Our Fellows

Alex navigated from Haiti to Brooklyn to Harvard (BA in biochemistry) and then Stanford, where she earned a Masters degrees in business and law. Starting her career at Goldman Sachs, she moved to pan-African private equity firm ECP and then Meta. Alex led Meta’s infrastructure investment programs across Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region until she moved into her current role. She leads a global team that designs, delivers, and deploys subsea and terrestrial fiber networks to connect Meta’s data centers and support 3B+ users. Alex also serves as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Workforce Development Board.

Ivy began her career as a computer programmer with Accenture, designing and developing systems for Fortune 500 companies in telecom, media and entertainment. In 2010, she joined Walmart, where her leadership has extended beyond supply chain and operations to include introducing a Racial Equity Institute and, as Black ERG chair, playing a key role in shaping Walmart’s strategy in the wake of George Floyd’s 2021 murder.

AJ grew up in Maryland, graduated from Morgan State University (an HBCU), and started her career at General Motors before moving to banking at Citigroup and then Bank of America. Rising through a dozen jobs over three decades, AJ now leads Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at BofA, she also serves as President of the Bank of America Foundation and oversees BofA’s partnerships with members of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and Minority Depository Institution (MDI) industry.

Sam grew up in Manalapan, New Jersey, graduated from New York University, and worked at skincare startups and Estée Lauder (squeezing in a year at Bridgewater Associates in between) before she co-founded bitewell to improve the world’s health through food—and help millions of people with food allergies like she has. Bitewell operates a food-as-medicine marketplace to enable healthcare providers and employers to offer good-for-you options and dietary guidance to their patients and employees.

Melissa is one of the most prominent Latina executives in corporate America. Her background spans financial services and retail in the U.S. and internationally, with roles at GE Capital, Citibank, Grupo Futuro, and Best Buy. Today she leads Sleep Number’s strategy as a wellness company that deploys technology such as biometrics to improve sleep and overall health. Melissa serves on the boards of Pentair and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Robyn grew up outside Boston, graduated as a civil engineer, and helped build the world’s largest HQ solar panel installation at the time—at Google. She moved from Google to Vestas Wind Systems and then worked for inventor Dean Kamen before starting her own company. Robyn co-founded Blueprint Power to equip real estate owners to operate buildings with clean energy. She continues to lead Blueprint Power after selling the tech company to BP in 2021.

Growing up Native American and African American in rural Texas, Vanessa saw the effect that the digital divide has on certain ethnic groups—and wanted to fix it. She earned degrees in computer science and law from the University of Texas at Austin. Her career took her from clerking at Jones Day to heading patent litigation at Nokia Siemens Networks to leading global IP policy at Intel. In 2021, Vanessa joined Amazon, where she uses her role to teach underrepresented groups about IP and how to be part of the tech innovation ecosystem.

After earning a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA, Shenna joined Dow, where she now drives sustainable practices to reduce CO2 emissions in the company’s supply chain. Over her 24-year career at Dow, she has held progressive leadership positions including Production Engineer, Six Sigma Improvement Black Belt, and External Manufacturing Sourcing Director. An active DEI champion, Shenna has opened the company’s global supplier base to provide greater opportunities to diverse business owners.

The daughter of Korean immigrants, Carrol began her career working with North Korean refugees in China—where she was jailed for assisting them and then deported by the Chinese government. In 2008, Carrol joined the Obama campaign and later served in the Department of Homeland Security. After three years at McKinsey and seven at Uber, Carrol is now CEO of Andela, where she leads efforts to enhance opportunities for workers globally.

Rachel grew up in the D.C. area, earned a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware, and began her career as a developer for Arthur Andersen. After a decade at Ariba and stints at Lithium Technologies and SAP—in Australia, the UK, Switzerland, and Singapore—she joined Cisco in 2020 ultimately serving as SVP Americas. She recently joined UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture solutions, where she leads all go-to-market (GTM) functions. She serves on the board of CSG International, a publicly held software company, and is a constant advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and increasing digital literacy and access to underserved youth.

Regina created Pizza Hut’s New Founders Program to give women and minority entrepreneurs access to the capital and connections they need to start businesses. She also co-wrote Pizza Hut’s strategy for equity, opportunity, and unity and led efforts to create new entry-level jobs. Originally from Switzerland and now based in Texas, Regina has lived and worked in dozens of countries and is fluent in six languages.

