A Gratitude Post: Business, Life, and Love over the past Decade in Tech and Cannabis

Ingrid Riley,

This is a gratitude post. It was a result of reflecting on the start of a new year and a new decade. Having just ended a year-long sabbatical, I wanted to reflect on the things that went very right for me and to share them.

  1. Followed my love of all things Internet and got rewarded for kickstarting Jamaica’s Tech Startup Scene in 2007 with the pioneering event Kingston Beta…with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) 50Under50 Business Leader Gamer Changer Award + the TechLink Game Changer Social Entrepreneurship Award.
  2. Named by CaribJournal.com, one of the Caribbean’s 25 Most Interesting newsmakers for 2013 who made a difference in the region.
  3. Made the Cover of Wealth Magazine in 2017
  4. Was a story in a SiliconValley TedX Talk about Women Entrepreneurship by Futurist Gary Whitehill that has been viewed 1.8 million times on Youtube.

  5. Advised Government Ministers, Universities and Development agencies on startup ecosystem development.
  6. My Caribbean Blog SiliconCaribe.com won 3 Blogger Awards – Best Tech Blog and Blog of the Year and have written over 2,000 articles on topics such as Caribbean Startups, Entrepreneurs Ecosystems, and Innovation, Digital and Social Media trends.
  7. Spoke at over 200 tech and entrepreneurship events across the Caribbean, USA, Africa and Europe.
  8. Produced over 150 technology events in the Caribbean, Diaspora USA and the African continent for entrepreneurs, startups and Women in Tech including SXSW, Black Tech Week and Pitch Agrihack.
  9. Brought Silicon Valley icons to Caribbean BETA – the Caribbean’s first tech entrepreneurship conference in 2011. .
  10. Produced the first Caribbean Bloggers Week in 4 cities..Kingston, Port of SPain, NewYork and London
  11. As a Digital Strategist worked with over 50 Caribbean brands and became the only Digital strategist in Jamaica to do Digital Marketing for an entire country – VisitJamaica .
  12. Burnt out twice and recovered from being a workaholic.
  13. Lost my mother.
  14. Walked away from Who I thought was the love of my life and life partner.
  15. Took a year-long radical sabbatical and break from almost all things tech and traveled to 2 continents and 7 cities.
  16. *Launched my Cannabis business – Digital420.co and became a committed Cannabis Wellness Advocate.
  17. Repositioned by Caribbean Tech Blog SiliconCaribe.com to focus on my original why – so I now write and speak only on Tech Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Women in Tech.
  18. Much happier now than at the start of the decade.

I’m Just getting started!!

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