In a world the place we’re experiencing a lot change politically, economically, socially and within the client market, there’s one fixed that retains us going: girls. It doesn’t matter what, girls are rising to the event and paving a path for his or her successors. With grace and dignity, they conquer setbacks and challenges—resembling cash woes, divorce, loss, grief and parenting—and one way or the other persevere. Girls are extremely resilient in all areas of life. In a nutshell, they kick ass.
Girls have additionally all the time demonstrated a outstanding capability for resilience—whether or not balancing careers and households, navigating systemic boundaries or overcoming private hardships, they discover methods to maneuver ahead. Regardless of the obstacles they face, girls proceed to guide with empathy and imaginative and prescient. Their perseverance is a testomony to their energy and dedication, proving repeatedly that it doesn’t matter what life throws their method, girls will rise, thrive and lead the cost for a extra inclusive and equitable world.
These days, extra girls are taking over entrepreneurial roles, pushing boundaries and rewriting the narrative of what it means to be a frontrunner in enterprise, philanthropy and past. At SUCCESS® journal, we’re proud to have a good time these girls by means of our annual Girls of Affect awards marketing campaign, recognizing trailblazing girls who aren’t solely shaping the current however are additionally laying the groundwork for future difference-makers to thrive.
The rise of girls entrepreneurs
The rise of girls in management roles is among the most inspiring and transformative shifts in right now’s enterprise world. Extra girls than ever are breaking by means of the glass ceiling and getting into positions of energy throughout industries, from CEOs and entrepreneurs to political leaders and philanthropists. This development displays not solely their skilled capabilities but additionally their means to adapt, innovate and persevere within the face of adversity.
What’s driving this development? For a lot of, entrepreneurship isn’t just about making a profitable enterprise—it’s about creating alternative. Girls are more and more launching ventures in industries starting from tech to well being care, schooling to trend, and all the pieces in between. They’re tackling advanced challenges, fixing real-world issues and, within the course of, creating jobs and driving innovation.
However their success isn’t just about enterprise—it’s additionally about goal. Feminine entrepreneurs are infusing their firms with a way of mission, whether or not it’s advancing sustainability, advocating for social justice or prioritizing wellness and inclusivity. They’re not simply constructing companies; they’re constructing a greater world for future generations.
In response to latest research, the variety of female-owned companies has skyrocketed, and ladies have launched startups quicker than their male counterparts. Girls entrepreneurs had a 41% year-over-year development price from 2023 to 2024, and ladies now maintain 10.4% of CEO positions in Fortune 500 firms, in keeping with Girls Enterprise Collaborative—a gradual enhance that highlights their rising affect throughout industries.
Making vital strides
The next statistics show the rising tide of feminine entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders who aren’t solely thriving but additionally are creating pathways for future generations of feminine entrepreneurs and CEOs. We must be extraordinarily happy with our progress, and that’s why we proceed to have a good time excellent people from world wide.
1. Growing variety of girls entrepreneurs
In response to the International Entrepreneurship Monitor 2020/2021 report, girls account for about 33% of excessive development entrepreneurs globally, a big rise in recent times. This development is particularly seen within the tech, well being and client items industries, the place girls are main the best way in growing new options and creating thriving companies.
2. Girls in startups
A report by PitchBook revealed that female-cofounded firms within the U.S. raised a file $64.4 billion in enterprise capital funding in 2021. Whereas girls are nonetheless underrepresented in comparison with their male counterparts, this development is important in growing the visibility and affect of women-led firms within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
3. Progress in women-owned companies
Information from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that the variety of women-owned companies grew by 21% from 2014 to 2019, outpacing the expansion of all U.S. companies, which grew by simply 9%. This development development is predicted to proceed, pushed by girls entrepreneurs throughout all sectors.
4. Girls entrepreneurs and innovation
In response to the American Specific 2019 State of Girls-Owned Companies Report, female-owned companies now account for about 42% of all U.S. companies. And in keeping with the beforehand talked about International Entrepreneurship Monitor report, 1 in 3 feminine entrepreneurs within the U.S. is concerned in high-growth sectors like know-how, which reveals that ladies are making vital strides in reshaping industries which are historically dominated by males.
5. Girls within the tech {industry}
Girls are making notable inroads in tech entrepreneurship. PitchBook’s earlier report additionally discovered that feminine tech firm founders noticed over $30 billion in investments in 2021, a rise of 82.9% from 2020. This highlights the rising recognition of the worth girls convey to innovation-driven sectors.
6. Entrepreneurial success and gender parity
In response to Bizee, girls are over 20% extra possible than males to achieve constructing worthwhile companies within the early phases, a statistic that underscores the resilience and development mindset girls convey to entrepreneurship.
Celebrating the SUCCESS girls of affect
This yr’s Girls of Affect honorees exemplify the ability of growth-minded management. They’re visionary entrepreneurs, dedicated advocates, resilient enterprise girls and compassionate caregivers—girls who’ve demonstrated that they’ll do all of it. Their tales are a testomony to the energy, versatility and tenacity of girls across the globe, and their collective impression is a robust reminder of the transformative drive girls are in shaping the way forward for enterprise and society.
On this situation, we’re proud to announce our prime 50 nominees, in addition to introduce our WOI winner, Carey Lohrenz, who demonstrates precisely what our SUCCESS mission is all about: main with authenticity and provoking others to be resilient, irrespective of who you might be or what you do. As you’ll study, Lohrenz is a world-class chief, writer, speaker and changemaker who’s a pioneer on the planet of aviation.
Girls as leaders, caregivers and visionaries
One of the crucial outstanding issues concerning the girls we honor by means of the Girls of Affect marketing campaign is their means to steadiness the numerous roles they play—leaders in enterprise, caregivers within the dwelling, advocates of their communities and function fashions for future generations. Girls right now are carrying a number of hats, they usually achieve this with persistence and unwavering dedication.
Most of the girls are moms, caregivers and companions—people who, regardless of the calls for of their skilled lives, make household and group a precedence. They perceive that true success isn’t nearly profession accomplishments; it’s additionally about fostering sturdy relationships, making a optimistic impression and being current for the individuals who matter most. These girls show that it isn’t solely attainable to be a frontrunner in enterprise but additionally to construct deep connections and go away a legacy of affection and assist for these round them.
Along with their roles at dwelling, these girls are actively shaping the way forward for industries, nonprofits and advocacy work. They perceive that management isn’t nearly making selections—it’s about lifting others up, sharing information and creating pathways for individuals who come after them. Whether or not it’s mentoring different girls in enterprise, main philanthropic efforts or talking out on points that matter, these girls are making their mark throughout a number of spheres of affect. Their means to steadiness each private {and professional} commitments is a testomony to their energy, self-discipline and fervour for development.
Progress-minded trailblazers
One of the crucial defining traits of those girls is their development mindset, therefore the theme of this situation. These girls aren’t content material with merely sustaining the established order—they’re relentlessly pushing ahead, frequently evolving and looking for new alternatives to develop. Their entrepreneurial ventures and management roles are rooted in a deep perception that there’s all the time extra to study, extra to attain and extra methods to make a optimistic impression.
A development mindset isn’t nearly having ambition; it’s additionally about resilience within the face of challenges. These girls have confronted adversity, whether or not of their private lives or skilled journeys, and have overcome it with dedication and style. They view obstacles not as roadblocks however as alternatives to study, develop and turn out to be even stronger leaders.
At SUCCESS, we acknowledge that development isn’t just about particular person success—it’s about collective progress. The ladies we honor by means of the Girls of Affect marketing campaign are constructing networks of assist and collaboration that empower others to succeed. They perceive that true management is about creating area for others to thrive, and in doing so, they’re fostering a tradition of innovation and inclusion that advantages everybody.
