Feminism 2.0: Technology & Women's Empowerment
Over the last 25 years, the feminist movement entered a new era with the emergence of the internet and social media. Despite historic under-representation of women in technology, key advances in software development and mobile innovation have been, and continue to be driven by women. This progress allowed women to better balance work and life, further career goals and boost advocacy initiatives. Critical to the success of modern feminism is the growth in female executives and thought leaders who recognize the importance of technology in continuing the fight for equality.
Feminism 2.0 is the evolution of the feminist movement in this technological age. By empowering women through digital innovation, today’s feminist movement continues to defend the rights of and improve opportunities for women worldwide. Selected speakers for this panel will discuss how Feminism 2.0 is improving opportunities for women and girls globally, despite ongoing barriers that hinder equality.
Presenters
Carla Franklin
Digital Program Mgr & Strategy Consultant
Carlin Solutions
Carla Franklin is a social media maven and business strategy expert. With more than 14 years of experience honed at Deloitte Consulting, IBM, and Bain Consulting, she is adept at delivering innovative, strategy solutions. As Managing Director of Carlin Solutions, LLC, Carla provides management consulting services to leading corporations, nonprofit organizations and public sector clients worldwide.
Carla is also a digital media expert who blogs and speaks frequently on cultural trends in social media, women in technology, online safety, and anti-cyberbullying / cyberstalking advocacy. She has been a featured guest on NPR, Hot97 FM (New York City), AOL’s “You’ve Got” series, HuffPost Live and the CBS Morning show. Carla has been selected to speak on technology trends at SXSW Interactive and Social Media Week New York. Additionally, her work in against cyberbullying has been covered by The Daily Beast, Forbes.com and Time.com. In 2011, Carla was one of 50 women featured on More Magazine’s “Fierce List” for her fight against cybercrimes in New York State. In 2012, she was featured as one of Newsweek / The Daily Beast’s Women in the World.
Carla earned a BA from Duke University and holds a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
Kelly Wallace
Digital Correspondent & Editor-at-Large, Family, Career, Life
CNN
Kelly Wallace is a digital correspondent and editor-at-large for CNN Digital, focusing on family, career and work/life balance. An award-winning digital journalist and television correspondent, Wallace writes in-depth articles and socially sourced stories and does original web video packages for CNN.com’s Living section and CNN Parents. In addition, she appears regularly on both CNN and HLN TV. She is based in CNN’s New York bureau and reports to Meredith Artley, managing editor and vice president of CNN Digital.
Wallace came to CNN from iVillage, where she served as chief correspondent and executive director of digital video. While there, she made headlines for scoring exclusive interviews with First Lady Michelle Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Alicia Keys, Jill Biden, Dr. Oz and other newsmakers. She also appeared regularly on TODAY and MSNBC. In 2012, Wallace received a Gracie Award for Outstanding Reporter/Correspondent.
Before iVillage, Wallace worked at CBS News as a general assignment reporter, where she covered stories for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and The Early Show.
Wallace began her CNN career as an associate producer and then became a CNN TV correspondent covering a wide range of beats for the network, including the White House, the Mideast and John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
She graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of sciences degree in economics.
Maggie Neilson
CEO
Global Philanthropy Group
Maggie is a co-founder and C.E.O. at Global Philanthropy Group (GPG) where she leads efforts on issues including the status of Latinas in the U.S., education reform, global poverty alleviation, the use of technology and its social impact, women’s mental health, and kids with serious illnesses or disabilities for clients including Mercy Corps, Seleni, Princess Khaliya Aga Khan, The Eva Longoria Foundation, The Avril Lavigne Foundation, and John Legend's Show Me Campaign.
Previously, Maggie has addressed domestic and international social issues ranging from microfinance to childhood obesity and has provided strategy, communications and management services to multiple public and private sector organizations including the United Nations, Amazon.com, Unitus, Rachael Ray's Yum-o! Organization, the Cobalt Group, the M.A.C. Global AIDS Fund, Synergos and the E&J Gallo Winery.
As an independent strategy consultant, Maggie has launched new organizations, restructured existing institutions, forged cross-sector partnerships and branded international efforts. She helped design and launch Rachael Ray's Yum-O! organization, which empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. For Sir Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela, she helped convene and advise the development of The Elders, an independent group of eminent global leaders who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, address human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. For Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, she launched the Demi & Ashton Foundation and helped develop an international media campaign to end child sex slavery. Maggie worked with the Tory Burch Foundation to provide economic opportunities for women through microfinance, with The Liya Kebede Foundation addressing maternal health and with Jim Carrey to develop strategies for promoting sustainable agricultural development. She also developed and implemented plans for the trailblazing M.A.C. AIDS Fund and the United Nation's International Year of Microcredit. Maggie was an early employee at Unitus, where she drove the award-winning microfinance accelerator's advocacy, strategic partnership and communications efforts.
In addition to her philanthropic and socially-oriented work, Maggie has private-sector experience in technology and consumer products including marketing, sales, business development, and product and project management for Amazon.com, where she helped build the Gift department and managed the gift certificates division. She also managed corporate accounts for the E&J Gallo Winery, and designed and implemented online strategies for global automobile manufacturers at the Cobalt Group.
Maggie is a founding board member of the Center for Women & Democracy, sits on the Parent Revolution Board, the New Leadership Board for the International Women's Health Coalition, volunteers for the Trevor Project and has conducted international political training in Morocco and across Latin America for the National Democratic Institute. Maggie is also an appointed Los Angeles Commissioner for Animal Services. She holds a BS from the University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia University, both with honors.
Tara Hughes
Sr Dir of Prod Mgmt
Turner Broadcating
Tara Hughes is an Atlanta technology leader known for developing and producing cutting-edge solutions for multimillion-dollar brands including TBS, TNT, NCAA, and PGA. As Senior Director, Technical Product Management for Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. (Turner), she leads a team of technical product managers and together they produce industry-leading products —for broadband, mobile, Smart TV and gaming consoles.
During her career at Turner, Tara has collaborated on high-profile assignments including the CNN LIVE Integration Facebook for the Presidential Inauguration, NCAA March Madness and the Emmy Award Winning Conan O’Brien second screen app. Prior to Turner, Tara was a director with Procuri, Inc., the leader within OnDemand Supply Management, and worked with companies including HP, Sony and RIM through Market Velocity, Inc.
Tara’s education background includes a Master’s Degree in Human Computer Interaction Engineering, Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology and Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She also holds a certification in Multimedia Applications, IT/IS Project Management and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).
She is an active member of Women in Technology (WIT), and has served multiple years as a volunteer for WIT’s Girls Get IT program, and functions as mentor for the Emma Bowen Internship Program and Girls Inc.
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