[Narrator] From the heart of Silicon Valley, it's the Cube. Covering Cloud Now seventh annual Top Women Entrepreneurs in Cloud Innovation Awards. (techno music) >> Hi, Lisa Martin on the ground with the Cube at Facebook headquarters at the seventh annual Cloud Now Top Women in Cloud Innovation Awards. We are here for our third time with the founder of Cloud Now, Jocelyn Degance Graham. Jocelyn, it is great to have you back. Great to be back here for your seventh annual Cloud Now. >> We are just so delighted to be here with you Lisa and the Cube and all of the support and wonderful help that you've given us through the years for this event. >> So you have a lot of firsts that I wanted to cover and I know we've just got a few minutes of your time. Seventh annual, as I mentioned. >> Jocelyn: That's right. >> Your Cloud Now community now boasts over 1500 members. There's over 300 attendees here tonight. >> Jocelyn: That's right. >> And tell us what was really unique about how easy it was to attract this audience. >> Well this, we've never had such a great response for this event Lisa. And some of that could just be the timing. It is finally an idea who's time has come, right? And so there just seems to be such a groundswell of understanding the importance of inclusion and diversity. And beyond that actually creating belonging, right? So more and more, I feel like there's such an actual enthusiasm that we hadn't seen before. So this year, we didn't actually publish tickets or let people know that tickets were available. Everything was essentially sold through word of mouth. And so, we never even published any tickets. And we sold out of the event. And that was definitely a first for us. >> Another first is being here. >> Yeah. >> Not only being here at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park California, but also having Sheryl Sandberg as one of the keynote speakers this evening. >> It is such an honor. You know she is one of the women who has just been so important in terms of the Seminole movement of women in tech. Like many women, I read her book, Lean In, years ago. And the fact that she's here with us tonight at the event, after having inspired an entire movement, is really significant and we're just thrilled. >> Another thing that's really interesting and a unique first for Cloud Now this year is you're recognizing 10 female tech entrepreneurs who are technical founders. >> Jocelyn: Technical founder, venture backed. >> Of venture backed businesses. >> Jocelyn: That's absolutely right. >> Tell us about how you've been able to achieve that because their backgrounds are diverse and the technologies that they're designing and driving are really incredible. >> This is one of the most, I think, exciting firsts about the event this year is in past events, we were recognizing women that had made major contributions in a technical field. And we were recognizing women regardless of the level or role or responsibility in the organization. Now we had largely done that because there were so few female founders of venture funded startups. This year was an absolute breakthrough year for many different reasons. There are organizations now like Allraise.org that are supported by women VC's. And there just seems to be an entire groundswell of female founders and we were able to, this year for the first time, align the criteria around female technical founders. And I'm really hoping that moving forward we'll be able to continue with that as more and more women realize that they should be starting businesses and they can get venture backing. >> And we're excited to talk to those winners tonight and ask how did you go about doing that? What were your inspirations and how do you kind of combat those fears and just the history of the challenge of getting funding there? Another thing that I noticed on the Cloud Now website is one of your taglines is together we can make a difference. In, you know, just the last minute or so give me some examples of how you're helping to make a difference that really resonate with you and that give you inspiration for your 2019 goals. >> That's such a great question. So for me, really one of the most heartening things about the organization is that the work we're doing together and through our scholarship program. So we're identifying the next generation of both female and minority leaders in tech and we're investing in them through our stem scholarship fund. This year, we have funders. Our funders include Google, Intel and Facebook. And we're really hoping to be able to expand that scope next year, Lisa, to increase the number of students we're helping. This year we're also, in addition to women, we are helping minority students as well. And for next year, we're wanting to expand those categories even further and being able to support people with disabilities. So we're really hoping that to create this kind of very strong fabric of the community coming together and really giving each other support. >> Jocelyn, thank you so much for having the Cube back for the third year in a row and congratulations on the groundswell that you're capitalizing on and that you're helping to create. We congratulate you and we appreciate your time. >> Lisa, it's always a pleasure. I love speaking with you. Thanks so much for coming. >> Likewise, we want to thank you for watching the Cube. Lisa Martin on the ground at Facebook headquarters at the Cloud Now Top Women Entrepreneurs in Cloud Innovation Awards. Thanks for watching. (techno music)