International attain
As we encourage on the worldwide scene, I may also go one step additional. The Girls of Affect marketing campaign isn’t nearly recognizing the accomplishments of a choose few—it’s about celebrating a world motion of girls who’re main change in entrepreneurship, philanthropy, advocacy, and private {and professional} improvement. At SUCCESS® journal, our attain extends worldwide, and we’re proud to honor girls from numerous backgrounds and industries who’re making a long-lasting impression on the worldwide stage.
These girls are utilizing their platforms to advocate for essential causes, drive significant change and supply options to a number of the world’s most urgent points. From launching worldwide companies to main grassroots campaigns, the ladies featured are demonstrating that management is aware of no borders. Their affect is felt throughout continents, and their impression is shaping the way forward for industries, communities and societies world wide.
In the end, we perceive that true success just isn’t a solitary achievement—it’s a collective effort. That’s why we’re dedicated to recognizing girls who aren’t solely excelling of their fields but additionally lifting others as they rise. These Girls of Affect are constructing legacies that may resonate for generations to return, and we’re honored to share their tales with the world.
Architects of change
As we mirror on the unbelievable achievements of the ladies we function on the next pages, we’re reminded of their unbelievable contributions. These girls aren’t simply leaders of their industries—they’re additionally changemakers, paving the best way for future generations of girls to comply with of their footsteps.
Their impression goes past the numbers and accolades; it’s concerning the lives they’ve touched, the boundaries they’ve damaged and the communities they’ve constructed. They’ve proven us that ladies can do something. Whether or not it’s launching a enterprise, main a nonprofit, advocating for social change or just being a task mannequin to others, these girls have confirmed that with ardour, dedication and a development mindset, there isn’t a restrict to what might be achieved.
At SUCCESS® journal, we’re proud to honor these girls and share their tales with the world. They’re the epitome of what it means to be a Lady of Affect—and their journey is simply starting. As we have a good time their achievements, we stay up for seeing how they are going to proceed to encourage, lead and create a brighter future for all.
These girls are paving the best way for the subsequent technology of leaders, and we are able to’t wait to see the place their paths will lead. And, by recognizing them, we reaffirm the reality that ladies can—and do—excel in each side of life. They don’t seem to be simply shaping the way forward for enterprise. They’re remodeling the world itself.
Congratulations to everybody!
Meet our winner
Carey Lohrenz
CEO, Corridor of Fame Keynote Speaker, Creator, Former Navy Fighter Pilot
The primary feminine F-14 Tomcat fighter pilot within the U.S. Navy, Lohrenz is a management knowledgeable and writer of two Wall Avenue Journal bestselling books, Fearless Management and Span of Management. Her army background in high-stakes fight environments has formed her right into a sought-after authority on management, technique and resilience. By leveraging her combat-tested insights, she has developed a contemporary, data-driven management type that equips enterprise leaders to excel beneath strain and adapt in right now’s aggressive setting.
Pushed by a want to share her experiences, Lohrenz has delivered impactful keynotes and packages to 1000’s of Fortune 500 and Forbes International 2000 firms, guiding leaders and groups on methods to navigate complexity, drive change and ship outcomes when it issues most. Her strategy focuses on sensible, research-based methods that yield each fast and sustainable advantages, thus creating cultures of steady enchancment and resilience. Lohrenz has been acknowledged as a Nationwide Audio system Affiliation Corridor of Fame speaker and has additionally been featured on CNN, MSNBC and NPR, sharing her insights with world audiences.
Along with her company work, she is a devoted CEO, board member and mom who balances her skilled achievements with private commitments. Lohrenz’s experiences as a pioneer in a male-dominated discipline not solely encourage leaders to embrace fearless management but additionally contribute to broader conversations about variety, inclusion and breaking gender boundaries in difficult fields. A portion of the proceeds from her books helps veterans’ charities, underscoring her dedication to honoring those that serve.
Meet our finalists
Whether or not you nominated a colleague, a buddy and even your self, you’ve sparked optimistic change and empowerment. Be part of us as we honor the outstanding accomplishments, actions and achievements of our High 50 finalists.
Congratulations to all of our finalists, and thanks to our nominees!
Naomi Ackerman
Founder, Govt Director of the Advot Challenge
Ackerman leads the Advot (“ripples” in Hebrew) Challenge, a California-based nonprofit that harnesses the ability of creative exploration to assist younger individuals turn out to be daring, brave self-advocates. She primarily works with incarcerated and system-impacted youth, empowering members to search out their voice and remodel their lives.
She can be the creator of the groundbreaking ripple technique, a transformative strategy that has taught 1000’s of younger individuals crucial communication and relationship-building abilities. This technique evokes members to beat the boundaries of their lives, enabling them to put in writing the subsequent chapter of their story with confidence and hope. An skilled actress, marketing consultant and facilitator, Ackerman is the author, director, producer and performer of the critically acclaimed one-woman present, Flowers Aren’t Sufficient.
For the previous three a long time, Ackerman has devoted herself to selling peace, fostering change and inspiring self-empowerment by means of the interactive workshops she creates and leads. Her work has impacted numerous communities and environments, bringing a message of therapeutic and transformation wherever she goes.
Rajinder Atwal, M.D.
Medical Director, Founder, CEO, Household Doctor, C.C.F.P., Girls STEM Mentorship
An award-winning household doctor, medical director and CEO, Atwal leads a busy medical facility whereas serving on the board of administrators of 5 nonprofits. Via Girls STEM Mentorship, she created a platform that advances girls in STEM by means of advising, networking and academic workshops. As a medical clinic founder and director, she precepts medical, nurse practitioner and lab technician college students.
Atwal additionally cofounded Past Boundaries Soccer, which permits people with mental and bodily disabilities to benefit from the sport, and Inexperienced Teen Era, the place she mentors youth to turn out to be environmental leaders. Her accolades embody the Girls in Enterprise Feminine Lifetime Achievement Award, 2023 Girls of the 12 months for Healthcare, 2023 The Waterfront for Science and Know-how Award and recognition as one of many 2023 High 100 Asian Girls Energy Leaders. She was additionally named one of many 10 Most Inspiring Girls Leaders to Comply with in 2024 and a International Girls Energy Chief in 2024.
Marva Bailer
Founder, CEO, Board Member of Qualaix
Bailer epitomizes fearlessness and innovation as a trailblazing tech chief and breast most cancers survivor. Acknowledged as a 2023 recreation changer by Scarlett Abott, she disrupts norms and drives change throughout industries. With twenty years of expertise main billion-dollar groups at IBM, Amazon, Twilio and Splunk, her impression is huge and various.
As an skilled board member and classically skilled senior govt, she has spent the final decade propelling unicorn tech firms, main P&Ls over $1 billion and managing groups of over 400. She excels in revolutionary go-to-market methods and has in depth experience in M&A, SaaS and ARR transitions. Bailer can be the writer of the NIEA 2023 prime profession guide, Be Surprising, the place she emphasizes impactful communication and the distinctive idea of a private “walk-up tune.”
As a purpose-driven chief, she fosters connections, evokes others to innovate and builds distinctive cultures. Her deep expertise in cybersecurity and synthetic intelligence and her function as a sought-after speaker, adviser and award-winning writer underscores her dedication to driving success.
Jess Bailey
Founder, Managing Legal professional of Bailey Regulation Agency
As a pioneering managing legal professional and the founding father of Bailey Regulation Agency, Bailey has remodeled the authorized panorama together with her revolutionary flat-fee mannequin, which boosts transparency and accessibility for shoppers. She focuses on mergers and acquisitions, actual property, banking and finance, and out of doors basic counsel companies, her dedication to constructing a sturdy skilled community permits her agency to offer shoppers with entry to a variety of experience and sources.
