Chalk up another high tech business for the East Lansing Technology and Innovation Center (TIC), the technology hub that’s grabbing much of the Capital region’s young, high tech talent.
Julielyn Gibbons just moved her company, i3 Strategies, into the TIC. i3 Strategies is a social media and Internet strategy consulting company.
“Everyone’s doing more with less and having a savvy on-line presence while also cutting costs is important,” Gibbons says. Gibbons works with clients to maximize social media list serves and online presence.
For Gibbons, the Internet was a portal to the outside world long before it hit the mainstream. Gibbons was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was 14. In between her 37 surgeries, she turned to the Internet as a means to communicate with the outside world.
“It’s interesting in that this illness really shaped who I was and what I’ve done,” she says.
In 2006, she created a web-based alias, “Liberal Lucy,” and started blogging about issues for www.michiganliberal.com. Eventually, she took a position as online campaign coordinator for Progress Michigan, where she worked on the 2008 stem cell research ballot initiative.
“This really opened my eyes to what a need there is both politically and technically for the strategic side of Internet marketing and communication,” she says.
Though she’s just moved into the TIC, Gibbons is already experiencing success. Her speaking engagements are booked through November.
“I viewed this as an opportunity to do something that no one else in the area is doing,” she says. “Very few women work in technology, especially this type of technology and I felt that despite the economy and all the factors working against my business right now, this is exactly the right time for me to strike out and make a name for myself.”
Source: Julielyn Gibbons, i3 Strategies
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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