I noticed a spike in new users on Sumazi today and learned it was because we were included in a WSJ’s All Things Digital article! It’s great to see us being recognized amongst other cool companies. Check out the article:
How to Save a Life: Get Matched
Recently, I learned that the 24 year old sister of a friend of mine was diagnosed with Leukemia and is in desperate need of a bone marrow match and transplant. Until today, I didn’t know too much about bone marrow transplants and how to get tested. I’ve heard stories of others in need and never found myself getting tested because quite frankly I didn’t know enough about it.
It’s unfortunate that it took a life threatening story of a friend’s family member to motivate me to learn more. I found the process ridiculously quick and easy & am hoping that this post encourages those who haven’t yet gotten tested to take the first step.
How to take the first step:
1. Go to the National Marrow Donor Program website & sign up to the registry OR you can search to see if there’s a donor drive near you.
2. Within 2 weeks you will receive a packet that contains 4 cotton sticks to swab the inner lining of your cheeks.
3. After you collect the sample of your cheeks cells, put the sticks in the business reply envelope they provide you & mail it away!
It’s really that quick and easy. The sooner the registry receives your kit, the sooner the process can begin to list you on the registry (takes around 2 months).
For more information about getting tested, matched or giving bone marrow – check out these FAQs.
Important to note: The National Marrow Registry says that: ”Racial and ethnic heritage are very important factors. Patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. Today, there simply aren’t enough registry members of diverse racial and ethnic heritage. Adding more diverse members increases the likelihood that all patients will find a life-saving match.”
I hope this helps you consider getting tested if you already are not part of the registry.
Additional Links:
Follow “BeTheMatch” on Twitter
Filed under Facts & Stats, Non-Profit
Infographic: Little Known Facts About Bill Gates & Microsoft
I’m a fan of fun facts, interesting stats and cool visuals so I had to share a fun infographic I just came across about the little known facts about Microsoft. Did you know:
- In the first year of operations Microsoft made $16,000
- By year 5 they made $1,000,000
- By the time Gates was 31 he was a Billionaire
More interesting facts below:
(Source: Online MBA Schools & ReadWrite Web)
Filed under Facts & Stats
Looking For Rockstar Web Engineer & iOS Developer (SF/Bay Area)
I’m looking to immediately hire an awesome web engineer and iOS developer in the San Francisco Bay Area for my new startup YoProCo. We’re building the technology that intelligently connects you to the people you don’t know but should, people that can potentially change your world.
If you or someone you know fits either of the descriptions below (or better yet is an expert in both), can start immediately and is looking to work with a smart, passionate and hard-working team, please get in touch! Both are contract positions initially, with a possibility of employment. Details below:
Web Engineer
We’re looking for a seasoned developer who is adept at web development using the various techniques that drive and scale modern web applications.
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and maintain major portions of the server architecture.
- Work closely with product and UI team members to deliver a fully integrated product.
- Create and maintain various APIs.
Requirements
- Knowledge of Ruby (with and without Rails) or PHP.
- Knowledgable and practiced with RESTful website design.
- Create database driven web applications from scratch.
- Work quickly (not hastily) delivering in short phases with frequent iterations.
- This position will be 3 parts backend (Ruby, PHP, db), 1 part frontend (HTML, CSS, JS).
Ideal
- Able to start immediately.
- Strong communication skills and organized with your tools and deliverables.
- Experience implementing rich user interfaces using modern HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript (JQuery).
This is a contract position initially, with a possibility of employment. This person will be working directly with our UI/UX team.
Please reply to sumaya@yoproco.com, with resume, availability (start date and how many hours) and hourly rate.
—
iOS Developer
We’re looking for a skilled iOS application developer (iPhone primarily), using Objective-C and Cocoa.
Responsibilities
- Take ownership of the mobile application development.
- Work closely with the product and UI teams to create a fully integrated product.
Requirements
- Strong knowledge of Objective-C and the latest iOS frameworks (iOS 4).
- Work quickly (not hastily) delivering in short phases with frequent iterations.
- Experience developing, releasing, and supporting iOS applications.
Ideal
- Able to start immediately.
- Strong communication skills and organized with your tools and deliverables.
- Subscribes to Apple’s design philosophy and attention to detail.
This is a contract position initially, with a possibility of employment. This person will be working directly with our UI/UX team.
Please reply to sumaya@yoproco.com, with resume, availability (start date and how many hours) and hourly rate.
Filed under YOPROCO
The Coolest Office On Earth
I’m a big fan of office environments that inspire creativity (and of course productivity). Take a look at the office setup at Google Zurich! Makes me want to have a super awesome office for my new startup YoProCo. We’re going to have to figure out how to make it happen on a startup budget 
Filed under Miscellaneous
My 35 Observations When In France
I was recently invited to speak at the Marketing 2.0 Conference in France. I was fortunate to be able to spend a full week there and travel with my roommate around the beautiful country including cities like Paris, Rheims, Lyon and Annecy. It was an amazing trip. I couldn’t help but notice some stark differences between France and the US. Here’s a list I compiled with the help of my roommate. If you’ve been to France, please add to this list. If you’re from France, I’d love your thoughts/reactions!
