SheKnows Media has announced its advisory board for #BlogHer15: Experts Among Us. These 37 thought leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and activists will provide strategic counsel for the 11th annual global event for women content creators, which is scheduled for July 16-18 in New York City.
Alex Posen
Alexandra Posen is a graduate of Brown University and L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She studied physical and visual theater in with an emphasis on mask making and puppetry, which led to hear performance works in the late ‘90s. In 2000, she began her ongoing wax drawing series, Fields, and soon after co-founded Zac Posen, where as creative director, she worked for nearly a decade to establish the label as a global brand. Alexandra’s extensive knowledge of couture fabric and technique has translated into a unique formal language in her recent abstract paintings. Posen’s work has been exhibited at Lynch LYNCH THAM, NYCAMS, TEMP Art Space and The Watermill Center, reviewed in Bullet Magazine and featured in numerous blogs. Alexandra lives and works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Ali Pincus
Alison Pincus is a San Francisco based entrepreneur who’s motivated by disruption in the profit and not-for-profit/civic arenas. Alison co-founded One Kings Lane in 2008 as an innovative, e-commerce solution for how home decor is aggregated, marketed and merchandised. One Kings Lane quickly became an industry leader in the home/interiors vertical because of the company’s approach to vendors and consumers. Today, Alison remains active as a co-founder, board member, spokesperson and brand evangelist. Previously, Alison held digital marketing and business development positions at The Walt Disney Company, NBC and Hachette Filipacchi. As a mother of three, Alison is committed to both her local and global community. Alison’s interest in helping individuals to achieve self-reliance thru personal development and employment led her to become actively involved with San Francisco’s JVS, the Bay Area’s pre-eminent vocational agency. As a committed female entrepreneur, Alison serves as a mentor to up-and-coming business leaders and formally participates in Liberty Interactive’s WECN (Women’s e-commerce Network). Driven by a passion for her family’s cultural roots, Alison is actively involved in the Jewish community both domestically and internationally. She is a current participant in the Wexner Heritage program, a 2-year cohort focusing on the development of Jewish lay leaders throughout North America. Alison received her MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and her BS from UC Berkeley. In addition to the One Kings Lane board, Alison serves on the boards of IfOnly, an ecommerce company, and two contemporary art institutions the Aspen Art Museum and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
Alisa Miller
Alisa Miller is CEO of Public Radio International (PRI) and was named one of the Most Influential Women in Technology by Fast Company. She’s a recognized media leader who advocates for technological innovation to help people live better lives. Under her leadership, PRI now reaches nearly 20 million people monthly. She leads all strategic aspects of PRI including award winning shows like PRI’s The World to launching across Across Women’s Lives (stories of women and girls changing their worlds and ours) and the rapidly growing news and engagement platform, PRI.org. She is the first woman and youngest CEO to head a major public radio network and is shaping how people will consume and engage with news and storytelling, especially global issues. Her TEDTalk on digital/mass media has been viewed 1.25 million times and has been translated into 45 languages. Diversity in reporting, she says, is not just important – it’s vital for everyone who seeks to understand and act for good in an increasingly interconnected and complex world.
Amber Gordon
Amber Gordon is the founder of the shared experience publishing platform for anyone female identified, Femsplain. She’s passionate about online community building and Internet culture. At the age of 15, she spent an entire summer indoors teaching herself how to code. She is the former creative strategist at Tumblr and prior to that was the social media strategist behind Denny’s Diner.
Blake McKinney
Blake McKinney’s appetite for product innovation and consumer insight came very early.As part of his high school’s food advisory board, Blake helped launch some district-wide healthy food alternatives. First came salad bars, then iced tea. All before healthy was “in.” Today Blake heads up latitude, a brandingand experiential unit within The Richards Group. After 15+ years with the agency, he’s still hungry. Blake brings a refreshingly holistic approach to marketing, firmly grounded in the knowledge that brand impact must reach far beyond the walls of a store or a single event. Blake began his agency career working on Corona beer, helping it break the Import Top 10 list and eventually peaking at #1. Keeping with the beverage theme, Blake has handled other top beverage brands. As man cannot survive on beverages alone, Blake also brings CPG, health insurance, medical device, technology, and banking experience to the table. A table where his wife and their three fun-loving kids share healthy meals of salad and iced tea, no doubt.
