Monthly Archives: June 2009
I recently returned from my first trip to Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), in Ghana, invited by Meltwater CEO Jorn Lyseggen, who invited me because of my background in venture capital. I was asked to contribute to the trainees’ (known in MEST as Entrepreneurs-in-Training or “EITs”) knowledge based on my venture capital experience as well as my experience in working with people in developing countries. Since I recently joined the company, it was also an opportunity to learn about MEST. I will post on this blog in two parts: the first is my thoughts on development work in Africa,…
Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living, I like to give them 3 guesses. Just to see what they will come up with.
Most popular answers?
A. Hair Dresser
B. Artist
C. Rock Star
Hmmm. OK.
So what does this say about me?
Obviously people don’t look at Jenny Gale Howe and say,
“That girl looks like she is a Managing Director for a global SaaS company!”
A Meltwater News Managing Director
But what should that look like anyway?? That’s my question.
I’m different. Always have been… and always will be.
I have a whole slew of visible tattoos, an edgy haircut modeled after the notorious Bettie Page, and…
Finding the perfect job can be tough. How are you supposed to know what you want when you haven’t experienced it yet? I have over 15 years of professional experience and have worked at more than 5 companies, but it’s only over the past 3 or 4 years that I have really discovered what makes a job the right fit for me. In other words, I found my sweet spot.
I joined Meltwater Group just four weeks ago as the new Executive Director of Communications, a role that previously didn’t exist. Still fresh! Getting here has been a long and interesting path. Originally…
In my last blog post I wrote about finding my way within the Meltwater organization and how and why I ended up “down under,” all of which probably sounded quite fancy and great. In this post I want to go into more detail on what my very first months at Meltwater were like. These first few months were not so fancy, but rather hard work. This was a really important time for me and I wanted to share it here.
I started out in our Berlin office and was quite aware that it would be B2B sales position, but to…
In January 2007, at our annual company Kick-Off held in Monaco that year, Meltwater CEO, Jorn Lyseggen, unveiled to 225 employees (we’re now 700+ employees globally) his idea for establishing a non-profit program, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Africa.
Upon hearing this idea, I remember thinking:
1. He is crazy AND 2. IF Meltwater is really going to do this, it probably won’t happen for at least five years (it was just too far-fetched for me)
Whether or not serial entrepreneurs like Jorn are indeed “crazy” is up for debate. However, I was shocked and amazed to be packing my bags for Ghana exactly…