Past being a consumer advocate, she is an educator whose ardour lies in offering her shoppers with strategic steering, considerate recommendation and actionable steps, which helps them obtain bold targets with confidence. She and her agency have been honored with a number of accolades, and Bailey speaks nationally 10 to 12 occasions all year long, sharing her insights on management, negotiations, finest practices, and variety and inclusion within the authorized and enterprise group.
Daybreak Belamarich, Ph.D.
President, CEO of Collaboratory
Belamarich operates Collaboratory, a group basis with an advanced mission to coordinate the decision of the area’s greatest social challenges by 2040. Belamarich is an skilled chief and alter agent who’s obsessed with advocating for mission-driven organizations and communities. Her management expertise spans the social companies and behavioral well being fields in each for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Her earlier roles embody senior vice chairman of medical and operational excellence, chief govt officer and govt director at Restoration Facilities of America, a nationwide habit remedy supplier.
Belamarich is a licensed psychological well being counselor and master-level medical habit skilled in Florida and a licensed skilled counselor and licensed medical alcohol and drug counselor in New Jersey, and he or she holds certifications in playing habit and trauma remedy. She additionally serves as a board member for the ARCHway Institute, a nationwide group that’s dedicated to offering schooling and sources for these impacted by habit.
Sarah Bencie
CEO, Managing Associate of Safety Administration Worldwide
As the bulk proprietor, CEO and managing companion of Safety Administration Worldwide, a Washington, D.C.–based mostly safety consulting and protection contracting agency, Bencie oversees all day-to-day operations for the worldwide consultancy, manages non-public sector and overseas authorities initiatives, and supplies strategic path for the group. Since 2021, she has closed appreciable authorities contracts for SMI with the U.S. Division of Protection and the U.S. Division of Justice. Her shoppers additionally embody a number of Fortune 500 firms and a handful of overseas governments.
Previous to coming into the world of worldwide safety, Bencie, a serial entrepreneur, was an internationally acknowledged inside designer. She based and operated her personal profitable inside design consulting agency in Manhattan for practically a decade, along with publishing one of the standard inside design blogs in the USA. Bencie has been featured in quite a few prestigious publications and has served as a model ambassador for the Baldwin {Hardware} Design Council. She can be the writer of CONFIDENCE!: Decoding Your Adorning DNA.
Gogo Bethke
CEO of Gogo’s Actual Property, brokered by eXp Realty
After immigrating from Csikszereda, Romania, to the U.S. in 2003, Bethke labored varied jobs—babysitting, warehousing, waitressing and promoting jewellery—earlier than incomes her actual property license in 2011. She shortly grew to become a prime producer and based Gogo’s Actual Property, LLC. She’s since constructed a world group, #teamgogo, with over 1,500 brokers who generated $2.1 billion in gross sales in 2023. Referred to as the “Social Media Queen of Actual Property,” she created Gogo’s Bootcamp, a a number of Two Comma Membership award-winning program. Her podcast and TV present, Gogopreneur, which airs on Your Dwelling TV community on Roku, garnered over 36 million views in its first yr.
Bethke is a mom to 2 teenage sons with Hungarian names. She and her husband of over 20 years, Duane, started investing in actual property as a shared ardour for the longer term. She loves serving to different like-minded entrepreneurs obtain their targets, which led her to begin the GoGet’Em Neighborhood, the place she is constructing an unlimited information library to show others.
Dedorah S. Brown
Private Progress Advisor, Creator
A local of New Orleans, Louisiana, Brown is a faithful spouse, mom, grandmother, U.S. Military veteran and printed writer with a dedication to advocacy and philanthropy. Impressed by the charitable actions of girls in her group, she has devoted herself to serving to others, from supporting veterans by means of the Division of Veterans Affairs advantages course of to offering compassionate help to households in disaster. Her efforts have earned her honors, together with Dillard College’s Native and Nationwide Neighborhood Service Unsung Hero Awards and Tulane College’s Ellen Gates Starr Neighborhood Service Award.
Brown is a featured speaker on the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Medical Heart’s annual Girls Night time Out occasion, the place she shares her journey of resilience. She’s obsessed with wellness and private development and thus donates her books and shares her private story all through Higher New Orleans and past, empowering others to beat challenges and discover energy in therapeutic. Brown, a resilient disabled veteran, continues to heal from previous hardships and finds energy in utilizing her story and literature to encourage others towards peace and development.
April Callis-Birchmeier
CEO of Springboard Consulting
Callis-Birchmeier is CEO of Springboard Consulting, a frontrunner in making ready challenge and HR professionals to guide change successfully by incorporating change administration actions into challenge plans. An interesting speaker, she has been acknowledged as a Licensed Talking Skilled by the Nationwide Audio system Affiliation. She is obsessed with speaking the optimistic impression of her READY framework to make sure that sponsors, stakeholders and challenge groups expertise greater adoption and profitable initiatives.
The recipient of the 2024 Change Awards Lifetime Award, a International Guru in Organizational Tradition (2020-2024) and the bestselling writer of READY, Set, Change!, Callis-Birchmeier is a Licensed Change Administration Skilled™ and Challenge Administration Skilled. She has led organizational change implementations for presidency, greater schooling and well being care shoppers for greater than twenty years. As a creator of the worldwide commonplace for change administration, Callis-Birchmeier leverages her experience and expertise to work with organizations to make sure profitable challenge outcomes.
Jaymee Chan
Cofounder, Vice President of Honor Well being Sciences
Chan, a psychiatric psychological well being registered nurse, is founder and professor at Honor Well being Sciences, the primary and solely non-public nursing college in Imperial County, California. She additionally cofounded assisted dwelling properties Serene Greenfield Manor and Serene Richview, in addition to Healthpeak Dwelling Well being. After being awarded the inaugural Imperial Valley WOW Girls of Surprise as Enterprise Lady of the 12 months, Chan has been acknowledged by the California Senate and California Legislature and has been given the Soroptimist Ruby Girls Serving to Girls Award.
She grew to become the fourth prime group contributor of the American Nurses Affiliation’s Wholesome Nurse, Wholesome Nation leaderboard, in addition to an autism spectrum dysfunction medical specialist. Chan is on the board of administrators for the Imperial Valley Neighborhood Basis.
Heidi Clarke
Govt Director of the Sandals Basis
Born and raised on the island of Jamaica, Clarke has a deep connection to and love for the Caribbean. As govt director of the Sandals Basis, she has carried out a number of the most impactful and transformative initiatives in Caribbean communities. From her dwelling in Jamaica to the 9 different islands through which Sandals and Seashores Resorts function, Clarke has labored with native and nationwide organizations to convey sources, develop curriculums and supply sustainable options throughout three key pillars: schooling, group and setting.
From growing entry to wash water in colleges to creating marine sanctuaries and artisan packages, Clarke is repeatedly growing methods for tourism and philanthropy to intersect. She seems to be for the gaps the place assist is required most and seeks out companions and stakeholders that align to fill these areas successfully and sustainably. Via her strategic imaginative and prescient and hands-on strategy, she is main the change within the Caribbean, challenge after challenge.
Denise Cumella
Founder, CEO of The Boss Books, Libri d’Impresa and One Hour Advertising and marketing
Via her pioneering work within the publishing and advertising industries, Cumella has not solely constructed profitable companies however has additionally empowered numerous entrepreneurs to show their concepts into impactful narratives. An Italian entrepreneur, writer and keynote speaker, Cumella is the founder and CEO of The Boss Books, Libri d’Impresa and One Hour Advertising and marketing. She can be a TEDx speaker and a member of the governing board of ebbf, a world studying group comprising enterprise executives from over 60 international locations. She is a bestselling writer and Le Fonti Award winner for main probably the most revolutionary editorial advertising firm.
