Heather Cabot

Heather Cabot is an award-winning journalist, author and adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is the co-author of GEEK GIRL RISING and the author of THE NEW CHARDONNAY. Cabot is a former ABC News anchor/correspondent and served as Yahoo! Web Life Editor from 2007-12 in which she reported on digital trends for TODAY, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and nationally syndicated talk shows including Rachael Ray. She has written for The Huffington Post, Parents, The Denver Post, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today and Yahoo!. Cabot first got interested in the topic of “women in tech” as a researcher on the 1995 PBS documentary “Minerva’s Machine: Women and Computing,” which profiled female pioneers, including U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. Over the last several years, she has gotten involved in the startup scene as a managing director of Golden Seeds angel investing network, a member of Pipeline Angels, and as an investor/adviser to numerous women-led ventures including, Project Gravitas, Cisse’ Trading Company and DayOne Response.

 

LEVEL UP: Rise Above The Hidden Forces Holding Your Business Back (Portfolio, February 22, 2022)

A must-read guide for small business owners navigating a critical turning point: when you either level up or give up.
It’s never been easier to start a business–and it’s never been harder to scale it. Half of new businesses in America don’t make it past five years. Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson want to help today’s entrepreneurs beat the odds by revealing the unseen tethers that keep small businesses from growing and thriving.

Drawing on firsthand experience starting and scaling multiple companies over nearly two decades, Now® cofounders Abrams and Hodgson crystallize their hard-won advice into a single how-to, got-to guide for small business owners. In Level Up, they share intense behind-the-scenes stories of building their own businesses, as well as actionable, get-it-done principles for founders looking to propel their ventures forward.

This is straight talk from the trenches on real issues like hiring, identifying a revenue strategy, recognizing when growth is a trap, and managing cash flow, from a duo that’s been there. Abrams and Hodgson also elevate and share the experiences of other successful founders including, Jules Pieri of The Grommet, Alisa Clark of Glory Professional Services, and Sheila Jordan of Knowledge Architects.

New businesses started by entrepreneurs drive net new job growth. Yet, for the last four decades, startups have increasingly struggled to overcome a system of red tape and barriers to capital and commerce. As a new generation of founders launches a flurry of firms in the wake of the pandemic recession, Abrams and Hodgson offer key insights and support to help entrepreneurs break free and get to the next level.

 

THE NEW CHARDONNAY: How Marijuana Went Mainstream (Currency, 2019)

In this colorful, engaging, and deeply reported narrative, acclaimed journalist Heather Cabot takes readers on a fascinating journey into the world of legal cannabis.

From to headlines like “Cannabis Couture on the Red Carpet” and “High Times for Brides at Cannabis Wedding Expo,” to Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart “putting the pot back into potluck” in their Emmy-nominated cooking show on VH1, to the bevy of cannabis-infused lotions and oils for sale at 800 CVS stores, Sephora and even Barneys New York, one thing is clear: marijuana has fully entered the mainstream. Here, journalist Heather Cabot chronicles the story of pot’s astonishing rebranding: how a drug that was once the subject of multi-million dollar PSA warnings managed to shed its unsavory image and land at the center of a massive, fast-growing, and legitimate industry.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the world of cannabis, Cabot explores the economic and social forces that have collided to create a frenetic gold rush mentality – one that has spurred new culinary trends, inspired innovative new uses for health, beauty and wellness, and attracted tens of millions in investor dollars while generating hundreds of thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue. Along the way, she takes readers on the road with Snoop Dogg’s long-time business partner, Ted Chung, as he scopes out new opportunities to cash in on cannabis; and behind the scenes of the glamorous life of the “Queen of Cannabis,” Elizabeth Stavola, the Jersey Shore mother of six, who grew her million dollar bet on medical marijuana into a $635-million acquisition target. We’ll go inside the secret labs where Canadian scientists are brewing up a zero-calorie, no hangover THC-beverage and to Northern California where “canna-sseurs” are fermenting pot-infused sparkling wines, designing mind-altering artisanal chocolates and herbal teas and to the Marijuana Business Convention in Las Vegas, where tens of thousands of industry professionals in suits and ties showcase the most cutting-edge technology for growing, marketing and packaging pot.

