18 Jun June 18, 2025 – Reframe App to Drink Less Vedant Pradeep and First Female VP’s 8 Tips for Females in Tech Dagnija “Daggie” Lacis
Vedant Pradeep – CEO/Co-Founder of Reframe App
Vedant Pradeep
Vedant Pradeep is the CEO and Co-Founder of Reframe, an app designed to help people become the best versions of themselves. Reframe is a neuroscience-based habit change program focused on helping individuals transform their relationship with alcohol—whether that means cutting back or choosing complete abstinence. At its core, Reframe recognizes that there’s no single “right” way to drink less. The journey toward a healthier relationship with alcohol is deeply personal and unique to each individual. Reframe equips users with the knowledge and tools needed to make informed decisions about alcohol, empowering them to lead lives—whether with or without alcohol—that feel fulfilling and aligned with their goals. Developed in collaboration with leading experts from Emory and Harvard Universities, as well as our in-house scientific team and hundreds of industry specialists, Reframe offers the most effective alcohol reduction program available today. We believe in science, not stigma. Research, not rules. And everything we do is designed to help you thrive.
Dagnija “Daggie” Lacis – First Female Vice President at Burroughs Corporation and Author of
Daggie Lacis
In 1950, at age seven, Dagnija Lacis came to America with her parents as a refugee from Communist-ruled Latvia. How did it happen that the Prime Minister of newly freed Latvia would invite Dagnija back to her homeland in 1990 as the first official visitor from the West? THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES, A Memoir: How a U. S. Tech Entrepreneur Broke the Glass Ceiling and Helped Modernize Latvia is the story of this trailblazer, Dagnija Lacis: The first woman programmer at the Burroughs Corporation, the second-largest IT company in the world at the time. The first female line vice president at Burroughs Corporation was in 1984 when most men did not want or expect a woman as their boss. A refugee who fled Latvia in her mother’s arms in 1944 as the Communists took over and went on to become a leading IT executive. In 1990, she returned to her homeland at the request of the newly freed country’s prime minister. She brought with her technology experts, systems, and training that helped prepare Latvia for early acceptance into NATO and the EU following its independence. The entrepreneur who launched an international technology company in 1991 was one of the first to employ remote workers—several years before the World Wide Web was available. A woman on the front lines, experiencing THREE major world events Dagnija Lacis shares her insights and strategic thinking as she recounts her journey of breaking through the glass ceilings in the male-dominated IT industry. She tells how she introduced the most advanced IT systems to her newly liberated homeland, Latvia, enabling the country to engage in business with the West. Her memoir features over 150 photographs and illustrates how Dagnija and her team utilized strategy, intelligence, energy, expertise, and passion to modernize Latvia’s technology. Additionally, it details her experience launching her own international IT company in 1991. Dagnija (also known as “Daggie”) was only a year old in 1944 when her parents fled their beloved Latvia, driven by fear of being sent to Siberia by the advancing Russian Communist forces. After spending five years in a displaced persons camp in Germany, her family was offered a home in Indianapolis, Indiana, sponsored by a local Lutheran congregation. Though she started school without knowing a word of English, young Daggie quickly caught up to her peers and stood out for her proficiency with numbers. In 1960, long before there were girls in STEM, she won a scholarship to Butler University, where she studied math and chemistry. Later that year, on her birthday—April 13, 1960—she became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. Upon graduating cum laude from Butler in June of 1964, Dagnija crashed her first glass ceiling: she began her career in computers as the first woman programmer at the Burroughs Corporation, then the second-largest IT company worldwide. After nearly 20 years of holding her own with “the boys” (at a time in corporate America when many men didn’t want or respect women as bosses), Daggie broke a second glass ceiling: she became the company’s first woman line VP. Dagnija had only returned to Latvia once, in 1978, when she traveled with her husband, Andris, and his elderly father, who wanted to see his sisters one last time. She was distressed by the poor state of Latvia’s business communications. Would Latvia remain battered and backward after decades of Communist rule? A year after the Berlin Wall fell, the newly elected prime minister and foreign minister invited Dagnija back to Latvia, the beloved homeland she had fled as a child, with a mission: to bring modern technology to the foreign ministry. This marked the beginning of Dagnija’s efforts to modernize Latvia, enabling it to establish connections and do business with the West. In THE WALL FALLS, A WOMAN RISES, Dagnija recalls the hurdles launching her own international technology company, Baltic Technology Group, in 1991—which, at 81 years old, this entrepreneur continues to participate in running today. Dagnija’s message was and is: “Stick to your goals. When confronted with obstacles, don’t give up. Find another path forward!” In her memoir, Dagnija Lacis also reveals: What it was like to be on the front lines living through THREE major world events: the women’s movement, women’s involvement in programming and IT management, and the transition from communism to capitalism. Her challenges and opportunities as the first female programmer at Burroughs Corp in 1964. How she navigated and gained traction and responsibilities in a male-dominated industry long before the women’s movement. The efforts and accomplishments that led to her being named Burrough’s first woman line VP in 1984. The strategies, challenges, and triumphs behind modernizing Latvia after the fall of the Berlin Wall. What it was like to be the only female among males during the 1970s and 1980s as she was promoted from one position to another—technical manager, branch sales manager, marketing director, and vice president—and the difficulties that sometimes arose from that experience. The challenges and solutions as Dagnija created one of the first companies with REMOTE employees in the late nineties. The author also offers behind-the-scenes accounts of her extraordinary achievement in demonstrating to Latvia how a Western country operates, which played a significant role in Latvia gaining acceptance into the EU and NATO as quickly as it did after gaining independence.