(upbeat music) >> From Phoenix Arizona, theCUBE. At Catalyst Conference, here is your host, Jeff Frick. (upbeat music) >> Hi welcome back everybody, Jeff Frick here with theCUBE. We are in Phoenix Arizona at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference. It's the fourth year they've had the conference, we're really excited to be here, it's our first time to visit, but we wanted to come down and check it out, about 400 people. We'll be back in the Bay Area next year with about 600 people. A three day show, and really doing good work. So we're excited for our next guest, Meg Withgott, the Co-Founder and CTO of Panafold, welcome. >> Thanks, glad to be here. >> Absolutely, so you mentioned before we got started, this was your first time at the Catalyst Conference, what are your impressions? >> Yes I've heard about it, but I always thought I was too busy, but I spoke and I'm so glad I, you know, to attend, to know about it. And next year it'll be in San Francisco. >> That's right. >> So, my backyard. >> So you're speech was on women, let me see if I can get this right; 122nd meridian west to the 58th meridian, so first off, where are those meridians? (laughs) >> So that forms a great circle around the globe, it goes through Silicon Valley; first I was going to talk about women in Silicon Valley, but then someone said, "Well why don't you branch out". And I said, "Well how, there's, "how do I narrow it down?" >> Right. >> And so I picked this circle around the world. >> Right, and then you said you had this project where you went and interviewed people and asked them, "What advice would you give your younger self?" What a fantastic idea; so how did that work out, where did you go, how many people did you interview? >> It worked out really well. I talked with around 20, and a dozen or so are there in the tape. I didn't know what would happen, you know, if it would be all over the map so to speak. >> Right. >> But there's seven themes that emerged; how to find joy when you're doing something hard, and the theme that really emerged was being open. Being open to, opening your heart, being open to life's friction. People went really deep, it was kind of surprising. >> And on these seven themes; so there was joy, there was being open, what were some of the other ones? >> Challenge, conflict; it wasn't surprising but kind of sad, stereotyping. Openness was the biggest theme though. People literally used that word, open, time and again. And I edited all the footage, and so it just stuck out. >> Right. >> It was interesting. >> And it was, was it advice to be more open? >> Mm-hmm. >> To get the other things, like joy and success, I mean is that kind of the, kind of a foundational kind of point of view if you will, or a kind of way of looking at the world that enables some of these other things? >> It was, and to being open to listening to your colleagues, and to viewing them not as kind of a finished product and categorizing them, but as someone who's learning. >> Right. >> Each person I interviewed had a slightly different perspective on what it means to be open, but they all went there. >> They all went there. And what was the biggest surprise that came out of that process? Besides the obvious one where you had kind of these seven feelings. >> It was being introduced to amazing people through strangers on LinkedIn. Because, you know, I know tons of people in California; but in Iran, Yemen, and Madagascar. Madagascar was the big surprise. >> Why? >> Getting to be in touch with people, like from famous music groups there. >> Okay. >> So I've never been to Madagascar, I want to go now. >> Did you go, you didn't go do the interview there? >> No, no. >> Rats. >> No, I mean I should have. No, the footage was really gritty, it was over Skype and that's how it was. >> So it's interesting you've mentioned a couple times you're from California, you know a lot of people in California, you were thinking about starting on California; but then people said, "You know "why don't you take it to a broader sphere". So with that context, you know, we're from the Bay Area, we've got Austin Boston too, but we're from the Bay Area, and there's kind of a Silicon Valley centric kind of point of view that people like and get wrapped up into. So do you see any big, distinguishing differences between, kind of what you expect, or what you know kind of in California versus some of these international things, or were there really not that much differences after all? >> Not really, as soon as you peel off the layer, what we talk about regarding technology, it was, the same themes emerged, all over the world. >> Interesting. I want to shift gears a little bit, and talk about academics. So you've been visiting fellow at Stanford, I forgot, I've got it all written down, a whole bunch of everything. Harvard, all these great schools; Barnard College. So you've got an academic kind of point of view. I'm curious to get your take on how women's issues, and specifically women's issues in technology are changing or being grabbed on to by some of these academic institutions to try to implement some change. >> Yeah, that's a really interesting topic. For instance, the precedent of Barnard College is looking forward in an interesting way. As I'm sure you know, it's a well known liberal arts college in New York, associated with Columbia University. They don't have a computer science major. So they're going to work on that, because some of the faculty I think probably thought that, "Why do you need computer science, "we're teaching something." >> Still today? >> Still today. And so, you know, where we live we think, "What"? And we scratch our heads, and at Stanford for instance, it's a really popular major. So it was a surprise to me to hear that people thought that way. At Sweet Briar, Barnard, a lot of these other colleges. They're now starting to see, "Well yeah, it is, "it is an academic study, it's not like repairing motors". >> Right, right. Well it's even a language, right? 'Cause I would even say in high school, when will CS be right there next to Biology, Chemistry, and Physics on just kind of your standard track? >> And there's evidence that if you study; I have a linguistics background as it turns out, if you study multiple languages, you'll do better at learning computer science early on too. So we think of it as something, if you're good at math you'll be got at CS; well actually if you're good at language you have an advantage as well. >> Right, yeah cause it's basically a language, right? It's basically writing, there's lots of ways you can solve the same problem, and it's really creative writing exercises. >> Well and logic. >> Right. >> And language if you look at it is logic plus emotion. >> And then what about at the high school level? Are you seeing anything at the high school level that's being done? It's tough for high school teachers, right? Especially public schools, it's tough. A lot of things being thrown at 'em. What are they doing, how can they better equip their kids, and girls specifically? >> Yeah, that's a really good question. What I see, I mean, there's some great programs; robotics in particular, it seems like kids gravitate to that. But you know, I'm working more closely with college students; for instance, Cal State Monterey Bay, they started a CS department and so, you know, first generation kids who's families have never been to college are taking computer science, and within three years, they're ready to go in the work force. It's a revelation to their parents, it's really inspiring. >> Yeah, that's great cause there's certainly a shortage of the skills, there's huge opportunities. All right, so we're running low on time, I want to give you the last word. What are you working on for the next six months, are you going to continue to work on your advice project, you got another project in the wings, what are you working on? >> Panafold is what's near and dear to me, and so it connects to the talk I gave though, because it's all about a learning journey. What the women had in common along with being open was they could step back and see their careers as a learning journey, and that gave them a lot of strength. So at Panafold, we're enabling people to share their experience with the web as a learning journey, so mostly it's for people who need to educate their clients. >> Okay. >> So we're giving them tools for that. >> All right, well check that out, that's at panafold.com? >> Yes. >> All right, super. Well Meg, thanks for taking a few minutes and stopping by. >> Nice meeting you. >> Absolutely, so I'm Jeff Frick, we are at the Women's, or excuse me, Girls In Tech Catalyst Conference in Phoenix Arizona, you're watching theCUBE. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)