Speakers at Wonder Women Tech 2017

Wonder Women Tech is a celebration of women and diversity with a focus on STEAM, innovation, and entrepreneurialism.  With keynotes, workshops, panel discussions, classes, and more, the conferences are opportunities to grow and learn through conversation. These speakers motivated audiences at the Wonder Women Tech Long Beach Conference!

Wonder Women Tech Long Beach Conference 2017

1Nina Ojeda
Founder, PRÊTE

Nina Ojeda is a multi-time entrepreneur and founder of PRÊTE (www.prete.co), the members only club to access the best blowouts in the city. Before launching PRÊTE, Nina founded and sold go-to-market agency, The Avenue West (www.theavenuewest.com) where she worked with some of the hottest startups in consumer tech. She is also a columnist for Inc Magazine, where she writes about startups and trends.

2Quinta Brunson
Video Producer and Development Partner, BuzzFeed Motion Pictures

Quinta Brunson is one of the youngest video content creators at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, the video-production arm of the media company responsible for more than 5 billion monthly video views. Brunson writes, produces, and stars in videos that showcase her perspective on life — from what it’s like going on a nice date for the first time to the pitfalls of being the only black friend. In addition to creating short viral videos that have raked in more than 138 million views on BuzzFeed alone, Brunson has inked a production development deal that allows her to create original scripted series and specials, and share in the profits of sales and distribution.

3Lolita Taub
Enterprise Tech, AI, Business Development, TEDx Speaker

Lolita Taub is a rising go-getter, interested in leveraging her 9 years of enterprise B2B software-hardware-and-services sales experience and extensive global network to benefit a business development team. She is a results-oriented TEDx speaker, Huffington Post contributor, and MBA candidate with a keen ability to provide excellent customer service, design and lead strategic initiatives, negotiate, and build relationships. Passionate about identifying strategic opportunities and closing deals between corporations and startups to progress technology innovation and achieve company goals, she has lived in the United States and Europe.

4Barbara H. Whye
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, VP of Human Resources, Intel Corporation

Barbara H. Whye is Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Vice President of Human Resources at Intel Corporation. She leads Intel’s Diversity in Technology initiative as the company endeavors to reach its goal of full representation in its U.S. workforce by 2020. A champion of Intel’s culture of inclusion, with 21 years of experience, she develops strategy that accelerates progress and integrates diversity and inclusion across the ecosystem to enhance innovation and drive business results. Recognized as a force for positive social change, she has been awarded with the 2014 National Society of Black Engineers Career Excellence Award, a 2015 Society of Women Engineers Spark Award, and a 2016 Inspiring Women of South Carolina Award.

5Danielle W. Merfeld
VP & General Manager of Global Research, NY, GE Global Research

Danielle is the Vice President & General Manager at GE Global Research, reporting to the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of GE. In this role, she leads the Silicon Carbide and Edge Controls horizontal breakout teams, which are focused on delivering critical achievements in SiC devices & systems and developing critical Esge product applications and platforms, respectively. She also leads the Electronics organization, a global team of approximately 140 scientists and engineers, responsible for advanced technology development in the areas of semiconductor devices & packaging and signal electronics.She is currently the co-leader of the GE Women’s Network, a global organization focused on the recruiting, retention, development and promotion of talented women across GE.

6Brittany Déjean
Founder & Executive Director, Able Thrive

Brittany Déjean is founder and executive director of AbleThrive, a social enterprise with a mission to make it easier for families impacted by disabilities to find resources and to re-frame the perception of disability in society. Brittany’s dad was paralyzed in a car accident when she was 12 years old and after seeing it’s possible to live well with a disability, she dedicated her life to making it possible for others. She is a 2014 Echoing Green Global Fellow, a 2017 Global Good Fund Fellow and was named on SE Enablers Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs.

7Dima Ghawi
International Leadership Speaker & Executive Coach

Dima ignites the untapped potential in women across the globe, empowering them to shatter limitations and become courageous, purpose driven leaders. Her own journey is one of escaping confinement, crossing continents, and transforming her life’s purpose. Harnessing the power of her story, Dima is committed to inspiring individuals to attain personal and professional growth, while simultaneously helping organizations increase diversity within their leadership ranks. She has been recognized for her services with the 2014 President of the United States Bronze Volunteer Service Award, the 2014 Baton Rouge Business Report’s “Forty Under 40” Award, and the 2016 Louisiana State University “Esprit de Femme Award.”

8Erika Jefferson
President & Founder, Black Women in Science & Engineering

Erika Jefferson is the President and Founder of Black Women in Science and Engineering (BWISE), an organization focused on bridging the leadership gap for Black women in STEM. She received her MBA from Georgia Tech and her BS in Chemical Engineering from LSU. She has worked for top companies such as Amoco, Chevron and Praxair in a myriad of leadership and executive roles ranging from sales/business development to supply chain and operations excellence. Her more than two decades of experience led her across the nation from Chicago, to Greenville, Charlotte, Atlanta and eventually Houston. In her free time, she loves to travel internationally, garden and cook.

9Leah Katz-Hernandez
Speaker & Author, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation Advisory Committee

Leah Katz-Hernandez is a speaker, author, and advisor with the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation Advisory Committee. Previously known as the celebrated Receptionist Of The United States for President Obama “ROTUS,” Ms. Katz-Hernandez is a leading expert on disability inclusion, public communication strategy, and civil rights. Through her dynamic career, she gained experience with the nonprofit sector, presidential campaigns, Capitol Hill, and the Obama White House. Ms. Katz-Hernandez now uses her expertise to advocate for equality all over the world, with a focus on supporting marginalized communities.

10Leslie Aaronson
Strategic Director of K12 Initiatives, National Center for Women & Information Technology

Leslie Aaronson is the Strategic Director of K12 Initiatives for NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) and the Teacher in Residence at LA Promise Fund where she manages Girls Build LA. Leslie was awarded Teacher of the Year by LAUSD for her work as the Lead Teacher and Coordinator of Foshay Learning Center’s Technology Academy where she taught for thirteen years. Leslie sits on the advisory board for CS Ed Week, SciGirls Code, the Computer Science Department of El Camino College, and Family Code Night. Prior to teaching, Leslie was the Production Manager for Blue’s Clues International at Nickelodeon.

11Natalie Forest
CEO & Founder, Revolutionize

Dr. Natalie Forest is a CEO, International Executive Consultant, Best Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, & Mentor. Natalie, America’s Leading Expert in Personal Performance, is Founder of Success Revolutions and Revolutionize Your Potential, a series of educational trainings for individuals and corporations across the globe. Natalie engages leaders, corporate teams, and entrepreneurs to identify consistencies for their success. Her engaging methods and techniques increase productivity, teamwork, and retention.  This results in higher profitability, authentic fulfillment, and less stress. Natalie is a sought after speaker and has participated in numerous conferences, events, TV and radio shows across the nation.

12Rachel O. Williams
Co-Founder, COO & Chief Mom, Paige & Paxton

Rachel Williams is the Chief Operating Officer (COO), co-founder and “Chief Mom” of an education company called Paige & Paxton that provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum and content specifically designed for children under the age of 8. Rachel’s mission is to change the trajectory of an entire generation by making STEM easy to teach and easy to learn at the beginning of a child’s educational experience. Today, Paige & Paxton materials and curriculum is used by 12 schools systems across the country, including Chicago Public Schools, and the company has trained over 800 educators in early elementary STEM.

13Sabine Quetant
Director of Marketing, Blavity

Sabine Quetant is the Director of Marketing at Blavity. Her work has helped Blavity reach a social audience of over 30 million and over 100K daily email subscribers and growing. Under her direction, Blavity has become a leader in authentic social movements within the black millennial community. In this past year, Sabine has been an integral part of managing growth and strategy of two brands new to the Blavity Fam; 21Ninety, a lifestyle platform for women of color and Shadow and Act, a black entertainment news platform. She aims to continue to connect and up lift communities through social activation.

