Charlotte Oxnam[/caption] Her work needs are many, and she needed a daily device that could keep up with her busy schedule. Typically, Oxnam is running several programs, such as a wireframe app. She’s projecting company finances on Excel and conducting video meetings on Teams, as Cue the Curves is a completely remote team. She’s running Python code for a course, creating databases and executing experiments. She’s also working on designs for social media content and editing videos for longer form content. That means she needs a lot of processing power at any given time, to be able to run video and coding platforms that she shares live with her team, who are in turn making live revisions online. She’s also working on the creative end too, so she needs to mark up and edit design aspects. And she has to be able to do all of these things simultaneously. “I'm trying to live the life of three people,” jokes Oxnam, who is also part of the 35-member cohort of The Garage, a startup hub at Northwestern, so she’s surrounded by 20-somethings like her who are all working nonstop on schoolwork and their fledgling business ideas. “My core role is a student. I have homework to get done, assignments to do. Then I have to play manager. We have teams abroad. We have students working on Cue the Curves from three different universities. So, I'm managing time zones, meetings and scheduling. On top of that I'm doing a lot of advertising and outreach. So, I'm the CEO, manager, director of marketing and head of development, all in one.” She’s had an entrepreneurial spirit since she was a young child, inspired and consistently supported by a dad who had his own renewable energy business and a very technically proficient mom who worked her way up to be COO of a construction company. “When you're in an early startup, all you have is your credibility. But I don't have a history or proof that I'm worth their time. I can't let anything slip through the cracks,” says Oxnam, so it’s vital her technology keeps up with many important moving parts.The first thing about Windows 11 that stood out to me was how easy it was to set upOxnam says that tech fuels everything she does, but even she was surprised at how dramatically her life changed with a new-to-her operating system. “The first thing about Windows 11 that stood out to me was how easy it was to set up. In five minutes, I had all of my programs set up. I even was able to transfer over all of my tabs and bookmarks and favorite things to Microsoft Edge,” Oxnam says. “This was amazing given how many different platforms I have to log into. To have it ready and customized for me right from the get-go was a game changer. And then beyond that, it was so intuitive to pick up.” She was able to quickly figure out features she now uses daily, such as Snap Assist, multiple desktops, widgets and search from Start. “Everything was super easy to do without having to do a ton of research, which was extremely convenient and meant that I could just get to work right from the beginning,” she says. “I need to be able to quickly export things and get them turned in right before the deadline, because I need every minute.” She marveled at how much easier it was to collaborate in real-time. For example, she constantly works on Excel files with a group of five. It’s usually a massive financial spreadsheet that entails creating new models projected out five years, editing new data and equations. Before she switched to Windows 11, they couldn’t all work on the document at the same time – since statistical models’ numbers change constantly – so they would have to assign people different days to work on it. But that changed once she was using Windows 11. “And all of a sudden, I was on the same document as everyone else working in real time, everything was updating super-fast. I could see the exact numbers that were being plugged in,” she says. “We could comment, we could realize faster ways to do things. We didn't have to fix a ton of people's mistakes.” [caption id="attachment_177076" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
Charlotte Oxnam[/caption] As she’s been able to streamline her workflow, she’s also carrying one less device. Previously she had to go back and forth between a MacBook Air and an iPad. But now, those devices are gathering dust on a shelf while she uses her Windows 11 laptop daily, even converting some of her housemates – mostly engineers – to switch to PCs after seeing how easy it was for her to transfer her work and school life onto the new platform. Having a touch screen on her main device has really simplified her life, she says. “I just tap on the thing I want, and it takes me to it. It's as easy as that. Or zoom in the way we do on our phones,” says Oxnam, who loves how much easier it is to edit images and work on content without thinking about a mouse or even a trackpad. “I just pinch my fingers because that's intuitively what we've learned to do.” Oxnam is hopeful for the future, and how the next generation’s shopping experience will be a much more positive one than what she and others grew up with. The blog will continue to exist, as she wants to make sure the team doesn’t get too insular and turn into an echo chamber. But their focus is to stay true to representing every plus-size woman and advocate for them. To have these spaces exist is already proving valuable to people who have found them. “We've already had at least a couple dozen people directly reach out and tell us, ‘This is the community I've been searching for. This is my space. I've finally found it. Thank you for making it,’” Oxnam says. “Our first step in making the world a more inclusive space is fashion, but I think it's a bigger conversation of how we can create things that are more accessible and enjoyable, that make life better in different ways. And I think technology is at the heart of everything we'll do going forward that can pull that off.” Lead photo: Charlotte Oxnam and a Windows 11 PCvia https://www.aiupnow.com
Athima Chansanchai, Writer, Khareem Sudlow