(digital clicking noise) >> Hi. Lisa Martin with the CUBE. On the ground at Google for the 6th annual CloudNOW Top Women in Cloud Awards event. We're very excited to be here. And now to be joined by the founder of CloudNOW, Jocelyn Degance Graham. Welcome back to the CUBE. >> Lisa, we are so happy to have you and the CUBE back for the second year. So our 6th annual event and the second year that you've been broadcasting. We're just really delighted to have your team be able to shine a spotlight on the incredible accomplishments of these women in tech. >> It's always so inspiring, Jocelyn, I was telling you before we went live, that I love reading about the people that you're honoring. But you yourself have been awarded a number of times. So you're quite the women in technology as well. >> (laughs) >> I wanted to talk a little bit about CloudNOW and what you've guys have done. Two really big announcements this year. Tell us about that. >> So the big things we've really been working on for 2017 are the scholarships, Lisa. I have to say of all the professional things this year, I really am the most heartened by the work in the scholarships. It is what is most important to me. As so we start by identifying two exceptional academic partners. We had looked at a number of ... We had read the research, we've been looking at how do you most make impact. And have more women join tech, join technical ranks, right? And so there's been a lot of debate and a lot of research about that. And what we have found is that it's very important for women to have a role model in an organization. It does not necessarily even have to be a mentor. It needs to be a role model. The other piece of the equation is the ambition gap. So it's not just about getting tons of women in the pipeline It's also about getting women that really want to take it the whole way. So this kind of combination factor of that next generation of leader that's really going to be able to get to that upper echelon of office. So the academic partners that we selected, we feel like they've really have done a great job of identifying those future leaders. For us to be able to place our investments with them. To gather corporate partnerships that are willing to be able to fund that next generation of leaders. So we have exceptional partners. We have exceptional academic institutions. If I can, I'd love to tell you just a little bit about the academic partners that we've selected. >> Yes, absolutely, please do. >> Yeah, so the first one is Holberton School. And Holberton is in San Francisco. They have a really unique model. They don't charge students any kind of tuition up front. What they do is once the student has gotten their first full-time job, then they start paying back what they would have paid in tuition. And so, it's a remarkably equitable kind of format for education. >> Lisa: It is. >> It's very different than what most people are seeing for colleges and universities. The problem is in how expensive it is to live in San Francisco. >> Lisa: Right. >> So the scholarships are actually a living wage stipend. Because the school is too intensive for the students to actually be able to work. It's a very compact program. Instead of four year, the students are done in two. So that's our first academic partner. The students are getting jobs at fantastic companies like LinkedIn, and NASA. And they are actually out-competing MIT and Stanford grads for those jobs. >> That's phenomenal. >> It is phenomenal. So we are more than happy to suggest to our corporate funders that they put their money on those bets. >> Lisa: Excellent. >> So we've got Google and we've got Accenture that are funding those Holberton scholarships. And then the second academic partner is in Bangalore, India. And it's Shanti Bhavan. You might have seen this with the Netflix documentary, "Daughters of Destiny." >> Lisa: It was incredible. >> Absolutely incredible and absolutely moving. The Shanti Bhavan school, for your viewers that are unfamiliar with it, they take children from the poorest of the poor background, in rural India. They commit to educating these children from the age of four all the way through the university level. The scholarships we put together with the help of Intel and Apcera and CB Technologies are to fund girls studying STEM at the university level in Bangalore. And this is just the beginning, Lisa. We really hope that in 2018 we can increase the number of scholarships and we really hope that we'll be able to increase the number of corporate partnerships as well. Because these students are doing phenomenal things and we really believe that they're going to be taking their place along side any of what the Ivy League graduates would be doing. >> I love that. And in our last minute, talk to us about Google and Google's involvement with you. Because that's pretty remarkable what you've been able to achieve for CloudNOW with Google. >> Thank you. The Google involvement has definitely been an involving partnership. And the funding for Google actually happened ... It was a happy circumstance that I ran into Vint Serf at a party and got introduced to him. I gave him a quick 30 second overview of what CloudNOW had been doing and he handed me his business card and said, "It sounds really interesting, send me an email." >> Wow, from one of the fathers of the internet. That's pretty amazing. >> I couldn't believe how accessible or easy-going he was. But I went ahead and I emailed him. I said, "What I'm looking for is some money for a scholarship fund. I'm not asking you for it, I just know if you were to endorse this, the money would very easily be found." So I went to sleep. Woke up, the very next morning there was a response from Vint and he had sent me the money. >> Oh my goodness. >> And we were done. The fund was closed, we were on our way. >> Wow. >> And what he said in response, it was so beautiful, Lisa. He said, "One does what one can to be of service." That message, I've been really holding it with me for the last several months. "One does what one can to be of service" Because I think it's just a very inspiring message, especially as we all go into 2018 and think about what we're grateful for. I hope there are people in your audience that feel like they can do what they can and will join us in this very heart-felt mission. >> Wow. You are so inspiring Jocelyn. With what you and your partners have created with CloudNOW. We thank you so much for asking us to be here. Our second year with the CUBE. It's a great event to cover. But be proud of what you've accomplished. >> Thank you, Lisa. >> Because it's incredible. >> Thank you for all of your support, it really means a lot to me. >> Excellent. We want to thank you for watching the CUBE, I'm Lisa Martin on the ground at Google for the 6th annual CloudNOW Top Women in Cloud event. Thanks for watching. (digital beat music)

