[MUSIC PLAYING]
SIERRA RAMIREZ:
Coming to the stage,
we have founder and CEO of
Daily Dress Me, Nina Vir.
Fashion branding digital media
strategist, Ishmael Mayhew.
Celebrity fashion designer
and tech innovator,
the designer of this stunning
LED dress I'm wearing,
Dalia MacPhee.
And experience design lead for
Jacquard by Google, Nina Walia.
3D designer, entrepreneur,
digital sculptor,
and co-founder of
PicSuite, Janne Kyttanen.
BRIA SULLIVAN: Hi, everybody.
My name is Bria Sullivan.
I'm a software engineer
here at Google,
and I am really excited to
moderate this panel of people
who have been able to
bridge the gap between tech
and their passion.
Because I'm a
software engineer, I'm
very passionate about coding,
but I'm also a designer.
I'm a very artistic person.
And I like to think of
coding and all of tech
in general, as being a
canvas because you can--
with programming-- create
anything that you want.
Everything that is on
YouTube and everything
that they've been
able to accomplish,
is because of innovators,
and programmers, and people
who are passionate about that.
So let's get started.
So can I first start
off with everybody
introducing themselves
and saying a little bit
about their background.
You can start.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: So my
name's Ishmael Mayhew.
I'm a digital media strategist.
I also do a lot of coding.
And I've always loved fashion.
Fashion is actually a
very new industry for me,
but I've always
secretly been involved--
for a lot of reasons--
since I was a young kid.
And so this is really full
circle for me, as well.
NINA WALIA: I'm Nina, and
I'm the founder Daily Dress
Me, where we tell you what
to wear based on the weather.
And this all works by using
our proprietary algorithm.
And I started Daily Dress
Me when I was in high school
actually, and now I'm 23
and working on it full time.
That's pretty much it.
DALIA MACPHEE: Hi, my
name is Dahlia MacPhee,
and I'm the designer of
Sierra Ramirez's dress.
I'm not sure if you
saw it, you have
to see it a little bit in
the dark, to see it light up.
I own a clothing line,
mainly dresses and gowns.
I started that 18
years ago so I'm
not going to tell how old I
was, but I was a little younger.
And I started with 10
dresses actually, for prom,
and within one
year, the line was
in 1,500 stores and most
major department stores.
But I always had a dream to
merge technology with fashion.
14 years ago, I actually
launched the first light
up jeans in the world.
Took them to Macy's
and Macy's said,
this is either going to be
our biggest hit or our biggest
flop, and in one month, they
were Macy's biggest flop.
But I didn't give up.
Every good idea has it's
time and obviously, today
was the time.
NINA WALIA: Hi.
I'm Nina Walia, and I am
experience design lead
for Jacquard by Google.
I'll tell you a little bit about
what that means more later,
but Jacquard by Google,
what we're doing
is for making your
clothes interactive.
Hopefully you guys
got to see the demo.
If not, come find me later.
I've also done interaction
design or experience design
for Nike.
I did the Nike Plus fuel band.
I did it for Public
Broadcasting.
I used to work with shows
like "Sesame Street"
and probably all the shows
you guys grew up watching.
And on this side, I love music.
I used to be a DJ, and
I'm a community organizer.
JANNE KYTTANEN: So my
name is Janne Kyttanen.
I have a very, very long
background in 3D printing,
especially, so besides
designing in 3D,
I'm sculpting and
doing my artwork.
We also have a
venture capital fund,
and we design technology
organizations from scratch,
ourselves.
And especially, within
did the real move
of cross-polanizing technology
like 3D technologies,
augmented reality, virtual
reality, sometimes fashion
as well, and trying to find
some new kinds of ventures
within these crossroads.
And PicSuite, if everybody had
some ice pops outside already?
[CHEERING]
Yes?
Did everybody like it?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
JANNE KYTTANEN: So that
is a very good example
of the types of ventures
that we're busy with again
you might not imagine
creating a search engine
meeting 3-D printing
meeting food every day.