Carrie Hammer
Carrie Hammer started her career as an advertising sales executive and often heard that she should “dress for the job she wanted, not the job she had.” This was tough advice to follow as she found a limited selection of fashionable professional women’s clothing, with a contemporary fit. As a solution, she began getting custom pieces made for herself. Since many of Hammer’s friends and colleagues commiserated with her dilemma, she would be stopped on the street as well as in meetings about her fashionable professional wardrobe. After the overwhelming response and her extreme frustration, Hammer felt she had no choice but to start a line to cater to the underserved professional woman. Carrie Hammer Custom Apparel launched in 2012 in New York City to deliver stylish professional wear to women.
Celeste Bottorff
Celeste Bottorffis a leader in Coca-Cola’s sustainability efforts, having led its Live Positively initiative in North America and now focusing on personal sustainability and wellbeing programs globally. Her work includes helping experts communicate the science around energy balance and active, healthy living and assisting NGO’s and others in expanding proven healthy lifestyle programs in communities. Celeste began her career as a marketing and technology strategist at McKinsey & Co. after earning her MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. As Marketing Director at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Celeste led initiatives that won the paper “Marketer of the Year”. Celeste was also the Director of Global Planning for Holiday Inn Worldwide/Intercontinental Hotels, developing growth strategies across the globe. Celeste is the recipient of several important honors, among them, theLettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award as Outstanding woman on a public company board in Georgia and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Georgia.
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington Burns is a mother, social entrepreneur, model, and founder of Every Mother Counts, a non-profit dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother. Having endured a childbirth complication herself, Christy was compelled to direct and produce the documentary, No Woman, No Cry about maternal health challenges that impact the lives of millions of girls and women around the world. As a result of her global advocacy work she was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2014, Glamour Magazine’s Woman of The Year in 2013, and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative Minds in 2013. Prior to her work as a global maternal health advocate, Christy enjoyed a successful career as a model while continuing her education and pursuing other interests. She has co-created public health communications campaigns about smoking cessation and prevention since 1997 and launched an award-winning website, SmokingIsUgly.com. Christy is also the author of Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (Hyperion 2002) and has written countless articles, essays and op-eds for magazines and newspapers on the subjects of wellness, maternal health, feminism, poverty eradication and human rights. Christy is a member of the Harvard Medical School Global Health Council, an advisor to the Harvard School of Public Health Board of Dean’s Advisors and on the advisory Board of New York University’s Nursing School. She holds a BA from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies and has studied Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. A three-time marathon finisher, Christy resides in New York City where she lives with her husband, filmmaker Edward Burns, and their two children.”
Courtney Nichols Gould
Currently the cofounder/CoCEO of SmartyPants Vitamins, Courtney uses her experience in building companies from the ground up to identify the best partners, distributors, advisors and talent to make the company and its products examples of businesses that win with heart and soul intact. Having most recently served as COO of Clear, the fast pass for airport security, from its inception through its successful launch and beyond, she previously served as interim CEO of www.wemix.com, president of Mail.com and still serves as an advisor, investor and board member for various stage start-ups such as Dadlabs.com, Poprule.com, and Re:Char. She is very committed to SmartyPants improving the lives of its customers as well as children around the world through its partnership with Vitamin Angels and is a founding member of charity:water’s Well and sits on the board of Blue Planet Foundation.
David Leite
David Leite is the publisher of Leite’s Culinaria and writer behind The David Blahg. He was the first winner ever of a James Beard Award for a website, a feat repeated the following year. His first book, “The New Portuguese Table,” explored the food of his heritage and won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award. David has also been published in various prestigious publications and has been a frequent guest on shows such as “Cooking Today,” as well as Lucinda Scala Quinn’s program, “Mad Hungry Monday.” He’s also been heard on NPR’s “All Thing Considered” and is a correspondent for “The Splendid Table.” He’s appeared on History Channel 2’s “United Stuff of America,” Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay,” “The Today Show,” and is a regular guest on WTNH-TV. He won the 2008 James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes. He was also a 2006 winner of the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism. In 2014, he was nominated for both Best Blog and Best Podcast Series by the IACP. Currently he’s at work on his next book, “Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression.”
Feminista Jones
Feminista Jones is a mental health social worker, novelist and community activist from New York City. She is an award-winning blogger who focuses on health and well-being, specifically in areas of mental health and sexual health. She is currently the Love & Sex section editor at BlogHer.com; has contributed to Salon, Time and Ebony; and has been syndicated in The Root and theGrio.com. Feminista is also a regular guest on Huffingpost Live, has appeared on “The Dr. Oz Show,” and her work has been featured on MSNBC (Melissa Harris-Perry and “All In with Chris Hayes”). She was recently named one of 2014’s The Root 100, was honored as an Outstanding Online Activist of 2014 and her work fighting street harassment and police brutality has garnered international acclaim. She travels the country and world lecturing and presenting on issues related to women and feminism, sexuality and race.
Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, a graphic-design online service, and an executive fellow at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. Formerly, he was an adviser to the Motorola business unit of Google and chief evangelist of Apple. He is also the author of “APE,” “What the Plus!,” “Enchantment,” and nine other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Jesse Draper
Jesse Draper created and hosts “The Valley Girl Show” and is CEO of Valley Girl, Inc. She has produced and distributed over 200 interviews, and Valley Girl has been called must-see startup TV by USA Today. Jesse is expanding with a new television series on KTVU-FOX 2 and KICU-TV 36 in Northern California. Jesse has helped pioneer the digital media world and created a new distribution model for online shows. Recently named “The Tech World’s Queen of Networking” by Gentry Magazine, Jesse recently founded a women in business organization in association with Valley Girl, which holds exclusive events across the country for networking and support of women in business. Draper is also an angel investor through Valley Girl Ventures where she does early-stage seed investing in startups with female founders. Draper regularly speaks on digital media, women in business and entrepreneurship at business conferences including SXSW, DLD, TEDx, TechVentures and various prestigious universities. She is also a regular contributor to such news sites as Mashable, Forbes, The Huffington Post and Glam.
Joanna Stern
Joanna Stern, personal technology columnist with The Wall Street Journal, has spent the better part of the past decade on the gadget beat and knows phones, tablets and laptops inside and out. In her weekly columns and lively videos she helps people make smarter tech decisions. Ms. Stern previously was the technology editor at ABC News and a reviewer and editor at The Verge and Engadget. She lives in New York City and graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York.
Kamy Wicoff
Kamy Wicoff is the founder of SheWrites.com, the world’s largest online community for women writers. She is also the founder, with publisher Brooke Warner, of She Writes Press. Kamy’s first book, the bestselling “I Do But I Don’t: Why The Way We Marry Matters,” was published by DaCapo in 2006. Her first novel, “Wishful Thinking,” about a divorced mom who gets an app on her phone that allows her to be in more than one place at the same time (the superpower every woman needs), will be published by SWP in April 2015. Her work has appeared on Salon.com and has been anthologized in “Why I’m Still Married: Women Write Their Hearts Out on Love, Loss, Sex and Who Does the Dishes” (Hudson Press, February 2006) and “About Face: Women Write About What They See When They Look in the Mirror” (Seal Press, June 2008). Kamy lives in Brooklyn with her sons, Max and Jed.
Kat Kinsman
Kat Kinsman is the editor-in-chief of Tasting Table. Prior to this she was the Managing Editor of CNN’s “Eatocracy,” edited CNN’s matrimony section and first-person essay series and was a writer and editor for CNN Living. She covers food, booze, lady-being, person-being, mental health, disabilities, sex, pop culture, weddings and dogs. Kinsman was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in the TV Segment category in 2013 and the EPPY Best Food Website with 1 Million Unique Monthly Visitors and Over in 2012 and 2013 and won this award in 2011. She’s appeared on CNN and HLN TV and Radio and hosted CNN’s Live Google Hangouts on a semi-regular basis. She recently appeared on “Good Morning America” and she often speaks to groups of people about food, writing and social media. Kinsman is writing a book called “Hi, Anxiety” for HarperCollins imprint Dey Street Books. She’s the former senior editor for AOL Food and Slashfood, a KCBS-certified barbecue judge, proud member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and the vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.
Kathryn Finney
Kathryn Finney is the founder and managing director of digitalundivided (DID), a social enterprise that finds, trains and support urban tech entrepreneurs. Digitalundivided has helped over 1,000 urban entrepreneurs create scalable tech businesses. DID runs the FOCUS Fellow program, a 16-week tech entrepreneurship program for black women founders/cofounders of tech companies. Kathryn received the Champion of Change Award from the White House, The New York Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award, SXSW Black Innovator Award, theGrio 100 and Ebony Power 100 List of the Most Influential African-Americans and the Black Enterprise “40 under 40” list. She’s served as editor-at-large at BlogHer, and was one of the first lifestyle bloggers and the CEO of TBF Group, LLC, parent company of The Budget Fashionista brand. Kathryn and TBF were featured in more than 1,000 media outlets, including “The Today Show” and The New York Times. TBF led to the book “How to be a Budget Fashionista” (Random House) and partnerships with major brands such as Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and TJ Maxx.
Kathy O’Brien
Kathy O’Brien is vice president of skin and marketing services Unilever North America. Kathy has responsibility for shopper marketing, marketing communications, Hispanic and low-income consumers, digital/e-commerce and marketing capabilities. Kathy has been involved with the Dove business for a number of years and was responsible for building brand equity and executing brand-activation plans for Dove in the U.S. She has led programs that helped Dove achieve its goal of reaching five million girls with self-esteem programming. Prior to her current role, Kathy was Unilever’s vice president and general manager of foods in the United States. In 2012, Kathy was honored as a Top Woman in Grocery by Progressive Grocer Magazine. She was also honored as one of Advertising Age’s 25 Women to Watch in 2010. Kathy is also on the board of directors of the Network of Executive Women (NEW) and Cosmetic Executive Women. Kathy holds an undergraduate degree from Boston College and an MBA from Columbia University.
Katie Ford
Katie Ford is president and managing director at MediaVest. With more than 20 years of experience, Katie is an expert in creating consumer experiences that drive business impact. In her role, Katie leads the North America Coca-Cola business. She has over a decade of experience working on The Coca-Cola Company portfolio and is deeply passionate about these brands. Katie’s career has taken her from Chicago to Mexico to China to New York, where she has worked on global network clients such as Coca-Cola, Miller and Kellogg. Katie’s commitment to innovation and deep-seated curiosity have earned her teams and clients numerous accolades including Cannes Lions, Creative Media, Effie’s, Webby Award, Festival of Media and MediaWeek’s “Plan of the Year.” Advertising Age named Katie a “Woman to Watch” in 2011. Outside of work, she and her husband keep busy with their six kids. She enjoys spending quality time with her family playing summer and winter lake sports.
Kelley Skoloda
Kelley Skoloda is a partner/director of Ketchum’s Global Brand Marketing Practice, an author and a recognized authority on marketing to women and moms. She is the architect of the the agency’s Women 25to54 and Breadwinner PheMOMenon research and initiatives and is an in-demand speaker. Her book, “Too Busy to Shop: Marketing to Multi-Minding Women,” (Praeger, March/2009) has been named a “must read” and is in its second printing. Skoloda and her work has been featured in Time.com, Fortune.com, the Huffington Post, ADWEEK and BRANDWEEK, cnbc.com, tompeters.com, Business Week Online, Forbes.com, PRWeek Magazine and many others. In her career she has counseled dozens of companies and blue-chip brands and has led award-winning agency teams. Kelley is active in her community and resides near Pittsburgh with her husband and two children and their three cats.
Kim Holderness
Although most 8-year-olds recognize her from dancing in her ill-fitting “Christmas Jammies” Kim Dean Holderness got her start as a television news reporter. She followed the big stories in Florida, Raleigh and New York. Now she wears many hats creating videos as “Chief Mom” of The Holderness Family, and for brands and companies as managing partner at Greenroom Communications, LLC. Kim was national correspondent for the syndicated magazine show “Inside Edition.” She interviewed celebrities like George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lopez and Donald Trump. One of her most amazing accomplishments is exercising restraint and maintaining the ability to form words in the presence of GEORGE CLOONEY! Kim’s favorite job is mom to Lola and Penn Charles and wife to the 6’4” goofball, Penn Holderness. Their children are are well-behaved, respectful and always eat their vegetables (that last part is a lie).
Kristin Hylek
As manager of external communications for McDonald’s USA, Kristin Hylek leads public-relations efforts to drive McDonald’s family business, including women, moms and blogger engagement, Happy Meal promotions, McDonald’s Family Arches online community strategy and outreach, and U.S. support of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). Prior to her current role, Hylek also served as a member of the media relations team. Hylek is a member of McDonald’s Women’s Leadership Network, the Young Professionals Network and McDonald’s Working Mother’s Council. She is the recipient of McDonald’s U.S. Communications Peer-Nominated MVP Award and McDonald’s Employee of the Quarter Award. She was also recognized with the Young Professionals Network Achievement Award, which honors rising stars within the company. Prior to McDonald’s, Hylek was employed by Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell in Chicago on the marketing and media relations team. Hylek is a graduate of Purdue University, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in communications. She resides in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and daughter.
Laurel Pinson
As editor-in-chief of StyleCaster Media Group, Laurel Pinson steers the content and editorial strategy for all of the StyleCaster properties. Laurel comes to StyleCaster from NBC Universal, where she spearheaded fashion and shopping content as a managing editor in the company’s local media division. There, she leveraged her previous experience at Lucky magazine and AOL Stylelist to foster the company’s growth in the digital lifestyle sector. In addition to her digital duties at NBC, Laurel served as the face of fashion for NBC New York on New York Live, WNBC, and most notably, Taxi TV. Laurel has been a style contributor to various national and local broadcast outlets, including the CBS “Early Show” and NBC’s “The Today Show.” Laurel graduated from Yale University with degrees in English and theater studies. Follow Laurel on Twitter @LaurelPinson.
Leena Rao
Leena Rao is a partner leading content at Google Ventures. Previously she was the managing editor for TechCrunch, where she spent five years writing about startups, tech and business. Leena graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was the captain of the women’s varsity tennis team.
Lila King
Lila King oversees product & partnerships for HLN, a national television network. She is also the senior director for social news at CNN Worldwide and leads CNN’s social media efforts, including the CNN iReport team. Since 2001, King has reported and produced several multimedia stories on a wide range of topics in domestic and international news. Her team focuses on integrating new technologies into storytelling presentations. In 2006, King launched iReport, CNN’s citizen journalism platform with 1 million registered contributors. King’s team was awarded the Knight News Innovation EPPY Award for finding new ways to gather and disseminate news and information with iReport’s Haiti: The Missing & the Found database. Following the earthquake in Haiti, the database assisted in reconnecting Haitians by finding their missing loved ones. iReport was awarded a Webby Award for a mash-up video of submissions from over 450 iReporters into a one-minute video that resulted in a collective walk around the world. King graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in comparative literature and philosophy.
Linda Descano
Linda Descano, CFA, is managing director and head of content and social at Citi, responsible for social media and content marketing for the Global Consumer Bank. Linda has had a diverse career at Citi, holding a number of roles across various functions. Linda is a contributor to the Citi Blog and Yahoo Finance Network as well as a member of the LinkedIn Influencer program, and has been featured in various prestigious publications throughout her career. Among many accomplishments, Linda is the recipient of the Pinnacle in Leadership Award from the Girl Scouts of Greater New York in 2014; Changing the Game Award from the Advertising Women of New York in 2013; a Women of Excellence Award from the National Association of Female Executives in 2012; and many more. Linda serves as president of New York Women in Communications, and is a member of Advertising Women of New York, Financial Women’s Association New York and National Organization of Italian-American Women. She’s also served on the board of directors of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. and is the past national vice chair of Step Up.
