Chicest Geek of the Week

Geek/gēk/Noun

A person that is extremely talented and passionate about their interests. Usually of entrepreneurial spirit, and very successful.

That girl is so geek chic, as in not only driven, but fashionable and classy, too.
May 8, 2013
 Below is content from my interview with my chicest geek girl of this week, Lizzie. She is a fellow University of Central Florida Knight, and the founder and CEO of Market Colors . She proves that it is possible to combine business with philanthropy, making the world a better and more fashionable place.
 

One of the founders, Jace Cooke, was kind enough to answer some of my questions about Giphy.
One of the founders, Jace Cooke, was kind enough to answer some of my questions about Giphy.
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The content below represents my definitions of geeks, not society's. It's your life, you make up the meanings to your vocabulary.

Here, we do not analyze the fairest of them all, but the chicest of our geeks.

1. Please state the full names of the founders, and their educational/professional backgrounds and hobbies. Was it just you, or a team?

My full name is Elizabeth Noelle Wirgau. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan and moved to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida where I studied Event Management. I graduated in 2011, and I started Market Colors on my own upon graduation at the age of twenty-one.

2. What inspired the creation of Market Colors?

While attending UCF, I traveled to Africa and met many craftsmen who were making unique, beautiful products but had very few customers. Whenever I would return home with new items, my friends would rave over the products and ask me where to get them. At that time, the only way they could purchase these products and support the craftsmen was by actually traveling to Africa. I decided to start Market Colors to equip these craftsmen with a way to sell their products to those outside their own village.

Throughout my travels, I’ve met many individuals with heart-wrenching stories. On my second trip to Malawi, I met Gloria and Tiliangati. Gloria was 8 and Tiliangati was just a baby. Their mother, Lamas, had AIDS and was dying of pneumonia. I learned that when Lamas died, she would not have anything to leave to her children and her neighbors would have to look after them. It wasn’t because she was a bad mother. As a single mother, she simply did not have the means to provide for them. We sat outside her hut, asking God to comfort her and provide for her children. She passed away 8 days later.

Market Colors exists to equip families in Africa. There are groups throughout the continent teaching women like Lamas how to become skilled craftsmen. They are showing them they can provide for themselves in an honest way that honors the Lord. Often the sole providers for their large families, the craftsmen are fiercely driven. They have an extraordinary work ethic and exceptional drive and determination. But these craftsmen have such a small market where they can sell their products. We want to equip them to take their products from the village market to the world market. Market Colors does this through promoting and selling their products through our e-commerce website. Our work is centered upon the goal of creating thousands of sustainable jobs throughout the African continent.

Currently, Market Colors works with groups of craftsmen in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, and Uganda. These craftsmen make high-quality products that we sell on our website: www.marketcolors.org. The proceeds from the sales are reinvested in Africa. This model gives the craftsmen sustainability and recurring income. It’s amazing to see what God has done in such a short amount of time. I’m honored to be leading this ministry.

3. What differentiates Market Colors from other sites promoting sustainability?

Market Colors exists to give sustainable and recurring income to the craftsmen we partner with. We believe that rather than simply sending a large check, we should sustain the work of these craftsmen. This approach secures jobs for these men and women. While we do make donations toward specific projects for our craftsmen (new machinery, training materials, workplace buildings, etc.) the majority of the funds we invest into Africa are for payment for the products. We’re required to walk a fine line of paying the craftsmen fair amounts but also not overpaying or giving a handout. Last month we placed our third bulk order from each craftsmen community.

Market Colors also shows our customers that their purchase gives the craftsmen a sustainable and recurring income. We try to be as specific as we can be. When you purchase a product, you get information about one of the people who made your product and that you are supporting. It creates a very personal experience for the customer and allows us to show them what sustainability looks like.

4. Where are you finding most of your followers? (Are you advertising your site on other relevant sites?)

Most of our followers come through word-of-mouth referrals. Our goal is to create loyal fans who will share our work with those in their networks. We’ve gained a lot of our followers from Instagram as well. We try to post things that we believe will drive reposts and gain followers. Also, reaching out to other companies and organizations and asking them to share our work has brought in more followers. We also pay minimal amounts for advertising on Facebook. At some point it might change, but for now it makes sense to focus our attention on equipping our customers to do the marketing for us.

5. Do you have any plans for expansion, or to create more sites similar/relevant to Market Colors? 

At this time, our plans to expand consist of adding more craftsmen communities in Africa to the Market Colors family. We currently work with 250 craftsmen, and we plan to increase that number to 500 by the end of this year. We then plan to spend the following year investing deeper into each craftsmen community. We have new products coming this summer as well: more jewelry, leather products, additional clutches, and more!

6. When did your site go live?

The site went live on December 19, 2011. However, the online store launched on September 10, 2012. That’s when I really consider us “going live.”

7. Besides Market Colors, where do you like to shop?

I love Target, Anthropologie, J. Crew, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and World Market.

8. What is your ratio of male to female core team members? What about the same ratio for your IT team?

Our team, as of later this month, will be comprised of 10 total members:

6 female interns, 1 male Product Manager, 1 male CFO, 1 female part-time Sales Coordinator, and myself, CEO.