So if anybody has some ideas
for a new kind of ventures
which are completely
crazy then let me know
BRIA SULLIVAN: Well, all of you
have really incredible careers.
I was reading all of your
bios when they sent them to me
and every single one
was just mind blowing.
But I'm sure you didn't
start there so how
has your profession
changed since you first
started your career?
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: Oh my gosh.
For me, it's changed a lot.
The technology
industry, in general,
changes probably every day.
There's always new discoveries.
It's like science.
It changes.
And people need changes, and how
people live their lives change.
So that naturally happens,
and there's always
something different
that's thrown at you
and there's a new
problem to solve.
But I also think
the overall makeup
of how any industry has changed
a lot since I've started.
We hear this buzzword
of millennials a lot,
and millennials
have really changed
the face of what corporate
America looks like,
and how it operates, and how
young professionals are serving
their audiences or the world.
BRIA SULLIVAN: I love
millennials so much.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: Me too.
BRIA SULLIVAN: I will defend
millennials to the death.
I love them.
NINA VIR: For me,
my actual profession
has changed a ton because
when I started my career,
I was in high school, and
this wasn't really a career.
It was something I
was doing for fun.
It was literally,
something I made
for myself because every
morning, I'd wake up.
I'd check the weather.
And then, I decide what to wear.
And so over the years, it
grew really organically,
and now, it is my career.
And I think it's a
really interesting time
to be in between retail,
commerce, and tech.
If you look around, so many
stores that I grew up with,
are now going
bankrupt and you're
seeing this new
crop of brands that
are really catering
to millennials
and our preferences.
Customers have more choices,
more options than ever,
right at their fingertips.
And the way that they're
being advertised to,
is very different now.
It's very native, very organic.
And so all of this is happening,
and it's just really exciting
to see how it evolves.
DALIA MACPHEE:
Well I always say,
fashion is the last
frontier because I
feel like every other industry
has progressed so much--
you think of cars, and phones,
and yet, where's our fashion?
It should be doing so much
more, which, thank goodness,
we're finally getting there.
But 18 years ago, in the fashion
industry, our fashion shoots--
we were printing
catalogs on paper.
The photography was being
done by Hasselblad cameras
on real old school film.
Some of our photographers know
that we were using drum scans.
It was very expensive.
Now, obviously,
everyone can do--
not everyone-- but
professional fashion
shoots, it's like
you take the shoot
and tomorrow, you've got the
digital images out there.
So that's a big thing.
18 years ago,
there wasn't really
the volume of online
shopping that there
is now, and then, information.
You really had to be
a fashion insider,
to know what was going to
be big the next season.
Now, we have to keep up because
you guys know before us, what
the next trend is.
And then, I think the
last thing is really
being able to touch people--
touch the whole
world, pretty much,
with the touch of a button.
You come out with something
and everyone's able to see it
instantly, and that's huge.
NINA WALIA: To that
point, my profession
didn't exist when I
started in my career.
So after college, I went
to graduate school--
really super program
which was basically,
computers as an expressive
medium so doing really
cool creative stuff
with computers.
And we-- this was many years
ago-- and a bunch of us
got together and
made these costumes
that we programmed so
that the way you move,
could modulate sound and music.
So you could DJ with your
body and do a performance.
It was early days.
So we're doing all this stuff,
but my friends in my program
were like, yeah,
that's cool, but how
are you going to get a job?
What are you going
to do with that?
And I was like, oh,
I guess you're right.
And at first, I was like, let
me do something practical.
You're right.
But then, like two
or three years later,
the Nintendo Wii came
out, the iPhone came out--
using the same
technologies we were using
to do all that modulation.
Do you guys know what
an accelerometer is?
Have you heard that word?
See, everyone knows
what it is now.
When it started,
it wasn't a thing.
So I'm sure there will be
even more new stuff coming up,
as you guys are coming up, too.
JANNE KYTTANEN: I would
answer that a little bit
in a different way.
Of course, in my last 20
years, last [INAUDIBLE] a lot
of things have changed.
New technologies and
people express themselves
in different ways and all that.
But I would have advice
for everybody here--
all the younger crowd--
don't be entertained,
but be the entertainer.