- Coke is sweeter
- People are ruder (atleast to Americans)
- Tips aren’t expected
- Everyone is thin
- Air conditioning not included in hotels
- Cabbies will only drive you if in the mood
- Eating raw beef is a delicacy (it’s called Beef Tartare)
- Eggs are added to everything
- Butter doesn’t come with bread rolls & should be scraped and not dug into
- Can’t turn right on red lights
- Fish is called by its true name: Poissons
- Patisseries are found on every corner
- Saw many Muslims but not not one Mosque
- Pedestrians do not have the right away
- People speak softer
- Coffee comes in smaller portions & is much stronger
- Bueno Bars found in the Metro are muy bueno
- Credit cards are smarter (come with smart chips)
- Citywide automated bicycle rentals are genius
- Higher ratio of good looking men
- Everyone walks everywhere
- Big fashion trend was shorts with tights even in freezing weather
- Cathedral architecture is awe-inspiring
- Female pheromones are used for “sexual confusion” to keep male butterflies from mating in vineyards
- Stinky cheese is really really stinky
- You can get mobile reception everywhere, even in underground tunnels in the metro
- Every kid is dressed adorably
- Tourist attractions have carousels nearby
- Everyone smokes
- McDonald’s has an automated self-ordering system
- Direct eye contact for even a second means you’re interested
- Take out = Takeaway, Rental car = Road car, Elevator = Lift
- Highways have speed limits for both sunny & rainy weather
- Was told “I Love Paris” shirts were a “hot new fashion”
- I could see myself living there for a short while! Could you?
Filed under Travel
Survey: If You Could Live Anywhere Else
As an entrepreneur & consultant, I have the opportunity and what some would call the luxury to be able to not sit at a desk or be somewhere from 9 to 5. However, don’t mistake that for not having to work 23 hours in the day and having to be everywhere and do everything at the same time A recent trip to France had me thinking how amazing it would be to live 3 months in a different city or country every year. I posed the question “If you could live 3 months elsewhere…where would you want to live?” to my Facebook & Twitter community. The responses were fantastic so I wanted to share. Please add to this list!
Survey Summary: 35 people gave 63 responses.
Top 5:
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Tied: Switzerland, Hawaii, California
- Tied: Japan, Australia
EUROPE (33): France – 9, Italy – 8, Spain – 7, Switzerland – 4, England – 1, Portugal – 1, Greece – 1, Netherlands – 1, Luxemborg – 1
NORTH AMERICA (9): Hawaii – 4, California – 4, Canada – 1
ASIA (9): Japan – 3, Thailand – 1, Singapore – 1, Sri Lanka – 1, Hong Kong – 1, China – 1, Philippines – 1
AUSTRALIA (3)
SOUTH AMERICA (3): Brazil – 2, Ecuador - 1
OCEANIA (2): New Zealand – 2
AFRICA (2): Nigeria – 1, Egypt – 1
MIDDLE EAST (1): Lebanon – 1
CENTRAL AMERICA (1): Costa Rica – 1
Twitter Responses:
jordancaballero: spain, italy, or hawaii.
obiokere: nigeria
ameer__jain: England.
CodrutTurcanu: I’d love to live in Portugal, or at least, spend half of the year there
FleeFromReality: South of France is first, then Italy, Greece…heck anywhere in Europe. Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore. I’m thinking 6 mos. ea tho
mburkert: Foreign country 3 mos? Italy, up in the dolomites to do some climbing!
chathri: I’d want to split up my 3 months out of the year: Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, & Florence.
EverydayFinance: Hawaii and CA made me realize how many awesome places I still haven’t seen in US! But France/Italy are def top on my list as well
renevandijk: that’ll be china, italy, brazil, hawaii. That would be an awesome year. Good question!
riamae: I wouldn’t mind living in Japan for a couple of months. Or Spain, France, Philippines, Hawaii, and list goes on. haha
shyam_kumar: Netherlands, Australia, Spain
soda_boy: I would like to live in Spain for six months
Arvid: first choice Palo Alto. Lived in Cape Town for a while, was great, but not again
mostlegendary: I pick Japan
sorenmacbeth: France!
KettlebellsLA: I’ve enjoyed few places like I did Adelaide Australia. But so far, there’s no place like home in LosAngeles.
captproton: oh, I am so jealous of you right now. I would like to hang out with the Swiss: Cosmopolitan and great loc.
JanaStewart: I’ve always wanted to live in Italy!
cyberdivava: I would like to live South of Portugal, The Algarve Region, then the Italian Riveira, then Tuscany area.
imsonal: canada, dont ask me why
donniejenkins: France sounds great, would love to tour Europe at some point.
Kim_Clark: 3mos min is a must. For me its Ecuador or the coast of Spain.
lurahobbs: I would love to live in Barcelona for the summers. Friendly people and great food!
evansjacobs: Firenze, Italia
logimendllc: I would definitely like to live in Brazil!
Facebook Responses:
David Barker
California or Cairo!
6 hours ago ·
Jon Robinson
costa rica… ALL my fam is there :]
6 hours ago ·
Naomi Brzana
I would like to live in Lebanon.
6 hours ago ·
Jidheeth Jayarajasingam
Switzerland
6 hours ago ·
Lena Bauer
Geneva Switzerland…or Luxembourg city!!!
6 hours ago ·
Mo Haghighi
France (Paris-Toulous-Marseille), Switzerland (Laussanne), USA (SF-some parts of LA), Japan.
5 hours ago ·
Paulette Bleam
Paris!!
5 hours ago ·
Sumaya Kazi
@david – california is pretty sweet can’t beat the weather here.
@jon @naomi @jideeth @lena @mo – ooh, all those places would be awesome!
@paulette – we may just have to have yoproco editorial meetings in paris. lol
can’t beat the weather here.@jon @naomi @jideeth @lena @mo – ooh, all those places would be awesome!
@paulette – we may just have to have yoproco editorial meetings in paris. lol
5 hours ago ·
Renee M Arnold
Australia during our winter so I would never need to wear snow clothes, or anywhere that I could work from the beach!
4 hours ago ·
Samir Mukherjee
Paris!
4 hours ago ·
Kasey Krifka
You honestly can’t beat New Zealand … even when it’s freezing
Filed under Travel
