Since childhood, I've associated computer science with geeky and socially inept little boys, and for rational reason: because all of the computer geeks I knew were in fact geeky and socially inept little boys! But as I mentioned in my previous post about computer camp, I've wanted to go into tech from an early age -- before the idea of entrepreneurship ever occurred to me. However, as I became less socially inept, I began associating myself with the non-geeks. The jocks! The cheerleaders!

People often ask me if I feel as if I'm being taken advantaged of, or if being a girl makes things more difficult. No and yes -- I don't feel as if guys are mean to girls in computer science. If anything, guys are more willing to help a cute girl debug her code for obvious reason. But is it more difficult? From a social standpoint, definitely. Most girls in tech are podcasters or videobloggers -- Veronica Belmont, Julia Allison, and Alana Taylor among them. They're all great people, amazing at what they do, but that leaves few girls who are hardcore geeks. There aren't many girls starting their own companies. It's almost expected that I go into community or marketing, but I've since decided to go against these societal expectations.

I'm now at a crossroads in my educational career because I need to decide my major. Do I major in computer science, economics, international relations, or what? As a friend of mine mentioned, what if I'm terrible at computer science or what if I'm terrible at economics? The educational path I choose will determine the people I associate with in my classes. The computer science program at Simon's Rock attracts the uber geeks, whereas the economics program attracts the more popular kids. Why does this matter so much? Because I see education as being more than what's learned in the classroom -- it's the independent projects that I would start with my classmates. It affects my social life, which matters more than you might think for girls. Regardless as to what major I choose, I'll plan on surrounding myself with both econ and comp sci people.

As time goes by, the negative image of computer science and geeks will fade away. With more "socially capable" individuals in computer science, people like myself will feel more inclined to choose a math or science related subject as a major. I met Leah Culver at a dinner in Amsterdam, and her story is inspiring. She went to school thinking that she'd go into art or graphic design, and left with a degree in computer science. She did what she felt passionate about, and others like myself will follow in a similar path. Just last week, I met a girl through my blog named Cassie Wallender, who also began college at age 16 and took up programming and business from an early age. In the coming few years, we'll hopefully see more and more girls flooding the halls of science departments!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early college, Bard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

Over the past year, I've learned a lot about successful leaders and entrepreneurs. The remarkably successful ones aren't working 247 on their businesses because they were smart enough to recruit a brilliant team for both their personal and business lives. A fellow TEDster I met this weekend told me about ways he manages his life -- he recruits experts in all fields of knowledge to assist him with his financial life, his children, his home, his vacations, his appointments, his company's technology, his company's marketing, etc… To guide his decisions in life and business, he has what he calls a "board of life." In other words, a group of remarkable individuals who feel personally invested into his future.

Firstly, no entrepreneur should be expected to know everything about business, but s/he should be able to know enough in order to recruit help from remarkable individuals in their respective fields. And if the individual is anything short of remarkable, look for someone else. Remarkable entrepreneurs don't need to be baby geniuses, but they need to be able to network with the individuals who will influence their businesses for the better. If the entrepreneur manages to hire and manage a remarkable team, s/he will have more time to devote to a personal life.

While I ran my first (failed) company, I managed to do just that. I recruited incredibly smart techies to help manage all of the issues related to my dedicated server clients while I enjoyed time on the beaches of Puerto Rico. My team didn’t exist to assist ME -- their purpose was to serve the company, and my existence was to make sure that their ideals remained that way.

This unnamed TEDster proposed the idea of having a "board of life," which caters more to the individual entrepreneurs. This board should consist of accomplished entrepreneurs and experts who feel personally invested in one's future. They'll get you the connections you need, offer you limitless personal support, and encourage you to do amazing things. In a way, I see members on my board of life as being my aunts and uncles. While it takes time to build a relationship with them, you almost have an inherent instinct from the moment you meet them as to whether or not you can provide meaning to each other. They literally feel like family in that both you and your "mentor" would go out of the way to do anything for each other. I call them "mentors" because they're far more than mentors. The TEDster I met with made clear the distinction: while mentors are there to give you sound advice, members on your board of life have a family-like relationship to you.

