Queens of Tech Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jasmine Moradi
Queens of Tech is a podcast series about workplace role models – 60+ questions with female influencers about their journey into STEM.
How can we build companies that reflect the society we operate in, so we succeed in recruiting young girls to start working with IT and technology? How can companies internally work with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) to make women feel safe and valued? How can investors integrate DE&I into their investment and ownership decisions? How you can become a female tech role model in your company to drive change?
A podcast by Jasmine Moradi
www.queensof.tech
Ricquelle Jeffrey is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and migrated to the US at a young age. She has spent over 14+ years shaping strategic initiatives in finance, compliance, and technology across the US, UK, and EU managing programs from €1M to €60+M. With experience collaborating alongside fellow leaders in diverse industries through problem-solving, She has seen the power of innovation. The intersection of femtech and digital health resonates with her on a deeply personal level. She is driven by a commitment to empower women, improve healthcare outcomes, and leverage my expertise to trailblaze women’s healthcare.
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Jeannette Gorzala is a prominent figure in the European AI ecosystem. She has founded several initiatives and companies, including the law firm go_legal, specializing in business law and new technologies, and the AI literacy platform Act.AI.Now, it supports the development of AI literacy and AI governance in organizations. Her clientele includes Fortune 500 companies and public institutions.
As Vice President of the European AI Forum, she has helped establish it as one of the largest networks for AI companies in Europe. During the legislative process of the AI Act, Jeannette represented over 2,000 European AI companies in her leadership role at the European AI Forum, giving them a unified voice for the first time. In her role as Chief Policy Officer at the independent think tank AI Austria, she launched one of the first campaigns to inform and educate the public about AI's opportunities, challenges, and regulatory framework.
Currently, Jeannette applies her extensive expertise as the deputy chairwoman of the AI Advisory Board for the Austrian Federal Government. With a background in international business administration and law, she has over 15 years of experience in international commercial law firms and investment banking. She has been recognized as one of Austria's leading legal advisors for AI and has received various international accolades for her contributions.
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Tracey Spicer AM is a renowned keynote speaker, emcee, facilitator, media/presentation trainer, author, documentary host, and journalist, celebrated for her dedication to social justice, technology, and storytelling. With a career spanning over three decades, she has anchored national news programs for ABC TV, Network Ten, and Sky News, as well as hosting on 2UE and ABC Radio.
As a creator and visionary, Tracey was the inaugural national convenor of Women in Media, collaborating with iSentia on groundbreaking research that highlighted the silencing of women and marginalized communities in the media. In 2017, she co-produced the first Me Too stories in Australia, a collaboration between ABC and Fairfax Media.
Her most recent broadcast achievement is the ABC TV documentary Silent No More on the #MeToo movement. Additionally, her latest book, MAN-MADE: How the Bias of the Past is Being Built into the Future, calls for action against the embedded bigotry in technology, advocating for equity and highlighting the efforts of those striving for change in the tech sector. This book has been longlisted for a Walkley Award and won the Social Responsibility category in the Australian Business Book Awards.
Throughout her illustrious career, Tracey has received numerous accolades, including the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Tarana Burke for the Me Too movement, and the national award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership through Women & Leadership Australia. She was also named one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence in 2018.
Tracey’s impactful work extends to writing, producing, and presenting documentaries on women and girls in various countries. She serves as an Ambassador for ActionAid, the Ethnic Business Awards, Emerge Australia, the Australian POTS Foundation, and Purple Our World, and is Patron of the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance.
Her first book, The Good Girl Stripped Bare, became a bestseller, and her TEDx Talk, The Lady Stripped Bare, has garnered nearly seven million views worldwide. Tracey’s essays have been featured in numerous collections, emphasizing her profound impact on media and advocacy.
Tracey Spicer continues to be a leading voice in the fight for gender equality and social justice, inspiring countless individuals through her work and advocacy.
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Sheila Buswell is the CEO and Co-Founder of Buswell Biomedical, a veteran of the US Army, and the author of Is This Seat For Me? Overcoming Imposter Syndrome in Everyday Life and Business. In her book, Sheila shares her personal experiences with impostor syndrome, as well the stories of a diverse group of accomplished individuals who struggled with self-doubt but found ways to overcome it. She hopes to help others who feel limited by their beliefs experience more freedom and realize they are enough.
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Stacy Willis is a multi-passionate problem solver - she currently works as the Chief Operating Officer at Playwire, an advertising technology company. She is an engineer-turned-business-builder who loves technology and is passionate about delivering incredible experiences. Prior to being COO, Stacy was the SVP of Marketing, then the SVP of Marketing and Customer Experience at Playwire. She has spent more than ten years in tech, also operating as an Outsourced/In House Marketer at multiple SaaS startups and as a Principal Srategist at IMPACT.
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Michelle Fraser, an engineering veteran with 25 years of global experience, is currently the Lead Engineer for a prestigious oil company worldwide. Breaking gender barriers in the industry, Michelle is on a mission to challenge traditional roles. Passionate about excellence, she specializes in Oil and Gas Commercial and Engineering, managing projects for Novatek, Total, Yamal, and CNR International. Her expertise spans onshore/offshore operations, design management, instrumentation, safety, and automation systems. Michelle's leadership includes overseeing EPC contractors and vendors, ensuring prolonged asset life, safety compliance, and increased production rates. Her impactful contributions extend to FPSO refurbishments, showcasing a strategic approach to maintenance and sustainability. Michelle Fraser is an influential force shaping the future of the oil and gas sector.
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Josefina Sonnhammer, the CEO and Co-founder of Subscriby, a pioneering startup dedicated to streamlining e-commerce subscriptions. Josefina's journey is driven by a relentless quest for innovation, seeking efficient solutions to optimize daily routines and create more time for her passions.
Her inspiration sprouted from a personal need: simplifying the process of subscribing to essential products like razors, dog food, and hand soap. Despite embracing the convenience of subscriptions, Josefina encountered frustrating customer experiences and the complexities of managing multiple subscriptions. Determined to find a remedy, she combined her background in management consulting with insights gained from her role as Domain Operations Lead of Payment Methods at Klarna.
In August 2022, the vision for Subscriby took root—a revolutionary subscription management software empowering brands to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
For consumers like Josefina, Subscriby offers a seamless platform to subscribe to and effortlessly manage their favorite products, consolidating everything into one convenient hub. Josefina's unwavering commitment to simplicity drives Subscriby's mission to revolutionize the subscription landscape, one hassle-free experience at a time.
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Arezou Zarafshan, the visionary Founder and CEO of Call Emmy, is revolutionizing the landscape for working parents through her innovative one-stop-shop platform.
A career-driven individual from the outset, Arezou's journey into motherhood brought about a transformative realization of the challenges faced by working parents. While flourishing in her executive role at a $1 billion enterprise, Arezou benefitted from the support of a full-time house manager and nanny named Emmy. This invaluable assistance allowed her to maintain focus on her professional aspirations while remaining present for her family. However, upon facing the loss of her job and the subsequent inability to sustain full-time household help, Arezou experienced firsthand the profound impact of this shift. Domestic responsibilities escalated, tensions arose within her household, and the delicate balance between career and family life began to unravel. Determined to find a solution that would empower working parents like herself, Arezou embarked on a mission to create Call Emmy.
Call Emmy emerged as a beacon of hope—a transformative platform that bridges the gap between busy parents and local household service providers. By offering on-demand assistance with household chores and childcare, Call Emmy became the go-to resource for those seeking support in managing the demands of both work and family life.
Arezou's entrepreneurial journey is a testament to her resilience and determination to effect positive change. As an immigrant, accomplished business leader, and devoted mother, she understands firsthand the challenges faced by working parents. Her commitment to empowering others extends beyond the realm of entrepreneurship; she serves as a mentor and coach to aspiring founders and small business owners, guiding them through the complexities of the startup landscape with unwavering support and encouragement.
Recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in Colorado in 2021, Arezou's impact extends far beyond the confines of her business endeavors. With Call Emmy's success gaining traction in Colorado, Arezou's vision is set on national expansion, poised to bring the transformative benefits of her platform to working parents across the country.
Arezou Zarafshan's journey embodies the ethos of resilience, empathy, and empowerment. Through Call Emmy, she is reshaping the narrative for working parents, proving that with determination and innovation, it is possible to thrive in both career and family lif
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Priyanka Vazirani has a diverse work experience. Priyanka began their career in 2011 as a Summer Intern at JPMorgan Chase. In 2012, they worked as a Summer Intern at Morgan Stanley. In 2013, they interned at BCBG Max Azria as a Planning and Retail Operations Intern and at PwC India as a Corporate Finance Intern. From 2014 to 2018, they worked as a Strategist, at Global Investment Solutions at UBS. In 2018, they co-founded Benefactory, a collective movement to make donations to help tackle urgent crises. In 2020, they co-founded Volv Media.