Cumella developed the favored BookCamp Methodology to assist entrepreneurs and professionals flip concepts into books and books into advertising instruments. With over twenty years of expertise in advertising and creating high-value content material for quite a lot of firms, Cumella and her company, One Hour Advertising and marketing, have labored for Lush Cosmetics, Bottega Verde, Yves Rocher and Riso Scotti and helped them considerably acquire market traction.
Nio DiPietrantonio
Board President of Serving Up Assist: Maine
Performing because the board president of Serving Up Assist: Maine, a pioneering initiative devoted to offering psychological well being assist for hospitality employees, DiPietrantonio is making a transformative impression on the psychological well being panorama throughout the hospitality {industry}. With a deep-rooted ardour for fostering optimistic relationships and group empowerment, she has turn out to be a number one advocate for psychological well-being within the hospitality {industry}. Because the board president, DiPietrantonio leads with empathy, lively listening and authenticity, guaranteeing that the group’s values are mirrored in each side of its operations.
Beneath DiPietrantonio’s steering, Serving Up Assist: Maine is increasing its attain throughout New England and providing sources for disaster administration, substance use and private development. Her dedication to difficult stigmas and selling mindfulness has been instrumental in making a supportive community for hospitality professionals. With a concentrate on collaboration and steady studying, DiPietrantonio is devoted to constructing lasting connections and offering entry to important sources, paving the best way for a more healthy, extra empowered workforce.
Debola Deji-Kurunmi
CEO of IMMERSE Teaching Firm
Deji-Kurunmi is the CEO of IMMERSE Teaching Firm, knowledgeable teaching follow; govt director at Ideation Hub Africa, a public coverage and impression advisory agency; and founding father of the Future-Ahead Feminine Motion. Throughout these organizations, she leads greater than 100,000 world communities of visionaries. As a extremely sought-after speaker, adviser and writer of 25 titles, Deji-Kurunmi is an Oleg Konovalov visionary management coach, Gallup-certified strengths coach and an Worldwide Affiliation of Teaching–licensed mastery practitioner.
Deji-Kurunmi has been acknowledged for her excellent management impression, and her transformational work has been featured in worldwide media. She has been honored as a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow and one of many 100 Most Inspiring Nigerian Girls in 2019 and 2022.
Lisa DesBoine-Murray
Founder, President of Duchess Nannies & Domestics
Performing as an exemplary educator and mentor to scores of aspiring leaders, DesBoine-Murray is the founder and proprietor of Duchess Nannies & Domestics, a luxurious family administration and personal service placement company that focuses on tailor-made home employees options. It is usually the father or mother firm of The Herbert Alfred Company and Nannies From The Coronary heart. DesBoine-Murray’s experience in high-end placements spans nearly 25 years and locations emphasis on coaching, advocacy and continuous assist.
She is a present board member of the Property Administration Community; a member of the Worldwide Nanny Affiliation; a former volunteer with the Affiliation of Premier Nanny Businesses Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Activity Committee; an APNA Accelerator Program mentor; and extra. DesBoine-Murray additionally cofounded the Alliance of Minority Owned Nanny Businesses & Skilled Nannies, a nonnprofit group whose mission is to make sure that companies and nannies align collectively for the aim of transferring the {industry} ahead beneath one umbrella of requirements.
Cindy Dodd
Cofounder, COO of PEMA.io
Dodd is an award-winning marketer and world speaker who has emerged as a trailblazer for Black girls within the lead technology {industry}. She has remodeled her firm into a world powerhouse, executing over 100 million reach-outs and serving over 1,000 companies worldwide. Her unwavering dedication to data-driven methods and distinctive consumer service has propelled PEMA.io to the No. 526 spot on the Inc. 5000 record of fastest-growing non-public firms within the U.S. and the No. 40 fastest-growing advertising company within the U.S. in 2024. Her outstanding achievements have been featured in main publications and on TV, highlighting her impression and affect within the {industry}.
As a Black girl within the lead technology area, Dodd is obsessed with paving the best way for future generations of girls of coloration in advertising and entrepreneurship and continues to encourage others whereas driving PEMA.io towards even larger success.
Tasneem Dohadwala
Founding Associate of Excelestar Ventures
As a founding companion of Excelestar Ventures, Dohadwala and her staff actively spend money on founders who exhibit compelling medical know-how, deep know-how and extra. Her earlier expertise contains working as an affiliate at Lehman Brothers and Matrix Companions, the place she leveraged her abilities to make notable investments: Excelestar Ventures, Augmenix (acquired by Boston Scientific), nVision Medical Company (acquired by Boston Scientific), Conformal Medical, Diesel Labs, Instylla and Altiostar Networks. Beneath her management, Excelestar Ventures was named one of many prime 100 women-led companies in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe in 2023.
After beginning as a younger, lively member at Lehman Brothers and later serving as president of Wellesley School Alumnae Boston (Wellesley School’s largest alumnae group), Dohadwala has been dedicated to furthering girls’s management in enterprise. She passionately and intentionally mentors and searches for female-led firms and believes that investing in girls is one of the simplest ways to convey extra girls into management roles.
Cicley Homosexual
CEO, Board Chairwoman of The Amplifiers and Black Lives Matter International Community Basis
Dedicated to advocating for the lives of these in underinvested communities, Homosexual is a seasoned chief with over twenty years of expertise in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Because the visionary founding father of The Amplifiers, a pioneering social enterprise on the intersection of trigger and communications, and chairwoman of the board for the Black Lives Matter International Community Basis, Homosexual brings in depth experience to social justice initiatives. Her decade-long dedication to the Girls’s Sports activities Basis displays her dedication to uplifting marginalized communities.
As GoGirlGo! program director and later nationwide director of schooling and alliances, she led initiatives to broaden bodily exercise entry for younger girls in underserved areas. Her ardour for empowerment additional propelled her to function the director of nationwide initiatives on the Nationwide CARES Mentoring Motion, the place she performed a central function in establishing a multimillion-dollar nationwide mentoring initiative for youngsters, incomes the endorsement of the U.S. Division of Justice.
Paula Gean
Cofounder of Africa Tradition Journeys
Gean is an award-winning enterprise chief and group organizer with a private story of overcoming poverty and utilizing know-how and advertising to create alternatives for others. She based a grassroots group that helps asylum seekers combine into their new communities, and her work has been well known in Chicago media. With greater than 20 years of expertise in strategic advertising, model administration and built-in advertising campaigns throughout world markets throughout the tech and journey industries, Gean has a confirmed monitor file of main high-impact advertising initiatives to drive income development, market growth and model positioning.
In 2021, she and her husband based Africa Tradition Journeys (ACJ), a tenting safari enterprise in Botswana, Africa. Her purpose with ACJ is to offer soul-stirring experiences, each in particular person and digitally, and to doc and spotlight the similarities between her South American roots and Southern Africa, her future.
Subi Ghosh
EVP of Strategic Partnerships Stream Corporations
A dynamic chief with over 15 years of expertise advocating for client expertise and tradition throughout the automotive {industry}, Ghosh started her profession in automotive retail. She rose from a advertising assistant to gross sales and e-commerce director of Vendor Teams, the place she championed change and client advocacy. At the moment, Ghosh serves as the chief vice chairman of strategic partnerships at Stream Corporations, the place she drives development by means of revolutionary options and strategic partnerships. Her management has been instrumental in launching new departments, increasing the corporate’s partnerships and elevating its presence throughout a number of automotive authentic tools producers.
Ghosh can be a key advocate for variety and inclusion, having been a founding board member of Girls in Automotive, and actively contributes to enhancing girls’s experiences within the {industry}. Ghosh’s dedication and affect have earned her recognition, together with being named one of many prime girls in media and AdTech and one in every of Auto Remarketing’s 40 Beneath 40. Her journey displays a dedication to innovation, collaboration and enhancing the automotive {industry}’s strategy to advertising and client expertise.
Mohaimina “Mina” Haque
CEO, Normal Counsel of Tony Roma’s and Regulation Workplace of Mohaimina Haque, PLLC
As a trailblazing CEO, legal professional and educator, Haque has damaged boundaries as the primary girl CEO of Tony Roma’s in its five-decade historical past. Whereas she spearheads the worldwide restaurant chain, she can be actively engaged within the authorized sphere, serving because the founding father of the Regulation Workplace of Mohaimina Haque, PLLC, based mostly in Washington, D.C., and as an adjunct professor of legislation follow administration at American College’s Washington School of Regulation. In her authorized follow, Haque’s experience spans varied areas, together with company legislation, immigration legislation and litigation.
Past her roles in enterprise and legislation, Haque is a pioneer in legislation follow administration. She is an educator on constructing digital companies and managing distant operations with the newest technological developments, guaranteeing that her college students are geared up for the evolving panorama of authorized follow. Her outstanding achievements, management and dedication to excellence have earned her recognition as a real pioneer in each the authorized and enterprise communities.
Christa Hill
Cofounder, CEO of Tacit Edge Product Management
Hill is a cofounder of Tacit Edge Product Management, the place she makes use of her {industry} experience to gasoline our economic system with empowered, revolutionary and numerous product leaders that embody the entrepreneurial spirit. She can be on the forefront of making award-winning product administration curricula by means of academic establishments like Southern Alberta Institute of Know-how and Athabasca College, in addition to company establishments like TEKsystems and the New York Federal Reserve Financial institution.
Since know-how is on the coronary heart of each enterprise and {industry} sooner or later, Hill and her staff try to coach future generations on product administration roles that would be the world follow commonplace. She is an ICF PCC-level govt coach who’s most identified for supporting early and established product managers, in addition to their govt leaders, and serving to them deepen their experience and thrive of their careers. She brings empathy and humor whereas tackling the grey areas of the function to create future product leaders for our more and more digital world.
Katie Hornor
CEO of The Flamingo Benefit
Hornor is a world keynote speaker, enterprise proprietor, mother of 5, expat and the award-winning writer of greater than a dozen best-selling books, together with The Flamingo Benefit: The way to Leverage Distinctive, Keep Related and Change the World, and has been featured on main tv networks.
After overcoming excessive poverty, Hornor grew to become the founding father of three companies and a scholarship fund for entrepreneurs. A millionaire by age 45, she is at present half proprietor of two companies grossing seven-plus figures and majority proprietor and CEO of two which are grossing 5 and 6 figures. Solely 12% of women-owned companies, 0.002% of all companies worldwide, gross over six figures in a yr, and solely 3% of these girls are mothers. Hornor has completed each whereas home-educating her 5 youngsters. Her mission is to empower entrepreneurs and enterprise homeowners to design companies which are in service of their distinctive life goal to allow them to have extra pleasure, gross sales and impression.
Nicole Hullihen
COO of OnTheClock
After embarking on a profession journey that started within the automotive {industry}, Hullihen pursued entrepreneurship earlier than returning to a extra company keep in pharmaceutical, biotech and luxurious items, the place she excelled in varied roles that required management, analytical skills and problem-solving. She at present serves because the chief working officer at OnTheClock, a quickly rising SaaS firm that gives an revolutionary answer for workforce administration to over 150,000 individuals.
Since becoming a member of the corporate 5 years in the past, Hullihen has performed a pivotal function in rising the staff from eight to 23 staff and main them by means of two consecutive years of recognition as one in every of Crain’s Greatest Locations to Work. She’s led the corporate to operational excellence, turning into a trusted supplier to 1000’s of companies, and works together with her staff to attain an bold purpose to broaden to 1 million customers. With practically twenty years of expertise spanning a number of industries, Hullihen brings a deep understanding of enterprise analytics, operational effectivity and organizational improvement to her management function.
Tabassum Khan
Public Speaker for the Authorities of Canada
A dynamic human sources program and coverage adviser with a distinguished file in tradition, variety, fairness and inclusion throughout the Canadian authorities and the Workplace of the Superintendent of Monetary Establishments, Khan is a proud Canadian Muslim girl of South Asian heritage. She just isn’t solely a acknowledged public speaker however can be a devoted mentor within the GC mentorship group. Her impression within the DEI area is important, marked by her function as a speaker in authorities boards, cochair of her division’s multiculturalism stream and her pioneering efforts in launching department-wide affinity teams that foster connection and assist amongst staff.
Famend for her inclusive management type in her many volunteer actions, Khan is deeply dedicated to cultivating a welcoming setting for all public servants. Via her unwavering dedication and visionary management, Khan continues to be a robust advocate for a extra inclusive and equitable office, making her a pivotal drive in shaping the way forward for public service in Canada.
Ginger King
President of Grace Kingdom Magnificence
A rare chemist who has revolutionized the wonder {industry} together with her revolutionary and entrepreneurial spirit, King is an award-winning beauty chemist and the founding father of Grace Kingdom Magnificence, a New Jersey–based mostly beauty product improvement agency that focuses on creating magnificence manufacturers from idea to launch, together with formulation. King holds a number of patents and awards within the magnificence {industry} and has been featured in varied publications and quoted by over 40 magnificence magazines. She can be a keynote speaker for model launches and has spoken at quite a few commerce conferences on product improvement and innovation.
Moreover, King is a daily TV magnificence section contributor on GoodDay Sacramento and has been lately named the “Queen of Beauty Chemistry” by Elle. Along with consulting, her newest enterprise is FanLoveBeauty, a clear vegan magnificence model impressed by mentor Daymond John of Shark Tank that takes care of entrepreneurs’ look to allow them to preserve crushing their targets.
Suzanne Knight
CEO, Cofounder, CPO, Speaker, Instructor at mBolden Consulting and Be Uninterrupted
A dynamic chief with over twenty years of expertise driving transformational change, fostering enterprise development and advocating for gender fairness, Knight is at present CEO of mBolden Consulting. She works with firms worldwide to create efficient enterprise methods, interact high-performing groups and domesticate inclusive workplaces. In 2023, she cofounded Be Uninterrupted, a social impression group that helps girls overcome profession interruptions attributable to life occasions. By leveraging AI and human connection, Be Uninterrupted helps girls navigating challenges like maternity go away, job transitions or caregiving tasks.
Knight’s profession has impacted over 50 firms throughout 14 international locations, the place she led enterprise transformations at organizations like Walmart Canada and Philip Morris Worldwide. Her work focuses on delivering outcomes that not solely drive operational excellence, but additionally enhance variety, inclusion and fairness inside organizations. Knight can be a TEDx speaker, a keynote speaker on the London Speaker Bureau and adjunct college at Schulich ExecEd, the place she teaches programs on management and organizational design.
Sandy Ko Fonseca
Founder, Principal of Buyer Contact Girls Buyer Administration Observe
Ko Fonseca is the founder and principal of Buyer Contact Girls (CCWomen), a pioneering group devoted to selling variety, fairness and inclusion within the buyer contact {industry}. Her journey started at Buyer Administration Practicec, the place she excelled as an analyst and producer of the world’s largest buyer contact occasion sequence, Buyer Contact Week. After recognizing an important want for a supportive area for ladies and their allies, Ko Fonseca established CCWomen in 2018. The group fosters networking, mentorship and profession improvement and brings collectively girls leaders from varied industries to deal with urgent challenges within the discipline.
Ko Fonseca is obsessed with constructing relationships throughout numerous backgrounds and is devoted to empowering girls to thrive of their careers. She believes within the transformative energy of group and collaboration and views CCWomen as a catalyst for change. Via her work, she goals to advocate for ladies from all walks of life, highlighting their important contributions to enterprise and driving ahead the mission of CCWomen to create an inclusive future.
