Stella is Senior Software Developer at Unbounce. Previously, she served as Software Architect at Hearst and Chief Technology Officer at Mi Aguila. Stella is also the co-organizer of RubyConf Colombia.
Over the span of over 15 years’ experience as an educator, counselor, coach, mentor and leader in multicultural ecosystems, Blanca has honed in on how to create and cultivate spaces where people with diverse stories can feel safe and experience transformational growth. Blanca is well known for successfully launching multiple innovative programs, as well as creating the culture and ecosystem to support and sustain those programs. Growing up in the U.S. and Chile, navigating across cultures and codes became natural and key to Blanca's career.
Her creativity and aptitude for communication have helped her to be successful in implementing specialized and sustainable education and mentor programs in diverse communities, across divides. After leading the award-winning BIG Incubator in Atlanta for digitalundivided, Blanca has been working as a coach and educator for emerging entrepreneurs, as well as an expert educational program designer and ecosystem builder in the Atlanta tech entrepreneurship space.
Blanca is the CEO and founder of BCG Innovation, an innovative program design consultancy, and co-founder of Flagship Founders, an educational platform for emerging entrepreneurs. She leads Startup Education and is the EcosystemBuilder-in-Residence for The Intentionally Good Project and recently led the Walker’s Legacy PROSPECTUS Accelerator.
Femi is a Board Certified Coach and Consultant who is passionate about helping leaders unlock their potential. In her current role at YSC Consulting, she utilizes her expertise in cognitive psychology and applied data analysis to provide leadership insights, executive coaching and top team development to a range of Fortune 500 companies. She also partners with organizations to develop bespoke initiatives to promote workplace inclusion and drive impact.
Prior to joining YSC, Femi was part of Catalyst’s Diversity and Inclusion practice, where she helped companies diagnose talent management gaps, identify best leadership practices, and create equitable workplaces in which talent can thrive. She is a champion of inclusion and diversity.
Femi earned her Ph.D. in Psychology at Boston University, MSc in Cognitive Neuropsychology at University College London, and BA in Psychology at Cornell University. She’s lived in Lagos, Cleveland, London, Boston, and New York City; she feels most at home in London and most herself in NYC.
Esteban is the president and owner of the franchise ActionCOACH Ecuador chapter. He has a long experience in the corporate world in one of the large business groups in Ecuador (Grupo Futuro).
His purpose is to help entrepreneurs and business leaders by sharing his experience and knowledge so that everyone generates a positive impact on their ecosystems. He wants to teach people to live in a world of infinite possibilities connecting their BEING away from their EGO.
He has an MBA from IE (Instituto de Empresa) as well as a certificate in Business Coaching and Reingeenering of Unconscious thoughts (RIP Reingenieria del Pensamiento Inconsciente).
David Homan is the Vice President of LunaClipse Media, a company focused on the intersection of commercial media and impact/philanthropy, as well as the NEXUS NYC Ambassador and CEO of Orchestrated Connecting, LLC. David is a composer/pianist and impact-focused activist focusing on the relationships at the intersection of wealth, community, and philanthropy. Through his platform, Orchestrated Connecting, he writes, lectures, and hosts a Podcast focused on Relational Value, alongside maintaining a community of influencers whose platforms span major conferences, communities, and sectors with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and action. As a composer, he has 8 CDs, and his music is played on the radio worldwide, as well as part of shows in Discovery Channel, etc.
Carolina Castaneda is the Director for Europe of Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia B.V. (FNC BV) since August 2016. FNC BV is the subsidiary for Europe of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) in Colombia. The FNC represents over 540,000 Colombian coffee growers. As director for FNC BV, Carolina oversees FNC´s coffee sales to Europe, promotes the image of Café de Colombia, and coordinates fundraising for projects that improve the living conditions of Colombian coffee farmers and the environment.
Carolina started working for the FNC in risk management projects in October 2006 in Bogotá, Colombia.In April 2007, she moved to New York to work for Colombian Coffee Federation Inc., FNC’s branch in North America. She started as Director of Investments and Special Projects, managing green coffee sales and the 100% Colombian Coffee Program. At the beginning of 2015, she was appointed Senior Director of Green Coffee Trading for North America.
Before joining the coffee business, she worked at Colombia’s Central Bank (Banco de la República), Bancolombia, as well as at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC.
Alejandra Y. Castillo is the CEO of YWCA USA which serves 2.3 million women and girls around the country with a network of over 200 associations. YWCA plays a dual role as both a social service provider and an advocate for reform and justice.
Alejandra has over two decades of professional experience in Washington, D.C., having served in senior leadership in two presidential administrations. Given her policy, legal and business expertise, she has worked in various public, private and non-profit settings. In 2014, Alejandra was appointed by the Obama Administration to serve as the national director of the Minority Business Development Agency, becoming the first Hispanic American woman to lead the agency. In that role, she helped secure financing and capital in excess of $19 billion and created or retained over 33,000 jobs.
Alejandra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in economics and political science; a Master of Arts degree in public policy from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin; and a Juris Doctorate from American University, Washington College of Law. Alejandra is an active member of various civic and professional organizations and currently serves on several boards. She considers herself an example of the American dream and is proud to have raised two amazing nieces she calls her daughters. A long-standing and committed resident of the District of Columbia, Alejandra is a supporter of the arts and an avid international traveler.
Jeremy Courtney is the founder and CEO of Preemptive Love, a global organization providing relief, jobs, and community to end the war. His newest book, Love Anyway, casts a bold vision for how we can heal all that’s tearing us apart. Jeremy is a sought-after speaker and authority on peacemaking, conflict resolution, and the integration of activism, spirituality, and leadership. He lives with his family in Iraq.
Ivelyse Andino is an Afro-Latina health equity innovator born and raised in The Bronx. She is the founder and CEO of Radical Health and a Commissioner on the New York City Commission on Gender Equity. Ivelyse enjoyed a fledgling career in health tech, pioneering some of its first digital health solutions, including bringing the first mobile app prescribing platform to market and working with global clients such as National Health Service (NHS London) and Kaiser Permanente. While she routinely trained oncologists on new drugs, she found herself unprepared when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. This forced her to directly and intimately confront the systemic healthcare disparities she knew that existed. In founding Radical Health — the first Latina-owned and operated Benefit Corp in NYC — she has sought to combine her expertise in healthcare and her passion as a community organizer. Coming from a historically marginalized community herself, it was important for Ivelyse to initially build Radical Health by bringing together her neighbors around her kitchen table and hearing first-hand from voices — including the undocumented, women of color, elderly, young people, and LGBTQ — who are otherwise (figuratively and) literally never given a seat at the table to have a say in their own healthcare destiny. Through Radical Health, Ivelyse is committed to the task of transforming healthcare by facilitating health literacy and self-advocacy, as well as forging a relationship between meaningful face-to-face conversations with cutting-edge technology.
Lucas Simons is the Founder and CEO of NewForesight and SCOPEinsight.
NewForesight is an International operating strategic consultancy company dedicated to turning sustainability challenges into market opportunities. SCOPEinsight is a business intelligence company dedicated to set the world standard for making Farmer Organizations more professional. SCOPEinsight developed a unique and scalable model that measures and tracks the professionalism of farmer organizations and agribusinesses. The model generates meaningful data insights that have informed the policies and strategies of over 2500 farmer organizations and agribusinesses, 60 NGOs, donors, governments, corporations, and financial institutions in 36 different countries and 26 sectors.
He is author of the successful book ‘Changing the Food Game – Market Transformation strategies for sustainable agriculture’. And he teaches frequently at business schools and Universities on the topic of market transformation and systemic change management.
Liam is a serial entrepreneur who runs Time Doctor and Staff.com — one of the most popular time tracking and productivity software platforms in use by top brands today. He is also a co-organizer of the world's largest remote work conference — Running Remote.
Liam is an avid proponent of remote work and has been published in Forbes, Inc, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Next Web, The Huffington Post, Venturebeat and many other publications specifically targeting the expansion of remote work. The mission statement that feeds all the products and services that Liam is involved with stem from empowering workers to work wherever they want, whenever they want.
Katarina is a digital nomad, with passion for education and tech entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Originally from Slovakia, she has spent the past 5 years across Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, developing tech ecosystems and leading educational programs for early stage entrepreneurs. Inherently curious about how people learn, at Seedstars she is responsible for bringing their offline programs online.
Graduate of the London School of Economics, Anna has over 10 years of experience working as a consultant and project director of investment and development projects. She grew up in Ukraine, lived and worked in Germany, the UK, China, and the US, and is now based in Austria. As founder and CEO of Robo Wunderkind, Anna Iarotska has managed to shape a new approach to intersection technology and education. She and her team inspire kids to learn future-oriented skills by creating magical moments of fun and play combined with a learning experience.