Born in South Africa and raised in Alaska, Muriel navigated to the intersection of AI and the global workforce. Earning a doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Georgia along the way, she is on a mission to enable the underserved. Muriel co-founded Anthill to connect the deskless workforce—frontline workers who often lack access to smartphones and computers—with employee resources on any kind of device and in over 100 languages.

Eradicating workplace inequities fuels Maria’s leadership. A first-generation college graduate, she raised $17.1 million in Series B funding for Syndio while she was eight months pregnant. Syndio is a SaaS company that empowers companies to optimize pay equity. Before joining Syndio as CEO in 2018, Maria spent four years at Starbucks and co-founded Smartsheet, a NYSE-listed company that is now valued at $6 billion.

Born in Ethiopia, Lule spent her early years as an immigrant in Greece, the UK, and Kenya before coming to the U.S. and working in a series of increasingly senior roles at J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, TD Ameritrade, and Ally. A risk taker with guardrails, as she calls herself, Lule led U.S. Operations of the social investing platform eToro USA with a perspective informed by her intersectional identities and experience.

Jemina started her journey as an African-American/Puerto Rican girl in one of the poorest areas of the South Bronx. She graduated from Yale, earned an MBA at Columbia Business School, and worked at Deloitte, PwC, and the New York Department of Education before joining Teach for America. In 2013, Jemina left her SVP role there to lead a startup, ROADS Charter High Schools, and then the Student Leadership Network. She returned to Teach for America in 2019 and has been on a fast track to the top of the non-profit, which operates a vast teacher corps in underserved schools across the U.S.

In her two decades at Eli Lilly, Adrienne has tackled healthcare inequities by bringing to market many innovative treatments for major diseases. Before her 2023 promotion to oversee corporate development, she was Group Vice President of U.S. diabetes—an epidemic affecting more than 463 million people worldwide. Adrienne serves on the board of BioCrossroads. She has an MBA from Florida A&M University.

The daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, Ayesha grew up in New York City, studied international relations and quantitative economics at Tufts, and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. After 10 years structuring commodities at Deutsche Bank, she zeroed in on biofuels at Freeport Commodities and then Morgan Stanley. Ayesha moved to Infinium, a climate tech startup, in 2022 and is working to build a game-changing platform to decarbonize transportation.

Lisa holds a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a mission-driven serial entrepreneur. Her current venture, Air Protein, uses half-century-old NASA technology to create meat from elements of the air. Lisa’s startup has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer company. Previously she founded Kiverdi, an industrial biotech company that harnesses space age science to create planet-friendly commercial solutions and new products through carbon transformation.

From the U.S. House of Representatives to John McCain’s presidential campaign to Morgan Stanley, Heather has scaled both business and politics. Starting at Trulia as employee No. 12, she rose to SVP & GM. In 2016, Heather co-founded Solv Health to shift power in the healthcare system to patients. Solv’s national network of providers enables healthcare access to 180 million Americans, offering same-day or next-day in-person and virtual care. Heather is also on the board of Atlassian.

Julia grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, went to Harvard and then Stanford for her MBA, and spent her early career rising through the New York City restaurant scene. In 2015, she co-founded Zume Pizza, a tech company that cooked pizza en route to delivery. Four years later, Julia founded Planet FWD to tackle the climate crisis. Planet FWD builds software that reduces the cost and complexity of bringing to market sustainable and carbon-neutral products—such as Julia’s climate-friendly snack brand, Moonshot.

Growing up on Long Island with a father who was a volunteer EMT, Shanel learned early on about the challenges of first responders. After graduating from Cornell, she worked at AT&T and Athenahealth, managing enterprise healthcare IT sales teams, before starting MD Ally to fix a critical and under-resourced piece of America’s healthcare infrastructure: 911. MD Ally connects non-emergency 911 callers to in-network virtual care, mental health, substance abuse and other community resources.

Karen drives Bank of America’s strategy to mobilize and deploy $1.5
trillion in sustainable finance capital for climate transition and
social inclusive development by 2030. Karen sits on BofA’s management committee and ESG committee. She is a national board member of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), one of the largest Community Development Financial Institutions in the U.S. Karen has been recognized on the Fortune 40 under 40 list and as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Melissa grew up on a working farm in Pine City, Minnesota, graduated from the University of Minnesota (Duluth), and worked in media and marketing before she co-founded (with her twin sister Melanie) Josh’s Place to provide group home accommodations and other services to people with disabilities. She sold Josh’s Place, named after her late brother who had developmental disabilities, in 2020 to pursue a bigger mission.
Joshin provides virtual coaching, digital programs, and other tools to help employers support neurodivergence and disabilities in the workplace.

