Third Wave Fashion

Tech Crush Thursday: Kevin Systrom

With over 100 million users (as announced Tuesday), Instagram has grown from two young guys renting desks, to a record breaking acquisition with Facebook. Although Instagram was launched a little over two years ago, we can’t help but be impressed by the company’s growth and success (not to mention we are more than slightly addicted to the app). 

Welcome, Kevin Systrom, CEO and Co-founder of Instagram, to the TWF Tech Crush Thursday hall of fame! After graduating from Stanford University, Kevin got his first taste of the startup tech world as an intern at Odeo, which later became Twitter. He also worked at Google where he worked on a number of product as well as their corporate development.

In 2012, Systrom and his Co-founder, Mike Krieger, sold the company to Facebook for an announced $1Billion. Although the sale went through, Kevin made sure that Instagram would continue to operate outside of Facebook. He also retained quite a bit of control over the photo-sharing company, allowing him to continue to make important decisions. For example, Kevin decided to remove Instagram photos from Twitter’s news feed, not at the request of Facebook, but to bring users to Instagram’s new website.

Yes, there have been some controversies surrounding the app and recent changes, but with 100 million users in just 28 months, it looks like the man behind Instagram knows what he’s doing.

Tech Crush Thursday: Chloe Sladden 

Chloe Sladden is Twitter’s Director of Media Partnership.

She’s the one responsible for combining Twitter conversations and real-time events. To put her job into her own words, “I work at the intersection of media & technology, with a special focus on interactive & social TV.”

She uses the power of #hashtags and @mentions to create what she refers to as a “360-degree experience” for everyone. Chloe is happy to know that she has helped connect people with inside information, closeness to celebrities, and real-time news in a way that was not fathomable pre-Twitter.

One of her first experiences curating tweets was during the 2008 Presidential debates. On top of tweeting breaking news, Chloe has worked on the entertainment side. In 2010, she helped MTV bring in over 11 million viewers for their MTV Video Music Awards.

She’s had prior experience in this area—before Twitter, Chloe worked at Current TV, a TV network and online news site, where she produced “Hack the Debate.” Chloe is also on the board of Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit focused on innovations that combine art, design, data, and technology.

We think Chloe is #awesome and of course check her out on Twitter!

*Chloe Sladden is pictured above with another Twitter Executive, Katie Jacobs Stanton, in the new New York headquarters.

Tech Crush Thursday: Tara Hunt

We’re crushing this week on the woman who has been deemed “pioneer in online marketing and one of the most respected authorities on online communities,” the beautiful Tara Hunt.

The native Canadian is most recently known for co-founding Buyosphere with Jerome Paradis and Cassandra Girard. Buyosphere is a social website that allows users to share trends and what they are buying. Another one of her entrepreneurial pursuits was the company Citizen Agency, a consultancy that specialized in community-centric strategies. Tara coined the term Pinko Marketing, which is essentially a shift from company-to-consumer marketing to consumer-to-consumer marketing. Tara is also author of the book, The Whuffle Factor: Using the Power to Social Networks to Build your Business. In 2009, Fast Company named her one of the more influential women in tech, a much-deserved title.

Read more about Tara on her website. You can also follow her on one of her many Twitter pages—her pug, Ridley, has one too!