Yanire is the president and founder of MET, a non-profit focused on developing women’s leadership competencies through mentoring and the use of technology. This is done through the creation of an international network of technical advisors and a network of "big sisters" to support the mentees in the development of their leadership skills and business plans. She is Responsible for nonprofit fundraising and international expansion, planning, managing the budget, and building a 30-people team. Recipient of the Innovation Award 2009, Yanire is a results-oriented professional with more than 20 years of experience in creating and developing initiatives and IT projects from strategic vision to implementation.
Olumide is an internationally respected businessman based in Bali Indonesia specializing in PR & Influencer Marketing. He utilizes social media to tell stories that attract business for his clients. His clientele includes professional athletes, Olympians, notable business executives, and entrepreneurs. He is a global entrepreneur, world traveler, polyglot, creative artist, experiential film producer, and millennial influencer. He has hosted influencer & business networking events for diverse audiences ranging from Tokyo, Japan to Los Angeles, California, and built connections with some of the most notable entrepreneurs in the world. Mr. Gbenro is the founder of The Digital Nomad Summit, where hundreds of location independent entrepreneurs can meet and connect.
Have been involved in the past years in the innovation and technology ecosystems at a global level. I have been building and believe in the power of strong communities and multicultural teams. I am passionate about improving people’s life experience and helping them achieve their full potential.
Currently I am working at Magical Startups, the leading private accelerator in Chile, strengthening and supporting the entrepreneur ecosystem in LATAM. Prior I worked at Seedstars, the biggest innovation community in emerging markets and before as the community builder and pitch mentor at Startup Chile, the largest start up community in the world.
Throughout these years I have met and been inspired by a big network of diverse people and have been building bridges and finding solutions to help them reach their innovative and disruptive dreams.
My vision is to contribute in a positive way and that my professional career fulfills a purpose.
Let’s work together to continue making a difference.
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Andrea is a dynamic education professional with over ten years of experience developing and scaling programs for young people.
Most recently, Andrea worked with the Women in Engineering Program at the University of Texas in Austin to encourage more girls to pursue engineering as a career. Before moving to Texas, Andrea worked for over seven years in Denver, Colorado, in the field of community development, positive youth development, and out-of-school programs for a local non-profit organization. In 2017, Andrea took a sabbatical year to recalibrate her career. She enjoyed time in Beijing and connected to the social start-up ecosystem while living in her native Mexico City. Andrea is a connector that loves to form and strengthen collaborations to maximize our collective impact.
Andrea is from Mexico City and grew up internationally as a result of her father's career as an industrial engineer with a multinational company. Life brought her to the states to pursue her B.A. in international political economy with a minor in Latin American Studies from Colorado College.
Born in Hungary and raised in Algeria and Canada, Peter learned how to build bridges between people and cultures and tries to make the world a better place for all.
He is an Executive coach and helps leaders thrive and innovate in an increasingly complex, diverse, and borderless world. His clients include Nvidia, BOLD, and MSCI. He founded 4 startups and made a successful exit from his last venture, V12 Software. He also mentors at Singularity University, StartOut, Pathrise, and the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center. Peter is passionate about travel and connecting with people, no matter where they are from. He currently resides with his beautiful wife in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jessica Thomas serves as director of strategic initiatives at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a leading international affairs think tank, membership organization, and publisher. Thomas began with the organization in 2013, and currently builds strategic partnerships to advance institutional efforts. Having lived nearly two decades in five developing West African countries, Thomas has directed her career toward globally-focused endeavors. She began in 2008 at the International Service Center, a multicultural social service agency whose clients were newly-arrived refugees and immigrants from around the world. She transitioned in 2010 and spent the following three years in two consultancies in the gender and rights unit at UNICEF Headquarters, working in the programs department of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and completing other contract work before arriving at CFR. In addition to her current role at CFR, she is grateful to advance the organization’s efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion by co-chairing CFR’s first employee resource group on the subject. Thomas has a BA in Human Development and Family Science from Messiah College and an MS in Global Affairs from New York University.
Saana Azzam’s is a Swedish-Palestinian award-winning economist whose life mission and purpose is to create an improved enlightened world through dialogue and knowledge transfer. She is an International speaker, communications expert, performance coach, and the founder of MENA Speakers, a UAE based MCs and Speakers bureau that educates, engages, and empowers by connecting speakers, MCs, and trainers to events, companies, and governments around the World.