Melva LaJoy Legrand
Founder, CEO of LaJoy Plans
As a self-made entrepreneur acknowledged for her work within the stay occasions {industry}, in addition to causes rooted in social equality because it pertains to girls, well being, race and identification, Legrand is a public speaker, occasion producer and director, group chief, and storyteller. Acknowledged nationally for her thought management, Legrand can be a four-time award-winning CEO who has used her social impression to talk on subjects surrounding sexual assault, Alzheimer’s, dementia and entrepreneurship. She has been featured in varied publications and speaks to the problems surrounding the gender pay hole, management relaxation, being an efficient chief, occasion preparedness and managing a wholesome work-life steadiness.
Outdoors of the skilled realm, Legrand is understood for her love of individuals, excessive vitality, culinary occasion experiences, distinctive giggle, creativity and tenacious work ethic. When she’s not planning occasions, she splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Paris and enjoys journeys together with her beloved husband, Emmanuel.
Melissa Maloney
Cofounder of All Girls L.E.A.D. and AWL Companions
A dynamic, trailblazing chief with a mission to drive significant change by means of management, empowerment and inclusivity, Maloney is the cofounder of All Girls L.E.A.D. and AWL Companions. She is a key architect in constructing a corporation the place empowerment isn’t only a purpose—it’s a typical. She has cultivated an area the place management, fairness and private development intersect, creating pathways for people and organizations to excel.
With over 25 years of govt expertise in gross sales and operations, Maloney’s strategic foresight and skill to guide by means of transformation are evident in each function she undertakes. Her dedication to fostering innovation and fairness within the office has positioned her as a trusted chief, famend for her means to encourage groups and organizations to achieve their fullest potential. Via All Girls L.E.A.D., she has turn out to be a pivotal drive in advancing gender equality and inclusive management. Her dedication to gender fairness goes past conventional advocacy, although—she actively cultivates environments the place girls not solely lead however thrive.
Morgan Leigh Miller
CEO of Miller Co Medical Units
After struggling a extreme again harm whereas repositioning a bedridden affected person, Miller got down to clear up a decades-old problem that well being care professionals face day by day. This led to her invention of the Flip Buddy System, a revolutionary medical system designed to forestall accidents like her personal. Her purpose was to make sure that others would by no means endure the identical ache.
The Flip Buddy System is an revolutionary mattress overlay that, with the push of a button, gently repositions sufferers, eliminating the necessity for handbook turning and guaranteeing well timed repositioning to forestall painful mattress sores and ulcers. Patented in January 2023 and registered with the FDA, Miller’s system is now in use at two main hospitals. Although hospitals had been the start line, her plan is to broaden the system into nursing properties and personal care services and supply it to prospects for dwelling use.
Kelly O’Connor
Editor of the CSA Journal by the Society of Licensed Senior Advisors
Because the editor of the CSA Journal, a quarterly award-winning commerce journal printed by the Society of Licensed Senior Advisors, O’Connor and her board have been shaping the imaginative and prescient of ageing and the ageing {industry} within the U.S. She has been working within the elder care area for the previous 14 years and can be a TEDx speaker on longevity.
O’Connor has been awarded Lady of the 12 months by the Unsung Heroes Basis and the Younger Skilled in Growing older Award by the Colorado Gerontological Society. She holds a grasp’s diploma in non secular psychology and knowledgeable development certification in gerontology. She can be a licensed senior advisor, licensed dementia practitioner and authorized placement and referral specialist. Along with her work with the CSA Journal, she maintains a small elder care consulting and legacy life teaching follow.
Michelle O’Neil
Founder, Senior Shareholder of OWLawyers
Described by her friends as “a deadly mixture of candy and salty,” O’Neil exudes real compassion for her consumer’s difficulties whereas additionally relentlessly pursuing of her shoppers’ targets. With over 30 years of expertise as a household legislation litigator, O’Neil makes a speciality of advanced divorce points, significantly these involving property or enterprise points.
As probably the most sought-after legal professional for Texas celebrities and well-known CEOs and executives, O’Neil is thought to be the lawyer to achieve earlier than your partner does. O’Neil has dealt with over 175 appeals in Texas, together with a number of which have influenced the legislation and reached the Texas Supreme Court docket. She has additionally authored 4 influential authorized publications. She is an adjunct professor at Baylor Regulation College and has gained certification from Harvard Regulation College in Girls’s Management, which she makes use of to additional her ardour by mentoring younger skilled girls and legal professionals.
Katrina Pratt Roebuck
Chief Govt Officer of Uplifme and Uplifme Useful resource Hub
With a profession that spans 25 years in govt management positions, growing companies for Philadelphia’s most weak populations, Pratt Roebuck’s expertise contains program and coverage improvement in poverty, homelessness, reasonably priced housing, schooling and behavioral well being. She has led massive groups of social service professionals and managed multimillion-dollar initiatives, efficiently executing impactful, citywide initiatives. A lot of her work includes revolutionary programming, coalition constructing, group engagement and systems-level change. All through her profession, she has led the event of technological platforms which have related 1000’s to companies that improved their lives.
In the present day, Pratt Roebuck is CEO of Uplifme and the Uplifme Useful resource Hub. She launched Uplifme in 2021 to shut the hole in connecting individuals to real-time data on accessible health-related sources. Social service professionals may discover skilled improvement by means of teaching and the Uplifme Institute. Pratt Roebuck’s background in low-income communities informs her work, fueling her drive to extend well being fairness for BIPOC and underserved teams.
Leslie Quinton
Vice President of Communications at Ubisoft
With over 30 years of experience in communications and organizational management, Quinton is at present the vice chairman of communications at Ubisoft. Her numerous background spans multinational companies, companies and nonprofits, with a robust concentrate on company communications, CSR and DEI. Quinton is a frequent speaker on webcasts and at conferences in Canada and overseas, and he or she is devoted to mentoring rising communications professionals.
Keen about social change, Quinton volunteers her time to assist quite a lot of organizations. She is a part of the board of administrators for the Worldwide Girls’s Discussion board (IWF), chair of the board of administrators at Medic-Alert Canada, previous president of IWF Canada and IABC Montreal, and director of Knowledgeable Opinions. She has beforehand served on greater than 30 different boards, together with Public Relations With out Borders, Equitas Human Rights and Oxfam-Quebec.
Tiffany Rose
Founding father of Butterfly FX Cosmetics
In a world the place extroversion typically takes heart stage, Rose emerges as a beacon of empowerment for introverts. An environmental marketing consultant by occupation, she is the visionary behind Butterfly FX Cosmetics—a model devoted to serving to those that really feel missed or misplaced in social settings discover their voice by means of the artwork of sparkle.
Since its inception in 2018, Rose has crafted merchandise which are designed to assist people shine and construct confidence. Butterfly FX Cosmetics champions daring self-expression, believing that experiencing the “wow issue” in private look can catalyze development. Nevertheless, Rose’s dedication extends past a dedication to environmental sustainability. Butterfly FX leads by instance within the magnificence {industry} with moral sourcing and recyclable glass packaging, aligning itself with the rules of a round economic system and minimizing environmental hurt.
Rose’s impression reaches far past cosmetics. Her philanthropic spirit is clear in her lively involvement with native charitable organizations, notably the Northshore Meals Financial institution. Via Butterfly FX, she orchestrates group occasions that commemorate individuality and assist efforts to eradicate starvation in Louisiana.
Kimberli Scott-Nonetheless
Shareholder for Collum’s Lumber Merchandise, Director of Elysian Influence Collum’s Lumber Merchandise, Scott Woodlands and Elysian
Scott-Nonetheless is a multifaceted chief with a various background that spans the manufacturing, humanitarian, philanthropic and commerce sectors. She holds levels in finance, retail administration and inside design, bringing a wealth of experience to her roles. As director of philanthropy for Elysian Influence, Scott-Nonetheless champions initiatives that assist girls, kids, the setting and animal welfare. She cocreated “CatWalk FurBaby,” a philanthropic trend present featured in New York Vogue Week, in addition to its award-winning documentary and occasional desk guide.
