Stephanie Weeks, Blackboard, user experience VP
Stephanie has been at the DC-based edtech company for over a decade, continually improving the software’s user experience. She created Blackboard’s user experience team, now spread all over the country. She also worked on making the software accessible to all people and helped it become the first learning management system given a non-visual access certification. Stephanie, an Army brat who landed in DC for grad school, says she grew up in a family of techies and always had a fascination with how humans interact with technology. Best lesson: Be humble about your work and never be satisfied.
Laura Kennedy, head of LivingSocial business and corporate development
Laura was LivingSocial’s 50th employee four years ago; Now she’s one of 2,500 around the world. She drives growth through strategic partnerships and transactions for the DC-based daily deal company. After starting in investment banking, she joined AOL’s corporate strategy team and also worked on M&A, immersing herself in the startup world. Since joining LivingSocial, she has led the company's strategic expansion from one continent to five. She’s also passing on her wisdom to other women in tech, serving as a mentor to Springboard Enterprises. Best lesson: We thrive in the right tribes. I am fortunate to have an exceptional group of women in my life who are advocates, thought partners, and truth tellers.
Holly Hidalgo, IP Network Solutions pricing and project control AVP
Holly’s co-workers say she’s in charge of anything with a dollar sign next to it. She was hired a year ago by the small government IT contractor to make sure the company and its contracts were running smoothly. Some of her tasks include leading proposal pricing, financial management of contracts, and forecasting and budgeting and analysis. Holly’s career started in advertising but she did some coding, financial modeling, and robot building in high school and college. She’s been able to deliver work on contracts on time and within budget, even a large $1B DOD project she worked on for a previous employer. Best lesson: Work with truly talented people who have your same passion. Otherwise why bother?
Layla Masri, Bean Creative president
Layla started her web and interactive design agency in a spare bedroom of her home nearly 20 years ago. Her Alexandria, Va., company does work with web, app, and mobile development projects for clients like PBS Kids, World Wildlife Fund, Random House, and Verizon. She’s most proud of building websites, apps, and mobile games that have helped kids learn to read, helped struggling middle school students improve their STEM skills, and taught adults English. The DC native is now working on expanding HTML5 and responsive design capabilities beyond Flash and creating cross-platform app and web systems. Best lesson: Be flexible.
Julia Damon, Social Tables marketing communications manager
Julia, Social Table’s first employee, oversees content marketing, social media, trade shows, events, and PR. Founder Dan Berger credits her with putting the DC software firm on the map. When she started over two years ago, the company was a simple wedding seating chart app and now it’s an enterprise hospitality software company with 2,000 customers and 30 employees. She never planned to have a tech career but was an offered an internship at Social Tables and moved from St. Louis to take the job. She says startups are attractive to young women because there’s more of a chance to be heard and make a difference. Best lesson: It’s better to try and fail than to never try at all.