Rebecca grew up in rural New York State, served in the Peace Corps in Russia, and set out on a mission to tackle one of the world’s toughest challenges: advancing clean energy. After 12 years at the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), she is at the helm of the nonprofit, working with utilities, manufacturers, and distributors to design renewable energy programs for towns and cities—particularly underserved and vulnerable communities—across the U.S.

Emma is a founding team member and leads data science at Fractal Ag, a fractional farmland investment platform. Before joining Fractal, Emma created a groundbreaking program that pays farmers to reduce their carbon emissions at Corteva Agriscience. The program has potential to scale to millions of acres of farmland. After receiving her BA in biology and environmental studies at the University of Chicago, she earned a PhD in ecology at Princeton, where she investigated the environmental impact of U.S. commercial fisheries. Now she’s dedicated to solving private-sector environmental problems at scale.

Madeline was born in Seattle, grew up as one of 13 children in a blended multicultural family, and moved more than a dozen times before she finished high school. She studied psychology at the University of Sydney and University of Texas at Austin, then got a Harvard MBA. She began her career in store operations at Disney, was a senior consultant at Oliver Wyman, and in 2018 gravitated to venture at Victress Capital and then CircleUp. In 2022, Madeline launched Kaya Ventures to invest in early-stage companies redefining health.

Fewer than 2 percent of intellectual property lawyers are African American, and Toni Hickey is one of them. As deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, she helped launch the Patents for Humanity Initiative to incentivize the development of technologies addressing humanitarian needs. After nine years at Cummins, where she was Deputy General Counsel and Chief IP Counsel, Toni played a key role in the spinoff of Cummons’ filtration business—now publicly traded and known as Atmus Filtration Technologies. She serves on the board of the Indianapolis Urban League.

Harini grew up in India and came to the U.S. to get her Masters in marketing at Vanderbilt. Over two decades, she worked at IBM, then Microsoft in western Europe, and then Amazon Web Services (AWS). Harini recently joined Entrust, a leader in securing identities and payments and digital infrastructure, as Chief Customer Officer. She is an active startup advisor and also on the city council in her hometown of Medina, Washington.

Shayna has worked at the intersection of sustainability and innovation in food systems for the past two decades. A Fulbright Scholar who pioneered new approaches to supply chain management at consumer giant Mars and at venture-backed startups, Shayna moved on to co-found Supply Change Capital in 2020. The venture capital firm invests in early-stage food and agriculture tech with a focus on two forces transforming the way we secure what we eat: climate and culture. Shayna is also a contributing writer for Forbes.

Born on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, Talia was raised by doctor parents who started a hospital there. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, went to Wharton, and worked at startups before joining Bessemer Venture Partners in 2013. The youngest elected Partner in Bessemer’s history and the only female GP, Talia invests in startups that leverage AI to create new categories and improve the way we live and work. She is on the boards of Rupa Health, Supermaven, and Syndio, which are in the Bessemer portfolio.

Cherée began her journey as a chemical engineer at 3M before pivoting to law school and a career as an intellectual property lawyer. A passion for clarifying complex challenges took her from Cargill to Kraft Heinz to McCormick to W.R. Grace to Dentsply Sirona before she joined SPX Technologies as Chief Legal Officer in 2024. Cherée is a Founder’s Advisor at Air Protein and on the board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jomayra grew up in Orlando and was the first person in her high school to go to Stanford. (Her younger sister was the second.) She majored in education, learned venture investing at Emerson Collective and Cowboy Ventures, and joined Reach Capital in 2021 to back startups that are innovating to improve education and the future of work. She is also President of SomosVC, which works to get more Latinos into venture, and on the boards of Reach portfolio companies WorkWhile and KaiPod.

Lindsay spent 28 years as the primary caregiver for her mother, who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. That experience led Lindsay to create a company to help people navigate the confusing caretaking landscape. Before starting Wellthy in 2014, Lindsay worked in advertising, technology, and media, as well as SVP of Marketing at New York-based startup Simulmedia, and in product and strategic marketing at Microsoft.

