“My father was an engineer and entrepreneur and I just wanted to follow in his footsteps,” she recalls. “But he always said I couldn’t join the family business because ‘it’s a man’s world.’ Honestly, that was my one big motivating factor – I wanted to prove him wrong.”

That she did. Today, Sanghvi is one of Silicon Valley’s most respected tech leaders and an inspiration to women who wish to break into the male-dominated field of engineering. In this OPB interview, Sanghvi shares her experiences as the sole female at a scrappy tech startup and what it’ll take for more women to become techies.

OPB: How did you land a job as an engineer at Facebook in the fall of 2005?

Ruchi Sanghvi: The company was really young at the time and it was operating out of an office space in downtown Palo Alto, right above a Chinese restaurant. I arrived at noon and everyone was still asleep. Finally, all the other engineers starting trudging in. Basically, I was waiting there trying to occupy myself. I finally had my first interview at 3pm.

OPB: How were you treated at Facebook as the only female engineer?

RS: The field of technology is in many ways the closest thing you can find to a meritocracy. It’s results that matter and it’s what will get you noticed. So it’s an unusual environment but a great environment because of that. Being the first female engineer at Facebook was just a lot of heads-down hard work, building products that we really cared about and working together to get products out the door. It was really exciting.

I did notice a few things, though, as time passed by. For example, if you are female and you are an engineer, it’s really difficult to be likeable, especially if you’re ambitious and trying to get your point of view across.  To be heard, you needed to be aggressive, and you needed to be comfortable with asking for opportunities and not just waiting for them to come your way.

OPB: In the past, you’ve mentioned how your male colleagues at Facebook formed a ‘brogramming page’ – a sort of boys’ club for programmers. How has this shaped your view of women in the workplace?

RS: There’s so much camaraderie and men naturally create these kinds of networks. As women in the field, we should build these similar networks. There are so few women in technology – only 15 or 16 percent are in tech jobs today. Those percentages have remained pretty constant over the years. It’s unfortunate that we as women don’t make more of an effort to form a network to help each other out.

OPB: Where along the pipeline are we losing women to fields other than technology, and why?

RS: It’s a self-perpetuating loop in many ways. In the beginning, in kindergarten, I don’t think we make a big enough effort to push our girls into math and physics and to get them interested in those subjects. And if you don’t have a strong base there, it then becomes really difficult to study engineering in college. Then when you’re in college, women don’t necessarily have the equivalent of a Steve Jobs to look up to. We need to have more role models like Sheryl [Sandberg, former Facebook COO] and Marissa [Mayer, a Google VP] and be able to point to them.

OPB: What are the primary challenges women face today in the tech space?

RS: When women finally get into the workforce, they have so many things that they need to prioritize and work on at the same time in both their professional lives and personal lives. There’s a lot of effort they put into planning and they often take the foot off the pedal before they even have to make decisions. Our technology world changes so fast, it doesn’t make sense for us to stop before we have to. Then once those life decisions are made, we don’t do enough to make the environment accommodating for people who are having children and making other life decisions. We need to come up with creative ways as to how these women can continue to contribute to the workforce.

That’s a huge mistake, according to Kevin Zicherman, president of Brick&Mobile, a Toronto-based start-up that builds and designs mobile websites. “Most small business websites are built in Flash which doesn’t work on an iPhone,” warns Zicherman. “So if I’m a customer visiting a website and it’s a Flash site, it’s literally a blank screen.”

More than simply being Flash-free, a mobile website needs to be built for a small screen, feature the right keywords for a high search engine ranking, and deliver the smoothest end-user experience possible.

Fortunately, Zicherman says it’s easier than you think to create a mobile-friendly website.

Here are 5 simple steps to building a click-worthy mobile website:

1. Put it to the test. Grab a smartphone and take your existing website for a test drive. “Businesses really need to understand how their website looks on a mobile device and really experience it as their customers would through their eyes,” advises Zicherman.

2. Select a mobile web provider. With technology constantly evolving, it’s critical that your mobile website includes the latest features and upgrades. A time-consuming endeavor, many small business owners leave the heavy lifting to a mobile web provider so that they can focus on core competencies like product development and customer service. “DIY works for some but it actually creates a lot more work and it’s a little bit risky,” warns Zicherman.

3. Consider your content. No one wants to sift through page upon page of content on a palm-sized screen. For this reason, Zicherman says that “when it comes to optimizing content for a mobile device, about 400 characters per page is fine. You want to limit a user from scrolling and scrolling so be sure to stick to high-level content.”

