Recently MIPtalk host Brad Rowe had the great pleasure to sit down with the founder of Echo Parenting & Education in LA.

Ruth Beaglehole’s story begins in New Zealand; born to Academic parents, with one sister and two brothers. Ruth’s childhood was “complicated”, to use her own words. Her own struggle would become Ruth’s biggest asset.

Her story is triumphant, disturbing, lovely and delivered with the indomitable wry wit many have come to know her by.

From her modest beginnings in the 1970s cutting her teeth on the relevant parenting and teaching issues of the day, she discovered and honed a philosophy that is changing the way we look at our children.  She has had a major impact through her work with LAUSD teachers, founding a Teen Mother Program, creating the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting and finally transforming her works into the center that bears the name of the neighborhood it was developed in – The Echo Parenting and Education Center.

This is an interview you won’t forget.

We’re back from our summer hiatus. This week’s guest is former Ning.com CEO Gina Bianchini.

I met Gina with a group of friends down in Cabo San Lucas last year.  While enjoying good Mexican food, drink, and sunsets, we got to talking about what is important in the world and what is missing from the business, political and media conversations these days.

What we settled on was a realization that there is a lack of humanity and compassion in how people communicate with each other in these realms.

Together with Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, Gina founded Ning, an online platform for people to create their own social networks in October 2005.   She left the company in March of 2010 to serve as an executive in residence at the Andreesen Horowitz venture firm.

Some time passed and I needed to follow up with her and thought it would be great to get her on film to talk about a new business venture she is launching in Palo Alto.  I asked her why she is working literally blocks from her alma mater Stanford.  For as worldly as she is in some ways, at heart she’s a Silicon Valley girl: born and raised in the shadow of Apple in Cupertino, a Stanford girl and now ten plus years in business in Palo Alto.  It seems like she may be here to stay.  And why not?

Join MIPtalk for a conversation with one of the nicest people around and a look into one of the most brilliant entrepreneurial minds of our day.

Hope you enjoy the conversation.

Lots more cool stuff on the horizon this fall.

Brad

Russ Feingold, the former US Senator from Wisconsin, is taking the campaign finance world by storm.  His Progressives United movement is working to tackle “Super PACs” and the corporate influence he feels is bastardizing democracy.  This is a critical time for Russ.  Continue pushing for change through his organization or go for another opening in the US Senate or the governorship of Wisconsin.

As Feingold so eloquently said in this speech:

Sound off in the comments.

When technology entrepreneurs need a seasoned advisor the man they often turn to is our guest attorney Rick Citron.

I recently met Rick at the iPad conference and wanted to speak with him about the ever evolving role of technology in our work and home lives.

He’s a partner in the firm of Citron and Deutsch is an entrepreneur and attorney specializing in entrepreneurial law.  Rick has contributed to the success stories of hundreds of companies, utilizing his experience and the synergy of a carefully nurtured network of professionals and businessmen. The firms clients have included Broadcom, Scosche Industries, Kistler Aerospace, Spacehab, Adventure Travel Magazine, Pfanner Communications, and Frontiers Magazine.  Rick graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Statistics, and an MBA in Marketing.  His law degree is from UCLA.

Hope you enjoy the conversation.

Until next time,

Brad

Part 2 of our discussion with Tiffany Shlain, director of Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology.

We discuss her new film, the lessons of her late father author/surgeon Leonard Shlain, her hopes for the role of technology in our lives and more.

For additional reference, check out this interview that Tiffany gave at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival

We’ll be talking to Tiffany again before her film gets released theatrically. We hope you enjoy the interview.

Brad and Noam

Tiffany Shlain, celebrated filmmaker and renowned founder of The Webby Awards, wants you to GET CONNECTED. And she has a fascinating story to tell.

In her new film Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology, she rallies audiences to participate in a “Declaration of Interdependence”  that celebrates human connection throughout time and the role that technology and social media has in shaping our future.

