The New Silicon Valley for Generation Y Business Bloggers… Wisconsin?
When people think of the new generation of corporate go-getters, most of them conjure up images of Silicon Valley, skyscrapers, lattes and high tech havens. That is definitely what I originally thought until my Generation Y business blog experience ran contrary to that assumption, in fact, the images I am coming across are dairies, breweries and the exciting metropolitan cities of Milwaukee and Madison Wisconsin.
Penelope Trunk
The first, and arguably the most popular young business blogger I noticed was a dairy stater is none other than the talented Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist fame.
Trunk has spent roughly ten years each in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York City. Recently, taking her own advice about how to leverage scientific data to choose a job and a place to live, she landed in Madison, Wisconsin. The first word her baby learned in Wisconsin was cow.
Her blog and Yahoo! Finance column are both great sources of inspiration for me and read by other bloggers here as well.
Ryan Healy
Another recently transferred Badger state business blogger is none other than Ryan Healy of Employee Evolution. Ryan, who was recently featured on a 60 Minutes segment on millennials, had this to say about moving to Madison:
What on earth could make you move to Wisconsin?
There are two things that could make me want to move to Wisconsin. One would be the girl of my dreams (of course, I would try to convince her to move to my area first). The second would be a chance to finally start a company. Who knows if I will like Madison or not, but I’m not making the decision based on the city, I’m making the decision based on my career.
Finally, if it’s a guy, and they still aren’t satisfied, I just tell them Madison has tons of beautiful college girls. They wish me the best of luck!
Now these first two are somewhat related as they are both working on the new Brazen Careerist, Inc blog network/counseling/consulting/recruiting company (which Newly Corporate will be a part of), but the trend doesn’t stop here.
Modite
Modite is another young business blog based in Wisconsin. The blog, run by Rebecca Thorman a self-proclaimed Gen Y Leader, details the author’s thoughts on leadership and the workaday world for those with a “quarter life crisis”. Her bio describes her association with Madison and her position:
Modite is a creation of Rebecca Thorman, a millennial living in Madison, Wisconsin. At 24 years old, Rebecca is the Executive Director of a young professional organization whose mission is to attract and retain young talent and leadership in order to contribute to the regions’ economic, civic, social, and public policy futures.
Another great dairy state business leader in the making.
And more! Why?
I could keep going on with more examples like Dennis of ProMoneyBlogger.com, or our bloggers Brandon A, Grant and many others.
What’s causing the phenomenon? It’s certainly not our tax environment. Is it young professional groups like Madison Magnet and FUELmilwaukee? Or is it just where things like Brazen Careerist, Inc are getting started? Everyone’s thoughts are welcome in the comments, I am sure if you can figure out how to replicate the pattern elsewhere you could make some serious money consulting.
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Tags: IT, Management, Milwaukee, Productivity, Young Professionals
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November 14th, 2007 at 5:33 am
I’ve wanted to write this post for awhile, and am glad someone else noticed! I feel like the Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago triad is powerful, and at least for Madison, that we’re nearing a tipping point within the next couple years as we continue to become more of a major city player. And yes, I could add to this list of Wisconsin bloggers - we rock!
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November 14th, 2007 at 5:34 am
PS - Are you involved with FUEL Milwaukee?
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November 14th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I am a member of FUEL Milwaukee but, I am not on the board or anything at the moment due to the fact that my current rotation is in Seattle, WA. I will be moving back in February so I will definitely be interested in getting more involved at that time.
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November 14th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Madison is awesome. It is the perfect place for the young professional to find their groove. Maybe I’m nostalgic because I’m an alumni, but if I had the chance … I’d go back in a heartbeat. There seems to be an entrepreneurial zeal at that campus. You can feel it. I think our generation thrives on that.
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November 15th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Madison has become a mecca. My feedreader is always buzzing with great stuff from this group. The great thing about the web, social networking, etc is that you can be from Madison or another small(er) town and have a voice. No longer do you have to be in the heart of NYC or San Fran to make a decent living and be an industry leader. Here’s to Madison and other small town entrepreneurs that are doing great things.
January 7th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] short conversations but, I recently sent a site description-type answer to Penelope Trunk, another Wisconsin-based business blogger, who came back at me with this: I get that that’s the mission of your blog. But personally, [...]