Stretch Yourself (Bill Barnes)

Ryan Singel is a journalist and entrepreneur based in San Francisco. As a journalist he has covered tech policy, privacy, social networking, startups, and many other technology topics. He co-founded the award-winning Threat Level blog at Wired. Ryan is the founder of Contextly, a company that makes editorial tools for news sites and other publications.

Rebecca Parsons, a technologist with over 30 years of experience. Throughout her career, she’s made significant contributions to software design patterns, system architectures, distributed systems, and best practices in software. Rebecca is currently the CTO of ThoughtWorks. Rebecca Parsons is one of the authors of "Building Evolutionary Architectures".

Chris Kluwe is a former NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings. In his eight seasons with the Vikings, Chris set eight individual team records. During this period, he was also an outspoken advocate for same sex marriage and gay rights. Chris is the author of Otaku, a novel that combines his love for science fiction, games, and equal rights.

Kara Swisher is a technology journalist and host of Sway, a podcast about power by The New York Times. Kara has been covering technology since the 1990s. She is one of the first reporters on the internet beat in Silicon Valley. She was the co-producer of the technology conference “D: All Things Digital”, where she interviewed major tech figures, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Kara has hosted hundreds of newsmaking interviews with other prominent figures such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Stacey Abrams, Kim Kardashian, and President Barack Obama.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple Inc. He was a pioneer of personal computers, entrepreneur and designer. He led significant innovations in various areas: music, technology, film, hardware. Steve had a notable impact in changing how people use and interact with technology. This excerpt originally appeared in Steve Jobs: Secrets of Life, a film produced by the Silicon Valley Historical Association. Used with permission from the Silicon Valley Historical Association. 

Don Clark is a Musician and Journalist. He's been writing about technology since 1980. Don is currently a freelance journalist for The New York Times. Previously, he worked at The Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. Don also plays music professionally in several bands such as the Irish band Blind Duck and the rock band Off the Record.

Celia Stahr is an author, art historian and professor at the University of San Francisco. Celia specializes in modern American and contemporary art with an emphasis on feminist art and gender studies. She’s the author of the book “Frida in America”, a book that focuses on Frida Kahlo's personal and creative awakening while living in San Francisco, Detroit, and New York during the Great Depression. For more information about the book go to fridakahlojourney.com.

Tal Rabin is Head of Research at the Algorand Foundation. She is a researcher that focuses on cryptography and security. For over 22 years she was the Head of the Cryptographic Research Group at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

Asya Kamsky started her career in technology in the late 80s. Throughout her career, she’s worked at different companies and held various roles. She’s currently Principal Developer Advocate at MongoDB. This is their advice.

Bill Barnes has been in the tech industry for over 30 years. He also successfully ran the web-based comic Unshelved for 14 years and turned it into a diversified media business. He's currently Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft.