Flying into the Metaverse Through Books and Culture is honored to interview today Karen Alexander, Julie Smithson, and Christine Hill Hobby of XR Women.
This interview was recorded during the AWE USA, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California, in June 2022.
XR Women is a worldwide network of professionals that meet weekly in virtual worlds and where a distinguished list of XR industry speakers has appeared.
Today I’m here with Julie Smithson, Co-Founder XR Women | Co-Founder of MetaVRse, Businesswoman, Wife, Mother and Woman in Tech, to use her strengths and knowledge to change Education with Technology Experience, Karen Alexander, Co-Founder XR Women | Director XRconnectED, a sought-after consultant on building immersive learning programs with extensive connections across the XR industry and academia and co-founder of XR Women, and Christine Hil Hobbi, Programming Committee Member XR Women, Experienced Chief Strategist with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry.
This is the video interview:
Found below the key points:
0:00:00 – Opening Theme
0:00:08 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “Opening the interview”
0:00:19 – JULIE SMITHSON, KAREN ALEXANDER, CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “Welcome”
0:00:20 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “Welcome”
0:00:31 – KAREN ALEXANDER | Co-Founder XR Women | Director XRconnectED: “Hello”
0:00:37 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “Who are XR WOMEN? What do you do?”
0:01:51 – KAREN ALEXANDER: “Presentation Karen Alexander and XR Women”
0:02:28 – JULIE SMITHSON | Co-Founder of MetaVRse and XR Women: “Presentation Julie Smithson”
0:02:46 – CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI | Programming Committee Member XR Women: “Presentation Christine Hill Hobbi”
0:03:12 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, wife, mother and woman in technology”
0:04:05 – JULIE SMITHSON: “The voice of Women”
0:04:22 – KAREN ALEXANDER: “The success of Women in the XR industry”
0:04:50 – CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “No VR headsets, download Virbela”
0:05:02 – KAREN ALEXANDER: “XR Women.com – https://www.xrwomen.com“
0:05:47 – CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “XR Women meeting”
0:05:53 – JULIE SMITHSON: “When do XR Women meet?”
0:06:20 – CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “Many women, many interesting projects. Registration of XR Women meetings”
0:06:40 – KAREN ALEXANDER: “Community, networking, new people, every Wednesday”
0:07:03 – CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “This is the first time in person for me at AWE 2022”
0:07:17 – JULIE SMITHSON: “Every woman is an XR Women”
0:07:50 – JULIE SMITHSON, KAREN ALEXANDER, CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI: “Thank you all. Thank you AWE 2022”
0:07:58 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “Thank you JULIE SMITHSON, KAREN ALEXANDER, CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI”
0:08:06 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI: “Who I am?”
0:08:31 – Closing Theme – “Become sponsor of the “Flying Into The Metaverse Through Books & Culture”
WHO ARE XR WOMEN
XR Women was established in 2020 as a way to connect, educate, and support women and allies who are making waves in Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality.
From the XR WOMEN website:
In the fall of 2020, Karen Alexander, Sarah Klein, Sophia Moshasha, and Julie Smithson set out to fill a gap in the broader XR community.
After a brief planning period, they launched their first XR Women Meeting in November of 2020 in iLRN’s Virbela campus.
Much to their surprise, an overwhelming number of women showed up. Those women have become core members and have invested their time, skills, and energy to helping this community grow.
Nearly a year later, XR Women is one of the most active, far reaching women’s organizations within the industry. Our membership and team continues to grow and we are honored to host an inclusive space for all in the metaverse.
XR Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xrwomenglobal/ (@xrwomenglobal)
XR Women on Twitter: https://twitter.com/xrwomenglobal (@xrwomenglobal)
MEET THE FOUNDERS
KAREN ALEXANDER – Co-Founder XR WOMEN
SARAH KLEIN – Co-Founder XR WOMEN
SOPHIA MOSHASHA – Co-Founder XR WOMEN
JULIE SMITHSON – Co-Founder XR WOMEN
MEET THE TEAM
TRICIA BLAKE – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
CHRISTINE HILL HOBBI – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
GINNA LAMBERT – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
WENDY SHERMAN – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
CAROLINE DENNIS – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
COLLEEN BIELITZ – Members of the “XR Women Leadership Team”
OFFICIAL DATABASE XR WOMEN – JOIN XR WOMAN
This database exists to connect, promote, and uplift XR Women and provides a pathway for your voices to be heard, your work to be honored, and your skills respected and well utilized.
Join XR Woman at this link: https://forms.gle/TvjpzBMQTBDsWz6S9
100 XR WOMEN EVENT CELEBRATION 2022 NEW YORK
XR WOMEN are planning a celebration for 100 XR Women events and our 2nd Anniversary in New York in November ~ 17-18. You can’t miss it!
It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, wife, mother and woman in technology. I am the first to find so many difficulties. From managing children while working or going to fairs to continue learning and growing our knowledge, to demonstrating that in addition to the appearance and beauty of being a woman, there can be a great culture in technology and great resources to be made to an XR world created on an almost entirely male standard. – (Cecilia Lascialfari)
GATHERVERSE.LIVE
GatherVerse continues to grow with its exceptional community and create very special events on the GatherVerse.live platform.
The next must-see event will be GatherVerse EU SUMMIT on 20th and 21th September. Find all references here: GatherVerse EU
The “Flying Into The Metaverse Through Books & Culture” project is featured on the platform and you can find the videos in the playlist dedicated to this link.
AWE EU – LISBON PORTUGAL
The next AWE appointment will be in Europe and we can’t wait for it to arrive soon! On 20 and 21 October we will all physically meet in Lisbon for AWE EU. You still have time to sign up using the ARea6DoF discount code. See you in Lisbon!
ARea6DoF in agreement with AWE, therefore offers the opportunity to have a 20% discount on the ticket price, to those who want to participate in AWE EU 2022.
ONLY 50 people/companies can take advantage of the discount I published here on my site…
It’s not too soon to get your ticket for AWE EU with the discount!!!Find below the discount code to enter during the ticket purchase procedure and also find the link that takes you directly to a page where the discount is already applied (you can follow one of the two procedures).
This is the discount code: 22CLD
THIS IS THE DIRECT LINK:
HTTPS://TICKETS.AWEXR.COM/EU-2022/BEGIN?CODE=22CLD
Cecilia is also an artist, photographer, videomaker, community manager and International Journalist. She is the organizer of AWE Nite Florence and she is the Italian Representative for Artivive.
Cecilia is a member of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA is a member of the EurAI/ECCAI) which includes professionals from the most important research institutions and Italian universities.
Cecilia created a project called “Flying Into The Metaverse Through Books & Culture”, which is a series of interviews with the most important professionals in the XR field and manages an online Journal called ARea6DoF, registered to the Italian Court, where she writes the articles about the different topics she is concerned with.