Welcome to techSHEblog!

Hello and welcome to techSHEblog!  If you made your way here via either my twitter feed or LinkedIn, here's a big hug for you. If you found me another way, here's a big hug and a squeeze--because I'm not SEOing or SEMing or otherwise promoting this blog at the moment.  I'm writing it primarily just to connect more deeply  with friends and acquaintances with whom I share common interests.  The secondary purpose--which is a tall order!--is to comment on and share my insights or opinions on current technology and software trends.  That's a good segue into an introduction, I guess...so here's a little bit about me:
I have 7+ years of solid experience in B2B software sales, selling enterprise solutions to the Fortune 1000 for companies as large as AltaVista and as small as 50 employees in a venture-backed startup.  My primary areas of expertise are enterprise help desk, enterprise search, and content management (ECM, CMS, what's the difference...note to self: future blog post?).
In 2002, I was laid off from my software sales job the day before my wedding.  <Insert Debbie Downer's trademark wahhh wahhhh sound here>  While on my honeymoon, I got to thinking about all those times when people encourage you to "follow your passions!".  So, that's what I did.  My passions at the time included collecting very (VERY) expensive handbags, and shopping online.
So, surprise surprise, I founded an eCommerce business selling those handbags.  Within 18 months, I had built the business to $2M in annual sales, and had a repeat customer ratio of over 30%--which I think is pretty darn impressive when you're selling $10,000 purses.  This business was a lot of fun, and pushed me way outside my comfort zones, forcing me to learn about a wide variety of topics.  I delved deeply into search engine optimization from a usage perspective; even though I had some knowledge about SEO from having worked at AltaVista, it's a different animal when it's YOUR site that needs to be optimized and monetized!  I also learned a  lot about social media, which was fairly nascent at the time, but I'm proud to say that I was among the earlier adopters of Facebook ads, a Twitter business feed, Google Tags, Good AdWords, and other social media and online marketing channels that we now take largely for granted.   Things rolled along beautifully for over five years, and then in 2008, a major life change took place for me:  I became the mother of twins.  Now, if you have kids, you may understand why a 100 hour a week workweek isn't really in the best interests of your family.  Nor is it even really possible, with two newborns and no live-in nanny.  Not to mention the fact that a million dollars worth of inventory is fairly vulnerable to spit-up stains.
So I chose to wind down my inventory, close down my eCommerce site, and put the business into dormancy.  My intention at the time was to be a full time stay at home Mommy.

Fast forward six months.

Late that year, due to a combination of me going stir-crazy, and there being a real, genuine need--I accepted what was intended to be a temporary position at a family-owned business.  This business is outside the tech world.  And when I say outside, I mean REALLY outside.  When I arrived, part of my task was to modernize the place.  They still used a cash register from about the middle ages, and literally every order was processed on triplicate carbon copy pages.  I didn't even know people still made those triplicate forms, let alone used them!   So, I set out to evaluate vendors for a CRM and POS system (customer relationship management, and point of sale, for those who are in need of some acronym help).   This process turned out to be pretty involved, because we were in need of an industry-specific solution.  It's now nearly 3 years later, and I'm still there. The systems are live, and I've packed a whole lot of marketing and sales management activity into this timeframe as well, but it's been much more than a full time job.

So, that's where I am now, and how I got here.   My job is basically done at the company where I'm working, and I realize now that I really do relish working full time, bringing value to my coworkers and my clients, and having an identity that has nothing to do with Elmo or Mickey Mouse.

If you've read this far, I hope that you've found that I'm straightforward, outspoken, reasonably intelligent, and I have a pretty good sense of humor.  I also hope you'll consider following me via RSS or email, as I do intend to post regularly--and on much less personal topics!--in the future.  Thanks very much for reading, and feel free to share this blog and my twitter feed with anyone else you think might be interested!