Lenore’s passion for national security and economic mobility fuels her leadership. After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving as an officer in the Marine Corps for seven years, she worked at Bank of America, SoFi, McChrystal Group, and Citadel. Now at venture firm First In, Lenore focuses on cybersecurity, AI, and data intelligence. She chairs the board of Bunker Labs, which helps veterans and their spouses build successful businesses.

Carole grew up in South Korea, earned a BA in international affairs from the University of Georgia, and served in the U.S. Army as Assistant Chief of Operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and then as an Intelligence Operations Officer for the Pacific Command. With a Master’s from Georgetown’s Security Studies Program, Carole was a Senior Cyber and Emerging Tech Policy Officer at the Treasury Department and Director of Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation at the National Security Council (NSC). She did a stint as an Executive in Residence at Terranet Ventures before recently returning to the White House to advise the NSC.

Vanessa immigrated to the U.S. from Lima, Peru, at age 10 and grew up undocumented in New York. The first in her family to graduate from college, she has dedicated her career to advancing equity in education. After teaching in Los Angeles and New York City via Teach for America, Vanessa started ImmSchools to provide undocumented students and their families access to safe and welcoming learning environments.

Elli had one goal when she started Neurotrack: To change the way Alzheimer’s is diagnosed and treated. After losing two grandparents to the disease, she created a company that develops digital cognitive health solutions to enable people to assess, monitor, and strengthen brain health. Elli began her career in government, working at the White House and the State and Treasury Departments before moving to private equity and then the United Nations. She has an MBA from Harvard University and is on the Business School’s Healthcare Advisory Board.

Nancy grew up in Beijing, went to college in China and Germany and Canada, and navigated to Seattle where, in senior product roles at Microsoft and Meta, she did pioneering work in augmented and virtual reality. Nancy joined infrastructure AI startup BrightAI in 2021. A computer scientist with an MBA (University of Washington) and expertise in applied AI, Nancy aims to solve global problems ranging from aging infrastructure to climate change to the frontline labor shortage.

The first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, Ruthie is among the world’s top Black female patent holders with more than 200 issued patents and pending applications. She honed her skills in hardware and software design and IP/technical project management at IBM and then served as Strategic Innovation Director at USAA before moving to Nvidia in 2020.

Cindy began her career at Eli Lilly and moved to Medtronic, where she turned an underperforming women’s health franchise into a $500 million business focused on treating women who have pelvic floor disorders. At 3M, Cindy created a “virtual startup” to accelerate the development of inhaler devices for asthma and COPD patients. She left Everly Health in mid-2023. Cindy is on the boards of Accolade and Vanderbilt University, her alma mater. She is a former director of Best Buy.

Growing up in Jamaica, Sheryl knew the power of Western Union to change lives: Thanks to Western Union, her family received much needed remittances from her grandmother in the U.S. Sheryl spent 15 years at American Express and worked at Mastercard and Bread Financials before moving in 2022 to Western Union, where she builds and launches products that are accessible to people everywhere.

April founded Spring Health, an AI-driven mental health services company after health struggles close to home—her own and those of friends—convinced her that the system was broken. Spring Health is valued at more than $2B, and April is the youngest woman to build a unicorn company. She has been recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, as one of Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. She is also a Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Fellow.

Wendy-Kay was born in Kingston, Jamaica, immigrated to Texas when she was in grade school, and earned a BA in computer science at Rice and an MBA and Masters in computer science at MIT. Starting as a software engineer at Motorola, she moved on to National Instruments, Raytheon, McKinsey, and Google in 2016. During the global pandemic, Wendy-Kay played a key role in building contact tracing technology across Apple and Google/Android phones—saving many lives.

Lori grew up in San Jose and (along with her sister) was first in her family to earn a college degree. With a BA and Masters from the University of San Francisco, she began her career at Intel—on the tech giant’s first ethics and compliance team—and moved to Verisign, VMware, and McKesson before joining Salesforce as VP of global employee relations in 2018. Lori was EVP and Chief Equality Officer until early 2024 and is now in a newly created role with a directive to rethink talent growth and development in the era of AI.