Priyanka Vazirani attended the University of Southern California from 2010 to 2014, where they earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Economics & Business Administration. In 2012, they attended the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) for a Summer School in Economics. Priyanka also participated in the Yellow Accelerator program.
Volv captures the zeitgeist of this generation. A Snapchat-backed super app that gives you a personalized stream of content in 9-second reads using AI. From niche newsletters to breaking news, to YouTube snippets. Users have read over 35 million stories so far.
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Shannon Almeida has a wealth of work experience, beginning in 2011 when they served as a Financial Coordinator for the Women's Resource Center. Shannon then took on a role as a Junior Analyst for the Finance and Investment Club in the same year. In 2012, they became a Corporate Finance Intern for TATA Power and a Consultant for the BU Urban Business Accelerator Program. In 2013, they were an Associate for the Nu Chapter Consulting Group and an Executive Board Member for the Boston University Consulting Group. In 2019, they became a Co-Founder of Benefactory, and in 2020, they took on the same role for Volv Media.
Shannon Almeida began their educational journey in 2000 at Narsee Monjee Educational Trust's - Jamnabai Narsee School, where they attended until 2008. Shannon then attended Questrom School of Business, Boston University from 2010 to 2014, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Economics. In 2013, Shannon participated in a summer program at Berklee College of Music, focusing on Music Business. From 2015 to 2018, Shannon attended the University of Mumbai and earned a Bachelor of Laws - LLB. Shannon also participated in an Accelerator Program at Yellow.
Volv captures the zeitgeist of this generation. A Snapchat-backed super app that gives you a personalized stream of content in 9-second reads using AI. From niche newsletters to breaking news, to Youtube snippets. Users have read over 35 million stories so far.
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Abbey has over 20 years of international experience climbing the corporate ranks in companies like Microsoft, KPMG, and Yara International. In her last role, she was the Chief ESG and Integrity Officer of a publicly listed company located in 45 countries, responsible for global risk, compliance, and sustainability. In 2019 she co-founded Oslo.AI, one of the largest non-profit communities of AI Enthusiasts, as well as Ethical AI Resources which was transferred to NORA.AI in 2023. She is now the Founder of Fortifai, an ESG Regulatory technology company making it easier for companies to implement sustainability and compliance in their organization, no matter the size or budget.
Abbey is from California and is a mother of 3. She holds a master's degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and a double bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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Kate is the Founder & CEO of Fair HQ, deeply driven by the convergence of pioneering science and technology with the evolving needs of the private capital sector. Her journey is fueled by a vision to unleash the power of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as catalysts for transformative change and unparalleled financial success.
With a background in HR, Kate's commitment lies in empowering private equity firms & VCs to fully leverage DEI's potential. Through Fair HQ's innovative platform, she offers real-time insights, actionable guidance, and streamlined reporting, elevating DEI from a mere buzzword to a strategic business imperative that delivers tangible, measurable outcomes.
Her previous company, SheWins.co, focused on reducing the gender pay gap while empowering women to negotiate effectively. With renowned clients such as Sky, Spotify, Dell, PwC, and Deliveroo (all inbound), Kate recognized a fundamental truth: diversity and inclusion cannot improve solely through individual efforts. Rather, they are systemic issues that require comprehensive solutions from the companies themselves.
This venture marks Kate's fourth in the business world. She began her career as a Head of HR, leading her team to an acquihire by a Silicon Valley startup. Her previous company, SheWins.co, focused on reducing the gender pay gap while empowering women to negotiate effectively. Recognizing that diversity and inclusion require systemic solutions, Kate launched Fair HQ to provide businesses with the tools and resources necessary to foster a truly inclusive environment where all employees can thrive.
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Embark on the professional journey of Elizabeth Snower, a seasoned individual with a wealth of diverse experiences that have unfolded over several dynamic years. Presently holding the role of Chief Operating Officer at ICONIQ, Elizabeth is a recent co-founder of the company, which is the driving force behind the well-known virtual influencer, Kuki AI.
Before her current endeavor, Elizabeth made impactful contributions as the Director of Product Management for Global Fashion Brands at TechStyle Fashion Group, showcasing her expertise at the intersection of fashion and technology. Before this, she served as the VP of Growth for The Americas at Haptik, leaving an indelible mark on strategic expansion efforts.
A true entrepreneur, Elizabeth co-founded CONVRG, an AI-powered voice and messaging platform, which garnered attention through its acquisition by Haptik in 2019. Her professional journey also includes roles as a Solutions Lead at Kik Interactive, a Digital Content Strategy Consultant at Guthy|Renker, and as the Editor in Chief for the DermStore Beauty Group at Target.
The roots of Elizabeth’s illustrious career trace back to her beginnings as an Assistant Supplements Editor and Event Assistant at the Orange County Business Journal. Her educational pursuits led her to California State University, Fullerton, where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in English Language and Literature/Letters.
Liz Snower’s influence extends beyond her roles in various organizations. As the co-founder of ICONIQ, she played a pivotal role in the creation of Kuki AI, a virtual influencer making waves in the industry. The journey continued with the co-founding of CONVRG, a B2B voice and messaging platform, and during her tenure at Kik, where she delved into building conversational products for prominent brands. Since 2015, Liz has been a sought-after speaker at events such as The FQ Equality Lounge at SXSW, YMS NYC, Fashion Digital NYC, and AdWeek X.
Her insights and expertise have not gone unnoticed, with quotes featured in publications like The Washington Post and Ad Age. Liz’s work has been covered extensively by media outlets including Forbes, Yahoo, BBC, VICE, Vogue, and Harvard Business Review. Join us as we explore the impactful career and innovative contributions of Liz Snower, a trailblazer in the realms of technology, business, and artificial intelligence.
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Richa is an emerging leader with over nine years of experience in operations, engineering, supply chain, and management. An engineer by background and a businesswoman at heart, she is a strong advocate for women's leadership in engineering and technology.
Richa Bansal, the founder of Pinkcareers, started this initiative with a mission to address the underrepresentation of women in engineering and technology. Despite being the only woman in various professional settings, including an undergraduate class in India, an oil rig in Malaysia, and an engineering management role, she aspires to change the narrative.
Throughout her journey, Richa has faced challenges common to many working women – from proving her worth in a male-dominated industry to balancing career and motherhood. She is determined to challenge stereotypes and create a more inclusive environment for women.
As a coach and mentor, Richa has been helping individuals perfect their resumes, improve interview skills, and navigate their career paths. However, she believes that her voice needs to be louder, and by sharing her experiences with the Pinkcareers community, she aims to inspire and empower more women to excel in their careers.
Richa's personal experiences, including pursuing an MBA while raising two children, have fueled her commitment to breaking societal norms and expectations placed on working women. With a track record of achieving promotions, transitioning to high-paying roles, and building a successful business, she is proof that a purpose-driven, strategic approach can lead to a fulfilling and remarkable career.
Her mission is clear – to help high achievers stop underselling themselves, land high-impact leadership roles on their terms, and achieve purpose, freedom, and financial success. As a brown immigrant mother with extensive experience in the Energy and Tech industries, Richa brings a unique perspective to her coaching, aiming to empower others to build their careers on their terms.
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Nicole Trick Steinbach, the Founder of Trick Steinbach LLC and host of the Celebrate Brave podcast, is an International Bravery Coach dedicated to empowering professional women to cultivate the skill of bravery. Her mission is to guide women in reducing stress, working less, and achieving greater financial success.
Nicole's coaching revolves around the framework of clarity, momentum, and accountability. She helps her clients set meaningful goals and cultivates the mindset necessary for sustained success. By encouraging women to perceive successes, mistakes, and failures as equal stepping stones, she empowers them to build a brave life and career.
In her journey, Nicole understands the struggle of appearing successful externally while grappling with inner misery. Her past experiences of exhaustion, loneliness, and unhappiness in the tech industry prompted a transformation. Realizing the lies she believed about her worth, she embarked on a path to build her bravery.
As an International Bravery Coach, Nicole shares her story of overcoming the pressure to work harder and longer. Instead, she advocates for finding balance, asking questions, and pushing back when needed. Nicole's coaching approach is rooted in her revelation that building bravery involves taking care of oneself, cultivating hobbies, and working smarter, not just harder.
Nicole's extensive career includes serving as a Global Senior Director for a major software company, driving impactful global transformational programs in over 25 countries. After 13 years in Germany, she relocated to Denver, Colorado, to align with her family's dreams while elevating her career.
