29-year-old clara shih joins starbucks board of directors

If you haven't heard... Last week, it was announced that social media entrepreneur Clara Shih, founder of Hearsay Social and author of The Facebook Era, has been appointed to the Starbucks Board of Directors: Twenty-Nine-Year-Old Hearsay Social CEO Clara Shih Joins Starbucks Board Of Directors.

Hearsay Social is a software as a service dashboard that helps national big brands with local branches (i.e. Best Buy, Starbucks) manage their Facebook, Twitter and other social media presences. Shih will replace Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg on Starbucks' board:

A former Google, Microsoft and Salesforce employee Shih, founded Hearsay Social with Microsoft staffer Steve Garrity. Shih says that as she was writing the book The Facebook Era, she saw that there was a market to better serve corporate-local brands.

Clearly that caught the attention of mega-brand Starbucks and founder and CEO Howard Schultz. Shih joins fellow board members Schultz, Allen & Company's William Bradley, Ariel Capital Management Mellody Hobson, Juniper Networks' Kevin Johnson, PepsiCo's Olden Lee, Kissinger Associates' Joshua Cooper Ramo, Trinity Ventures' James Shennan, Jr., Colgate – Palmolive Company's Javier Teruel J.C. Penney's Myron Ullman, III and Craig Weatherup.

Did I mention she's just twenty-nine years old? And recently named one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs. Whoaaaaa.

A couple of years ago, I spoke on a panel with Ms. Shih, discussing blogs, social media and the changing face of internet messaging. I remember thinking this woman was pretty damn smart and sure sounded like she knew what she was talking about. I guess she really did know what she was talking about.

More here: Says Starbucks' 29-Year-Old Female Board Member: 'Stanford Taught Me To Be An Entrepreneur'.