center).

On April 12th, I had an exciting opportunity to shoot the Renegade Women's Conference as an official sponsor. The inspiring all-women business conference, co-organized by the gracious business coaching duo, Donna + Nailah, brought together diverse women entrepreneurs and business owners of all levels to hear from phenomenal speakers and panelists, including Escape from Cubicle Nation author Pamela Slim, the soulful relationship expert and life coach Dr. Danielle Dowling, and Emmy award-winning Natalie MacNeil founder of She Takes on the World.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Built In LA's First Digital Leaders Event

Built In LA, an online community, platform and resource for Los Angeles startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators, held their inaugural Digital Leaders Event last Wednesday. 

Sponsored by New World Ventures (a member of The Pritzker Group), William Blair, Cooley, Silicon Valley Bank, Sure Payroll, 4WT Media, and Enplug, Built In LA launched the first in an event series which will bring together entrepreneurs, founders, incubators, universities, studios, and investors from the LA startup community, and take place quarterly.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Startup World Los Angeles

Host, Hermione Way from The Next Web and Louise Hart of Steady On Productions

Startup World
, a global competition held in 20 cities worldwide, made their second-stop in Los Angeles. Hosted by The Next Web's Hermione WayStartup World Los Angeles featured pitches from 10 Los Angeles semi-finalist startups including CreatorUpStagedomArtKive, ValarmLawKickAlumniFunderBitiumEnplug, Teachmeo, and Realty Mogul.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Women 2.0 Conference 2013 "The Next Billion"


Closing keynote by Lynda Weinman, Co-founder and Executive Chair of Lynda.com

Women 2.0's 2013 San Francisco Conference "The Next Billion" took place on Valentine's Day at the Westin St. Francis. Hosted by Kara Swisher, Founder of AllThingsD, the conference brought together an incredible caliber of speakersfinalists and judges together, with a focus on addressing the next billion consumers, markets, and products. 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Women 2.0 Conference 2013 Feature | Bloomberg Businessweek

We are featured today in Bloomberg Businessweek in an article by Karen E. Klein titled "Women Who Run Tech Startups Are Catching Up." She highlights new research from tech entrepreneur and academic researcher Vivek Wadhwa and Kauffman Foundation's forthcoming report, "Women in Technology: Evolving, Ready to Save the World" which is based on an online survey of 500 women in tech (in and outside the US), to be published in the spring. 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Google for Entrepreneurs Partners With Women 2.0



In September, Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs, a new umbrella of global programs and partnerships to support startups and entrepreneurs. As part of their effort, Google teamed up with Women 2.0, and their first joint initiative includes bringing Founder Friday events to more cities around the world! A few of my photos from Founder Friday LA are featured on Women 2.0's Google for Entrepreneurs page and article announcing the partnership.