14Sandy Marshall
Chair, Project Scientist

Sandy Marshall has spent the past twenty years in nonprofit management, including work with the American Heart Association, Special Olympics and Easter Seals; she is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). As a mother of two young girls with a passion for science, Sandy remains committed to changing the status quo for her girls as well as girls across the country. Project Scientist began summer 2011 out of Sandy’s guesthouse in Charlotte, NC. The organization is now on four university campuses, serving over 800 girls annually. Ms. Marshall attended the University of Southern California, where she received a BS in Public Policy with an emphasis on Nonprofits.

15Seema Gururaj
Founder & CEO, Square Circle Inc. 

Seema Gururaj is an award winning and highly respected social entrepreneur. Her work lies at the intersection of using technology to understand and influence human behavior with the intent of creating equitable global communities. She is currently the Founder & CEO of Square Circle Inc. a professional platform where women technologists can grow their profile as experts and be discovered by event curators, press & media. She was most recently in the corporate world, working on achieving gender equity for the organization. She also serves as a steering committee member of a think tank, Think India, that focuses on urbanization issues in India alongside India’s former minister of Disinvestment, Communications and IT and former Foreign Secretary of India.

16Sylvia Vaquer
Co-Founder & Creative Director, SocioFabrica

Sylvia is Co-Founder and Creative Director at SocioFabrica. Sylvia empowers the creative team to develop solutions that make a positive impact and bring them to life through design and strategy. Sylvia is deeply committed to raising awareness about the staggering number of women entering design careers and connecting them with leadership training and professional development through mentorship and a support network. Her work has won multiple awards from the Communication Arts Design Annual, Communication Arts Interactive Design Annual, Rebrand 100 in 2010 & 2011, and the American Graphic Design Awards.

17Uyen Tieu
General Manager, Great Big Story

Uyen Tieu is the General Manager of Great Big Story. She is a seasoned executive in figuring out how media companies morph onto new platforms and new revenue models. Prior to Great Big Story, she was an early team member of First Look Media heading up the direct to consumer business strategy and was the CRO of Rumble, a mobile tech start-up that used AI to personalize user experiences. She was the Global Head of Ad Sales Strategy at Microsoft and before that she was launching and integrating new media revenue models at MTV Networks as the VP of Marketing Partnerships and the VP of Ad Sales Strategy and Business Operations.

18Anarghya Vardhana
Senior Associate, Maveron

Always passionate about mathematics, Anarghya published a math theorem at the age of 17, which set her on a lifelong path in STEM. Prior to joining Maveron, Anarghya was an investor at small seed fund where she focused on consumer investments while also spending significant time focusing on frontier technology. At Maveron, she brings her passion for the intersection of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence to existing mass consumer experiences, identifying these opportunities in the Bay Area and beyond. Within the portfolio, Anarghya is a board observer for Booster Fuels and Pluto VR. In 2017, Forbes named Anarghya to its annual list of top “30 under 30” in venture capital.

19Beena Ammanath
VP of Innovation at GE Digital; Founder of Humans for AI Inc.

Beena is the founder of Humans For AI , a non-profit focused on building out a more diverse workforce for tech for the future leveraging AI. She believes that the workforce of the future needs to be AI-savvy, so we have a unique opportunity to make this future tech workforce as diverse as the real world. She is also an award winning senior executive leader with extensive global experience in digital transformations, artificial intelligence, big data and the IoT space. Her corporate leadership experience has influenced the global strategic direction and implementation of innovative solutions with marquee companies such as GE, Thomson Reuters, British Telecom, Bank of America and E*TRADE as well as a number of Silicon Valley startups.

20Arabian Prince
Rapper, Technologist, Innov8te Next

Arabian Prince is an American songwriter, rapper, producer, DJ and technologist. He is known for being a west coast electro music pioneer and one of the founding members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted rap group N.W.A. He produced the hit single “Supersonic” by JJ Fad, which was later remade by Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas called “Fergalicious”. He has always had a passion for computers and technology, creating a 3D animation and special effects studio in the early 90’s doing work with Saban and Fox on many TV shows and feature films including, The Addams Family, Casper, Contact, Silver Surfer, The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and many more.

Wonder Women Tech Conference Lineup: Other Inspirational Speakers

For inquiries about booking one of these speakers, or other women speakers, for your next event, please contact us.

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