Elena has dedicated her career to making cyberspace safer. She started as an IT specialist at the World Bank, built innovative cybersecurity partnerships at the World Economic Forum, and went on to fight cybercrime and fraud at Barclays, Bank of America, and SAP. Elena holds more than 30 patents for inventions related to cybersecurity. She is an adjunct professor at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and serves on the board of Refugees International.

Growing up near Toronto, Melissa developed an early love of business. She spent 24 years at PepsiCo, where she rose from financial analyst to SVP of finance for North American Beverages. Melissa joined General Motors in 2021 as CFO of the company’s EV, Digital and Innovation businesses, rose to lead global finance strategy and FPA (financial planning and analysis), and now, as Deputy Chief Financial Officer, she has the CFOs of North America, International, and China reporting to her.

A Rhodes and Truman Scholar who started her career in the U.S. Army, Liz completed two year-long tours in Iraq, where she served on the senior staff of General David Petraeus, and served as a Military Police Commander.At McKinsey for a decade, she rose to Partner and Global Leader at McKinsey Academy, and then at Schmidt Futures, she oversaw a portfolio of programs addressing hard to solve problems in science, technology, and science. Now at DIU, Liz oversees the defense organization’s collaboration with the investment community and commercial technology sector.

Born in Accra, Ghana, Mia came to the U.S. at age eight with her parents, two sisters, and nothing more than their suitcases. She went on to Wellesley and Harvard (MBA), and then Citigroup, United Airlines, and PreCash, a fintech startup, before landing at Sodexo in 2012. In a decade, Mia ascended through eight jobs, including leading SodexoMagic, a joint venture between the food service and facilities management giant and Magic Johnson Enterprises. Now at C&W Services, she oversees 13,000 people—85% of them frontline workers—and is focused on scaling their economic opportunities. Mia is on the board of H&R Block.

From KPMG tax accountant to general counsel at Amgen to Executive Director of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Shannon found her way to Alphabet and its drone delivery company Wing. Shannon is on the boards of NetScout Systems, Lazy Dog Restaurants, and Sofi Bank (a Sofi subsidiary). She co-founded the National Society of Black CPAs and is an active member of Black Women on Boards. And she’s a filmmaker: Her award-winning Colored My Mind follows the stories of families with children with autism in the Black community. In 2023, she released OnBoard, a film on board diversity.

Raised with three sisters by Chaldean parents in Farmington, Michigan, Jaclyn earned BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from U of M and joined General Motors in 1999. She rose to Executive Chief Engineer of Full Size Trucks and then, in 2022, got promoted to President and Managing Director of GM Europe. Jaclyn lived in Zurich for two years and is now back in Detroit since got tapped to be Global Vice President, Buick and GMC. 

Christine grew up in Bradenton, Florida, earned a BA at UNC and MBA at Wharton, and worked for international trade conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group before moving into startups. She headed business development for juice bar chain Organic Avenue, then rerouted to San Francisco to pursue her entrepreneurial dream. In 2016, Christine launched Full Harvest, a B2B marketplace with a mission to eliminate on-farm food loss (a major contributor to climate change) by digitizing the produce supply chain.

A first-generation college grad with an electrical engineering degree from Northwestern, Leslie joined IBM as an intern and rose to global sales VP. She moved on to Comcast and First Data. Following Fiserv’s 2019 acquisition of First Data, Leslie co-heads operations for the combined companies Global Business Solutions Division. As executive sponsor of the company’s Black Leadership Council, she changed the name of the organization to SOAR.

Shally began her career in IT as a developer at Amerigroup. She rose to lead technology strategy and innovation there before moving to Anthem, WellStar Health System, Humana (where she was the first woman SVP & CIO), and Liberty Mutual. She joined Zelis, a healthcare fintech company, as CTO in 2023. Shally is passionate about advancing women in technology. She is also co-founder and Chairwoman of the Freedom Council, a coalition of businesses combating human trafficking. In 2024, Shally joined the board of DIRTT Environmental Solutions, a publicly-traded industrialized construction company.

A Harvard-educated physician, board certified in both internal medicine and endocrinology, Chevon worked across business (from digital health startups to Amazon to Takeda Digital Ventures), government, and academia—always focusing on improving patient outcomes and fixing healthcare inequities. Now at Oncology Care Partners, she leads the company’s digital strategy and oversees its oncology delivery systems.