Logan Levkoff
A recognized expert on sexuality and relationships and AASECT certified sex educator, Dr. Logan Levkoff encourages honest conversation about sexuality and the role it plays in American culture. Logan empowers others to embrace their sexuality and challenge the impractical and often unhealthy messages that they are exposed to. Logan appears on various national television outlets and speaks on a wide range of issues around sexuality. She has designed many sexuality education programs in various schools, universities, medical schools and community organizations. Logan’s work has been recognized in various prestigious publications. She is also one of the expert personalities on the breakout hit, “Married at First Sight,” on A&E. Logan is the author of three books, the latest of which is, “Got Teens? The Doctor Moms’ Guide to Sexuality, Social Media, and Other Adolescent Realities” (2014). Logan has been a spokesperson for many different brands and serves on the Trojan Sexual Health Advisory Council. She lives in New York City with her husband, son and daughter.
Luvvie Ajayi
Luvvie Ajayi is a writer, social media strategist and longtime blogger. Her award-winning blog, Awesomelyluvvie.com has been the winner of various blogging awards from 2009 through 2012. Luvvie’s a former columnist for Ebony.com, and has contributed her writing to various publications. In 2012, she and fellow blogger Afrobella made history by being the first brown/black bloggers to get credentialed to cover the Academy Awards. Ajayi also won the Women’s Media Center’s 2012 Social Media Award. Her goal is to help individuals and organizations further their missions using digital tools effectively. She has presented at several conferences across the nation. Luvvie’s passionate about social justice and she’s addicted to shoes. She combined these loves and founded The Red Pump Project with Karyn Watkins in 2009. Red Pump is a national nonprofit that raises awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. Red Pump has also been featured on various national outlets and The Black AIDS Institute recognized Luvvie as a 30 under 30 leader in HIV/AIDS. She’s served on the board of directors of various women’s foundations.
Majora Carter
Majora Carter is the urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster behind a new movement to “urban on-shore” some of the entry-level tech jobs that can help build a more diverse talent pipeline and strengthen our domestic tech industry. In 2007, while at the helm of Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter brought MIT’s first-ever mobile fab lab (digital fabrication laboratory) to the South Bronx, where it served as an early iteration of the “makerspaces” found elsewhere today. The project drew residents and visitors together in the South Bronx for creative collaborations. Her 2006 TED Talk was one of the first six videos to launch that groundbreaking website. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training and placement systems. Her long list of awards and honorary degrees include accolades from groups as diverse as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress and Goldman Sachs, as well as a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Majora is a board member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Andrew Goodman Foundation. Majora has been named one of BusinessInsider.com’s Silicon Alley 100, Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs and B Corp’s Best for the World in 2014.
Malorie Lucich
Malorie Lucich leads product communications at Pinterest, where she oversees engineering and design PR and has worked on launches including Guided Search, Messages and early international rollouts. Prior to Pinterest, she spent four years at Facebook where she was a manager of platform PR and led communications for the games platform and a range of launches, including Facebook Connect, social plugins and timeline apps. Earlier, Malorie was an account executive at the OutCast Agency, where she worked with technology and venture capital clients, including Facebook, VMware and Khosla Ventures.
Meredith Chin
Meredith Chin was an early employee of Facebook, where she helped the company grow from a college site to a global phenomenon, connecting over 1 billion people worldwide. Meredith also started the communications team for Instagram after Facebook acquired it in 2012. Most recently, Meredith held the position of CEO of a new media company, a joint venture between entertainment and music management company, Atom Factory, and global content studio, RadicalMedia. She currently resides in Manhattan, where she has been exploring all New York City has to offer.
Mimi Valdés
Mimi Valdés is creative director of Pharrell’s i am OTHER, a multimedia company that works in music, apparel, philanthropy, film and video. She played a leading role in the creative direction of Pharrell’s “Happy” video, which spawned more than 1,950 tribute videos and propelled the song to No. 1 in the world in 2014. Previously, Valdés served as editor in chief for both Vibe and Latina magazines.