Her journey also involves healing from childhood abuse, recovering from disordered eating, and embracing her humanity as a mother of two. Nicole transitioned from her executive corporate career to entrepreneurship, achieving six figures in her first year. Now, as an International Bravery Coach, she guides women globally in building their own brave lives.
In essence, Nicole's story is a testament to her ability to build bravery, leading to a life where stress is minimized, work is purposeful, and financial success is abundant.
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Aarti is a driving force in AI-led growth and business innovation. As CEO of Shreem Growth Partners, with over 20 years in the field, she is known for scaling organisations globally and driving strategic growth in both, established and emerging tech sectors.
Aarti has launched category-defining AI products, including predictive text input, face biometric verification, and AR surgical simulations, humanising technology to solve real problems. A prominent speaker and media commentator, she frequently shares her expertise on channels like the BBC, offering insights on Artificial Intelligence technology.
An alumna of Durham University, Aarti holds an honours degree in Mathematics.
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Marita Cheng, recognized as the youngest Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 and named one of Forbes' Top 50 Women in Tech in 2018, is a prominent technology entrepreneur and advocate for women in technology. As the founder and CEO of Aubot (formerly 2Mar Robotics), she leads the development of Teleport, a telepresence robot designed to facilitate education for children with cancer, enable individuals with disabilities to attend work and provide monitoring and companionship for the elderly.
Under Marita's leadership, Aubot has gained global recognition, receiving accolades such as Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2016 and being hailed as "the coolest girl at CES 2014" by VentureBeat magazine. Marita has presented innovative Teleport technology at various international conferences, including the M.A.P. International CEO Conference in the Philippines, MIT Technology Review EmTech Singapore, and the World Entrepreneurship Forum in Lyon, France.
In addition to her contributions to Aubot, Marita attended Singularity University's Graduate Studies Program in 2015, where she co-founded Aipoly. Aipoly developed an application using convolutional neural networks to recognize objects in real time on smartphones, assisting individuals with visual impairments. The app, launched in 2016, has been downloaded over 500,000 times and is available in 23 languages.
Marita's commitment to promoting diversity in engineering led her to found Robogals Global, for which she received the title of Young Australian of the Year in 2012. Robogals conducts workshops and community activities worldwide to encourage young women to pursue engineering. Marita's achievements extend to board positions in organizations like Robogals Global, the Foundation for Young Australians, and RMIT's New Enterprise Investment Fund. She is also involved in the Clinton Health Access Initiative's Tech Advisory Board.
Born in Cairns, Queensland, Marita overcame financial challenges to excel academically, graduating in the top 0.2% of the nation. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) / Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Melbourne and is fluent in English, Cantonese, and Japanese. Beyond her professional endeavors, Marita enjoys reading, traveling, and daydreaming.
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Elham Binai currently holds the position of Global Senior Vice President at Cognite, serves as the Founder of Binai Group, and is a Board Member of Plan International.
Elham is a globally recognized, visionary, and transformational leader with a proven track record in driving commercial success. With extensive experience spanning various domains, She excels in defining strategic initiatives, crafting change journeys, and implementing new Target Operating Models (TOMs) across diverse organizational functions.
As a highly results-oriented and innovative thinker, Elham has demonstrated a unique ability to solve complex challenges. Her leadership style is characterized by a focus on innovation and the capacity to build effective teams that not only perform but also undergo transformative processes.
Elham brings a wealth of experience from multinational organizations, where she has been actively involved in transformation, verticalization, outsourcing, and managing complex organizational structures and governance. Additionally, her tenure in start-ups, particularly in the IT/Tech and Recruitment sectors, reflects her commitment to fostering growth ambitions, establishing sales cultures, and overseeing marketing, branding, and HR functions.
With a diverse board experience spanning NGOs, start-ups, and consulting, Elham has showcased her ability to contribute valuable insights across different sectors. Her global work experience, having lived and studied in the UK, Canada, Nordics, Middle East, and South America, has equipped her with a unique perspective and the ability to navigate complex cultural environments. Fluent in several world languages, Elham is adept at communicating in diverse settings.
Elham's leadership skills, team-building acumen, and ability to drive sustainable change have earned her recognition. She is known for establishing collaborative cultures, coaching leaders, and successfully leading large functions and cross-functional teams across countries, functions, and business units.
Elham Binai's sectorial expertise spans Tech, Energy (Oil/Gas), HR/Recruitment, Shipping, Media, Politics, NGO, and Academia. Her educational background includes a Global Executive Leadership Program & Financial Management from Harvard Business School, an MA in Journalism (Broadcasting-BBC) from Brunel University London, an MSc in Business and Organizational Psychology from the University of Surrey, and a BSc in Psychology from the University of East London. Elham also holds a foundation degree in Philosophy and Social Science from the Universitetet i Oslo (UiO).
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Jona Repishti currently serves as the Head of Global Gender Programs at Digital Green. In this capacity, she leads efforts to implement evidence-based gender-sensitive programs and products, mainstream gender considerations throughout the organization, and offers thought leadership to various stakeholders. Previously Jona worked as a Senior Gender Advisor at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), where she assisted multinational corporations, foundations, and development finance institutions in incorporating gender perspectives into their operations and supply chains. She also played a role in developing strategies and programs with a focus on gender inclusivity.
Jona's experience also includes leading MIT D-Lab's global entrepreneurship programs, where she supported startups and innovators working to address global poverty challenges through market-based solutions. Her primary passion is leveraging co-creation and technology to amplify the voices of women, local leaders, and marginalized communities, with the goal of translating intentions into practical, inclusive solutions.
Jona Repishti holds a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College and a master's degree from Princeton University.
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Caroline is a seasoned professional serving as a chairperson and board member, Tech Investor, accomplished CEO, keynote speaker, and author. Her leadership journey includes a significant tenure as the CEO of the Swedish insurer ICA Insurance, accumulating 25 years of extensive experience in various senior management roles within the financial industry. Beyond her roles in line management, Caroline has also ventured into entrepreneurship as a dot-com entrepreneur and contributed her expertise as a consultant with McKinsey.
In a groundbreaking move, Caroline became the first senior business leader in the Nordics to openly share her gender transition, transitioning from Carl Farberger. This transformative experience has positioned Caroline as a passionate advocate and ambassador for diversity and inclusive leadership.
Caroline's notable achievements have earned her prestigious awards, including the LGBTQ Person of the Year Award at the QX Gala in 2019, presented by the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament. In May 2022, she received the Womenomics Leadership Award from HRH Crown Princess Mary, recognizing her accomplishments as a CEO and transgender role model who uses her platform and personal story to challenge corporate gender biases.
Caroline was also honored as the 2022 winner of the Kerstin Hesselgren Award, an accolade presented annually by Sweden's HR Association as a role model demonstrating long-term commitment to equality and humanity in workplaces and society. The award acknowledges individuals characterized by civil courage, bravery, and outspokenness, traits exemplified by Caroline's decisions and actions.
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ennifer Vessels is a dynamic business leader, consultant, facilitator, and speaker renowned for driving results and spearheading business transformation across startups, mid-cap, and multinational enterprises. In her role as CEO of Next Step, a distinguished Silicon Valley-based consulting company, Jennifer has played a pivotal role in transforming industry giants such as Adobe, Autodesk, Cisco, and ShoreTel.
Recognizing the global imperative for business future-readiness, Jennifer is the visionary founder of the Executive Growth Alliance (EGA), a global community uniting leaders from Global 100 companies, mid-size enterprises, and scale-ups. Leveraging EGA's proven peer learning methodology, members collaborate virtually across companies, geographies, and industries to tackle challenges and co-create new opportunities.
Jennifer brings a global mindset and unwavering commitment to achieving successful outcomes for clients at Next Step, EGA members, and diverse speaking audiences. Throughout her illustrious career in Technology Sales, Go-to-Market Leadership, International Expansion, and the growth of Next Step and EGA, Jennifer has consistently delivered measurable results:
- Led the global expansion of Tandberg, securing over $450 million in partner revenue within 5 years, culminating in a successful acquisition by Cisco at 35% above valuation.
- Increased market valuation by over 300% within 5 years for industry leaders like Adobe, ShoreTel, and others through digital business transformation. Jennifer, along with the Next Step team, orchestrated the change management process across sales, channels, operations, product management, and marketing.
- Pioneered a proven peer learning methodology and platform, facilitating future-ready growth for global leaders, including Cisco, IKEA, Norwegian Air, Novartis, Schneider Electric, and Wilhelmsen, through EGA Circles.
