Five Questions With: Maeve Donohue

Maeve Donohue, executive director of MedMates, and founder of Nami Studios, Buttrfly and Tango RI, recently was recognized by Tech Collective as one of the 2015 Tech10 winners. She talks with Providence Business News about the award and the tech industry in Rhode Island.

PBN: Congratulations on the award – how does it feel to be named one of the top 10 IT professionals in the state?

DONOHUE: It was an honor to be named among such accomplished technologists. Like Roberto Gonzalez of STEAMBox, building future technologists through applied learning opportunities, or Andy Trench of XactSense, using drone technology to assist first responders in saving lives around the world. I’m grateful to Kathleen Malin, vice president technology and operations at The Rhode Island Foundation, for nominating me and very proud to be listed with my fellow Tech10 awardees and alumni.

PBN: Can you tell me a little about the different initiatives you are involved in – Nami Studios, MedMates, Buttrfly, Tango RI?

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DONOHUE: All of my projects are strategic networking applications in some sense.

Through my experience as executive director of MedMates, R.I.’s MedTech organization, and founder of Tango RI, a web and marketing tool for member-based organizations, I’ve had the unique opportunity to develop technology in direct response to individual business needs and ecosystem needs at the same time.

Buttrfly, is a startup I co-founded with a team from MIT to accelerate serendipity. The mobile platform alerts you when people you should meet are nearby, someone who shares an interest or offers a service that you are looking for.

At Nami Studios we do the full gamut of creative services from branding and data visualization, to web development and strategic marketing. We work with small businesses and global corporations.

PBN: How would you describe the tech industry in RI – growing, contracting, staying the same?

DONOHUE: It’s growing. I know it’s not “cool” to say nice things about government in Rhode Island (and I definitely didn’t always say nice things), but new, passionate and really smart people in government leadership have made technology and innovation the cornerstone of what they are focusing on for Rhode Island. This is a hard message to get across, but the more I work with the new administration, the more impressed I am at how smart they are. Instead of pulling my hair out trying to convince them of new, forward-thinking opportunities, I’m thinking “I want to be part of that. That’s smart! That could work! That’s really cool and I want to be part of that.” If the “powers that be” can get me thinking that way, you can be sure other technologists are taking note and thinking similar thoughts.

PBN: Why did you want to pursue a tech-related career?

DONOHUE: Technology allows everyone with access an opportunity to accelerate learning regardless of pedigree. It also allows practical ways for people to participate in iterating on innovation and collaborating with others in the room or across the world to solve problems both big and small. But my particular interest is when technology enables a real-life connection that may have been missed without it.

And maybe more importantly, I can work from anywhere.

PBN: What advice would you give to young women interested in pursuing IT careers?

DONOHUE: Never let anyone else tell you can’t do something because you’re not “good” at it, AND don’t get good at something you don’t want to do. I never excelled in math and honestly, I still don’t. My path to a tech career was through art. Problem-solving skills you learn through drawing life, illustrating concepts and designing strategies will take you further than simply being “good at math.” There are so many different factors that go into being successful. In this day and age there are many women entrepreneurs and technologists to learn from. Reach out to them, study them, follow them. Much of what’s hard about being successful in technology (or any career) has been figured out by someone else. Learn as much as you can from others and then bring your unique twist to it.

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