Women Entrepreneurs Festival 2012

I am a designer working with concepts of integrating technology into items that we use every day and embedding interactive processes into the constructed environment.

NYU Stern MBA Student passionate about start-ups and innovative uses of technology. Currently interning at Warby Parker, a start-up that provides boutique-quality prescription eyewear for $95 and donates a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair sold.

Nutrition and Fitness is her second career. With a BA in Spanish & Economics and currently an MS in Clinical Nutrition, Anita, NYC based Registered Dietitian, is a co-founder of the soon to launch start-up and mobile application, Fitmapped.

Tammy Hepps has 11 years of experience leading the technology teams at some of the web's most popular sites. Currently she is the CTO of UrbanDaddy. Previously she served as the CTO for iVillage Properties, NBCUniversal's network of women's web sites. Prior she was the founding VP of Technology for a startup incubated jointly by IAC and Dow Jones, Director of Software Development for NYTimes.com, and Director of Technology for SparkNotes.com, which she joined first as a software developer. Tammy received her AB in Computer Science from Harvard College in 2000 and still codes in her free time.

co-founder, NY Tech Meetup

Worked in the music industry for many years...National Director of Artist Development for A&M Records and then went on to run the creative end of Isolar which is David Bowie's company. Took a twenty year nap to raise my two children...enjoy traveling with my husband ...but as am empty nester I am looking to find the next chapter in my life !!!

Dana has worked in the commercial sales production for 20 years. She recently opened her own company focused on Recruiting and Consulting for creative based businesses. The company is headquartered in Venice, California.

I am a Co-founder, FinLitTV®. FinLitTV®, a new online platform enables Gen Y to learn, share and grow their financial literacy skills. Financial literacy content is created for Gen Y by Gen Y. Our platform includes FLiCs (financial literacy clips), campus events, resources and tools.

Mary Nittolo. PRESIDENT /CCO Mary Nittolo founded The STUDIO twenty-three years ago as a visualization resource for advertising agencies. Today The STUDIO is a leading visual communications company that unites the diverse talents of designers, artists, animators, and visual effects artisans to interpret projects in a variety of media. Prior to founding The STUDIO, Mary worked for four years at a boutique design firm that specialized in packaging and collateral materials. Before that she was the Deputy Director of The Publications and Marketing Department of The Brooklyn Museum. Mary sits on the Board of Directors of Srina Tea, a socially responsible company whose profits help small-scale farmers in Sri Lanka achieve sustainable development. She is also on the Advisory Board of two high schools in underserved communities in Brooklyn, New York- The Academy of Innovative Technology and City Poly Tech. She was asked to be a member as a result of the innovative internships she provides for high school students through The National Academy Foundation. (Naf.org). Mary is a graduate of NYU and has attended The Tuck Institute at Dartmouth. Last fall she joined Columbia University’s Community Business Program, an entrepreneurship program designed to support the growth and development of for-profit businesses in NYC. Additionally she is on the Economic Policy and Legislation Issues Committees of W.I.P.P. (Women Impacting Public Policy) and has recently been given an award from Enterprising Women Magazine as an outstanding woman entrepreneur. In May 2011, she represented the New York Digital Arts Community in an “Eyes on New York” Segment at the prestigious FMX Animation Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. Mary is also an avid photographer and gardener and mother to two amazing daughters. The STUDIO is also a WBENC certified company and as such has a commitment to mentoring other women owned businesses, currently Srina Tea and the historic Lenox Lounge in Harlem.

Linguafile. Global business strategist, storyteller, Columbia Theatre student.

Lisa Mogull is the Co-founder/CEO of CentricSocial a start-up that builds social commerce portals for industry and a totally new way to monetize social media. Lisa is a digital, mobile and social product and biz development expert. She builds compelling products, revenue opportunities and organizations. Her background includes years of diverse success in digital, social, mobile, and traditional media. Lisa has worked with major media companies including News Corp., ABC and Oprah as well as other early-stage start-ups. An entrepreneur since she was a teenager (selling pies to restaurants) Lisa earned a BFA from NYU in Film and Television. She is the mother of 8-year-old Peter who hopes to go to ITP in a few years and who was her coach this year when she ran the NYC Marathon.

Born and raised in North Carolina, Jessica Burgess has spent her life dedicated to the arts. Recently, she has graduated with honors from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a double major in Film Production and Psychology. She plans on continuing her career as an independent filmmaker through her fledgling production company Little Animals Productions. A company dedicated to bringing fresh, honest films from a female point of view. Jessica also has continued her passion for the fine arts, illustrating and sketching in her spare time. She is a strong, independent woman with a hunger for new ideas and innovation, and very much looks forward to meeting women of the same mind set.