Jennifer is widely acknowledged as a high-impact speaker and workshop facilitator, contributing her expertise to esteemed platforms such as Gartner Group, Rotary, YPO, London Board Directors, UC Berkeley Haas School, and various global industry, corporate, and partner conferences. Additionally, Jennifer serves as a Facilitator in strategy and leadership for Cornell University and is a regular contributor to CEO Network, Harvard Business Review, and other industry blogs, newsletters, and podcasts.
Jennifer earned her MBA from San Jose State University, holds a Master's in Occupational Psychology from the University of London, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Louisville.
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Winifred Patricia Johansen is an old-school mechanical engineer from the NTNU, the last to adapt to new technology and not yet on ChatGPT. To change phones is worse than going to the dentist.
She worked with engine designs, and crankcase ventilation and wrecked a hopeless number of cars as a crush safety analyst. She stretched, yanked, twisted, and afflicted torturous loads to subsea umbilicals to test them. Why do things break or fail? To answer that question means to design for safe operations.
In later years she haggled like a carpet dealer in a bazaar as a global sales manager on contracts, agreements, and strategies. What makes contracts fail? To answer that question is to build successful partnerships, and mechanics of understanding people.
She grew up, apparently, and she is now a VP, sitting on several boards leading processes, and advising startups. What is the lived experience of the product, service, or workplace? People buy experiences, and people also leave companies because of lived experience.
Although still an old-school mechanic at heart, she is a doctorate researcher studying a philosophical matter: Why do crises find us unprepared even when we see them creeping in?
When all is said and done, you cannot change the laws of physics, they are just as applicable in sciences as in human behavior. Learn them, apply them, and have fun with them.
Tech leadership is no hocus pocus holy alter for the white boys only! Enter in as you are, and add your unique flavor and skill sets to spice things up. If this girl from Gulu, Uganda can do it, so can you! It’s just common sense.
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Jannecke Drangert-Hveding is a seasoned CX Strategist and fervent advocate for customer-centricity, bringing a wealth of expertise in adopting an "outside-in" approach to strategy and business development. Her extensive background encompasses roles as a business advisor, leader, and board member.
Jannecke made a significant mark in the industry by founding one of Scandinavia's pioneering CX and customer-driven innovation consultancies, collaborating with major brands in the Nordic region. Previously, she served as the Strategy and Transformation Lead at one of Scandinavia's largest health tech organizations, where she honed her skills in navigating change and transformation in complex organizational landscapes.
With a mission to support, advise, and connect value champions driving transformation through customer-centricity, Jannecke draws from her personal experiences to guide others in their efforts. She is not only a board member but also the founder of the Customer Community, a prominent network for customer-centric leaders in Norway. Through her strategic insights and dedication, Jannecke continues to play a vital role in shaping the landscape of customer-centric business practices.
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Anastasia Trofimova is the visionary Co-founder and CEO behind Your Beet, a pioneering Social Commerce platform dedicated to revolutionizing the way we approach food. Your Beet serves as a user-friendly app designed to seamlessly guide individuals towards healthier, more sustainable, and personalized eating habits.
Much like the curated recommendations of a Spotify playlist, Your Beet provides users with a tailored selection of creator recipes based on their individual preferences and health goals. These recommendations are made conveniently shoppable at online grocery retailers with just a click, enhancing the overall user experience.
Before embarking on the journey with Your Beet, Anastasia Trofimova gained valuable insights as a management consultant at BCG. Alongside her, co-founder Anna brought her expertise as a digital product lead at H&M. The driving force that brought them together was a shared realization of the challenges and time constraints involved in transitioning to sustainable and healthy food habits. Recognizing the scarcity of services facilitating this transition in an easy, personalized, and secure manner, they founded Your Beet.
Anastasia, along with her team of five dedicated women, employs cutting-edge technology to redefine the way millions of people worldwide approach their relationship with food. Through Your Beet, they aim to make the process of adopting sustainable and healthy food habits not only effortless but also enjoyable and accessible to everyone.
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Madona S. Wambua is a seasoned professional specializing in engineering exceptional mobile experiences for the Android platform. Currently, she serves as a key player at Jibu Labs, where she not only builds brilliant, human-centered applications but also oversees all aspects of technology development, including product design, engineering, and architecture.
Journey in Software Engineering
Madona's journey in software engineering and coding began after high school when her initial interest in becoming an Aeronautical Engineer shifted. Fascinated by how computers worked, she delved into Software Engineering. In 2014, she achieved a significant milestone by building her first Android application, Simple Maths, using Java. The app garnered over five hundred downloads and received a remarkable 4.5 rating, fueling her passion for mobile development.
Learning Curve and Achievements
Driven by her growing interest in building Android applications, Madona applied for and won the Grow With Google Scholarship. The advanced Android development nano degree from Udacity played a pivotal role in shaping her second application, Budgeting Buddy, which has since accumulated ten thousand downloads. Budgeting Buddy, a free mobile application, aids users in managing money and creating budgets.
Educational Background
Madona pursued her education at the Auburn Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, where she honed her skills and knowledge in the field of software engineering. Today, she stands as a testament to the power of continuous learning and passion-driven career pursuits in the dynamic world of technology.
Book: "Modern Android 13 Development Cookbook: Over 70 recipes to solve Android development issues and create better apps with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose"
Website: Madonasyombua.com
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Rebecca Jones is proof that mid-career pivots are both possible and highly recommended. Rebecca went from Capital Markets and Banking into Tech. She continually campaigns for gender and age inclusion in both of these male-dominated industries. Rebecca is excited to discuss all things related to building diverse talent pipelines, befriending AI and digital-touch solutions, and the joys of intergenerational mentorship. Rebecca is currently Head of Customer Success for Access PaySuite, part of the Access Group, offering business management software for 75,000+ SMEs. She’s a fierce advocate for her customers and helping them solve for both current and future payment product needs. Rebecca is passionate about community engagement, currently leading the Women of Customer Success London chapter. She is also an active part of the wider London Payments and FinTech ecosystems
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Jyoti is on a mission to narrow the gap between skilled migrants and Norwegian companies, providing support to integrate them into the job market. Through Umbrella, her initiative, she assists companies in attracting and retaining multicultural diversity across all organizational levels.
An entrepreneur, recruiter, diversity coach, and educator, Jyoti boasts over 6 years of dedicated work with Norwegian organizations, focusing on developing programs and strategies within the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) space. Her expertise extends to delivering leadership programs that emphasize inclusive practices, onboarding standards, diversity and innovation, and employer branding.
In 2019, Jyoti founded Skillhus, a pioneering company specializing in workplace diversity and international recruitment within the Norwegian market. Her efforts have facilitated over 35 companies in finding the talent necessary to thrive in a globalizing market.
Recognized as a leader in her field, Jyoti actively participates in speaking events and leads essential conversations on key diversity topics. She also conducts workshops for leading Norwegian companies, leveraging her multicultural background and experiences working abroad across various industries and cultures to passionately champion Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) on a global scale.
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Kamilla, a first-generation immigrant hailing from Uzbekistan, achieved a significant milestone as the inaugural member of her family to pursue education in the United States. She successfully earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where a fortuitous encounter with her mentor laid the foundation for the creation of Rise First. This non-profit organization is dedicated to guiding fellow first-generation students through the intricacies of higher education and career pathways.
In addition to her impactful work with Rise First, Kamilla has embraced a full-time role as a Senior Product Manager at OJO Canada. This startup, backed by the Royal Bank of Canada, is committed to unlocking the myriad benefits of homeownership for Canadians. Kamilla's journey, from being a trailblazer in her family to her current roles in product management and non-profit leadership, reflects her dedication to empowering others in their educational and professional pursuits.
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Jasmine Tagesson, a former Creative Director, transitioned her passion for women's health and equality into a journey as a health tech entrepreneur. With a dedicated mission to create a substantial positive impact on women's lives, she leverages data and innovative solutions to reshape the future of women's health, contributing to advancements for better health globally.
Currently serving as the COO of Hormona, a digitalized hormonal health company driven by AI and at-home testing, Jasmine co-founded the company in 2020 alongside Karolina Lofqvist. Karolina's personal hormonal health challenges sparked the inception of Hormona. The company's primary focus is to empower women, offering them tools to understand and take control of their hormones and overall health.
Hormona's app, enriched with insights into hormones, provides actionable tips for hormonal balance. It enables women to track, comprehend, and manage hormone-related symptoms, fostering an environment where they can enhance their overall well-being. Jasmine Tagesson's leadership at Hormona reflects her commitment to leveraging technology to positively impact women's health and contribute to the advancement of healthcare for women worldwide.
