This year at the Women’s Conference we weren’t just watching panels, we were on the red carpet. We interviewed some amazing men and women and now I finally have time to share it with you. Enjoy!

Early in the morning we started with Sir. Richard Branson. Here is what he had to say:
How did your Perfect Pitch event go and was there any business that really wowed you? Yes, there was one incredible inventor of fingers. My mother has actually lost three or four fingers and he’s managed to come up with fingers that really work. Ninety percent of all limb loses are fingers so that was the one I voted for. But there were other wonderful ones. It was a tremendous event.

The tech world doesn’t have many women in it. What advice do you have to change that?I’m not very techie myself, but I suspect that if you are a young girl and you’ve been on the computer or playing video games your whole life, I’m sure tech companies will grab you. Companies desperately need women in businesses where women don’t exist today.

Next up was Dr. Mehmet Oz, the host of the Dr.Oz show. He had some interesting things to say about video games and working out.

Gaming is now becoming “active”. What is your opinion the health aspects of gamers being active and do you think those games do enough? So gaming becomes active. My son Oliver, has every Wii game out there. I like the fact that it gets him active. He sweats when he is playing and I play against him actually. What I don’t like is that he isn’t having the earnest real competition that happens when two kids go out and play. Because the game is only part of the play. It’s the planning the game, changing the rules and the fights that sometimes happen. Not hand fist fights, but the arguments that sometimes occur. When kids don’t have that ability to play, they lose some of the advantages you garner from having challenges in life. I always tell Oliver that the game itself isn’t what is important, it’s the competition that matters. If you can harvest that bit out of a Wii game, I’m all for it. When you lose that and it’s just about making the pot or bowling the right thing or throwing past the right person, then you lose the advantage of what it means to be playful.

Do you think it’s enough of a workout for adults? For some adults, the Wii workouts are plenty. For most adults it just has to be a small part of what they do. So if you are living in a cold part of the country and it’s the only way you can get the equivalent of getting outside, I’m all for it. But walking, basic exercise that use your body as your gym, like yoga, are absolutely the foundation.

We then have some words of advice from Linda Ellerbee (Television producer, Journalist, and Best-Selling Author) on how to be successful in life: “The biggest tip for being a success is just showing up. If you don’t show up, nothing else matters because you ain’t there to do it”.
Later that afternoon we met up with Candace Nelson who is the founder of the very yummy Sprinkles Cupcakes.

I love Sprinkles. I love the red velvet ones. The Red Velvets are our number one seller.

I read in your bio, that you started sprinkles because you lost your job and you were trying to figure out something to do. I think that because of the economy many of us have lost our job and it’s a very inspirational story. What are some of the things you went through in making that decision and making that jump? I think, it’s like what you hear all the time, but the challenges can be those opportunities. It really was the best thing that ever happened to me was that I lost my high-paying job and all those opportunities in my field really dried up. I had to look inward and I had to ask myself the tough questions. What do I really want to do with my life? What is it that I’m truely passionate about? And if that paycheck had just kept coming in every week, I wouldn’t have had to ask myself that question. Sprinkles was started during an economic downturn and I think some of the best business are. Paychecks aren’t coming in and people have to get creative and they have to get real. That was how Sprinkles was born and I encourage entrepreneurs to really seize the day right now. Even though it seems like a tricky time, it’s really the best time to start a business.

You’re also using social media really well. On Twitter you have a secret word of the day. How did you decide to embrace social media to reach out to fans? It’s so amazing. Our customers are the key to our business and so we really take their feedback. We take their request for certain flavors and Twitter and Facebook is allowing to interact with them in real time. Let’s say we launch a flavor and someone says, love it but maybe a little more lemon zest in the frosting, we can turn that around that afternoon and say we’re getting feedback from our customers and make it happen. Versus in the past we didn’t have that real time capacity. Really for us, social media is about continuing to innovate. We were innovators in that we were the first to have a cupcakes only bakery. Now there are lots of cupcakes only bakeries. What is the next thing that will help us stay ahead of the game and keep our customers as king.

What do you think of the trend of people using cupcakes instead of a wedding cake? Oh, I love it! I think it’s so much fun. It shows personality. Weddings are really about showing your individuality and with cupcakes that’s what it’s all about. It’s an individual personalized little cake. I also like to say you can take the cupcake to the dance floor. You don’t have to go back to the table and use a knife and fork and get all formal. You can take a cupcake to the dance floor and have fun!

You must be asked this all the time, what’s your favorite flavor? OMG! It depends. It totally depends. I’m really a fan of the banana. Right now though, I’m loving the pumpkin because it’s just that time of year. I’m a chocoholic so the dark chocolate is great too.

Our last interview was with Randi Zuckerberg who manages marketing initiatives at Facebook. She was an awesome interview and it was a great pleasure meeting her.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the Women’s Conference? It’s incredible. This is the first year I have been a part of this conference and to share a stage with so many powerful and impactful women that are just changing the world every day is incredible. I feel like I don’t speak on behalf of just myself. I speak on behalf of 300 million people around the world that use Facebook. These are clearly the issues that are important to people all over the world. We’re just thrilled to representing here.

Women in tech tend to dedicate time to concentrate on social good. What do you think we can do to bring more women into tech and therefore have a larger impact on social good? Definitely. The things that I work on, non-profits, politics, breaking news, they affect everyone not just gender but I would love to see more women up there on the stage. Although I think that Maria Shriver is doing a great job bringing everyone together. I think what Women in tech is doing is incredible. They are making it very visible. They are showing people it’s cool and fun to be a woman in technology which I appreciate.

What do you think about the difference between Northern and Southern California in terms of tech?
It’s really fascinating. Luckily with me for Facebook, people are using it all over the world. So when I come here, it’s the same story with a different spin. People are using Facebook to connect and share. Whether it’s the film industry or the tech industry or in New York with finance it’s a different story but the same.

I have to ask…what’s your favorite Facebook app?  I should say Causes because I work on non-profits but I am secretly addicted to Farmville as well.

We had a great time at the Women’s Conference and I look forward to next year already!

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