After gaining expertise in healthcare via stints at Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Bain, and Massachusetts Medicaid, where she was COO, Corbin decided she wanted to revamp the ways substance abuse treatment and mental healthcare are paid for and delivered, particularly for marginalized populations. Eleanor Health, which Corbin founded in 2019, applies technology, data, and compassionate teams to provide at-home and in-clinic care. Corbin serves on the boards of various organizations that support equity for women and the LGBTQ+ community.

Jennifer grew up outside Boston, inspired by her Cuban immigrant mother. With a BA from Harvard and a Stanford MBA, she spent the first part of her career in tech development and operations at YouTube and 21st Century Fox. Switching to investing, Jennifer cofounded Flashstarts, a startup accelerator focused on software startups outside Silicon Valley and was a partner there for five years. In 2018, she launched January Ventures to invest in underrepresented founders building game-changing software startups.

After conquering her own health challenges, Kristina started Equip to improve care for people with eating disorders. Equip is the leading provider of virtual, evidence-based eating disorder treatments—providing therapists, dietitians, physicians, and peer & family mentors to support patients in their recovery. Kristina also founded Project HEAL, a non-profit that works to improve access to treatment for eating disorders.

Laura co-founded Code 2040, a nonprofit focused on dismantling structural barriers to diverse and inclusive leadership in tech. She then worked on access to capital and DEI as a senior policy adviser in the Obama White House and was head of impact at social innovation fund Echoing Green. In 2021, Laura joined Base10 Partners, the first and only black-led VC firm to cross $1B in assets under management, as operating partner. Laura has taught social innovation at Stanford and at the American University of Rome.

Ana grew up in Kerman, California, a low income agricultural town, as the only daughter of a Mexican immigrant. First in her family to graduate from college, she earned a BA at San Diego State and then worked briefly as an analyst at Kleinfelder, an engineering and construction management firm. Ana joined Booz Allen Hamilton as a junior analyst in 2000 and rose to senior roles in the company’s Global Defense Sector. Joining Accenture in 2024, she now manages complex projects for the Department of Defense, including work with the U.S. Navy to deliver capabilities in cyber, engineering, decision analytics, and AI. Ana also chairs Pathways to Citizenship, a nonprofit dedicated to helping qualified immigrants become U.S. citizens.

A mother of four autistic sons, Ling started SpectrumAi to improve healthcare for families like hers. The MIT and Harvard grad began her career as a nurse in the U.S. Army. She led a battalion aid station in an active combat zone—an excellent training ground for pursuing her audacious goal: Ling sees Spectrum AI as a template to transform healthcare broadly, aiming to create more effective and personalized solutions for diverse patient needs.

Yolanda began her career at the law firm Morrison & Foerster and moved to Gap as a contract attorney in 2003. She was General Counsel of Athleta—a Gap brand focused on “igniting the limitless potential of all women and girls”—and Gap Inc.’s Deputy General Counsel before being named SVP and General Counsel in early 2023. Yolanda also co-leads Gap’s Legal Diversity Committee. On a mission to make paths smoother for those behind her, she has developed initiatives to provide jobs for attorneys who tend to be overlooked in traditional recruiting.

Michelle arrived in the U.S. from Ecuador at age seven, grew up in Miami, and studied chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. She spent the first part of her career as an engineer at ExxonMobil. In 2021, Michelle co-founded Hyfé to use waste to enable biotechnology and break our dependence on carbon-intensive industries. Hyfé uses nutrients washed away in food manufacturing wastewater to power the creation of low-cost chemicals, materials, fuels, and foods that are better for the planet.

Raised in Mukilteo, Washington by Chinese immigrant parents who prioritized education, Jenny earned a BA from Harvard and then an MBA from Stanford. She interned at BlackRock and Deutsche Bank before working as a business analyst at McKinsey and a private equity associate at Bain Capital. In 2017, Jenny created FreeWill, which provides free estate planning tools to make it easy for people to give their money to charity. Her goal is to move $1 trillion into non-profits.

After starting her career in education, Elise worked at IBM Watson and then in venture philanthropy. While pursuing her MBA/MA in Education at Stanford, she co-founded Praxis Labs to create immersive VR-enabled learning platforms to train employees to be empathetic and inclusive—and drive inclusion across the workplace. Among the companies using Praxis Lab today: Amazon, Google, Merck, and Uber.

