Tracey Welson-Rossman
Tracey is the founder of TechGirlz. She is also a founding member of, and Chief Marketing Officer for, Chariot Solutions, a Philadelphia-based Java and open source software development and consulting firm. Tracey has created the branding and marketing strategy for Chariot, helping it to grow from 10 employees in 2002 to 50. She is also responsible for managing the strategic planning process, as well as spearheading Chariot’s sales efforts.
After graduating from Drexel, Tracey started her career in retail management and advertising sales. She learned about lead development, marketing, and distribution in these roles, but what she really learned was that she’s an entrepreneur at heart. In 1996, Tracey bought a New Jersey-based child transportation company called KangaKab. In 1999, with revenues at $2.5 million and having started a branch in Pennsylvania, Tracey sold KangaKab. As the director of sales & marketing for accounting software provider Skylight Systems, Tracey developed and executed marketing and channel efforts around one of the first-ever hosted accounting products. This program supplemented the existing sales of RFS, Skylight’s server based flagship product. It was very early on for the web-hosted software concept, but several firms began to use this product for their clients.
Tracey is also the founder and current chair of the Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference, (ETE), which is held in Philadelphia each year. ETE attracts world-renowned thought leaders in cutting-edge technologies and serves as a community forum for regional technology companies. Tracey is one of the founding board members of Philadelphia Startup Leaders, a regional organization dedicated to growing technology startup businesses (www.phillystartupleaders.org).
Karen Stellabotte
Karen is a passionate, dedicated professional who enjoys helping people. She is a leader with extensive experience in commercial operations in the Pharmaceutical Industry. For the past 19 years, Karen has worked for Pfizer, formerly Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, as Senior Director of Commercial Operations where she led a management team that was responsible for compliant promotional processes and meeting the commercial business challenges and objectives.
Bonnie Oswald
Bonnie is the Outreach Coordinator for TechGirlz. She is also a Global Account Executive for SAP North America, a subsidiary of SAP AG in Walldorf, Germany the world leader in enterprise software and software-related services.
Bonnie began her career in accounting and technology when “desktop” computers were the size of the entire desktop and back-ups were written to round reel tapes. She continued to pursue her love of technology by developing data bases and drafting business user requirements for software solutions. She migrated into the world of consulting around disaster recovery solutions and then to the other side of the “glass house” to the world of business application development. She ran sales and strategic services focused on industry related solutions in financial services and life sciences then migrated into the vast world of business intelligence solutions or “Big Data”.
In 2006, she ran product development and client services for SunGard Wealth Management, overseeing the product development and delivery of an enterprise software product that supported mission-critical financial transactions to global financial institutions (over 13 million lines of code). Bonnie specializes in software and services in the financial services space and holds her Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Yasmine Mustafa
Yasmine Mustafa is constantly involved in different ventures. Her two main passions at the moment are 123LinkIt.com and GirlDevelopIT. 123LinkIt is a blog advertising company with the #1 most downloaded WordPress affiliate tool. The software scans blog posts and transforms product keywords into affiliate links. GirlDevelopIt aims to repair the wide gender gap in development by focusing on helping women learn how to program in a supportive and fun environment. When she has free time, Yasmine enjoys people watching and playing poker.
Coreen Tossona
Coreen is a writer and digital marketer who got involved with TechGirlz through her work with Philly Marketing Labs. She contributes in marketing strategy sessions, with social media advice, and by helping us with our communications. You can read her writing regularly in her marketing and advertising blog called In the Crowds. Coreen started in the working world as a summer camp counselor and is happy to be still finding ways to give back to kids and community through TechGirlz and other ventures.
Amy Larrimore
Amy has always been fascinated by the way in which people, information, and systems work together, and she helps businesses to navigate technology, information, and people in a sensibleand profitable way. She’s the managing partner and technology strategist of The Empire Builders Group, a technology services consulting firm that uses a powerful partnership of professionals to solve complex business problems.
The driving force in the success of hundreds of companies, including her own, Amy’s work is wide ranging. As examples, she has implemented millions of dollars of efficiency cost savings for a global Fortune 500 company, automated the prospecting process of a 700 million dollar hedge fund, and properly integrated QuickBooks, online payroll, and the point of sale system for a closely held 20 employee business you might find just down the street.
Through her volunteer work with TechGirlz, Amy gets to be a role model to girls so they might consider careers in the field of technology. Amy empowers young girls to have the confidence to pursue a future in this field and to show them that it’s fun, profitable, flexible, reputable—and possible. She also is a frequent speaker, workshop moderator, and writer. She’s also mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners through SCORE, a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses achieve their goals.
A recipient of many honors, recently Amy was recently awarded SmartCEO’s 2012 Volt “Technology Implementer Award,” and the Geekie, presented by the Philadelphia Geek Awards. Amy attended Oxford University (New College) in England and holds a B.A. in Political Science (Nation Building), Summa Cum Laude.
Joyce Akiko
Joyce Akiko supports the Techgirlz website with self-taught development skills. She creates turnkey WordPress websites for online marketing companies and other agencies who want to provide affordable websites to smaller clients over at 2×4 Labs.
An entrepreneur at heart, she started her first company at age 17 by designing, creating, and selling sustainable clothing for women. She started a market research organization in 2011 after teaching herself the fundamentals of SEO, marketing, web development, and advertising. She later founded an independent consulting company called Go HR for Startups after earning her Master of Science in Human Resources Development from Villanova University. Joyce enjoys blogging and personal development, which you can read about on IntrovertedBlog.
Becca Refford
Wildly curious, fiercely driven, and shamelessly goofy, Becca is the youngest member of the TechGirlz team. An 18-year-old female student, she is currently pursuing a gap year to do two radically different projects: intern with Philadelphia technology startups, and volunteer on organic farms around the United States. Afterwards, she plans to obtain a degree in either Information Systems or Computer Science at the university level. After finding her own niche in tech at a young age, Becca hopes to encourage young women to embrace their inner geek just like she did. However, technology is only one of her many passions. In her spare time, you might also find her shooting film with her antique camera, making crafts, waitressing at a local favorite coffee joint, hiking, biking, or hanging out at a local music venue. She loves cats, goats, and spoonerisms, and currently lives and plays in West Philadelphia.