Sarah Austin (Internet celebrity)

Sarah Maria Austin[1] (born c. 1986 in Rogers, Arkansas; formerly known by the stage name Sarah Meyers) is an American Internet personality and entrepreneur. She is the CEO and founder of Broad Listening, an artificial emotional intelligence agent, and the chairperson of the board of directors at Coding FTW, a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity and equal rights in the technology sector through education.[2][3]

Sarah Austin
Austin at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011
Born
Sarah Maria Austin

c. 1986 (1986)
Rogers, Arkansas
Other namesSarah Meyers
Years active2006–present
Known forLifecasting, video journalism
Websitewww.sarahaustin.com

Austin produced the web series Party Crashers, where she crashed tech parties,[4][5][6] before being selected to lifecast for the Justin.tv test runs. She later went to produce Pop17, a web series documenting Internet culture.[7] She was also a cast member of the Bravo! reality series, Start-Ups: Silicon Valley.[8][9]

Early life and education

As a young child, Austin moved with parents from Rogers, Arkansas to Tiburon, California.[10] In the ninth grade, Austin joined a leadership development and mentorship program called Summer Search.[11] While in Summer Search, she studied New Media at Stanford University and also attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.[10] In 2004, she graduated from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California.[12][13]

Upon returning to California, Austin attended film and broadcast classes at San Francisco State University.[14] later to relocate to Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.[15] In 2010, she was a Dominican University of California business management student.[10][13]

Career

Early career

Austin began her career as a tech news producer and DJ for three years at UC Berkeley’s radio station, KALX.[16][17] She moved into video with news segments for D7TV's Story Today and created her own D7TV series, Party Crashers, in which she crashed Silicon Valley parties.[18]

During the spring of 2007, she was chosen as a participant in the closed beta test of Justin.tv and lifecasted for them.[16][19]

Pop17
Pop17
Presentation
Hosted bySarah Austin
GenreTechnology culture news
LanguageEnglish
Production
Picture formatHDTV
Publication
Original release1 April 2008 – 29 November 2015
Providermevio, YouTube, Justin.tv, Livestream

After extensive tests through the winter of 2007-08 under the name PopSnap,[4] Austin launched a web series and blog called Pop17 in March 2008.[7] Pop17 features interviews with tech-oriented business owners and Internet personalities at tech-related events and parties.[20] It also includes commentary and news on technology and business topics; Rocketboom and Mekanism contributed to the production of the show in 2008 and 2010.[7][21][22] Contributors to Pop17 include Jesse Draper and Caitlin Hill.[23][24]

Ignite Social Media included her in their ranking of five women covering New Media on the Internet, stating, "Sarah's entertaining posts are both thought-provoking and relevant while still being charming. Think the girl you sat next to in art class meets a successful online presence".[25][26] In 2008, she was named one of the 50 most influential female bloggers by North X East,[27] and that same month she was selected by Playboy as one of the five "Hottest Female Bloggers".[28] Also in 2008, she appeared on Donny Deutsch's The Big Idea.[29] Austin has been a correspondent for Better,[2][30] where she explained topics and trends regarding social media. Since late 2010, Austin contributes articles and Pop17 episodes to Forbes magazine.[31]

In the first edition of Dan Schawbel's' book Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, Austin and Pop17 were profiled in a chapter of "success stories".[26] She was featured on the front cover of the May 2009 issue of Personal Branding magazine.[32] In 2010, she was selected as one of Vanity Fair's "America's Tweethearts".[33]

Start-Ups: Silicon Valley

Austin was featured as one of the main cast members on Start-Ups: Silicon Valley, a reality TV show that aired on Bravo, that followed the lives of six people who worked for startup companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. On the show, Austin lives at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley as entrepreneur in residence, producing marketing videos for them on Pop17. She is engaged in a number of rivalries with fellow cast-members, including one with Hermione Way, involving a botched South by Southwest event and a relationship with Way's brother, Ben Way.[34] Because of how Austin is portrayed on the show, she has been met with critical disdain and referred to by press media as the show's villain.[35][36][37]

Other media

In late 2011, Austin became a correspondent for TV networks such as Fox and Logo. She worked as an online personality for The X Factor and The X Factor Pepsi Live Preshow, as well as casting their unscripted home-viewing parties via Skype.[38] She hosted and co-produced the San Francisco edition of VidBlogger Nation; a Comcast OnDemand TV network with each host sharing stories of people, places and events in their city.[39] She also produces tech reports for Logo's NewNowNext.[40]