So when I was at
school 20 years ago,
I was the only kid at
school who had a computer.
And of course, I was
fighting against a system
and we had these old tools and
everybody was drawing by hand.
And I was told by my
peers, that, quote,
that thing-- computer--
will kill your creativity.
And I said, yeah, and you're
going to be so unemployed.
So again, to that note,
be the entertainer.
And to all the YouTube stars
here, in today's world,
it's a lot easier than when I
was growing up 20 years ago.
We didn't have YouTube,
and it was a lot more
difficult to get out there.
And to your point, we
didn't have online shopping.
Any of these things.
So all these thoughts
are available
so really, really go
out there and kick ass.
BRIA SULLIVAN: I agree.
Did you have a plan for
success when you first
started your career--
I'll start with you.
We've been starting on this
end so we can start on that end
this time.
JANNE KYTTANEN: If I had a plan?
I only had one plan,
which is to find happiness
and also, everybody said
in the previous panel,
about there's a lot of talk
about passion, try to find
that inner core, trying
to find your passion
and really stay true to that.
And if you find that, it's
going to be a lot easier.
You don't actually have to work.
You don't have to worry about
anything because you're happy
every single day,
working on what you love.
BRIA SULLIVAN: What I
will say, that people--
especially when I
was in high school--
I was passionate about some
weird things or whatever,
but I still didn't know
exactly where I was going,
and I think I want to
reiterate that that's OK
if you don't have a passion.
You don't have to force
passion on yourself.
There are people well
into their 40s and 50s,
that don't discover
what they wanted to do
or what their passion was.
It's not something that
you can just look up.
It's something that the
universe presents itself to you.
Sorry, go on.
NINA WALIA: I think I'll say
two things about my plan.
One is, I'm a child
of immigrants.
My parents came over from
another country and yeah,
they had their education,
but that doesn't always
mean a whole lot
when you show up
and you look really different.
And so I came up watching
my parents hustle
so hard to get us to where we
are, and watching that, to me,
there was no other choice.
It's like there is
success or what else?
Because they worked so hard.
I watched that.
And I was just going
to carry that on.
So that's one part,
and the second part
is, part of watching that, put
that like practicality in me.
It's like dreams, but
also, I need a paycheck.
So what I've realized is,
I could be in any industry
through technology.
So as I was mentioning
to you guys before,
I've worked in
media and TV shows.
I worked at Nike,
which was awesome
because I was a sneaker-head.
I work in fashion now.
Everything you can imagine--
every industry-- they need
is technological things.
So you can be anywhere,
using that knowledge.
So I think that was a
major part of my plan,
I'm going take this practical
skill set and be wherever.
DALIA MACPHEE: Well I think
because I started so young,
everyone is saying passion
which, obviously, is huge,
following a dream.
That's huge as well.
I grew up riding
and jumping horses,
and anytime I was
afraid, my trainer
would always say, throw
your heart over the jump
and follow it.
But I really think, the first
year, my collection blew up
and people always said,
well, how did you do it?
I had no fear because I hadn't
been tainted by the world yet.
That's the honest
truth so I hope
you guys hear this because
you're so powerful right now.
Don't let anyone tell you
who you are or what you can
or cannot do.
I had no fear.
I believed I could do anything.
And so nothing held me back.
And had a dream,
and I had a passion,
and I guess that was the plan.
NINA VIR: For me,
that was great,
and I totally agree with it.
Because I started young, as
well, and a lot of people
are so surprised when they
hear that, but for me,
I don't know any different.
And I think I was almost
naive, in a sense,
and I was daunted by the world,
either, because I hadn't really
seen it.
And I'm still young
now, too, so I still
can be a lot more
bold than people
who have to support
a family or have
all these responsibilities.
But as far as when I was in high
school and starting my career--
I guess-- I didn't have a
specific plan for success.
I didn't think of it like that.
But what I did think about
was, what did I enjoy doing?
What was I good At and how
could I combine those two things
into a career?
And if I was able to, I knew I
would consider that a success.