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In the realm of disruptive technological advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) stands out as a ubiquitous force, shaping various aspects of human existence. From facial recognition on smartphones to supply chain optimization, food production to medical research, and online shopping to human-like text and image generators, AI has permeated diverse facets of our lives.
For leaders, understanding AI is imperative, as it is poised to fundamentally transform businesses, significantly impact daily lives, and play a crucial role in shaping sustainable future societies. In the landscape of emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, and virtual reality, AI interacts synergistically to create immersive, complex, and disruptive products and services. According to Elin Hauge, in 2023, having a grasp of AI basics is as essential for leaders as possessing a computer.
With over two decades of experience, Elin Hauge has been a bridge-builder between business and data-fueled technologies, specializing in AI. Her work with business leaders and tech entrepreneurs has endowed her with a unique ability to connect business strategy with AI applications. Elin brings fresh perspectives to known challenges, demystifying jargon and buzzwords, and consistently staying ahead in her analyses of sustainability, responsibility, regulation, and disruption.
Elin adopts a humoristic, down-to-earth, and pragmatic approach, focusing on the tangible possibilities of AI in the present, within the contexts of both individual companies and society at large. As a decision-maker, she underscores the responsibility inherent in navigating the AI landscape. Simultaneously, she adopts a futurist perspective, envisioning potential scenarios and future outcomes, challenging established beliefs.
Elin Hauge integrates the human perspective, emphasizing that "the future of artificial intelligence is not human-less; it’s human more." Her talks provide practical and well-grounded recommendations on reaping real benefits with AI, ensuring regulatory compliance, and embracing AI as an integral and sustainable part of businesses and organizations.
Holder of a MEng in Biophysics and Medical Technology and an MSc in Management Science and Operational Research, Elin Hauge has recently embarked on law studies. Her robust academic background in mathematics and physics, coupled with extensive business experience, forms the foundation for her insightful perspectives on the revolutionary opportunities and intricate challenges associated with artificial intelligence.
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Dr. Ma holds a Ph.D. in physics and has a background as a researcher in nanotechnology, specializing in the development of optical detection for medical diagnostic processes.
Before her role as a vital member of the founding team at Faculty AI, Ma founded Data Science Lab, a community that burgeoned into one of Europe's largest with over 2,000 active data scientist members.
The inception of Faculty AI stemmed from Ma's collaboration with co-founders Marc Warner, CEO, and Andrew Brookes, CTO. Recognizing the necessity for a more effective transition for Ph.D. students from academia to real-world applications of data and artificial intelligence (AI), they envisioned providing the training and guidance needed. This vision laid the foundation for their startup, which not only focuses on empowering Ph.D. students but also applies AI to address business challenges, delivering innovative solutions.
Driven by the desire to forefront disruptive AI for the public, Ma and her team have successfully executed over 150 projects. Faculty AI's team of expert data scientists and engineers offers personalized business solutions, data science consulting, and an intensive eight-week training course catering to Ph.D. students aspiring to become data scientists or data engineers.
In addition to their services, Ma and her co-founders have introduced Sherlock ML, an innovative and secure data science platform designed to eliminate the need for organizations to create a new technical stack.
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Dr. Jane Lovas is a visionary, thought leader, author, and speaker. She is the Principal and Owner of Lovas Consulting, the premier coaching and consulting provider for Women Leaders in Technology. Organizations turn to Lovas Consulting when seeking to promote women leaders and the want to ensure that they’ll be successful. She is committed to causing powerful leaders that create high performing organizations.
Jane has experienced being the only technical woman at the table and she has over 30 years of experience as a software developer, Technology Leader, Consultant and Coach.
Her vision is to see a million women leaders in technology sitting with other women in tech, leading boards, companies, organizations and teams.
Maral is the Co-founder of the consultancy firm Mirado, and the Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Werlabs. She is a passionate individual with a strong focus on product development. Her role enables her to use her expertise to drive innovation, and create impactful solutions, with both user and business in mind. She thrives on collaborating with talented teams from diverse fields, such as technology and medicine, to bring ideas to life. She firmly believes that stepping out of one's comfort zone is where great things happen.
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Principal at Icebreaker.vc with a portfolio of 100+ startups. The ex-growth operator of a 15% profitable MoM startup. Founder of a non-profit creating tech jobs for immigrant women Herizon.io. Investor of the year in NWITA.
I’m a self-taught human-centric growth tech nerd who started at age 12 when I received my first affiliate marketing commission from my Fallout 2 game fan page.
During my professional 20+ years, I’ve been involved in the growth of hundreds of clients and own projects for over 10 years in affiliate marketing and another 10 years in developing companies as a consultant or an in-house at startups and a VC firm. My sweet spot is early-stage: zero to seed/series A.
I’ve found my happy place at the iterative and constantly growing world of global tech startups such as Freska, Paxful, Yousician, and now a 140M€ early-stage VC firm Icebreaker.vc with 100+ early-stage companies in Nordics and Balticswhile operating as a growth advisor at my growth hacking agency Truly and training growth hacking to immigrant women at my non-profit Herizon.
If you wish to use trendy terms like growth hacking, it was my pleasant hobby back at the end of the 90s and still is.
My mission is to use my skills to help startups that actually wish to make things better and be good companies for the people. I believe in Nordic values of work-life balance and equality at work.
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Ilona is the founder and CEO of Slate Digital where her mission is to help purpose-led businesses and their people to grow and develop and to achieve their full potential.
Obsessed with leadership for the digital age, she has a podcast, Still Loading, where she explores this topic with experts in so many areas that matter today: the gender pay gap, co-working spaces and beyond, how to lead remotely, SAAS and tech leaders today and more!
Ilona and her team work with scale-ups as they reach that pivotal point where their growth is dependent on getting their people, processes, and systems right. We believe that if you have better-skilled leaders, fit for the future, you have improved workplaces, happier employees, and a better world.
Hege describes herself as a curious and passionate person who, despite being an introvert, cares deeply about people. Both professionally and privately, she is intrigued by the human experience, what it means to be human, to think, feel, and sense our surroundings.
Her curiosity is also evident in her broad professional experience, ranging from journalism and graphic design to video games production and game theory, behavioral and cognitive psychology, and all the way to programming and systems engineering. Working with everything from local startups to international brands ranging from Disney and Atari to Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.
She would rather regret something she did, than regret she never did it and her most important life mission is to conquer all her fears. Jumping out of planes, training for the Olympics in rowing, skiing, biking, painting, dancing - and being the mother of Erik - is just some of the things she can be found doing when she is not reading or learning a new skill.
Masoomeh is a visionary leader and Founder/CEO of Mx3P. With a fierce passion for solving unique and complex problems, Masoomeh is dedicated to designing and implementing innovative solutions to address public and business challenges on a global scale. She brings to the table a wealth of experience in research, innovation, and leadership, with significant contributions to the development sector and the future of the labor market and businesses in the US. Masoomeh is also working at the World Bank and is actively involved in helping the Moroccan and DC governments in the growth of entrepreneurship, small businesses, and employment. Her leadership skills are also evident from her significant contributions to leadership training and mentorship programs.
As a triple graduate degree holder from prestigious institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School, Georgetown University, and the University of Tehran, Masoomeh's academic achievements are a testament to her dedication and perseverance. She is an Electrical Engineer by training from the Sharif University of Technology and has served as a Project Manager and Fellow at Harvard Center for International Development and a Consultant at the Center for Global Development.
Aside from her professional achievements, Masoomeh is an avid sports enthusiast, having played professionally in various sports such as Volleyball, Handball, Badminton, Fencing, Swimming, Synchronizing, Rock, and Mountain Climbing. She has even coached holistic health programs and different sports teams, showcasing her dedication to promoting a well-rounded and healthy lifestyle.
With her exceptional skills and diverse experiences, Masoomeh is a true inspiration to others, encouraging them to reach their full potential. As Founder and CEO of Mx3P, she is leading the way in designing and implementing innovative solutions to address some of the most pressing challenges in the economy facing society today.
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Katherine is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience leading innovation and transformation initiatives. Her specialty is bridging the language gap between technologists and the C-suite and leading small teams to accomplish big things. She currently is the Chief Operations Officer at House of Blueberry, the leading fashion house in the metaverse.
Katherine serves as an operating partner of IDEA Fund Partners, a venture capital firm in North Carolina’s Tech Triangle, and is a guest lecturer at Duke University on innovation and strategy.
Katherine spent over a decade at Thomson Reuters, culminating her time by building a new organization focused on shifting the company from acquisition- to organic-oriented growth. This encompassed defining the vision, developing the team, and creating international programs that reached employees, customers, and partners. Under her guidance, the innovation fund she ran invested in over 100 ideas and experienced over 300% ROI within three years of launch.