For IT, we outsource to web developers. Summit Church also lends us their IT assistance as our office is located inside the church.

My personal favorite Market Colors product(and newest accessory acquisition) is this periwinkle clutch! Be sure to support Lizzie and her amazing efforts by visiting their site!

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Giphy, Your One Stop Shop for GIFS

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When I first discovered Memes, I thought that there was no greater thing to distract me from being productive and provide me with entertainment. Then I discovered GIFs, or Graphic Interchange Formats. Brilliant.

GIFs were introduced by CompuServe in 1987. Much like everything that was produced in the 80's original GIFs were a bit tacky and overdone. (Especially the fashion... shoulder pads, huge hair, fluorescent makeup, and lots of sequins and spandex.)

I stumbled upon Giphy a few weeks back. As soon as I realized what it was, I tried to pull away, but it was too late and I was already sucked in. This genius website is a compilation of thousands of GIFs. It makes it very simple to find themed GIFs, and is an amazing GIF search alternative to Google.

Basically, any themed GIF can be found using the search bar on the site. I spent about an hour perusing the Mean Girls pages alone. The opportunities for distractions from work, school, or the gym are endless. 

Needless to say, this site makes me happier than this dog in a swing...

1. What is the background of the creators?

As you know, the founders are myself (Jace Cooke) and Alex Chung. We've been friends and collaborators for a few years.  My experience is in product design while Alex is a true hacker, working everywhere from MTV to Paul Allen's R&D team.  We also both have had previous companies acquired (Facebook and Google, respectively.) 

2. What inspired you to create Giphy?

Giphy started as fun side project based on conversations about how and why people communicate (or could communicate) with moving images.

3. What makes Giphy different than other search engines?

Well, I can't say definitively that we were the first animated GIF search engine, but I personally don't know of any other sites collecting hundreds of thousands of GIFs in one place, with robust tagging and links to every source.  Plus I don't think of Giphy so much as a search engine anymore, but rather a growing destination for discovering, hosting and creating GIFs. 

4. How long did it take to create the site?(From idea to tangible, working product)

The first version of the site took ~5 weekends to build.

5. What advice do you have for aspiring hackers?

Pick a small problem that irks you.  Try and solve it.  Share your solution.  Figure out everything you did wrong.  Repeat.

  

6. What's the next project(if you can tell me!)?

Giphy has become our full-time project for the foreseeable future.

7. Favorite code language?

Whichever requires the least lines of code.

8. Read any good books or seen any good movies lately?

I'm obsessed with every essay and talk Bret Victor puts out.

I will apologize, and say you're welcome for introducing you to this site! Enter with caution, it is addictive, but amazing! Hope you enjoy.

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Chicest Geek of the Week- Elisa Kreisinger, Pop Culture Pirate Blog Creator

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I first heard about the blog Pop Culture Pirate from one of my colleagues, and as soon as I first browsed through the posts, I was hooked. This is such a witty and unique site. It juxtaposes such interesting topics and its content is never lackluster.  

I enjoyed Elisa's blog so much that I asked her to be a judge for our Young Rewired State NYC event! She accepted the offer and was a lovely addition to our judging panel. After Elisa judged the event, I cheekily asked if she wouldn't mind doing an interview for my blog, and as you can see below, she accepted that offer as well! Once you snoop around her blog I bet you will become a pop culture pirate, too!

1. So Elisa, what inspired you to begin blogging?

I wanted to have a productive way to browse the web. I love finding other artists work and bits and pieces of inspiration  I wanted a place to collect them all in a way that felt meaningful, where I could add my own commentary. 

2. Besides Pop Culture Pirate, what is your favorite blog to read?

I love/hate so many blogs, including the style blog Man Repeller and the craft blog Today is Going to be Awesome. Again, it's a love/hate relationship with both. 

3. Is it just you behind the screen of PCP, or do you have a team/contributors?

Sometimes I have contributors but I love the process of hunting and gathering for content so I tend to keep it personal. But I am of course open to contributors. If it, for some reason, got really big and popular and I couldn't meet demand, then I'd open it up. For right now, it's me and that works fine. 

4. What is the best advice you've ever received?

It doesn't matter because I never take it! I often solicit advice and then I can't seem to take it. I also give advice, even when people don't ask. It's a vicious cycle, I admit, but it results in the best advice I've ever actually understood: When the teacher is present the student will learn. 

5. What advice do you have for aspiring bloggers?

Think of what you want it to be before you start dreaming up logo designs. Is it an inspiration board? A branding tool for a job/career? A way to let your family know what's happening? It can't be all 3. I would say pick one and then don't expect a ton of visitors unless you're providing them with a unique tool or service. And be ready to be ok with that! 

6. How do you come up with ideas for your interesting content?

I'm glad you find it interesting. I usually create editorial calendars and only go off them if something timely comes up. I have a bunch of sites that I like to visit  regularly to source content. Then I think about what personal spin or editorial I can add. If I can't add anything, then it probably doesn't belong on there. 

7. Seen any good movies or read any good books lately?

I saw Great Gatsby last month - so interesting. I loved to hate it and hated that I loved it. I can't wait to see Bling Ring. The best thing I read lately was the NY Times Magazine article on the artist James Turell.