Episode 7: Carmen Palafox, Partner/Investor/Community Builder

Carmen is a Partner at Make in LA, a hardware startup accelerator and venture capital firm that aims to make hardware less hard.  She started her career working in finance at Dimensional Fund Advisors and holds several degrees, including one in Sports Management.  She is an avid runner, a fearless entrepreneur and we share the unfulfilled dream of being a professional singer.  It’s probably not going to happen for either of us.

It’s important to find the intersection between passion, interest and ability. 

And “raspberry pie” is apparently a tech term – not necessarily dessert – but it does have something to do with a napkin.  I like how tech has so much to do with food.

Episode 3: Marissa Peretz and Max Brown, Tech Recruiters

Marissa and Max are the co-founders of Silicon Beach Talent – a recruiting and consulting firm in Los Angeles focusing on tech industries.  I mostly interviewed Marissa and heard her story coming up through the ranks via Tesla, and Max generously offered some color commentary.  We talked about the business case for diversity, the changing landscape in tech, and how women are making an impact. 

And, of course, you pick your first job based on who has the cutest outfits.  After that, you get more savvy.