Story In A Bottle Podcast

As a digital designer, Timoni West’s portfolio started much like many others in the late 1990s: on Geocities. During those early days, when formal design education opportunities and mentorship eluded her, she applied self-motivation and a fearless approach to obstacles which ultimately allowed her to succeed beyond her imagination. With a career that boasts the likes of companies like Flickr and Foursquare, as well as navigating the sometimes frustrating world of freelance, her often unconventional methods have resulted in a career that is as strategic as it is creative.

Over a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, we discussed her upcoming endeavor as the principle designer of Unity Labs. There, she will be pushing her collective experience in a new direction into the realms of virtual reality. We look forward to raising our glasses to what comes next!

For more from her, follow @timoni.

Direct download: SIAB_TWest_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:41am EDT

It takes great skill to to be able to write consistently funny jokes on a day-to-day basis. To be able to do that across mediums as audiences adapt and technology evolves is a skill that surpasses the word ‘advanced.’ Over the past 30 years, Fred Graver has leant his talents to a staggering list of extremely popular comedic experiences with diverse voices and few commonalities (apart from their successes). He helped reinvent the format of the talk show with Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s, the limits of sketch comedy with In Living Color in the 1990s, and how we talk about pop culture in with VH1’s Best Week Ever in the 2000s.

Over magnum sized Diet Cokes, he told us how as the creative lead of TV at Twitter he is able to continue leveraging his skills at adapting the art of storytelling in the TV world and bring it to the masses in an even more meaningful way. However, the stakes now aren’t just ratings: he’s pushing the networks to compete in a real-time global conversation that extends beyond their traditional broadcast comfort zones. All the while, keeping his eye on whatever may be the next big movement in storytelling. Cheers!

Direct download: SIAB_FGraver_v2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:53am EDT

Stacey Mulcahy is a technologist of the masses who has built her career on “just figuring it out.” As a social worker in Ontario, Canada, her career originated both geographically and professionally far from where she is today. She was drawn to the field, inspired by the teachers in her family who preceded her, and while it was ultimately not for her, she left with the motivation to better the status quo of the people she worked with. However, taking this same altruistic approach to the tech and corporate world has presented an entirely different set of challenges.

Over Moscow Mules, she recounts her upbringing in the digital space: becoming a developer by accidental necessity in order to pick up the slack of her team, transitioning from small to large agencies, and learning at each turn that we’re all better at what we do when we can learn from each other. Now, in her current role as Senior Technical Evangelist for Microsoft (a developer who talks to developers), she is finding the balance of being in a traditionally corporate environment and remaining true to herself as @BitchWhoCodes. However, we learned that it is because of her unconventional, ‘no shits given’ approach to an often disheartening, patriarchal field that makes her one of the right people to further the future of the industry and lead the next generation of tech.

For more, check out @bitchwhocodes and https://tmedium.com/@bitchwhocodes.

Direct download: SIAB_SMulcahy_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:59am EDT

Buzz Andersen has a resume which reads like the starting lineup of a tech all-star team, boasting the likes of Apple, Tumblr, and Square. More impressively, however, is his learn-on-the-go attitude which got him in the door of each, starting with his dissatisfaction with the basic computer courses offered in his Colorado high school and the curriculum which was written for him because of it. And as an engineer, he has continued to push the envelop, has honing his skills around iOS development, starting with his iPod transfer app, PodWorks (which started as a means to introduction to Apple), and early Twitter client Birdfeed, all the while enjoying the merits of each.

 

Over freshly made margaritas with Tres Generaciones tequila, we got a peek behind the curtain of these tech behemoths, who surprisingly share many of the same challenges startups face everyday. It’s because of his experience and consistent chutzpah that lead Buzz on his latest endeavor, now on the agency side, as co-founder of 3 year old Brooklyn Computer Club, a development consultancy agency; appreciating and overcoming the challenges that this new role brings.

To keep up, follow @buzz and check out Brooklyn Computer Club.

Direct download: SIAB_BAnderson_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

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