>> From the heart of Silicon Valley, it's the Cube, covering CloudNOW's seventh annual Top Women Entrepreneurs in Cloud Innovation Awards. (upbeat music) >> Lisa Martin on the ground with the Cube at Facebook headquarters. We are at the seventh annual CloudNOW Top Women Entrepreneurs in Cloud Innovations Awards event. Joined by one of the 2016 winners welcoming you back to the Cube Syamala Bandla you are now at Facebook, a Director of Production Engineering. Welcome back to the Cube. >> Thank you Lisa. >> So we are at Facebook Headquarters, and we were talking with Jocelyn DeGance Graham a little bit ago who is the founder of CloudNOW. Their 7th annual event, first time at Facebook, and you a past winner are largely responsible for getting Facebook to say yes. Tell us a little bit about how you are paying it forward as a winner and enabling this years awards to have such a boost up. >> So I attended the CloudNOW event at the Google campus in 2016, and when I walked out of the event just not being the award recipient, but just meeting the other award winners, as well as the speakers, I was completely pumped up and charged. When I joined Facebook last year I saw how much deeply Facebook actually cares about diversity and inclusion. And I know that cloud computing and conversion technologies as an area where women are under represented. So when I pitched to my leadership team that when we care so much about, we should be hosting this years event and they jumped on board immediately. >> So it was an easy sell, but something also that's pretty remarkable that you should know about is that this year one of the keynote speakers is the COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, and again Syamala you were instrumental in securing Sheryl who has a crazy busy schedule. That's huge for everybody here, and the ground swell of women in technology. Tell us a little bit about that coup. >> So when we decided finally to host it and as we were planning and all the line up of, great line up of speakers and the winners. We couldn't have thought about anybody else to do the opening remarks than Sheryl Sandberg. I know we had, she had, a very very tough schedule but my leadership team and I, we were persistent, and it's an honor to have her here to do the opening remarks. >> Absolutely yes. So talk to us a little bit about your tenure here at Facebook, you mentioned joining about eight or nine months or so ago and being a culture that fosters diversity, gender diversity, thought diversity. Tell us a little bit about your team in production engineering and how that culture, how are you helping to grow that? >> That's a great question. So definitely I'll be very honest, we have a lot more to do. Production engineering predominately in the industry is male-dominated. But just this year, just in the teams around me, we have hired quite a bit of female managers as well as individual contributors. And the support we get from our peers, the open thoughts, the collaboration, it's just great to be in an environment where we can foster that culture. >> And one of the things too, tell me about your background. Is your education background in a STEM field? Your engineering background? >> Yes. >> Yes, so talk to us about one of the things that's also challenging that we're all very familiar with, with women in technical roles, is the under representation, but it's also being able to retain women. You are establishing a great tech career yourself, what's your advice for inspiring your generation, and then the younger generation that you're helping to hire here at Facebook, to stay in technology. >> So cloud computing or technology, I mean we all have to pay it forward. I think we as women who are in influential positions and can make an impact on the younger generation I think need to absolutely do a lot more to pay it forward. It is not only with awareness but also wherever, whenever you get opportunities try to mentor students. Early on in their career encourage them to believe in themselves, to reach out for mentors and sponsors, do networking, which I think in general girls and women they shy away from it. I would say networking, meeting with people in the industry, they would be learning a lot more early on in their career. >> Great advice. One of the things that's also fantastic, and a first for this 7th annual CloudNOW event, is its, not only is it sold out, they're expecting over 300 attendees here tonight, both men and women, but also there was no advertising for the selling of tickets, so this was all word of mouth from the sponsors, Facebook, Google, Intel, past winners like yourself. So Jocelyn talked about that ground swell, that momentum that we're all feeling, what are your expectations for the event tonight? >> First of all we are super thrilled and excited. Like when I look at the list of the guest list, when I look at the speakers, when I look at the winners. I mean it was just the word of mouth as we started telling who will be the speakers and we will have a VC panel, and the winners. I think the word of mouth really paid it forward and we're super thrilled to have about close to 300 people attending the evening tonight. >> And there's a really nice diverse set of winners you mentioned. I was chatting with Jocelyn earlier and this is the first year that they've been able to recognize female, technical founders who are venture backed. And there's a variety of technologies, we're going to be speaking with all the winners tonight from the smart homes, the smart apartments technology, to blockchain, intelligence on blockchain, so the diversity there, and also not just the technologies but also the background of some of these entrepreneurs who, one of them is a lawyer who was a practicing attorney for 17 years founding Digitory Legal. Just really interesting backgrounds, what are your thoughts on that? >> So I think when we looked we had more than 100 nominees. It was very very hard, and I was also part of the committee as we were going through the winner, choosing the winners. It was very hard. But one of the things we really wanted to make sure was that we had a diverse set of winners. Not only from their backgrounds, but also the technology domain they were representing, which is very very important. And as we were going through the planning deck, and looking at the presentations, I can't wait to hear what they have to present. It is so thrilling to see the accomplishments and what they have achieved in their respective fields. >> And we're excited as well. Syamala thanks for taking time to stop by and join us on the program tonight, and it was good to see you again. >> Thank you so much Lisa, it's been a pleasure being here. Thank You >> Excellent. We want to thank you for watching Lisa Martin on the ground at Facebook for the Cube. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)