References
  1. Austin, Sarah. "Sarah Maria Austin on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  2. Lowe, Audra (April 28, 2009). "Hot Web Trends - From Web Girl to Twitter authorities, Better has the scoop on the latest Internet trends". BetterTV. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  3. Rogers, Stewart and, Wright, Travis (June 3, 2016). "Sarah Austin, A.I., and when bots start to lie — VB Engage". Venture Beat. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  4. Arrington, Michael. "PopSnap: Sarah Meyers' Live Online TV Show". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  5. Douglas, Nick (26 August 2006). "The vidding crashers: August Capital boots vloggers from TechCrunch party". Gawker. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  6. Denton, Nick (11 December 2006). "2 minutes later, a helicopter whisked Semel to safety". Gawker. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  7. Schonfeld, Erick (February 26, 2008). "Pop17 With Sarah Meyers Goes Live—A Daily Web Video Show Exploring Micro-Celebrities". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  8. "Sarah Austin - Bio". Bravo Media LLC. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  9. Luschek, Mathew (9 October 2012). "'Silicon Valley' Reality Show to Air Nov. 5". KNTV. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  10. Austin, Sarah (January 21, 2010). "Who I Am And Where I Came From". SarahAustin.com.
  11. Abraham, Zenophon (2009-08-25). "Saran Austin's "Welcome Back to SF" Poken party Monday night!". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  12. DuPont, Dave (October 23, 2009). "Reed Schools & More, Belvedere & Tiburon Kids with Books".
  13. Austin, Sarah. "Sarah Marie Austin". LinkedIn.com. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
  14. Lindahl, Alex (November 24, 2008). "Sarah Austin Tracks Online Micro-Celebrities on Pop17". CollegeMogul.com.
  15. Austin, Sarah (September 12, 2008). "Me at Parsons". sarahmeyers.wordpress.com.
  16. Berlind, David (October 25, 2007). "Sarah Meyers TV: Where the world is headed?". Testbed. ZDNet. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  17. West, Jackson. NewTeeVee: "Sarah Meyers on Broadcasting Web Video
  18. Douglas, Nick. Valleywag: "The vidding crashers: August Capital boots vloggers from TechCrunch party," August 21, 2006.
  19. Arrington, Michael (October 15, 2007). "Justin.TV Lifecasters Not Welcome Everywhere (like movie theaters)". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  20. Salkin, Allen. "Night Life Programmed," The New York Times, August 3, 2008.
  21. Exclusive: Rocketboom Blasts Off Sarah Meyer's Pop17 Video Show...The Roots of Beet.TV Explored in this Mini-Doc!
  22. Borden, Mark (1 May 2010). "Repeat Offenders - The Mekanism Guarantee: They Engineer Virality". Fast Company (145). Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  23. Hill, Caitlin (16 October 2010). "Mad Men Fashion". Pop17. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  24. Draper, Jesse (21 September 2010). "7 Reasons Pro Starbucks as You Become an Entrepreneur". Pop17. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  25. New Media: Sarah Austin
  26. Schawbel, Dan. Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. Kaplan Publishing, 2009.
  27. NxE’s Fifty Most Influential Female Bloggers
  28. Cohen, Joshua. "Playboy's Hottest Bloggers?", July 18, 2008.
  29. CNBC: Donny Deutsch's The Big Idea, January 2008 on YouTube.
  30. Lowe, Audra (July 17, 2009). "Tweet for Savings". BetterTV. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  31. Austin, Sarah (26 August 2010). "The Best Tech For College". Forbes. Forbes.com LLC. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010.
  32. Personal Branding, May 2009.
  33. Grigoriadis, Vanessa. "America's Tweethearts". Vanity Fair, February 2010. Archived 2012-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
  34. Shih, Gary (6 November 2012). "Amid catcalls, Silicon Valley gets its reality TV treatment". Reuters. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  35. Shatkin, Elina (5 November 2012). "Silicon vs. Silicone: A Show So Stupid it Makes Real Housewives Look Smart". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  36. Perkett, Christine (6 November 2012). "Silicon Valley: Startups - "Bravo" for Women in Tech? I Don't Think So". Forbes. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  37. McCarthy, Megan (6 November 2012). "Bravo's new startup show needs less Ways, more means". Reuters. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  38. The X Factor
  39. VidBlogger Nation
  40. Pulos, Will. "Sarah Austin Talks Bond Gadgets". NewNowNext, November 22, 2011.
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