How it All Started

Sue Connelly accidentally discovered the power of the Internet when she created an email list in 1997 to keep in touch with friends and clients at Silicon Graphics. Silicon Graphics was Sue’s client for many years, and she enjoyed the magic of working with terrific people during an incredible time in SGI’s history. After she began working with other client companies, she started her email list to keep this magic going by staying in touch with her friends.

Not knowing the “Be Careful What You Start” rule, she quickly found out how fast things can grow on the Web when she started sending out job leads to help friends who had been laid off from SGI. The list rapidly changed into a job opportunities email list that now has over 53,000 subscribers! Sue donated her time to keep the list going for nearly seven years, but she was staggering under the workload. In 2002, two of her friends, Amy and Val, saved her life (and her sanity!) by helping with the large moderator workload so the KIT List could continue to “help great people find great jobs.”

Sue Connelly
KIT List Founder and Moderator
Principal, Connelly Communications

Sue’s “real job” is as a marketing communications consultant. She founded Connelly Communications (www.connellycom.com) in 1994, and she creates and manages programs that generate revenue for her clients. Some of her clients include Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, NEC, Proxim, Symantec, Sun/Netscape Alliance, Argonaut, and SGI. Sue also teaches Marketing Best Practices seminars to companies both in person and through Web seminars. She also teaches her seminars at the San Francisco Small Business Administration and at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

When not working on the KIT List or with her clients, Sue loves to fly small planes -- she once did aerobatics in a Czech fighter jet! She was “infected by the travel bug” by her mother, who flew with Pan Am during its golden era. Sue’s trips to amazing places, especially Africa and Thailand, have changed her perspective on life, making her appreciate the opportunities we have here in the states and realize that there’s still a whole lot more for her to see in the world!

Amy Sloniker
KIT List Moderator

Amy is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for a software company in Mountain View, California. She’s been working with the company for over five years, and there she enjoys creating the materials used to help market and sell products including collateral, presentations, and other product launch materials.

Amy is a former SGIer, where she first met Sue. At SGI, Amy spent most of her time working with developers and was fortunate to leave SGI with not only great work experience, but also some incredible friendships.

In January 2002, Amy offered to volunteer her time to help Sue moderate the two KIT Lists. Since that time, membership and job postings have grown exponentially. She believes in the value of these lists for members and really enjoys helping out.

Amy holds a B.A. in Advertising/Marketing from San Jose State University and an M.B.A. in Marketing from National University. In her free time, Amy enjoys travel, exploring the incredible San Francisco Bay Area, spending time with friends and family...and just enjoying life!

Valerie Cienega
KIT List Moderator

Val joined the KIT List in February 2002 as a job seeker and, loving it so much, offered to moderate! She has been a moderator with the KIT List since November 2002, monitoring posts to the list and answering list members’ questions…usually with the right answer!

Valerie has extensive experience in the technology sector in marketing and event planning. Most recently, she contracts with various companies while searching for her next big gig. Her recent work spans the spectrum of planning a ten-day conference for 1,500 high school students on technology, planning and managing tradeshows and sales events, and managing a customer briefing center for a networking company. She has worked in various marketing capacities for companies such as Docent, Inc., a leader in e-learning technology; Avio Digital, a wireless home networking startup; and C-Cube Microsystems, makers of semiconductors.

Valerie spends her free time with friends and family, enjoying the outdoors, boating, and of course, planning every party, baby shower, wedding or other get-together her friends can devise. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Valerie received her B.A. in Business Administration via a distance learning program from Trinity College in Vermont.