4. Encourage action. Smartphone users are typically on the move – the perfect opportunity for small business owners to encourage consumers to take action. Whether it’s making an on-the-spot purchase or booking a reservation, “every page of your mobile device should ask the user to take action,” says Zicherman. “A lot of businesses forget that the experience doesn’t end at the mobile website and that a mobile website can be used to capture new leads.”

5. Analyze this. How do you know if your mobile website is up to snuff? For starters, forget about applying the same metrics you would to a desktop website. “The analytics on a desktop website are more about engagement, time spent and the number of page views per visitor whereas a mobile website should be measured by who takes action,” says Zicherman. Are smartphone owners clicking to call, booking dinner and making purchases? Then consider your mobile site a success.

Join brick&mobile for a special webinar session on Sunday, January 29, 2012, 8pm ET, where Kevin Zicherman will be reviewing a new SMS platform. Sign up here:  https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/406979430

Here are six high-profile execs that dress for success:

Jay Penske, CEO, PMC

He made Vanity Fair’s complete 2010 Best-Dressed List and for good reason: Penske, founder and CEO of PMC, a digital media and publishing company, manages to look suave whether building empires, dating Hollywood starlets or stepping out of a race car pit.

Cathie Black, Former President, Hearst Magazines

Whether heading one of the world’s largest magazine empires or taking over as chancellor of the New York City school system, Cathie Black has the same approach to style as she does to management: no nonsense. Straight-shooting power suits, trendsetting statement necklaces and basic black rule the day.

Michael Lee-Chin, Executive chairman, AIC Ltd.

Jamaican-Canadian Michael Lee-Chin makes classic look cool. Executive chairman of mutual fund company AIC Limited, and the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica, Lee-Chin captures an elegance befitting his status as one of the richest people in Canada.

Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor

Notoriety just seems to follow Charles Phillips. In 2010 he set tongues wagging by resigning as president of Oracle. Industry observers scratched their collective heads when he accepted the position as CEO of ERP software provider Infor. And then there was the time his ex-mistress YaVaughnie Wilkins spent $250,000 on billboards that went up in New York’s Times Square trumpeting her 8+ year-long affair with Philips. Yet Phillips’ style never falters thanks to earth tone-color combinations, Windsor knots and custom suits.

Andrea Jung, CEO, Avon

In a sea of beige and navy business suits, Andrea Jung knows how to stand out from the crowd. Named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal, the CEO of Avon can often be found sporting her signature pearls, Manolo Blahnik stilettos and a bright red dress with lipstick to match.

Mellody Hobson, President, Ariel Investments

As chic as she is powerful, Mellody Hobson gives smart girls everywhere hope that brainy can be beautiful, especially in a designer gown. Hobson is the president of Ariel Investments, a Chicago investment firm and one of the largest African American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the U.S. Whether draped over the arm of boyfriend George Lucas or shopping along Chicago’s Gold Coast, Hobson always looks glamorous.

(Photo by Jeff Vespa/WireImage)

At a recent conference at Stanford University, Caldwell dashed music entrepreneurs’ hopes with a harsh lecture on the futility of launching a digital music service. But while it’s true that territorial record labels, crippling licensing fees, and good old-fashioned Darwinism have crushed many a digital music venture (RIP: Napster, Kazaa, LimeWire), a handful of players are proving naysayers like Caldwell wrong.

Pandora

The automated music recommendation service was on the verge of singing its swan song due to a proposed rise in music royalty rates. Since then, the company has reemerged as a profitable digital music venture with about 700,000 tracks to its name. Today, more than 48 million listeners enter song titles and artist names, check out recommendations, and provide feedback on individual tracks.

MOG

Founded by ‘Addicted to Noise’ creator David Hyman, and boasting music impresario Rick Rubin on its board of directors, it’s no wonder MOG is earning accolades as an ad-free subscription service that grants music fans access to nearly 10 million songs.

Spotify

Spotify wants to grant music lovers the same access to music as paid services like Rhapsody and Rdio but with a free, ad-supported model. That’s piqued the interest of industry stalwarts like Apple which, as of mid-October, was rumored to be in talks to buy Spotify, a music streaming platform from Napster’s Sean Parker. Apple has denied the rumors but industry observers are staying tuned.

Rdio

Brought to you by Kazaa’s founders, music subscription service Rdio lets listeners play the music they want from the web or a mobile phone for as little as $4.99 a month.