"I hope that by being myself: vocal and successful, women will realise that they too can be in technology, whether it is as an engineer, or a writer … I want the industry to reflect the population". Friendly, inspiring, and fiercely intelligent, there is no doubt that Shannon Edwards, CEO of Styloko and global online shopping expert, will help to encourage women to enter into the world of technology.
Proving that coming from a non-STEM background doesn't limit your ability to break into the technology industry, Shannon was appointed CEO of the online Fashion search engine Styloko in November 2014, after a number of successful years with online shopping companies.
Always valued for her way with words, Shannon began her career as a journalist, and has been published in a number of media outlets: the BBC, CNN Worldwide, Fox CNBC, The London Times, Huffington Post, USA Today, Forbes and the New York Times, and was recently asked to combine her passion for fashion and journalistic talent to write a feature for the Grammy awards about the impact that festivals had had on fashion. As well as being a successful journalist, Shannon has been employed in Marketing, Communications and PR agencies, where she has had the opportunity to work for a number of big names: Netflix, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Shopping.com and Shopstyle, and socialise with the likes of Sean Parker from Napster.
Shannon's realm of expertise became clear after working for Shopping.com, Fashion Rocks and Shopstyle, the latter of whom had got in contact with her for guidance about launching in Europe. Beginning in 2008, Shannon spent the first year of her time at Shopstyle proposing to retailers that they increase their online presence, as many retailers had not yet realised the resources that would be afforded to them by going online.
In this time, Shannon helped Shopstyle to grow into a business that generated approximately 30 million in sales for retailers.
An expert in the world of online shopping (like I'm sure many of us think we are!), Shannon was continually aware that searching for fashion online still isn't as good, or easy, as it could be.
When walking into a store, you tend to know what you're looking for; you've worked out what colours suit you best, what shapes flatter your figure, and the patterns that you can pull off.
Unfortunately, the gamble with online shopping - as many of us will know - is that you never know if it's going to fit quite right, or if you'll ever be able to find the things that do.
