To me, age doesn't make a difference in terms of how playful or fun life can be.
Brit Morin
At Brit + Co, our mission is to unlock creativity, so we look for future employees that actively flex their creative muscles. The design of your resume is the first way to let me know more about your aesthetic.
I made physical objects because I know how to do something on the computer. That struck a chord with me: Most women of my generation have grown up with technology but lack the handmade creative skills of former generations. This is a big opportunity to fill that gap.
By the time I was a senior in high school, I knew I wanted to move to Silicon Valley and learn more about computers and the Internet. I just fell in love with technology and the potential of everything the Internet had to offer.
I was extremely curious growing up. I taught myself how to sew, French braid, and cook. When I wasn't creating things with my hands, I was learning more about tech. I was experimenting with email at nine, had my first cell phone at 13, and was truly obsessed with the Internet as a teenager.
While it's true that women are the minority in most tech companies, I don't think that inhibits entry into the tech space. My motto has always been, 'Live What You Love,' and as such, I think it's incredibly important to do work you believe in and to work for a company that has values that align with your own, be it in tech or another industry.
I really love laser-cutting. I do a lot of laser-cut jewelry and laser-etched stationery. I'll even etch my food sometimes. You can download an image online and etch it onto a tortilla or a brownie. It's so cool to meld the digital and analog worlds together.
At Brit + Co , we're always on the hunt for motivated, smart, and creative folks. And I must admit, we have received some pretty unique resumes.
Social life was different for me in college. I didn't go to as many parties as my friends did. I didn't join a sorority because I knew I couldn't make a long-term commitment. I was constantly traveling back and forth from Silicon Valley to Austin for internships. It was hard, but it was worth it for where I wanted to go.
Really take the time to focus on finding your voice and making sure that whatever you're creating is of high quality and is useful for people in their everyday lives.
I moved to San Francisco to work at Apple's Cupertino office in the summer of 2006, then stayed on remotely in a part-time job back in Austin. It was an internship with iTunes. I helped them launch new features as well as new marketing programs. I also helped program the iTunes Store every week, working on which artists and albums got featured.
I left Google after four years of working on Google Maps, search, and Google TV as a product marketing manager. I knew I wanted to do something on my own.
For my grandmother's generation, the big invention was cake mix; for our moms, it was the microwave, and for me, it's the iPhone. And that's enabled us to do so many different things more efficiently at home.
Women today are wanting to work in the workforce but also come home and learn to bake cupcakes, to do calligraphy, to knit a blanket for their baby, to 3-D print something.
Yeah, the majority of Brit+Co users are women, but DIY? You see kids DIY, adult men geeking out hardcore with anything related to woodworking and all these cool new technologies, metalwork, leatherworking, concrete making. Everyone has a passion. I truly believe it's in our DNA literally to build things.
Don't let a lack of big company names on your resume get you down, but also, don't let it feed a Silicon Valley ego. Oftentimes, the best candidates come from startups or smaller companies. It shows they are open to risk and can keep up with the long hours and occasional harsh demands.
Brit + Co tries to help women understand that they are creative and give them all sorts of opportunities to try their hand at something creative. We want it to be as easy as possible to start. If that means you uploading a pattern to Spoon flower and make wallpaper, that's great. You made it!
That's what I care about most. That more people are making and more people feel like they are creative.
Most brands want to see their products used in creative ways.
The Apple mentality is really about creating focus, quality and a voice that people understand and can relate to.
Because of the nature of my brand, it's so important our readers know it really is me behind my keyboard.
I'm literally online all day long, and if I don't get back to everyone, I'll stay up all night.
I'm a supporter of female entrepreneurs. I don't feel like a victim, and I try to not think of myself as one.
I moved to San Francisco when I was 20 years old. I couldn't even drink yet. My friends in college thought I was so stupid for missing out on the four best years of my life. But I was so ready to start living my own life and absorb Silicon Valley culture.
Our generation grew up with technology. It evolved as we grew up. This new generation has had it since they were babies. That's crazy. It fundamentally changes they way they understand and think about technology. They've never known life without it, whereas we knew life without the Internet.
I'm extremely lucky that my passion - making and creating - is also my career.
Society is still adapting to women being CEOs and professionals rather than homemakers. Because of this, the unfortunate outcome is that we feel we have to be successful at both - in the office and in the home. Striking that balance is different for everyone.
I had a hundred things I wanted to be, but when I was 13, I wanted to be an inventor. I wanted to improve the blow-dryer because it takes so long to blow-dry your hair, and it's just a waste of time. I wanted to invent the therm-alarm, which would have you throw your sheets off in the night when you got too hot.
I want people to know me as a real person, that I struggle with the same things they do, that I had to teach myself how to get through life in efficient ways.
There is a lack of female venture capitalists, and so there are fewer female-oriented businesses getting funded. Intel has done a good job of creating a message across Intel, and they are putting their money where their mouth is.