Katherine has been featured on Cheddar TV, in the Financial Times roundtable series, Forbes Woman and Innovation Leader. She has also delivered presentations for the Dallas Business Journal’s Tech Awards and the DFW Alliance of Technology & Women. Katherine holds an MBA from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College.
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Nadia is Google’s Head of Industry in the US. She is responsible for driving sales strategy & business development for data & tech services with WPP agencies. Since joining Google in 2009, Nadia has led transformative multicultural global programs focused on designing and launching new products & sales strategies across US and EMEA. In her current role, Nadia spearheaded Google’s Digital Transformation program which focused on pivoting WPP’s data & tech services go-to-market, resulting in the recent relaunch of a new global central operating company, Acceleration, as a dedicated Google consulting center of excellence, servicing Uber, Dell, Office Depot and all of WPP’s client book of business. Nadia is a trusted advisor of WPP’s GroupM ExCo for Data & Tech related decisions including M&As, Talents Acquisition & Organizational Strategy.
Nadia holds a Masters's Degree in Marketing, Brand Strategy, and Management from IULM in Milan, and she is a certified member of the International Coaching Federation with a diploma from Erickson Coaching. Nadia is a member of the Professional Women Network and the co-chair of Google’s Head of Industry Council for the Americas. She is a member and mentor for She Runs IT.
Nadia is a successful executive coach, TedX, and motivational event speaker, mentor, and sponsor for underrepresented groups and young talents. Passionate about leadership, with Jeff Lakusta she created 99 Humans: a multimedia platform centered on humanizing leadership across industries.
Having coached and mentored hundreds of people from all walks of life, a pattern emerged: more often than not we go through our days on autopilot without truly savoring life, feeling grateful for what we have and on fire about our existence.
So I decided to create a movement, Spark Your Zeal, to radically evolve our attitudes, invigorate our spirits, and inspire and show people how to bring the fire back into their life and work and turn obstacles into the fuel that achieves a richer internal and external bottom line.
In Nadia, you will find an inspiring companion who will energize everyone surrounding her with her bright spirit and zeal. She has two daughters (Lavinia & Olimpia) and lives in Manhattan, New York with her life Partner Fabio.
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Merete Medle was raised on an island out in the sea in western Norway with two siblings. Today, she is separated and has twins aged five.
Merete Medle has worked in telecoms, home alarms, and various startups/scaleups, primarily in insight and analysis.
She has 15 years+ of experience as a CX and CS practitioner with strong leadership, commercial, and strategy skills. Long track record with establishing customer insight programs and working strategically and operatively with CX, Support, Customer Success, and customer journey management. Passionate about diversity and people in general, with a strong commercial, growth, and digital mindset. I truly believe that by focusing on people first- both the customer and the employee, fantastic results will present themselves!
Today she is the Head of Customer Journey at Peab. Board Member of Brilliant Future and podcast host of CX Podden. She loves music and has worked as a professional DJ, and is a spinning instructor at Sats. Different, leading by the heart, people first!
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Cuky Pérez is an economist and data scientist with 20 years of experience in applied statistics and technology in Silicon Valley. She earned her Ph.D. and Master's degree from Stanford University. After completing her Ph.D., she worked as a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, but after three years in this position, she decided to take on a new challenge.
Pérez joined the data science team at Airbnb, the world's largest lodging technology platform. During her six years there, she led teams in different areas and, in her last role, she directed the Platforms team, which was tasked with standardizing all business units to achieve the necessary efficiency for the IPO.
After Airbnb's IPO, Pérez joined Shopify, a Canadian startup that offers digital services to entrepreneurs, including e-commerce and online payments. During her time at Shopify, she gained experience in the field of e-commerce. Currently, she is in Chile supporting initiatives to empower women to enter the tech sector in her country.
Beverly Clarke is a TechWomen100 Award winner and a leader in education. A former teacher, she is an education consultant, published author, ambassador, board member, coach, mentor, speaker, and trustee. Beverly seeks to raise the outcomes for all through an understanding and access to technology. She has national and international experience in computing education. Additionally, through her children's book series, she is a #SBS small business Sunday award winner
She is the author of the published book - “Computer Science Teacher” – insight into the Computing classroom (2017), aimed at attracting new entrants into the computing teaching profession, and of the self-published series – “The Digital Adventures of Ava and Chip” a children’s book series with the aim of making tech concepts exciting, relatable and easy to understand.
Azra Osmancevic is the co-founder of legal tech startup Justic and Head of Business Development at Viaplay Group, one of the world’s fastest-growing streaming companies. She is an active angel investor, board professional, and the founder of Femtorship, a mentoring program for young women.
Azra has previously worked as a lawyer at Mannheimer Swartling and as General Counsel at Qryptone Music Group.
Azra is an active keynote speaker on business development, how to bring an inclusive mindset to leadership- and entrepreneurship, and why energy management is key to (self) leadership. She was ranked #12 Female Leader Of The Future 2022 by Ledarna, Sweden’s main organization for managers. Azra is also co-author of the book “69 anledningar att bli advokat” (eng: 69 reasons to become a lawyer).
Pernilla Vinneby is the CEO of Knowit Experience Stockholm, one of the largest digital agencies in the Nordics. She is an experienced business developer within digital solutions and e-commerce with a customer-centric approach. Her career has been characterized by great ambition and a drive to constantly work with the empowerment of individuals and teams. She is passionate about human psychology and strives to surround herself with people who complement her abilities well. This has taken her into different business developing roles, managing companies from both a CEO perspective as well as a board perspective. Pernilla holds an MBA from Luleå University And is currently studying for an EMBA at Stockholm Business school with course examinations from both Yale and Stanford.
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Growing up with Welsh and Nigerian parents in the Philippines, the States, Tunisia, and the UK, it’s safe to say I have been fascinated by people and culture from a young age. That fascination only grew while I studied human behavior (BSc in Psychology, Manchester) and gender (MSc in Gender, International Development & Globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science). And as I entered the world of work, starting my career as an entry-level researcher at a 500-person research firm, where I was promoted to project manager and finally head of HR in my first year.
Since then I've been working in marketing, diversity, and inclusion - a subject I've delivered 500 workshops on and counting, at places like Amazon Airbnb Snapchat Stella McCartney NHS Prince's Trust Pioneer DJ Resident Advisor Black Young Professionals Network, and more. I'm on a mission to tease out what gets in the way of building truly inclusive teams, and how we can use our privilege as a force for good and ultimately leave the workplace better than we found it. In my spare time, I enjoy reading a few books a week, mentoring young people of color entering the world of work, being a panelist and speaker at events and podcasts, and being a board member of charities including Beyond Equality engage men and boys in conversations about gender, to tackle harmful aspects of masculinities, behaviors of men and group cultures: mental health, violence, homophobia, racism and more, and at My Pickle because I am passionate about giving people access to the help they need to be well. Often found wandering London's Victoria Park in search of the next dog or cat to pet and listening to the beautiful birdsong of the parakeet.
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Suvi Lindfors is the founder of Lumoa, a Finnish Saas business that helps companies all over the world to better understand what their customers say would make their experience better. She is an experienced leader, who has managed customer experience teams and projects at companies such as Telia, Nokia, and Microsoft.
Suvi has been awarded at Microsoft for a growth mindset and her strengths are resilience, passion, and persistence. She lives in a blended family with three kids and a spouse. Besides being a driver for her kid's soccer training she ensures she has time to do flower arrangements, and crafts and follows the principles of Marie Kondo in arranging the house.
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Sophia Matveeva is the CEO & founder of Tech For Non-Techies, an education and executive coaching company. . Sophia has contributed to the Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, The Guardian, and Forbes on entrepreneurship and technology, and hosts the top-rated Tech for Non-Techies podcast.
Tech for Non-Techies teaches non-technical professionals how to Speak Tech and succeed in the Digital Age through corporate & individual training programs.
Sophia has also guest lectured at the University of Chicago, London Business School, and Oxford University, and led the Blackstone x Techstars accelerator at the University of Texas.
She holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and a BSc (Hons) in Politics from Bristol. She speaks English, Russian, and French. Sophia also sits on the Board of the University of Chicago’s Alumni in the UK.
Change My Face was started by Auriole Prince BA MMAA (Medical Artists' Association), a registered medical illustrator who trained as a forensic artist at the FBI Academy Quantico whilst working with the Missing People Charity. Change My Face Ltd. offers age progression imaging services including aging apps and software for health campaigns and also for aging long-term missing people. Recent projects include Smoking Time Machine software for Smoke-Free Lincolnshire and Dorset Health Authority, Drinking Mirror, and Drinking Time Machine apps for the Scottish Government amassing over 500,000 downloads in 6 months. Auriole has won the Gold and Silver in Best Business Women Awards 2020 for STEM Female Founder and Best Business.
