Keynote Speaking Event

International CTIA Wireless 2012 conference

Held in New Orleans, LA on May 9.

Being an activist does not always mean being political. Recently, I served as the moderator for a panel of media innovators who discussed how wireless technology is bringing about social change.

The all-woman panel on “Wireless Activism” focused on how wireless tools are used by activists to create local and global transformation. CTIA is a huge international trade conference attracting over 20,000 people who work in or in businesses related to the wireless technology industry.

It was rather testosterone laden to say the least, with not one of the keynote speakers and only 10% of the panelists being female. The Women’s Media Center sponsored this panel, which I facilitated, thus increasing the numbers of women panelists by 50%.

Endorsements and Comments

Media

Photos

The panel I moderated featured Nancy Schwartzman, filmmaker and anti-violence activist who created the iPhone app Circle of 6, which helps prevent sexual violence. Schwartzman recently won the White Houses Apps Against Abuse technology challenge. “Technology can improve lives,” she said. “I am really motivated by creating communities where violence isn’t tolerated and people are making healthy, consensual decisions.” She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Line Campaign, a non-profit using media and action to end sexual violence.

Nancy Schwartzman and I were joined in panel discussion by these fabulous women:

	Kimberly Bassett – Executive Director of The Wireless Foundation and founding partner of Text4Baby, a free mobile health service for expectant mothers.
	Tasneem Raja – Digital Interactive Editor at Mother Jones, a judge on Hack for Change, and winner of Wired Magazine Award for Excellence in a New Media Project in 2010.
	Katrin Varclas – co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org, a global network of practitioners using mobile phones for social impact.
	Emily White – leading internet and media executive with over 10 years of experience at global and early stage companies including Google and Facebook. Emily is Facebook’s Director of Mobile Business Development and Partnerships, where she works with mobile operators to drive Facebook growth and the creation and adoption of social phones. She is a board member of the National Center for Women in Information Technology.
	Lauren Wolfe –Director of Women Under Siege, a Women’s Media Center program using research, action and wireless technology to recognize and end gender-based genocide.

Photo: Ralph Simon, CEO of Mobilium (tagline: Mobile Entertainment Superconductor) whipped out his tablet for a video interview on women and power in the mobile industry before the panel began.

Photo: The panel l-r:

Me;

Emily White, Director, Mobile Business Development and Partnerships at Facebook;

Lauren Wolfe, Director of the Women Under Siege project for the Women’s Media Center;

Kimberly Bassett, Executive Director of the Wireless Foundation;

Nancy Schwartzman, Founder and Executive Director of The Line Campaign; and

Tasneem Raja, Digital Interactive Editor, Mother Jones.

Quite a lot of wireless fire power here!

Photo: President Bill Clinton was the closing keynote speaker.

I didn’t get to hear him because by that time I had taken off to enjoy some of the great New Orleans food, followed by a little Zydeco dancing 🙂