A dedicated board member, Scott-Nonetheless helps the Unique Six Basis in addressing academic challenges in rural South Carolina and serves as a Tiffany Circle member with the American Crimson Cross. Professionally, she is a fourth-generation shareholder of Collum’s Lumber Merchandise and Scott Woodlands and serves on the boards of the U.S. Lumber Coalition and the Softwood Lumber Board. In 2014, she was named South Carolina Ambassador for Financial Growth, reflecting her impactful group involvement.
Erin Stafford
Burnout & Peak Efficiency Professional, Speaker, Creator, Hyper-Progress Enterprise Chief of The Stafford Firm
A burnout and peak efficiency knowledgeable, Stafford is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling writer, burnout survivor and Cambridge social psychologist on a mission to reshape how excessive achievers function. She’s carved out a profession working alongside the world’s prime performers and Kind A personalities throughout world manufacturers like Apple, Nike and MTV, in addition to main advertising for the most important well being care staffing firm within the U.S.
Identified for her daring insights, easy methods and high-energy persona, Stafford crisscrosses the globe talking to organizations like KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide and Siemens. Her dynamic keynotes and interesting teaching strategy encourage leaders to interrupt free from achievement habit and attain their subsequent stage of success—with out sacrificing their well-being.
Stafford’s insights have been highlighted by main publications, and her guide, The Kind A Entice: 5 Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Rework Your Life, is endorsed by powerhouse writer and podcaster Mel Robbins and Paralympian Amy Purdy.
Mautra Staley Jones, Ed.D.
President of Oklahoma Metropolis Neighborhood School
By turning into the eleventh president of Oklahoma Metropolis Neighborhood School, the fourth-largest greater schooling establishment in Oklahoma, Staley Jones marked historical past as the primary girl and first particular person of coloration to guide the faculty. Her function additionally made her the primary Black girl to preside over any nonhistorically Black school or college school in Oklahoma, the place she serves over 18,000 college students.
Identified for her visionary management, Jones additionally serves on quite a few boards, together with BancFirst Company, the Oklahoma Corridor of Fame and the Oklahoma Medical Analysis Basis. She is a Salt and Gentle Management Fellow, a graduate of Management Oklahoma Metropolis and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Younger Presidents’ Group. Well known for her contributions, Jones has earned honors resembling Oklahoman of the 12 months, Oklahoma’s Most Admired CEO and a spot on Forbes’ 10 High Black Larger Schooling CEOs to Watch in 2023. She holds levels from the College of Oklahoma, the College of Phoenix and Vanderbilt College.
Suzanne Strassburger Reidy
President of Strassburger Steaks
Strassburger Reidy carries on her household’s legacy because the fifth-generation Strassburger within the meat enterprise. At the moment, she serves because the president of Strassburger Steaks and Suzy Sirloin, each all-natural beef firms which are accessible in retail shops nationwide. She can be the founding father of The Sirloin Report, an industry-leading day by day on-line report about beef. She is obsessed with educating individuals on the meat {industry} and has traveled so far as Hong Kong to advertise American beef.
She holds a Masters of Beef Advocacy from the Nationwide Cattlemen’s Beef Affiliation to be an on a regular basis advocate for the meat {industry}. She was additionally a part of the inaugural NCBA High of the Class program for graduates wishing to make a extra explosive impression within the beef group. To additional her experience, she accomplished the Harvard Enterprise College govt program in Proprietor/President Administration and the Wharton Schooling Program.
Lauren Tedesco
COO of Automotive Elements Producers’ Affiliation (Canada)
As head of the Way forward for Work portfolio on the Automotive Elements Producers’ Affiliation, Tedesco pioneered the primary industry-wide digital studying program and launched the Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Fund to assist traditionally excluded people’ careers. This initiative earned her the CADIA Influence Award for Champion for Numerous Expertise. Acknowledged as one in every of WXN’s High 100 Most Highly effective Girls, she additionally obtained the Reuters D.R.I.V.E. Award for ladies in auto and quite a few different accolades.
Serving as an adviser to the Regulation Society of Ontario along with instructing communications at Sheridan School, Tedesco’s expertise main public relations companies set the groundwork for senior roles within the public sector, together with director of communications to the president of the Treasury Board and Minister of Schooling. At every step, her perception and foresight guided the formulation and launch of main public coverage initiatives, underscoring the necessity for sturdy strategic planning for disruptive brokers of change. She can be a member of the Board of Governors at Sheridan School.
Andreea Vanacker, Ph.D.
Founder, CEO of One Million Years Of Pleasure
Vanacker is a resilient visionary who turned a life-altering nine-hour mind surgical procedure through the pandemic into a world motion for pleasure. She blends her highly effective private story with over a decade of analysis in neuroscience and optimistic psychology. Her TEDx Speak launched the world to her groundbreaking Trilogy of Pleasure mannequin, inspiring 1000’s to search out mild in adversity and reclaim management over their lives.
Vanacker is an entrepreneur, four-time writer, speaker and a pleasure catalyst for leaders and organizations. Her insights have been featured in over 100 prime journal articles. Holding a Ph.D. in economics and in depth world expertise, Vanacker is fluent in 4 languages and has managed multimillion greenback companies. She is the founder and CEO of One Million Years of Pleasure, which features a podcast, a world examine on pleasure and an upcoming documentary. She additionally serves as cofounder and companion at Innate Movement’s Change Lab, the place she leads enterprise transformations with world shoppers.
Ekta Vyas, Ph.D.
Chief Human Assets Officer of Keck Medication of USC
For over twenty years, Vyas has been main transformations at totally different ranges in organizations. In her coauthored guide with Mission Issues, she talks about methods to be an efficient transformational chief by embracing the interconnectedness of a number of organizational and other people variables that want to return collectively to convey the emergence of a greater future. She does extra than simply writing and talking about transformations, although—she actively drives change. Her doctoral analysis examined the importance of emotional intelligence as key to a frontrunner’s success in driving workforce engagement throughout change.
As a programs thinker and powerful proponent of ecosystem consciousness, Vyas has been a Forbes influencer since 2017, writing and talking about management, tradition, technique, transformational change and emotional intelligence. In the present day, she serves because the chief human sources officer at Keck Medication, the well being enterprise of the College of Southern California, and is a USC Marshall adjunct professor. Vyas’ private model as a transformational chief is “bringing mild,” and her management manifesto is “reciprocate.”
Michele Walsh
EVP, Chief Philanthropy Officer of UNICEF USA
As a social impression chief with multidisciplinary experience, Walsh has constructed a profession targeted on addressing inequality and defending kids. As govt vice chairman and chief philanthropy officer at UNICEF USA, she serves as principal adviser to the CEO and leads the philanthropy staff, aiming to ship $1B of impression yearly for youngsters.
All through her 15-year tenure at UNICEF USA, Walsh has pushed initiatives that reshaped the group and mobilized lots of of thousands and thousands in philanthropic {dollars}. Her means to forge alliances and partnerships whereas navigating an unprecedented political setting has ensured that federal advocacy for youngsters’s welfare stays sturdy.
Furthermore, Walsh’s efforts in leveraging information instruments, together with generative AI, have propelled the group towards larger operational effectivity. Beforehand, she utilized her social work abilities in foster care and later transitioned to early intervention and youth packages. She additionally held a number of director of improvement roles, together with on the City Justice Heart, the place she catalyzed sources to assist authorized companies and advocacy.
Mariette Wharton
Founder, CEO of NIMBLE Mindset Ventures
Wharton is a visionary chief and three-time founder with over 25 years of expertise in innovation. She based the first-to-market cloud video conferencing firm in 2008, which permits seamless integration between devoted video conferencing gadgets and cellphones, tablets and computer systems, creating the class that Zoom entered three years later. She additionally developed a pioneering video voice mail system and garnered over a dozen {industry} awards.