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After being inspired by running a coffee catering business, Iranthi Gomes and her partner launched Service form, a suite of 13 tools that customers can use to convert website traffic, communicate with customers, manage their marketing processes, and run email marketing campaigns. Gomes is originally from Sri Lanka but lives in Finland.
Gomes (28) secured a coveted distinction in the Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 Europe list in 2022 for her role as co-founder and CEO of Service form, a global B2B SaaS company that offers 13 tools to help businesses communicate, convert website visitors into customers and manage them all in one platform. The Sri Lankan-born and Finnish-based entrepreneur co-founded the company in 2017 with her partner in business and life, Jarkko Okasen. Today, the Service form has expanded to Spain and Sri Lanka and secured USD 2.4 million in funding in an investment round in January 2022.
Cindy Gallop is a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, whose background is over 30 years in brand-building, marketing and advertising — she started up the US office of ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York in 1998 and in 2003 was named Advertising Woman of the Year.
She is the founder and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld, co-action software launched in beta at TED 2010 and subsequently written up and taught as a Harvard Business School case study, which enables brands to implement the business model of the future — Shared Values + Shared Action = Shared Profit (financial and social).
She is also the founder of MakeLoveNotPorn – ‘Pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference’ — a social sextech platform designed to promote good sexual behavior and good sexual values, which she launched at TED 2009, and for which she has just raised $2million to build out MLNP.tv as ‘the Social Sex Revolution’.
As a result of the funding challenges she has encountered, she is raising the world’s first and only sextech fund, AllTheSky Holdings. She acts as board advisor to a number of tech ventures and works as a personal brand/life/executive coach and a consultant on brand and business innovation for companies around the world, describing her consultancy approach as 'I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.'
Business Insider named her one of 15 Most Important Marketing Strategy Thinkers Today, alongside Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin, and cited her as number 33 on their list of 100 Most Influential Tech Women On Twitter, and number one on their list of Top 30 People In Advertising To Follow On Twitter.
Campaign named her number one on their list of Top 10 Trailblazers for both 2016 and 2017 and number two in 2018. She has a reputation as a highly compelling and inspirational speaker at conferences and events around the world on a variety of topics: her talks on the future of advertising and marketing have been tweeted as: ‘The most brilliant speech on the future of advertising ever — not the usual buzzword-laden bullshit’; ‘Watching @cindygallop slice and dice the ad industry status quo like a Ginsu knife. #purewin’; and ‘There must be a DeLorean parked outside, because Cindy Gallop is from the FUTURE!’.
InfluencerCon NYC introduced her as ‘Cindy Gallop is the truth Jack Nicholson told Tom Cruise he couldn’t handle.’
Together with Susan Credle of FCB and Margaret Johnson of Goodby, Cindy is one of three Campaign Review Committee chairs for the AdCouncil in the US, helping to make the work great.
Cindy is an outspoken advocate of diversity and inclusion in advertising, tech and business — she was Jury President at Cannes Lions 2015 for the inaugural Glass Lion awards, proposed by Sheryl Sandberg to celebrate advertising that shatters gender stereotypes in advertising, and in 2017 was turned by digital agency R/GA into a chatbot for Equal Pay Day that helps women ask for a raise — search AskCindyGallop on Facebook and chat to CindyBot on Facebook Messenger.
Cindy recently partnered with AARP on their Disrupt Aging initiative to challenge and change ageism.
Cindy has published ‘Make Love Not Porn: Technology’s Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior’ as one of TED’s line of TEDBooks.
*this episode includes explicit content.
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Saumya Bhatnagar, CPO and Co-founder involve.ai, is a Forbes 30 under 30 alum, winner of the Stevie Gold Entrepreneur of the Year award, and recognized as the 50 Most Powerful Women in Tech by the National Diversity Council. She is an experienced Software Leader with a demonstrated history of positive project outcomes. Saumya holds a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a focus on Natural Language Processing.
Prior to co-founding InvolveSoft, Saumya co-founded a startup right out of high school which focussed on using technology to identify and reduce female birth cessation across India – a system now used by India’s regional governments. Having then gone on to earn a Master's in Computer Science from the University of California before founding yet another nonprofit in India focused on female empowerment, Saumya has become an increasingly well-known advocate for stronger representation for women in the tech sector.
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Lekisha Middleton is the Founder of The Good Success Network, a global management consulting and executive coaching firm that focuses on creating a workforce that is equipped and a workplace that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. She teaches her clients how to align their work with their purpose and values, so they can live a life that they love and leave a legacy they are proud of.
Lekisha is a proud techie and human advocate, who is driven by the desire to empower people, especially underrepresented and minoritized groups, with the tools and strategies necessary to achieve success in every area of their lives. Whether she is dealing with 1:1 clients, teams, or an entire organization, all of her work is centered around transformation and positive impactful change. Her clients experience the safe space to clarify their vision, cultivate their strengths, and gain the confidence needed to move forward into their most optimal path.
Karin Hennessy is the Director of Product Management for User Trust and Privacy at Google, looking after consumer privacy and controls in advertising. She's a fierce advocate for users, looking to bring the next generation of pro-consumer experiences to advertising and ensure sustainable access to information for everyone. With a deep background in advertising technology, she's been at the center of innovation in ads at Google for over 10 years, helping build leading products like Display & Video 360 and Ads Creative Studio, prior to shifting focus to consumer tools. Before Google, Karin took her curiosity in how people adopt technology and inspiration from a degree in Anthropology from Columbia University to advertising agencies like Razorfish and Publicis, where she guided brands and marketers through digital transformation.
Outside of the office, she spends her time chasing after her three lively young sons in Brooklyn and upstate New York. Hobbies are scant with such a brood, but yoga, baking, and gardening are occasionally attempted.
Helena is the CEO and Founder of GLOBHE, on a mission to create a more sustainable future through the world's first Crowddroning platform. Helena is a firm believer that the future of possible is already here and passionate about using innovative technology and collaborations to show it and lead the way.
Helena has been ranked "World's Top 50 Women in Tech" by Forbes, named "Swede of the Year Innovation 2020", ranked as one of the most powerful business women in Sweden and has been featured as the "Drone Queen" on BBC.
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Streetbees -the world’s first human intelligence platform. Tugce Bulut is the CEO and founder of Streetbees, a London-based global intelligence platform founded in 2015 that allows customers to gather data and insights on how people behave, and why, by analyzing real-life moments collected from its worldwide users and communities around the world. Streetbees is rapidly emerging as an innovative pioneer in helping organizations better understand consumer behavior. The application of machine learning and natural language processing to consumer data is providing new and more accurate insights than is possible from traditional surveys and methodologies.
Tugce is passionate about the power of data and the positive change it can bring to the world. She is a published author and Master’s graduate from the University of Cambridge, specializing in poverty alleviation and global living standards. Before founding Streetbees, she spent six years as a strategy consultant advising technology and consumer companies on how to accelerate growth in international markets.
Over 3.5m users, or ‘bees’, across 189 countries worldwide use the chat-style Streetbees app to share moments from their daily lives via videos, photos, and text, giving as much or as little information as they like. Streetbees is backed by some of the planet’s most renowned investors and entrepreneurs and in October 2020 closed a £30m Series B round led by Lakestar, to accelerate the development of the world’s first human intelligence platform.
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Josie is a Senior Technical Program Manager at Microsoft with experience working on executive teams building in-depth reporting structures and data models to support organizational performance tracking in product and industry. Academically, she specialized in entrepreneurship for her MBA and full-stack web development at the University of Washington. She currently manages a development team implementing data infrastructure for Azure Cloud data analytics.
Josie has a strong background in data engineering and Business Intelligence development. She coaches early in career or aspiring Business Intelligence Developers on how to build efficient data pipelines and visualizations to convey business KPIs and performance.
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Bio: Tonya Makowski has been in an IT role since 2004 where she was the "accidental techie" at a non-profit. Leaning into that skill set, she completed a Computer Science degree in 2009 focusing on data management. Tonya has worked as a web developer, database developer, .Net developer, IT support technician, and project manager. She has spoken at tech conferences, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) events, and tech boot camps. Currently, Tonya volunteers for the DEI Committee with the Parents Teacher Association (PTA) at her son's high school and throws axes in her free time.
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Dora Palfi is CEO and co-founder of imagiLabs, the all-female-founded Stockholm-based startup that aims to bridge the gender divide in coding.
