Carpooling with Maghan McDowell

I'd like to think of myself as a savvy online shopper. I purchase household items, clothes and books online so frequently, I'm on a first-name basis with the UPS man. So the buzz from new technology and emerging players entering the ecommerce space is promising to see, if not a little overwhelming for the average consumer. Lucky for me, my dear friend Maghan McDowell, a technology journalist at Women's Wear Daily, recently helped explain all the moving pieces.

On a rainy afternoon, we discuss the new customer purchase path, replete with options from chatbots, AI, delivery services, and in-store pickup for that perfect holiday sweater. 

If you like these interviews or not, I'd love to hear your feedback. Don't worry, I have thick skin. I work in PR. And on behalf of Yang Communications, have a safe and merry holiday season. See you in 2017. 

Carpooling with Anh Co Tran

My latest back seat car interview is with celebrity hairstylist Anh Co Tran. When he's not coiffing hair for the Hollywood elite, he and his team set up temporary shop in other major U.S. cities, perfecting that "lived-in hair," a now trademarked term.

I got a chance to catch up with him during his latest San Francisco Bay Area visit, a city he tells me he'd love to frequent more. An admitted technophile with thoughts on when robots will start overtaking his craft, there's much more to this man than really good hair.

Behind the scenes.

Carpooling with Dennis Mortensen

I'm fortunate to meet a lot of interesting people while working in tech. Some of them have good stories to share. And some of them are just downright fascinating to me.

So I've decided to interview the most interesting people I've come across in technology, fashion and entertainment. And share it here on my blog when I can.

The purpose of these interviews is to illuminate an aspect of my guest that most people don't already know. 

If appropriate, I also throw in a few questions about style and wardrobe choices because...I get to. It's my blog. Part of why I may find my guests interesting is because their style has made an impression on me. More than likely, I probably have admired it from afar.

When the idea about these interviews hatched, it was my luck that my friend Dennis Mortensen was visiting SF. For the last few years, Dennis and his team at x.ai have been working on AI powered personal assistants that help take the pain of email ping pong out of scheduling meetings.

In the backseat of my car, we talk about where the idea came from and how people are responding to Amy today.

For the record, I've been testing Amy out for the last few months and my clients wig out when they discover she's not human. Amy has helped me tackle the back and forth emails it usually takes to schedule a call, saving me hours of my human time. And Amy only gets smarter with my preferences the more I use her. 

It was apropos that when the idea for this interview came up, I had Amy set the meeting up with Dennis who also uses Amy. So Amy is now interacting with...herself. A little trippy? Yes. But every little curveball I tried to confuse her with, she never faltered. She passed my Turing test.

Try Amy out yourself. Get on the waitlist now.

A huge shout out to my friends Ed and Ben from Be Media for making everything look and sound stellar. So lucky to work with this dream team.