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A Material Girl in a Technological World

This week, Motherboard features an interview with the designer, blogger, and tech advocate Alison Lewis, who was named "Most Influential Woman in Technology 2010" by Fast Company.

Somewhat of a pioneer in the male-dominated tech world, her innovative DIY designs have been featured all over (including The New York Times and The Martha Stewart Show). She has become known for her creative use of unexpected materials and her emphasis on "wearable technology," such as her popular purse that lights up when opened.


I consider myself a regular girl, I don’t know what that means anymore, but I don’t have anything crazy about my background, a average American girl, good education, love my friends, boys, fashion and art. I had a standard girl life, and I didn’t learn about electronics until I was in grad school. When I found out about technology and all the cool things you can do with it, I thought why didn’t anyone show this to me, and why didn’t I know that you could use it in fashion and art. If I had been shown this I probably would have been interested in going in this direction earlier in my life. I think I missed out and now that I am established in the tech/fashion field it is important for me to make sure other girls feel that learning about technology is an option for them.

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Adding to Lewis's impressive repertoire is her work with the nonprofit Singularity University (sponsored by Google and NASA), which focuses on humanitarian and environmental issues.

We talk about water purification, the environment, the energy crisis, biotechnology and medicine. By putting people from such different backgrounds in the same space we are hoping to come together to come up with a solution to help improve these areas and think about how our culture can deal with these issues.

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Head over to Motherboard for the full interview.

Image courtesy of Heather Weston/ Random House via Motherboard.

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