International Women’s Day – Our Most Inspiring Women in Digital

International Women’s Day may be over for another year, but to celebrate the day, we wrote a special blog about the MintTwist team’s most inspiring women in digital.

At MintTwist, women in digital and tech is an issue close to our heart. We’re well aware that women in tech make up a minority. This is reflected in statistics like just 17% of computer science graduates in 2012 being women.

Which is why in 2013 and 2014 we were thrilled at the opportunity of participating in BIMA’s D-Day with Bentley Wood High School for Girls – a school that places great emphasis on IT and computing (and even has a coding club to teach the students how to develop mobile apps).

And like on D-Day we want to take some time today to encourage more women to become involved in the digital industry. From search marketing to web development, more women should be recognised for their contributions to digital and tech.

So without further ado, in honour of International Women’s Day 2015, delve into MintTwist’s most inspiring women in digital – we’re sure they’ll inspire you as well!

Julia’s inspiring woman in digital

Shaherose Charania
Co-founder and CEO of Women 2.0

Follow Shaherose on Twitter here: @shaherose

Women in the tech industry are underrepresented. That’s a fact. When thinking about the women who inspire me in this industry, sadly more men than women sprung to mind.

However, after a moment, Shaherose Charania’s name hit me like a bolt of lightning. Charania has accomplished much in her life. She began her career, as many have in the tech world, in Silicon Valley. She is probably best known for being the Co-Founder and CEO of Women 2.0.

Founded in 2006, Women 2.0 is a “global network and social platform for aspiring and current female founders of technology ventures.” The organisation organises workshops and hosts events aimed at assisting women entrepreneurs.

It is often discussed how women must still continue to fight for equality, whether that takes the form of wages or being socially respected as men naturally are. Thus, I appreciate a company and a woman solely dedicated to “connecting, inspiring and educating the next generation of [female] technology leaders.”

Colin’s inspiring women in digital

Hannah Smith
Content Strategist at Distilled

Follow Hannah on Twitter here: @hannah_bo_banna

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Hannah a few times over the past few years and she’s a huge inspiration to how I approach my digital marketing and makes me want to be a better marketer.

I can’t think of someone who I look up to in content more than Hannah. Whenever she gives a presentation you know you’ll walk away having been inspired but also with real actionable points to hit the ground running when you get back to your desk.

She has fantastic creative ideas but approaches everything with objectives in mind and really understands her clients and more importantly how to engage her clients’ customers.

Lisa Myers
Founder and CEO of Verve Search

Follow Lisa on Twitter here: @LisaDMyers

I’ve met Lisa a couple of times but have only seen her at a conference once.

She inspires me by her dedication to the search industry (Lisa is also the founder of seo-chicks.com and stateofdigital.com – both more than worthy of a bookmark). She is always helpful and I think that the UK search/digital industry wouldn’t be what it is today without Lisa’s input.

I got into digital marketing by way of SEO (more specifically by way of some awful Geocities websites at the turn of the millenium but that’s another blog post altogether) and years later it is still a massive passion of mine.

Lisa’s pragmatic and results-focused approach to SEO makes her one of my industry heroes.

Aside from her amazing SEO knowledge (which in and of itself is something inspiring), she also runs the pretty epic agency Verve. I’ve always been inspired by the work they produce for their clients and everyone that I’ve met from Verve has been pretty cool.

Victoria’s inspiring woman in digital

Marissa Mayer
Yahoo! President & CEO

Follow Marissa on Twitter here: @marissamayer

Google’s first female engineer and Yahoo! President & CEO

What I admire most about Mayer is her bravery and resilience. Taking the Yahoo! position was risky – it’s clear she’s not afraid to step out of her comfort zone.

Since her appointment the media has dogged her every move and been critical of her management decisions. Turning a company around means making controversial decisions and she’s not shying away from it. Mayer has already lasted longer than the previous five CEOs. If Yahoo! had not hired her, where would they be?

Mayer told The New York Times in 2009: “I refuse to be stereotyped. I think it’s very comforting for people to put me in a box. ‘Oh, she’s a fluffy girlie girl who likes clothes and cupcakes. Oh, but wait, she is spending her weekends doing hardware electronics.'”  The more women refuse to be pigeon holed, the more Marissa Mayers we will have in this world.

Rosemary’s inspiring woman in digital

Siobhan MacDermott
Author and cyber expert

Follow Siobhan on Twitter here: @AVGLittleBird

My female digital superwoman is Siobhan MacDermott. Through her two books “Wide Open Privacy – Strategies for the Digital Life” (IT-Harvest Press 2012) and “Cybermilitia – A Citizen’s Strategy to Fight, Win and End War in Cyberspace” (IT-Harvest Press 2013.) she has pioneered the discussion around online privacy and how we as individuals manage and protect ourselves in an increasingly connected and complex digital age.

She understands the complexities of online security and she able to effectively translate this into everyday strategies that encourages individuals to take charge of their own privacy online.

Jai’s inspiring woman in digital

Sarah Wood
Founder of Unruly

Follow Sarah on Twitter here: @sarahfwood

Sarah’s online video marketing company was founded in 2007 after the successful launch of viralvideochart.com which ranked videos according to their popularity. A site which had Google asking about the technology and The Guardian desperate to be media partner.

Cut to eight years later and Sarah is running a company with nine offices over 100 employees and 11,000 media partners and has helped amazing videos such as Evian Roller Babies and T-Mobile’s royal wedding spoof go truly viral and become massive online successes.

Sarah’s success has little to do with her being a woman, but having an amazing idea that saw where the market was going and launching it at the right time.

Ryan’s inspiring woman in digital

Jane McGonigal
Game designer and author

Follow Jane on Twitter here: @avantgame

She is a woman who is determined to make the world a better place through the medium of Video games. She makes games that make you think about real world issues. World Without Oil is a game created by her to bring attention to the possible shortage of oil and research into newer fuel alternatives and their viability.

She has hosted conferences and done a number of TED talks on the wonders of Video games and how they can further our knowledge and the skills learned that come with playing them.