After a profitable exit, she based the social enterprise Nationwide Institute for Mentoring Enterprise Leaders and Entrepreneurs (NIMBLE) Mindset, which supplies startup steering to over 1,000 feminine entrepreneurs yearly in weak communities throughout Africa, together with Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco and Rwanda, in partnership with the UN and U.S. Embassy, enabling feminine founders to search out dignity and goal. In 2025, this system will probably be delivered to over 500 Ukrainian professionals with companions Adobe, Salesforce and Logitech. Wharton has traveled to 57 international locations and is a speaker on innovation, together with on the World Financial Discussion board, UN, U.S. Embassy, College of Chicago and Northeastern College’s Roux Institute.
Kandy White
Chief Operations Officer of Athena
White serves because the chief operations officer at Athena, a number one group that focuses on enhancing delegation abilities for founders, C-suite executives and small-business homeowners by pairing them with top-tier govt assistants. She has pushed outstanding development and has achieved a 260% enhance in partnerships, quadrupling Athena’s world staff in lower than two years.
With a profession spanning twenty years, she has held senior roles in Fortune 250 firms and startups throughout telecommunications, human sources consulting, fintech and actual property, collaborating with each {industry} giants and rising disruptors. White, who holds two grasp’s levels in psychology, can be a SHRM Senior Licensed Skilled and a Grasp Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma.
White’s dedication to driving development whereas fostering a optimistic work setting highlights her management, innovation and dedication. She launched month-to-month management and wellness occasions to encourage peer studying, alongside periods for frontline staff to share finest practices. She’s additionally launched a platform for shoppers to precise appreciation, share insights and encourage govt assistants to attain extra.
Ramona Wright
Founder, Producer of WrightOne Media Group
A extremely achieved communication strategist, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, Wright obtained the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award, the very best U.S. civil honor for dedication to service. Her journey is marked by resilience—after overcoming childhood homelessness, she grew to become her household’s first school graduate. She is a TEDx speaker, a Telly Award-winning producer, an writer, a social media advertising pioneer and a former lecturer at Loyola Marymount College.
As founder and CEO of WrightOne Media Group, an award-winning multimedia and experiential company established in 2009 in Los Angeles, Wright and her staff have collaborated with Emmy-, Grammy- and Oscar-winning expertise, Dwell Nation, Oxfam America, Paramount International and Sony Music.
Wright has spoken at occasions for the American Coronary heart Affiliation, Cornell College and Google. An investor in tech ventures, her philanthropic work has been acknowledged by International Good Fund and Love My Neighbor Basis. She additionally serves on the board of Everyone Eats.
Vicki Wright Hamilton
CEO, Coach, Speaker, Creator at VWH Consulting
Wright Hamilton is an achieved enterprise strategist, management coach and keynote speaker with over 30 years of expertise in know-how and enterprise. Because the CEO of VWH Consulting, she makes a speciality of guiding entrepreneurs and company leaders to attain development and innovation by means of tailor-made methods and digital effectivity. She has held senior govt roles in prime 500 firms, the place she led transformative initiatives that resulted in vital income development and a $20 million ROI.
Devoted to giving again, Wright Hamilton has actively supported Girls in Know-how (WIT) for over twenty years, spearheading initiatives to empower girls and main impactful packages just like the WIT Single Moms Program. As a sought-after speaker and writer, she hosts Ignite with Vicki, a podcast and tv present that shares management insights and enterprise methods. Her work and achievements have additionally been featured in CIO In the present day, Audio system Journal and extra.
Mary Yazdani
Founder, CEO of GenesisLink, RoboSafety
A visionary entrepreneur with a grasp’s diploma in pc engineering with over 16 years of expertise, Yazdani initially solid her profession as an IT supervisor for a significant enterprise in Iran, the place she oversaw 10,000 staff. Her relocation to Canada in 2017 marked the start of a unprecedented entrepreneurial journey.
In 2020, she based her award-winning firm, GenesisLink, and have become its sole shareholder. She has cultivated a sturdy community of specialists to reinforce service supply, guaranteeing custom-made, high-quality options that exceed consumer expectations. In 2023, she expanded her entrepreneurial efforts by establishing RoboSafety. This revolutionary enterprise is the one Canadian agency that provides a SaaS platform targeted on security engineering for threat evaluation and mitigation in autonomous programs, which underscores Yazdani’s dedication to integrating cutting-edge know-how to reinforce {industry} security requirements. Her journey from a talented IT supervisor to a pioneering entrepreneur and advocate for immigrant enterprise success exemplifies her relentless pursuit of innovation, management and group assist.
Nominees
Shirin Alipanah, Escondido, CA
Marian Astor Hunt, Marblehead, MA
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, St. Petersburg, FL
Sarah Barrow, Oklahoma Metropolis, OK
Debra Beagle, Nashville, TN
Kimberly Beaudin, Atlanta, GA
Janet Bentley-Ewers, Alpharetta, GA
Yisbel Bera, Cape Coral, FL
Liliana Bernal, Sacramento, CA
Surabhi Bhandari, San Francisco, CA
Molly Blakeley, Eagle River, AK
Leigh Burgess, Grantham, NH
Laura Casselman, Myrtle Seaside, SC
Jennifer Caveza, Los Angeles, CA
Nancy Coblenz, Westlake Village, CA
Cherry Collier, Atlanta, GA
Ronda Conger, Meridian, ID
Ashley Deland, Burlington, Canada
Tetyana Didenko, Miami, FL
Natalie Doyle Oldfield, Halifax, Canada
Evva Fenison, Tarpon Springs, FL
Maureen Francisco, Graham, WA
Judi Holler, Fountain Hills, AZ
Rhonda Howdyshell, Middlebrook, VA
Samantha L. Iannelli, Whitehall, PA
Dena Jalbert, Winter Park, FL
Diane Kerth, Wheaton, IL
Loren Lahav, Las Vegas, NV
Alix Lebec, Miami, FL
Roksolana Lebid, Brooklyn, NY
Pauline Leung, New York, NY
Andrea Lisbona, Miami, FL
Alexandra Lozano, San Antonio, TX
Nina Luppino, Westwood, NJ
Shaneé McCambry, Conyers, GA
Lillian Melendez, Union, NJ
Lena Payton Webb, Daphne, AL
Vera Quinn, Agoura Hills, CA
Priya Ravindra Kalyanimath, Camberwell, Australia
Lisa Rehurek, Tempe, AZ
Sarah Renaud, Toronto, Canada
Shawna Rosenzweig, Seattle, WA
Guylaine Saint Juste, Greenbelt, MD
Michelle Sands, Panama Metropolis Seaside, FL
Brooke Schnittman, Boynton Seaside, FL
Shusmita Sharma-Tiwari, Markham, Canada
Ellie Shefi, Mission Viejo, CA
Dia Simms, Atlanta, GA
Erin J. Corridor, Los Angeles, CA
Alison Smith, Wilton, CT
Latrice Smith, East Level, GA
Stephanie Smith, Christiansburg, VA
Tara Stone, Lebanon, NJ
Marissa Teeter, Puslinch, Canada
Sarah Throne, West Chester, PA
Tricia Love Trujillo, Costa Mesa, CA
Julie Tunador, Ojai, CA
Lauren Von, Oklahoma Metropolis, OK
Kelly Waite, Brook Park, OH
Myisha Weatherspoon, Overland Park, KS
Deborah Yager Fleming, Sunny Isles Seaside, FL
Cindy Yates, Bountiful, UT
This text initially appeared within the March/April 2025 situation of SUCCESS® journal
Photograph courtesy of Adobe Inventory
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