And so I was always
very creative.
I knew I wanted to do
something on my own.
I was very intrigued
by entrepreneurship.
And so, I guess, marrying
all those three things,
is what I would have considered
to be a success, at the time.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: I
have never had a plan.
I still don't have a plan.
I've always clawed my way--
I've always had a goal,
and so I've always
spent my life setting
milestones and having a vision.
I remember Darren and John
saying, seeing yourself there,
no matter what
circumstance you are in.
And some of you are already
tainted by the world.
You guys are facing unimaginable
trials and circumstances.
I did when I was this age, and
I was raised by my grandmother.
And there was never
really a plan for my life
because the plan wasn't to
be raised by my grandmother.
So I've always set milestones,
and I've always clawed my way
to where I wanted to be.
And always, set a vision for
how I wanted to see my life.
And that always changed,
too, because you
get inspired by new things.
And I don't want
anyone in this room
to feel married to any industry
or even any vision to yourself.
Just know what you want.
I love what you said, you
just wanted to be happy.
I think that's one of the
most important goals anybody
could ever ask for, is
just to choose to be happy.
And be good to people,
and be good to yourself.
And think of ways that you can
use your gifts and your talents
to give back to the world.
BRIA SULLIVAN: Yes
that was beautiful.
One word that you
used, milestone, that's
one of my favorite words.
Because goals and dreams
and stuff can sometimes
be arbitrary, but I feel
when you have milestones,
it doesn't feel
like it's the end.
It's almost a stepping stone.
Sometimes people view
goals as that's the end.
Now I got here, now what?
So I like that.
But I think you did have a
plan to get to each milestone,
right?
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: I
kind of had a plan.
I just figured
things out as I went.
BRIA SULLIVAN: But
you got there, though.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: Yeah, I did.
BRIA SULLIVAN: I was
listening to a podcast
and I heard something that
said, a goal without a plan
is just a wish.
And I was like, read me.
So the next thing--
we only have, like
what, 15 minutes left?
I'm going to go over because
the last person went over
so I'm sorry.
If you had to pick
one thing, what
has been a major highlight
of your career, thus far?
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: The major the
major highlight of my career,
I guess, isn't
anything career-based.
Just any time I
hear someone tell me
that whatever I've done in
my career or in my business,
has positively impacted them
and motivated them to get up
in their darkest
moments, I think
that is a highlight for me.
NINA VIR: Whenever I get emails
from my users who tell me
about how Daily Dress Me
has made their lives better
and streamlined their
morning routines--
it's always really touching,
and I love receiving those.
DALIA MACPHEE:
Well, I'm Canadian,
and I was honored by the
Consul General of Canada
a few years ago, and that
was a big deal for me.
Felt very proud.
Felt like I was
representing my country.
NINA WALIA: That's awesome.
[APPLAUSE]
I always have two-part answers.
One, my highlight is
always the latest thing
that I did so right now,
it's our jacket with Levis.
So you can go get this right
now in any Levi's store--
well, most Levi's stores.
And it's interactive.
It's pretty cool.
And then, kind of similar
to what you were saying,
I got to work with
Michelle Obama's office
on a digital campaign to
help kids be more active,
and that always
feels super good.
[APPLAUSE]
JANNE KYTTANEN: I would say
the proudest thing for me,
would be the next thing
that I haven't done yet.
So I don't really like
reminiscing of the past.
I didn't write a book.
I probably should have.
All those kind of things.
I didn't write a memoir.
No, I just want to make
the next thing, that
is the craziest, weirdest shit
that you could ever imagine.
I don't yet know what it is,
but that's the next thing.
[APPLAUSE]
BRIA SULLIVAN: So
piggybacking off of that,
I'm going to ask
one last question
and we'll go to the audience.
But if we don't have time
to have everyone answer,
if just maybe, two
people want to interject.
What is a tech-related path
that you have not gone down yet,
but are interested in exploring?
We kind of want to know,
what do you guys want to--
what's a cool thing to go
into next, that any of you
might be excited about.
Because I know he's been
talking about, what is it?
Tell me.
