I'm a journalist covering innovative ideas and people driving media, technology, food, culture, and philanthropy.
Interview with NPR Reporter & Author Aarti Shahani
Aarti Shahani reports on all things tech for National Public Radio. A native New Yorker, Shahani is determined to understand Northern California and to bring to light emerging innovation as well as contradictions within the tech ecosystem. Shahani brings a sober perspective to her stories – free of rose colored glasses, yet fair to her subjects. She’s been recognized for her ability to unearth hidden gems with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, an award from the Society of Professional Journa...
Stanford Alumni launch data-driven luxury goods startup
Operating more like a tech startup than a traditional luxury-goods company, Wen and Chung started out with a few dozen sketched designs. They raised $1.3 million in funding from angel investors, partners from Peterson Partners, GSR Ventures and S-Cubed Capital, and began testing prototypes with hundreds of women in their networks. “At a certain point of showing it to people, they started to say, ‘Can I buy this? I want to use it immediately,’” said Chung. “That was a strong sign that we were ready.”
In Palo Alto, this Israeli startup is saving bees from their death spiral
The bees are stressed out. This is bad news for the bees, and very bad news for the global food supply, which depends on bees to pollinate some 1,200 vital crops worldwide.
Stress isn’t the only problem facing honeybees. Commercial beekeepers for years have been rapidly losing colonies to mass die-offs or abandonment due to climate change, pesticide use, invasive insects such as mites and hornets, and other factors.
“In the United States, we lose 40 percent of all managed colonies every year,...
500 Startups Founder Dave McClure Interview
500 startups founding partner, Dave McClure, is known for his unfiltered opinions and a diverse portfolio of investments that include Twilio, Credit Karma, MakerBot and Wildfire Interactive. McClure started working at PayPal in 2001, doing technology evangelism and education—geek marketing, as he calls it. He’s witnessed Silicon Valley’s rises and falls from the inside for over two decades. Today, he’s not worried about the threat of the putative tech bubble; he’s concerned about the country’...
Retailers Aim to Stay Competitive in Tech
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a case of retailers following the money and the consumer. From Nordstrom Inc. to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., retailers have opened up “labs” in hopes that a geeky start-up vibe will attract the right talent to generate the next big thing in digital commerce or some proprietary add-on. And these incubator programs have a related mission: actively grow the next generation of savvy brands from online roots.
Israeli tech leaders with assets in Silicon Valley Bank are concerned for the ecosystem
The startups in Shuly Galili’s investment fund are no longer in danger of being cut off from their deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, the institution that collapsed in shocking fashion on March 9, now that the FDIC is delivering on its promise to restore access to account holders’ funds. But as a pioneer who helped forge a path from Israel to Silicon Valley during her tenure as executive director at the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Galili remains deeply concerned about the ripple effe...
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Professor Dundes Renteln Break The Code
Rather than armor women with shoulder pads and pants to match the men on the playing field, it conveys power by explicitly pointing out the wearer's gender and elevating it as a celebrated asset, rather than a handicap to be masked in garb traditionally worn by men. Yahoo's CEO Marissa...
Investor Chuck Esserman Interview: The Art of Rebranding
TSG, Chuck Esserman's private equity firm, has delivered net returns topping 24% over his last three funds and more than 35% for TSG’s most recent fund. Yet thirty years ago, Esserman’s brand-centric approach was met with skepticism.
Tech Entrepreneur Turns Fashion Editor for Bay Fashion
The last person you'd expect to pull off an opulent fashion show in just six weeks - featuring Marc Jacobs and boasting 600-plus guests - is a computer geek. Shankha wanted to reach local readers, so he took the magazine to print in July 2012, investing $27,000 to cover Paris...
The Cycles of Advertising Legend Rich Silverstein
Rich Silverstein, co-chairman and partner of the award-winning advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, is well known for the "Got Milk?" commercials, among many others.
Interview with Silicon Valley Brand Devan Vincent
Devan Vincent has worked with Silicon Valley titans for more than a decade. Clients who work in venture capital have offered to invest in his eponymous line and scale it to a mass market. Vincent contends..
Bay Area cooking schools are booming: Here are 6 of our favorites.
Nonprofit and local institution 18 Reasons has been educating and serving the community for over a decade. With its charred wood façade and polished concrete floor, the space cuts an intimidating scene for the uninitiated. Yet, every night behind the center’s colossal steel and glass doors, awaits a welcoming crew of volunteers and instructors who offer the intangible, precious gift of believing in all of the students in the room. In our sourdough galette lesson, people who had never held a chef’s knife learned to deftly slice citrus into delicate octagons.
Retail Report: Bain & Co. says Athleisure wear to stay on top of the sector
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If you’re so done with athleisure, sorry to disappoint.
Legacy fashion houses like Louis Vuitton and newer players like Ivy Park have launched versatile collections that stretch the boundaries of the trend, elating Lycra fans across Silicon Valley who’ve tried to covertly pass off yoga pants as workplace attire for more than a decade.
“The space is very crowded with a lot of little brands,” Cheris said. “We’re at a long period now ...
Interview: Alicia Silverstone in San Francisco for book tour
Author and actor Alicia Silverstone, wants to make pregnancy a delicious, beautiful time with her latest book "The Kind Mama: A Simple Guide to a Supercharged Fertility, a Radiant Pregnancy, a Swee......
TikTokers Compare Post-Soviet Parents to Dictators in Viral #GrowingUpRussian Videos
Wrapped in an ornate kerchief that’s stereotypical of Soviet-era babushkas, TikToker Kateryna Fylypchuk portrays a frustrated Russian mother confronting her depressed child: “Are you not normal? Do you purposely want to upset me? When you were little you brought me only joy and now you make my heart hurt,” she says in deliberate, exasperated Russian, punctuated by a disdainful, cold glare. “That’s enough. Go fix your mood, then come back asking for forgiveness.”
As of July 21, Fylypchuk’s mon...