Dora has years of experience teaching programming to children and teenagers as well as advocating for women in technology.
Prior to founding imagiLabs, Dora co-founded Women@EIT, a community, and network of women affiliated with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The network strengthened the female presence in the field and supported the development of students and alumni at EIT.
Dora, who has also worked as a developer at Morgan Stanley and as a UX Designer at Cisco, has a Bachelor's degree in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science from New York University Abu Dhabi and studied Human-Computer Interaction at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Dora is originally from Hungary and currently resides in Stockholm. She was listed among Hungary’s Forbes 30 under 30 in 2020, is one of the European finalists of the 2020 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, and won the Best Startup at the Women in Tech Awards 2020.
Claire Lebraz studied at the Paris School of Economics and considers herself a data geek, economist & computational thinker passionate about innovation, science & humans. Over the last 10 years in San Francisco, she has worked for marketplaces enabling people to make better use of their assets: their cars at Turo, and their homes at Airbnb. During her five years at Airbnb, she led the data science of the core product (site & app, from search to the real-life guest experience). She has 10+ years of experience in data engineering, advanced inference, and machine learning.
In September 2022 she moved back to Europe and joined the French company Malt a two-sided marketplace matching companies of all sizes with any category of freelancers and independent workers.
As VP of Data at Malt she will be in charge of:
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Bringing our search and matching algorithms to the frontier of what is best.
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Building a transparent and ethical approach to machine learning.
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Democratizing data and insights about freelancing within Malt and to our growing community.
Claire loves interacting with people and data and has a passion for effecting change and enabling decision-making. She is a curious engineer by training and thrives on working in diverse, cross-functional teams. Her main areas of focus in recent years: are experimentation, search, pricing, marketplace data, data quality, data democratization and governance, tooling, and processes for end-to-end data pipelines from data producers to data consumers within an organization.
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Ran graduated from Boston University with a Master's in Statistics in 2019 and joined the Data Science team at Wayfair. She has been leading a machine learning work stream at Wayfair by building a real-time bidding model for online social and display ads. She collaborated with the engineering team and marketing team to implement her model in a real-time environment, helping generate millions of incremental revenue/per year.
Ran has a strong background in statistical analysis and machine learning, especially in the area of customer value prediction, customer behavior pattern encoding, and customer segmentation. She recently joined Google as a data scientist focusing on product analysis and advanced modelling research.
In her free time, she enjoys exploring the stock market, reading books, and dancing!
Carole has 17 years of experience developing high-performance integrated circuit solutions.
She has a solid understanding of advanced CMOS technologies acquired at Intel, Samsung, CSR, and Texas Instruments.
She is knowledgeable in analog/RF design methodology and has an expert understanding of the backend flow.
Her process knowledge encompasses advanced CMOS technology nodes from 7nm FinFet to 120nm for a diverse range of applications including WIFI, GPS Radio, Audio, PMU, and USB for tablet and cell phone industries.
She is a highly-motivated team player with a solid track record for delivering high-quality work quickly and efficiently, even when deadlines are tight.
Leveraging her strong communication and teamwork skills, she uses her extensive experience in the layout of high-performance RF/analog circuits to achieve optimum solutions.
She combines also deep technical knowledge with management and has experience in leading multi-site teams.
She loves to learn and adapt to new and challenging processes and methodologies.
Always interested in the place of women in technology, she is a strong supporter of initiatives to raise the profile of women in technology.
She attended to the Women Principal Engineer and Fellow Forum (WPEFF) at Intel in Portland Sept 2015.
Speaker for the 1St European Celebration of Women in Computing, 25-26th April 2016, in Brussels (www.womenincomputing.eu).
Speaker for the 2nd Conference SWE (Society of Women Engineer), 11th-13th May 2016 in Madrid
Speaker for the 3rd Conference SWE, 17th-19th May 2017 in Amsterdam
Co-chair of WIN (Women at Intel Network) in France
Treasurer of Toastmasters Cote d'Azur (2016/2017)
Vice President in Public Relations (VPRP) of Toastmasters Cote d'Azur (2017/2018)
http://www.toastmasters-cote-azur.com/2016/06/27/article-de-carole-malbrancq/
President of Toastmasters Cote d'Azur club
Co-organizer of 3 hackathons with WHAT06 to improve visibility of technical women
She created with WHAT06 Tropheas Women_in_Tech_Sud to increase the visibility of women in Technologies (startup, research, and employee)
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Ramune Bartuskaite is the CEO and Founder of a tech advocacy platform called Spec Matters whose mission is to empower the building industry to write healthier specifications and make better material selections—because these decisions matter. Architects, interior designers, and developers are making material selections every day without knowing the impact on human health and the environment. Spec Matters is a free website and newsletter solving this problem by providing a hub of accessible healthy building information.
Ramune is an architect at FIFTEEN Architecture + Design in Philadelphia—a practice driven by the desire to affect positive change. FIFTEEN is committed to delivering a new model for the practice, improving client experience and project delivery through smart partnerships and new processes. As a healthy building advocate who has developed expertise in navigating the many resources and tools available for designing healthier buildings, Ramune’s insights result in spaces that enhance the well-being of the many building users and occupants served by FIFTEEN.
Ramune is a Lithuanian immigrant and a first-generation graduate. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a Marketing Minor from Miami University, and a Certificate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building from Parsons School of Design. She’s a recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for leadership, willing service, and promise of professional
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Liliya graduated in 2011 from Moscow State University (Russia) with a degree in Applied Math and Computer Science and in 2017 from Boston University with a Ph.D. in Statistics. Upon graduation, she joined Amazon’s Alexa team as a Data Scientist within the Alexa Machine Learning department. She spent two years at Amazon working on the internalization of Alexa devices as well as NLU models. She then joined Tripadvisor as a Senior Data Scientist in their Hotels’ recommender system team. In 2020 she joined Twitter where she manages a Content Health Data Science team. She has 10+ years of professional experience, strong academic background and passion for solving business problems using data. Presenter at NeurIPS, public speaker and mentor.
Lilya is married with 2 daughters: 6 years old Sophia and 4 years old Nellie.
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Melanie is UX Director in the Google Search Team. In her past roles, she has built and led UX teams globally at Startups, Schibsted and eBay. Melanie previously founded Rise Network (Prev: LondonTechLadies) a women’s network providing events on soft skill development, striving to develop and inspire women to move up the career ladder and create more gender diversity in the upper levels of management.
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Anna Loparev is a senior UX researcher at New Relic with over 10 years of experience in both academia and industry. Over the years, she’s built cross-departmental coalitions, developed ResearchOps processes, and informed the design and strategic direction of over 10 products at various stages of development. Her analytical inclination, academic curiosity, and drive for impact help her make informed decisions on research methodologies and content, while her knowledge of programming and experience in game design help her connect with cross-functional teams.
Anna holds a Bachelors from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Rochester. She is an active member of the UX research community, running daily mentorship coffee chats to guide junior researchers and co-hosting the XInsighters bi-weekly UX research discussion group.
Claudia Rademaker is Vice President, CMO, and Co-founder of Dugga, a research-based digital assessment platform. Claudia has worked internationally with start-ups, scale-ups, and international business development in various industries. She has worked as Asst. Professor, researcher, and lecturer at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics. Her doctoral thesis was conducted at the Center for Media and Economic Psychology, Stockholm School of Economics. For her research, Claudia has been awarded the prestigious Wallander stipend from the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation, Handelsbanken.
In 2020, her company Dugga won the Microsoft Global Partner of the Year Award in Education. Within 12 months Dugga grew from having users in two countries to users in more than 120 countries worldwide. After nomination, Claudia was selected to the first cohort of most promising female founders in Edtech by the Female Edtech Fellowship (FEF). As an active member of FEF, she is always ready to help others to scale and solve business issues.
Clementine is a Machine Learning Researcher at Twitter. From within their RecSys Lab, she works on developing the next generation of recommender systems, as well as consults to product teams across the company to help them unlock the full potential of their data by applying the latest Machine Learning techniques. Prior to joining Twitter, Clementine spent three years at Tripadvisor refining the models they use to automate the company’s online marketing strategies.
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Elisa Caballero studied Computer Engineering in Madrid and technology project management at Harvard University. In July 2021, she was appointed Global Head of Engineering Strategy and Operations at Glovo. Elisa has extensive experience of more than 13 years in the tech sector, having worked for companies such as Banco Santander, Vrbo, and Expedia, and has been a huge advocate for Women in Tech since the beginning, participating as a board member of affiliate groups and collaborating with the community to embrace diversity and reduce the gender gap.
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