Or he's trying to discover it.
NINA WALIA: Public service.
My generation, we
need to step up.
It doesn't have to be
all the same people we've
been seeing as
members of Congress,
as the people representing
you in your city.
So something not
tech-related I want to do.
BRIA SULLIVAN: One more?
JANNE KYTTANEN:
I'm still thinking.
Somebody else.
BRIA SULLIVAN: Anyone else?
And then we'll go
into the audience.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: I think, just to
piggyback off of what she just
said, also, social issues.
I'd love to see some
technological innovations
in mobilizing communities.
And really, not just mobilizing
communities politically,
but also, inspiring people of
several different backgrounds
and multicultural
backgrounds and origins,
to really be active and
powerful in their communities.
And use that technology to
grow that and make the world
a better place.
BRIA SULLIVAN: Awesome.
Let's give our panel
a round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
How many questions
do we have time for?
We have time for one question.
Who's going to ask our
panel, one question?
SPEAKER: How did you
find your passion?
BRIA SULLIVAN:
How did you find--
I think everyone
should answer that.
ISHMAEL MAYHEW: My
passion found me.
I think there comes
a point in life--
if we're all being realistic--
where you hit rock bottom.
Like Darren said earlier,
what you put on Instagram
is your best moment, But
there's a lot of other moments
that are very
discouraging, where you
want to give up on yourself.
And so, the magic happens
when you apply grit,
and you can't have
magic without grit.
So don't get discouraged by the
grit and the mundane moments
and the unglamorous moments.
Where your throat is sore, and
you don't want to keep working,
and you're tired.
Use those moments to
motivate you to make magic.
[APPLAUSE]
NINA VIR: One thing
I would say is
to not be so quick to define
your passion because it's often
not something like
fashion or tech.
It might be a feeling, like
accomplishing goals or solving
problems-- things like that.
And so don't look to
put a box around it
and just really
look out for things
that you intrinsically enjoy it.
And things you're
also very good at.
DALIA MACPHEE: That's good.
I always say that, if you
can't stop thinking about it
and your desire to
do it is greater
than your fear of failure, then
you know you've hit something.
And that's changed
for me over the years,
but technically
speaking, it's always
been about creating something.
[APPLAUSE]
NINA WALIA: I think
for me, it was
like someone mentioned
before, a little bit of what
I don't like to do.
So I started college as
a computer science major
and I was sitting there
coding, and one day I
was like, I don't want to
do this for all my life.
I want to be a music journalist.
That's after two years of coding
so I went to journalism school.
But I already knew how to code.
I already knew how to
make things interactive.
So then I was
running around, let's
make this multimedia video.
And I'd go bother the
drama kid and let's
make an interactive
play for theater.
And it's all because I already
knew how to code stuff.
But it was just
finding that, oh,
I can do more than
just stare at a screen.
I could make this
code do cool stuff,
and I think that's
where it came from.
[APPLAUSE]
JANNE KYTTANEN: Also
kind of to your point,
I didn't have to work for it.
It found me.
But also, it pretty much
finds me every-- well not
any more, every
single night-- but I
would wake up in the middle
of the night with an idea.
So you have a higher
power controlling you.
So it makes you kind of let
go and just enjoy the ride.
There's nothing that we
have to fight for, in a way.
But I can also imagine,
that a lot of people, it
might not come naturally.
So I have one word for
that, which is curiosity.
Stay curious, and try
to find the weirdest--
meet the weird people.
Go to the park and
look at the grass.
And go to the library
and read the weird book.
You might find inspiration in
areas where you might never
imagine it to happen to you.
And ask questions, and
meet a lot of people,
and also, meet a
lot of older people.
Ask them about their
experiences through life.
[APPLAUSE]
BRIA SULLIVAN: I want
to thank all of you
for coming out today.
I know coming to any part of LA
is really difficult, especially
over here.
And I'm sorry that it's so cold.
But thank you all
for being here.
Are you going to be
around to talk afterward?
Yeah?
Awesome.
Can we have one more round of
applause for our panelists,
please?
[APPLAUSE]
