My title is in reference to a show called Beauty and the Geek produced by Ashton Kutcher back in 2005. Today, my company hosted a Tech Meetup called Demos & Drinks at Maker City LA in Downtown Los Angeles. The event showcased various apps in the tech space including the ever so popular alcohol delivery app Saucey, as well as Postmates and Causecast.

As I scanned the room looking for interesting characters to mingle with, I realized that technology wasn’t the only thing to evolve, PEOPLE evolved. Years ago, lets just say, 15-20 years ago, images of Steve Urkel would conjure up in our minds whenever we would think of the typical “nerd”. We thought of the geeks dressed in overalls, thick rimmed glasses and the extra nerdy types that would carry around pocket protectors.

Fast forward to 2014, our society has become so integrated.  Women who were most likely the “popular girls” in high school were in attendance.  Twenty years ago, could you picture the popular girls and the nerds sitting at the same table during lunch? One of my good friends is an embedded engineer who designs rockets. I, however, hail from a marketing background. I wonder if our social circles would have crossed paths 15 years ago.

In the past, the word “technology” corresponded with nerd, geek and brainy. In the present moment, technology signifies innovation, it signifies simplicity, and it signifies creativity. Saucey, the app designed by the so-called “nerds” is used by techies, athletes and the businessmen of the world. So what is the bigger picture? One way or another, the advancement of technology has brought us all together.

In that moment, I took a sip of my drink, smiled, and celebrated the fact that we were all together, no matter what our background was.

Picture by Nathan Rupert