Born in Ecuador, Saskia came to the U.S. at age 17 and worked multiple jobs to graduate college in three years. She started in PR and headed the Medellin, Colombia, office of Burson-Marsteller before going to the NBA, where she rose to VP of Marketing. Saskia launched Fresh Bellies in 2016 with a mission to combat childhood obesity. Her vegan snacks are now in 4,500 stores including Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods.

Arna’s parents escaped Romania for Israel when her mother was six months pregnant—and then, amidst a terrorist attack, she arrived at the hospital via military tank to deliver baby Arna. On to Greece and then the U.S. when Arna was three years old, she grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, studied computer science at Princeton, and then earned a Masters at Stanford. Applying design thinking to healthcare, Arna worked for IDEO and Proteus Digital Health before founding Triody, a healthcare startup consultancy, in 2014 and then joining Wavely Diagnostics in 2020. Wavely develops smartphone-based medical diagnostics for pediatric care.

Shelly spent nearly 15 years in public service, working in national security in the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, White House, and Pentagon. In 2022, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed Shelly to chair the high-level Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. At Lockheed Martin, Stoneman leads the company’s engagements with the U.S. Congress and the Department of Defense. Shelly also serves on the boards of the leadership for Women in National Security, Food for Others, and the USO National Capital Region.

Laurel lived through the problem she’s working to solve: out of control student debt. After conquering her own financial stress and spending a decade in tech sales—including at Google where she catered to large customers—Laurel started Candidly to guide individuals and families through every step of the planning, borrowing, and repayment experience. Candidly is now the leading student debt and savings optimization platform.

Born and raised in Ukraine, Anastasia moved to Australia, where she earned a PhD in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering at the University of Sydney. As founder and CEO of Flurostat, she helped farmers improve their crops via data analytics. Now at Regrow Ag, she combines satellite imagery with soil samples to help food companies measure the carbon impact of supplier farms and incentivize growers to implement climate-­positive practices.

The daughter of Filipino immigrants, Amber graduated from Johns Hopkins and Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and began her career as a cancer researcher and genetic counselor. She worked at InformedDNA, which launched the first tele-genetic counseling services, for 13 years before serving as COO of Blue Note Therapeutics and then starting her own healthcare consulting firm in 2022.

Martina founded two tech startups in mobile gaming and virtual reality before moving into venture capital. Her first fund, WXR Fund, invested in 11 early-stage women-led spatial computing (AR/VR/AI) companies. Goldenrod Ventures, her second fund, invests in women-led companies building solutions for climate, health, media, and community. Martina aims to build a venture ecosystem that enables women-founded companies to access resources and build community. She serves on the boards of several startups and nonprofit advisory groups.

Moving to the U.S. from China at age 5, Sherry grew up in Stony Brook, New York, and Isla Vista, California. After earning a BA in mathematics and economics at Yale, she joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst and quickly rose to Managing Director. In 2021, Sherry was tapped to co-head the firm’s Urban Investment Group, which invests in public-private real estate projects and socially-motivated companies that address the needs of underserved communities across the U.S.

Denise spent her career in consumer packaged goods, including seven years with Coca-Cola, before launching a company inspired by her daughter’s struggles with food allergies. After starting Partake Foods in 2017 with her personal savings, Denise raised $7.5 million and is now on a fast-growth track, selling Partake’s allergen-free cookies and snacks in Walmart stores in 47 states as well as in other retailers, including 1,600 Target stores. Denise’s mission is to fight food insecurity and open doors for HBCU students to pursue careers in the food and beverage industries.

Born in Paris and raised in New York City, Zoe went on to Harvard, Yale (law degree), and Stanford (MBA). She worked for the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank) in Africa, as an aid worker in Iraq, and in research and machine intelligence at Google before starting ex/ante in 2022. Ex/ante is a venture fund that backs pre-seed & seed stage companies in “agentic tech.” Zoe invests in startups tackling challenges around privacy, data ownership, security, identity, and information integrity.

By age six, Alexis had already moved from China to Wales to the U.S. After graduating from MIT, she began her career at UBS Investment Bank, followed by private equity firm Summit Partners. Alexis has since built a career in fintech, including leading the sales team at Affirm and Scratch before joining Stripe in 2021. At Stripe, she is passionate about increasing access to payment methods around the globe and building a world-class team. She serves on the Board of Directors at the MIT Federal Credit Union, is an advisor to multiple startups, and remains an avid traveler