Jennifer Mattson

AUTHOR

Jennifer Mattson

LATEST STORIES

Filmmaker Fanny Véliz: Nobody needs to ‘give you the green light’

When she decided to pursue an acting career in Hollywood, Fanny Véliz found plenty of work. But she was frustrated by the narrow range of characters she was called on to play. “I was cast as the maid, the illegal, or a criminal,” says Véliz. “Most of my colleagues were, too.” She thought about a […]

Two ‘Geek Girls’ discover the sisterhood shaking up tech

Their young daughters are obsessed with technology, messaging their friends, and games like Minecraft, which made journalists Heather Cabot and Samantha Walravens curious: with so many girls into tech, why was the number of women working in the field steadily declining? Cabot and Walravens, working respectively on the East and West coasts, started collecting stories […]

WeWork helps out businesses moving into Philadelphia

The future of work is changing, and so is the future of our cities. Nowhere is that more evident than in Philadelphia, where many entrepreneurs and innovators are setting up shop, returning to the city’s center after decades in the suburbs. But there’s a hitch—businesses moving back into the city must pay a local wage […]

At JAAK, two friends aim to upend the music industry

Vaughn McKenzie and Freddie Tibbles are proof that sometimes you need to leave your job to discover that your coworker is actually the perfect business partner. The two first met when while working in separate departments at the same digital marketing agency in Windsor, England. Though they never worked together, they did stay in touch. […]

WeWork cofounder Miguel McKelvey to headline C2 Montréal

WeWork cofounder Miguel McKelvey will be among the speakers at C2 Montréal, a massive annual conference that brings together creativity and commerce. The three-day conference aims to “reset the imagination and unleash progress, in business and beyond.” More than 5,000 disruptors, influencers, innovators, and business executives will be convening in the Canadian city in the […]

Young innovators: Monica Kang of InnovatorsBox

By the time she was in her mid-twenties, Monica Kang had a master’s degree in strategic studies from Johns Hopkins University and was working in the highly competitive world of Washington politics. She had landed a job focusing on nuclear non-proliferation—a field she was passionate about—but found herself becoming increasingly unhappy. “I realized I couldn’t […]

Young innovators: Rianka Dorsainvil of Your Greatest Contribution

When Rianka Dorsainvil’s elderly grandmother Wanza got sick, suddenly her savings weren’t enough to carry her through retirement. She had to go back to work to make ends meet. At that point, Dorsainvil realized the importance of planning for the future. But it wasn’t until the young entrepreneur took her first personal finance class, during […]

Young innovators: Russell Tuchman of BashPros

Russell Tuchman says he learned everything he knows about business from his father. It’s the kind of bold statement you might expect from a 27-year-old entrepreneur who’s already hard at work on his second startup. The first came not long after he graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara and went to work for […]

Young innovators: Brendan Ciecko of Cuseum

Growing up the middle of five children in Western Massachusetts, Brendan Ciecko didn’t spend his early years going to museums. Nor does he have a formal education in art. Ciecko, whose Boston-based company Cuseum connects museumgoers through technology, says his unique perspective comes from his background as a self-taught technologist and entrepreneur. “I started to design and […]

Young innovators: Making everyone a well-informed voter

When special education teacher Aviva Rosman decided to run for local school counsel in Chicago, she called Alex Niemczewski to ask for her support. Her friend, who had always considered herself a well-informed voter, was caught off guard by the upcoming midterm elections. “I didn’t even know there was an election going on,” she recalls. […]

Made in Detroit: Why the Motor City is a great place for creators

After filing for bankruptcy in 2013, Detroit famously rolled up its sleeves, and got back to work. This “can do” attitude is what you’ll find behind its booming startup culture and efforts to rebuild one business at a time. “‘Made in Detroit’ has become a brand in itself,” says Ryan Landau, founder of Detroit startup […]

At new WeWork Services Store, one-stop shopping for businesses

Everyone knows WeWork provides workspace for creators of all types, from solo entrepreneurs to teams from global corporations. But cofounder Miguel McKelvey says it’s always been more than that. “When we first started WeWork, we thought about it as a holistic solution,” says McKelvey. “Our goal was to think, ‘What do you need to be […]

Made in Detroit: Homegrown chefs create a sizzling food movement

“Detroit is a hotbed for growth in the food scene,” says Liz Kellogg, whose PR company Kellogg & Caviar specializes in restaurants and hospitality brands. “We’ve been seeing chefs in New York slowly starting to leave and going to smaller cities like Asheville, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Baltimore, and now, Detroit.” Kellogg is also making a […]

At Eat Offbeat, refugees run the kitchen

When Manal Kahi moved to New York City from a small town in Lebanon four years ago, she wasn’t happy with the options at her local grocery store. “I was a bit disappointed with the hummus,” she admits. So she started making her own special recipe, which sparked an idea from her brother, Wissam, a […]

The future of work: Offices are changing, and for the better

Work as we know it is changing fast—and in ways most people can’t even imagine. It’s not just that jobs are changing; it’s also how we work, where we work, and how employers are adapting to these new rules. “The future of work is all about employee experience,” says Jacob Morgan. The best-selling author, an […]

Six reasons Washington, D.C. is a great place for startups

It’s not Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley, or even Silicon Beach, but if a company wants to change the way the country works, there’s not a better place to be than Washington, D.C. D.C. is focused on politics, and anyone who doesn’t work for the federal government is probably at a lobbying firm, a nonprofit group, […]

Fashioning a school for design, one stitch at a time

Karen Lozner fell in love with fashion at a young age. As a child, she made dresses for her Barbie dolls using her grandmother’s vintage sheets, and jeans from the hem of her own. Growing up in Manhattan, her taste was shaped by what women wore in the streets and her early exposure to New […]

WeWork announced $20 million for Creator Awards

Pledging $20 million, WeWork will recognize and reward creators

“Obviously it’s massive,” says Sam Marley, a founder of the photo-sharing platform Blurr. He’s talking about the $25,000 his company won in January at WeWork Demo Day. “We have a tight budget, so this money gives us the extra leeway to try new things, think of different ways to pursue marketing, and take some bigger risks than […]