You can see the trailer here:

Here’s what she says in her director’s statement about the film:

I hope that “Connected,” will help create a global conversation about what it means to be connected in the 21st century.  I believe that by engaging people to talk about connectedness in their own lives and in the world, the ripple effect of these conversations will have far reaching impact.  Appreciating that this is a huge subject, I employ many tactics (humor, animation, archival and my own personal story) to attempt to untangle what interdependence and connectedness mean in terms of the history of the human species and moving forward. Through this journey, I wield a large magnifying glass to look at some of the absurd and beautiful behaviors of our species and our world. While the core components of humans desire to be “connected,” have not changed since we first appeared on this planet, I believe a new zeitgeist is emerging through all these new technologies that are making our world smaller and more intertwined.

In Part 1 of our interview, we talk about Tiffany’s upbringing, the work of her father (the late surgeon and author Leonard Shlain), her early career as a filmmaker and how she founded the Webbys.

Tiffany is an incredibly inspiring storyteller and we hope you enjoy hearing what she has to say.

Check out one of her TED talks for last year:

Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments about what you do to stay connected.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Brad and Noam

As many of you know, MIPtalk is partnered with The CMO Club, a private membership organization that brings together some of the world’s leading Chief Marketing Officers.

During the recent CMO Thought Leadership Summit in San Francisco, we talked to a range of CMOs about the changes in their industry in 2010 and the things they learned that will impact their business in 2011 and beyond.

One of our favorite marketing-centric interviews from last year’s spring summit was Terri Graham, head of marketing for the fast food chain Jack in the Box (So.Yummy.)

We caught up with her again to find out why an organization like The CMO Club is useful for her and what we can look forward to from her company this year.

What a view! But the ride up La Brea was treacherous dodging cars and hipsters. Man does Los Angeles need some urban bike trails! See map of LA and its bike trails. Ouch.

I think we should have a ‘walk / bike grid’ with dedicated trails every mile east to west and north to south. It would take cars off the road and encourage good exercise and green commuting.

What is YOUR city doing to accommodate bikers and provide a more ‘green’ environment for those who want some exercise or just want to go out for some fresh air? Would our representatives even listen to our requests?

Join the conversation!

Where are all the bike trails?

You might not recognize the names: Christina-Taylor Green. “Dot” Morris. John Roll. Phyllis Schneck. Dorwan Stoddard. “Gabe” Zimmerman.

But you probably know their story. On January 8, 2011, they were part of a group of roughly 30 people attending a constituent meeting called “Congress on Your Corner” being held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a Safeway supermarket in Tucson, Arizona. Shortly after 10am, 22 year old Jared Loughner approached the gathering and shot Representative Giffords in the head before firing indiscriminately at others in the crowd. Those pictured above were killed and 14 others were severely injured. Giffords survived and doctors have been very optimistic about her slow recovery.

In the days after the attack, the national dialogue devolved into blame and recrimination about whether or not heated political rhetoric contributed to Loughner’s actions. When President Obama arrived in Tucson for a memorial this past week he gave an impassioned speech that reminded us of our shared humanity and implored us to do and be better so we could live up to the promise that 9-year old victim Christina Taylor Green saw in America.

Photographer & Activist Ann-Eve Cunningham

For our first show of 2011, we spoke to Tucson resident Ann-Eve Cunningham, a renowned photographer and activist who works for Arizona Public Media. As one of the organizers of the Christina Taylor Green memorial fund, she shares her thoughts on the events of the past week and how the community is beginning to heal.

For more information on what you can do to help please visit:

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona

To send sympathy cards to the family of Christina Taylor Green or any other victims (they’ll forward your letters to the appropriate individuals) write to:

Christina Taylor Green Memorial Fund
PO Box 65000
Tucson, Arizona 85728

Let’s all keep the victims, their families and friends in our thoughts.

Brad and Noam

Don’t… tuck… ever!

This great article on 4 Reasons Men Should Not Tuck in a Shirt really made me laugh… and then I thought, “what the heck have I been doing all these years?”.

Although the author of the article is adamantly against tucking, there are a range of differing view points on this VERY controversial topic.

Countless videos on YouTube are devoted to the topic, including this one:

What are your thoughts?

To tuck or not to tuck…?

Young Bradley Rowe violates Rule #2!