This is a book for anyone curious about how cannabis so rapidly remade its image – and who’s making money off it, and how.

 

Heather Cabot & Samantha Walravens

Samantha Walravens

Samantha Walravens is an award-winning journalist, co-author of GEEK GIRL RISING, and editor of the New York Times-acclaimed book, TORN: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood. She writes about women, career and work-life issues for publications including Forbes, The Huffington Post, Disney Interactive and Modern Mom, and speaks nationwide on the topic of work-life success. Samantha started her career as a technology reporter for PC World magazine in San Francisco, headed up marketing communications for Tumbleweed Software, and is currently uncovering the stories of women changing the face of technology for Geek Girl Rising. She is a member of Pipeline Angels, an angel network that invests in female-led companies, and serves on the Alumni Schools Committee for her alma mater, Princeton University.

 

GEEK GIRL RISING: INSIDE THE SISTERHOOD SHAKING UP TECH (St. Martin’s Press – May 23, 2017)

GEEK GIRL RISING is about the women who aren’t asking for permission to change the face of the technology industry. The book uncovers the stories of the growing number of women founding tech startups, building their own power networks, investing in each other’s businesses, creating new ways to work, crushing male hacker stereotypes and rallying their younger sisters and daughters. These rebels are out to prove that a female point of view matters in tech — and can rock big returns in business and innovation. And they are leaning on and lifting each other up along the way.

The authors, who are also mothers to “geek girls” of their own, have spent the last five years interviewing this new guard of women in tech. They include Tracy Chou (former Lead Software Engineer, Pinterest and co-founder Project Include), Dona Sarkar (Senior Software Engineer, Microsoft); Care.com founder and CEO, Sheila Marcelo; co-founder and CEO of EventBrite, Julia Hartz; YouTuber and founder of ipsy, Michelle Phan; activist and founder of digital undivided, Kathryn Finney; Debbie Sterling, founder and CEO, GoldieBlox; The BoardList founder Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: angel investor Joanne Wilson; venture capitalists Theresia Gouw and Susan Lyne and many, many more. These trailblazers are forging new paths to success for women on their own terms. It’s the latest iteration of the women’s movement, in which foot soldiers are gunning for equality as well as an equity stake in the “next big thing.”

PRAISE AND PRESS FOR GEEK GIRL RISING

“Change is finally coming to the tech world because Silicon Valley sisters are doing it for themselves. And Geek Girl Rising proves it. Essential and hopeful reading both for women – and men- who are working or want to work in the digital space. It’s been an uphill battle for women in Palo Alto but, as Heather Cabot and Samantha Walravens meticulously report, their voices are starting to be heard and as the data shows, everybody benefits.” – Joanna Coles, Chief Content Officer, Hearst magazines; Board member, Snap

“Since it’s the tech world that’s building our future, it’s vital women play a part ― and Geek Girl Rising is the roadmap for the next generation of women not just to get involved but to lead their own tech startups. The challenges are real, but Geek Girl Rising shows women how to rise to those challenges and overcome them. It’s the rallying cry we need for a diverse, connected, and sustainable world.” – Arianna Huffington, CEO Thrive Global

“I don’t know much about tech, but I do know that these pioneer women are pretty dope. Geek Girl Rising gives a much needed voice to the fearless women paving an important path in the tech world, while forming a lasting sisterhood along the way.” – Kelly Ripa

“Geek Girl Rising is an inspiring “who’s who” in tech that is a must-read for anyone wondering how women are using the power of business, sheer grit, and a lot of heart to start, build and fund companies – companies that are driving innovation and changing the landscape of the tech industry.” – Kristy Wallace, President, Ellevate Network

“Geek Girl Rising shines a spotlight on the growing number of women who are blazing a trail through the male-dominated world of tech. Uplifting, fast-paced, and carefully researched, this book is a clarion call for women to keep leaning in—and for men to recognize potential where it has too long been overlooked.” –Adam Grant New York Times bestselling author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE

“There is nothing more powerful than role models, and Geek Girl Rising provides the stories and the inspiration from the women who are creating our future. Technology is changing our world, and the women in this book are front and center of today’s technology revolution. Heather Cabot & Samantha Walravens take us into this world as seen from the eyes of many extraordinary women.” –Telle Whitney CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute and cofounder of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing