The Conversation with Cathy Brooks - Episode #31

Ah, the joys of social media. How many countless times have firestorms begun, sparked by an errant tweet or misconstrued comment. Last week was no exception. Amidst the brou-ha-ha of Michael Arrington's spitting contest with AOL a comment scooted into the Twittersphere from the account of VentureBeat tech writer Jolie O'Dell.

"Women, stop making start-ups about fashion, shopping and babies. At least for the next few years. You're embarrassing me."

As if the ongoing issues around women in business weren't irritating enough, now a female was deriding women for starting the wrong kind of businesses. At least that's how it appeared. An array of women spoke out. One piece of powerful commentary came from industry beacon, author and (ahem) female entrepreneur with a shopping related start-up, Tara Hunt. This week Tara joins Cathy to discuss this issue and perhaps through a little discourse about online etiquette at the same time. Jolie was invited to join the conversation and declined, stating that her original comment was not intended to be as flippant as it had been construed and needed a few more days before she could publicly comment/publish more fully formed thoughts.

The Conversation is not about technology. It's about what you do with it. Jumping from this basic premise, each week The Conversation's Executive Producer & Host Cathy Brooks explores the bits and bytes that are changing the way people get and share information, interact and the way in which this is fundamentally changing social and professional interactions. Each week guests ranging from up and comer entrepreneurs to seasoned influencers and everyone in between join Cathy to talk about what they do, why they do it and how their personal story fits into the mix.