Nancy Spears
Nancy Spears is the CEO and founder of genConnect, a digital media company that connects world-class experts with audiences. genConnect’s mission is to connect experts and their wisdom with global audiences and each other. Its vision is to help trans-generational audiences connect, learn and achieve their dreams. genConnect’s highly trusted multi-platform delivers the wisdom of over 3,000 best-in-class experts, celebrities and national personalities in five ubiquitous, life-relevant categories: lifestyle, health, relationships, career and giving back. Her wide-ranging experience includes marketing, events, strategic planning, branding and promotions for numerous Fortune 500 clients. A specialist in Olympic Games sponsor marketing, Nancy and her team designed and produced programs for numerous worldwide sponsors. As an author, Nancy published “Buddha: 9 to 5” and “The Eightfold Path to Enlightening Your Workplace and Improving Your Bottom Line,” offering profound ways to integrate values-based leadership into corporate America. Giving back to the world to help make an impact is one of Nancy’s primary goals, servicing numerous nonprofit organizations. She and her 16-year-old twins, Clark and Gwyneth, reside in New York City.
Natalia Oberti Noguera
Natalia Oberti Noguera is founder & CEO of Pipeline Fellowship. Dubbed “The Coach” by Marie Claire, Natalia (aka Ms. Oberti Noguera) is founder and CEO of Pipeline Fellowship, an angel-investing bootcamp for women that’s changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women social entrepreneurs. Natalia holds a BA in comparative literature and economics from Yale. She has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Mashable, Newsweek, Reuters Money, TechCrunch, The New York Times and Fast Company’s Co.Exist Change Generation series. Natalia was named to the Forbes list Top 20 Women for Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter, as well as Latina.com’s 25 Latinas Who Shine in Tech. Women’s eNews recognized her as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century for 2012 and Fortune highlighted her as one of the 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter. You can find Natalia on Twitter (@nakisnakis).
Pilar Guzmán
Pilar Guzmán was named editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveler in August 2013. Before joining Traveler, Ms. Guzmán served as the editor in chief of Martha Stewart Living. Under her leadership, the brand earned a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in the lifestyle category. In her previous role at Condé Nast, Ms. Guzmán served as the founding editor in chief of Cookie, the award-winning parenthood brand. Over her impressive career, Ms. Guzmán has held a number of senior editorial positions and has been a contributor to publications including the New York Times, I.D., Wallpaper and Marie Claire. Ms. Guzmán started her career in publishing by writing a travel guide to Italy. Ms. Guzmán is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani is the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and prepare young women for future jobs. In her book, “Women Who Don’t Wait in Line,” Reshma advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and advocating boldly charting your own course. After working as an attorney and supporting the Democrats as an activist and fundraiser, Reshma left her private sector career behind and became the first Indian American woman in the country to run for U.S. Congress. Afterwards, Reshma became deputy public advocate of New York City and ran a campaign for public advocate on a platform of creating educational and economic opportunities for women and girls, immigrants and others sidelined by politics. Reshma graduated from the University of Illinois and Yale Law School. She was recently named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York by the New York Daily News, one of Forbes’ Most Powerful Women Changing the World, one of Business Insider’s 50 Women Who Are Changing the World and one of City and State’s Rising Stars, among other prestigious honors.
Samantha Skey
Prior to her current role as chief revenue officer at SheKnows Media, Samantha Skey served in the same capacity for Recyclebank, where she built the revenue model for their commercial business from the ground up. A frequent presenter and commentator for business and trade media, Samantha’s recent speaking events include Internet Week New York 2014, iMedia Content Summit 2014, ad:tech 2014, 2013 and 2012, Adweek 2013, OMMA 2013, Digiday Publishing Summit 2013, SxSW 2012 and the 2011 Gamification Summit. Samantha helped develop Riddler, one of the web’s first real-time, multi-player, reward-based gaming sites at Interactive Imaginations. She has served in management positions at the Walt Disney Company and CNET, was the chief marketing officer at Passenger, Inc. and was a long-term member of the executive team at Alloy Inc., where she served as executive vice president of strategic marketing. Samantha serves as an adviser to ad:tech, Smarty Pants Ltd., the Bronx Academy of Letters, RewardOps, Kuato Studios and Homer Learning. Samantha holds a BA in comparative literature from Hamilton College. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. Follow Samantha on Twitter @SamSkey7.
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