The ideas of recruiting a dream team can also be applied to managing one's personal life. My parents employ multiple people fulltime to manage our family's finances, home, appointments, travel, etc… In fact, I'm the only person in my family who hasn't yet taken advantage of the ideas that I'm proposing to you as I write this. Why? Because I enjoy making my own appointments. I enjoy comparing the prices between a Jetblue and a Virgin flight. I prefer to email my blog readers than to have my publicist send generic replies. I still utilize my mom's accountant and secretary, but only because it makes more practical sense for me to do so. When it comes to emailing people and managing my own schedule, nobody can do it better than me.

In the end, you need to come to terms with the fact that you're not superman. You don't know everything and you don't have the experiences and perspectives of everyone on this planet. You're hopefully smart enough to realize this -- recruit the necessary help in whatever part of life you need. By surrounding yourself with accomplished people in their respective fields, you're more likely to see your own success.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early collegeBard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

Eli Pariser, the founder of MoveOn.org, came to speak at my college today! Ends up that he was once a student here at Simon's Rock, the Early College. Like the rest of us, he finished with a 4 year degree before he turned 20, and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. Lucky enough, I was given the chance to introduce him to the audience :)

It was funny to hear that he interviewed here as a theater major and ran the school magazine that I cut funding on. Somehow, he shifted from being a liberal arts theater geek into being a leader of a huge non-profit. How did that happen? Completely accidentally. He didn't sit down with a few friends and decide to start a non-profit. He was a techie and set up an online petition calling for a non-military response to 9/11. Within a few weeks, half a million people signed the petition. By November, he was asked to join what is now MoveOn.org.

I found it especially interesting that he said:

"It's not all about a candidate. It's also a movement... Change cannot just be done by a president."

That goes to show that Americans (and organizations) love placing responsibility and blame on one person. Our president sucks not only because he's an inefficient leader, but also because he has an inadequate team. Whether or not you agree with his policies deserves a whole different argument, but it can be seen that he's failed at being the "CEO" of our country. If we want true change to happen, we can't just elect a new president. People who truly believe in an objective must continue to work with a leader to accomplish its necessary goals.

Image of Pariser with students in Simon's Rock College's Formal Lounge. Credit to Ryan Shepherd

We read about Eli Pariser in the news quite often. I've seen his name mentioned in Valleywag, the NY Times, and CNN dozens of times. Many people hate him and MoveOn.org for their views on politics. So I asked him, "how do you deal with people shit talking you all the time?" It comes down to fulfilling an objective. He isn't on this planet to be liked. He's working for a specific cause. I then asked whether or not he believes all press is good press. "OF COURSE NOT!" The point of having press for MoveOn.org is to spark discussion and to get the press going back and forth about those discussions. Looking at this from a marketing perspective, you're definitely getting 10X what you paid for when you spark the right questions. When the press continues to mention you over and over again for a question you asked or discussion you sparked, you're getting free coverage.

How about getting people to join a movement? He took psychology here at Simon's Rock with the same professor I took psychology class, and he was quick to mention cognitive dissonance and the "foot in the door technique."

"By making someone sign a petition, they're not just signing their name on a piece of paper. They're identifying themselves with a certain issue. They sign a petition, they volunteer, and they move up the ladder. A successful movement involves matriculating people up that ladder. It sometimes gets tricky because leaders need a balance between moving followers up the ladder VS finding a bigger base of supporters"

Does this quote remind you of anything? Running a business, duh! Back when I ran a dedicated server hosting business, my co-founders and I had to find the right balance between growth and maintenance. When to focus on current customers and when to focus on finding new customers. It's always an on-going conflict, and that's where staff recruiting comes in!

On another note, Pariser made a huge emphasis on listening to your followers. Take into account everything they say and let them help you lead. If he had it his way, he'd be running a site that did only what he wanted, but that would be impractical and inefficient. Even as a leader, you continue to learn.

Of course, Pariser hasn't had a perfect streak. We all hear about how he is the executive director at MoveOn.org, but he tried leading tens of other projects that didn't go anywhere. It's almost as if the press frames his life story as something that grew overnight. He developed as a person and he learned how to lead by managing many different campus projects, activities, and events.

I think it's safe to say that he's doing pretty well for himself... putting his personal finances aside, Eli Pariser is leading a project that has over 3 million members, that has raised over $100M, and is super passionate about the cause he's fighting for a cause he believes in.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star.