Amy works in education, media and technology. Her background includes starting up a new division of an international book publisher, strategy consulting for entertainment and media companies--both global conglomerates and start-ups, running the home entertainment business for PBS at the national level, managing and selling a documentary distribution business for a global private equity group and heading up marketing for an educational products company. There was even a brief stint at Disneyland Paris. She now runs a business consultancy working for the world’s largest advertising agency network, and providing investment advisory in educational technology for a London-based private equity firm and Investor’s Circle, a network of angel investors committed to social impact investing. Amy lives in Alexandria, Virginia but commutes to New York at least once a week, and cherishes time with her husband and two young children.

Graduate student at NYU ITP.

Alison has always subscribed to the credo that life is worth savoring. Building upon her advertising and catering experience, she combines her passion for cooking, entertaining and all things food with the launch of Artisan Kitchen, a website dedicated to food artisans from around the country and the growth of their small businesses. While juggling a creative business and family life, Alison scouts new food trends, researches local food artisans in markets nationwide, while discovering the most delicious products made by people you don’t know.

Yasmin is a creative technologist and interaction designer. ITP '08. Yasmin is currently the Co-Founder & Chief architect of GroupStream. GroupStream empowers groups to easily create stories together in an interactive, visual experience by bringing together all their media fragments. Users continue to post to the services they love and we create their unified stream. In today’s connected world, we document events that affect our lives in a decentralized, real-time way - on social media first, from Facebook to Twitter and Youtube, to dozens of other services. Both personal and group experiences, such as weddings and travel, to collective experiences such as natural disasters and uprisings. The company sprang out out of the Egyptian revolution and are about to launch a unique, white-labeled, Tribeca Film Institute-funded proof of concept of the platform at 18DaysInEgypt.com. 18DaysInEgypt is also an alumni artist project of the Sundance Institute's New Frontier Storylab.

Kelly is a business strategist and connector. She is a founder of Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) Accelerator, a New York City-based accelerator for women-lead ventures in mobile technology. An attorney, Kelly made her entrepreneurial leap in 2009, when she was offered the opportunity to work alongside Janet Hanson, the founder of 85 Broads. She has advised Hypatia Capital, The Kap Group, NewsCertified Exchange, The Simply Bar, The Carlisle Collection, amongst others. She sits on the advisory boards of StoneCreek Entertainment, Lion'esque Style and The Levo League. She is a member of the inaugural class of PipelineFund Fellows and a Women in Wireless mentor. Kelly is a co-chair of the 2012 Alley to the Valley Summit.

Susan has the dual role of leading the firm and working with key executives from companies and organizations such as Alcoa, Apple, Celgene, Center For American Progress, Coca-Cola Japan, eBay, GE, HP, IBM, JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank, PBS, Starbucks, Target, and Yahoo. Over the years she has built, grown, merged, and transformed a number of businesses and brings a breadth of management and operational expertise from working with internet startups during the Dot.com era, her post as General Manager of Studio Archetype—one of the first premier web design firms in the country, and from her post as Chief Operating Officer of the Human Rights Campaign. She ran her own marketing and product marketing consulting firm after spending seven years at Apple Computer, where she was Group Manager of Worldwide Product Marketing working with Apple’s Advance Technology Group to bring new products and innovations to market. She holds a BA in Social Statistics, and a minor in Art Therapy from SUNY Buffalo.

I've started businesses in both the profit and nonprofit sectors; the most recent being the launch of Pomegranate Capital, a global fund of funds that invested exclusively with women run hedge funds. It was the first fund to focus exclusively on investing with women managers and I believe I have as good an understanding as anyone of this market and the issues that impact it. I also started a nonprofit called The PS 6 Alumni Foundation, which raised over $750,000 to fund capital improvement projects for NYC public school 6. This was the first alumni foundation started for a public school in NYC and one of the earliest public/private partnerships. Over the past 3 years, I helped with digital marketing and social media for a NYC musician (my daughter, Sarah Solovay). In addition to helping her online, I also dealt with the licensing of her music to ABC, NBC, CBS, TNT, MTV and film (Joe Dante "The Hole"). Sarah was featured in The New York Times: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/dual-life-of-singer-songwriter-and-brearley-senior/

For the past 20 years, Suzanne Kantra has been on the front lines of the technology revolution, exploring and writing about major advancements in science and technology that have literally changed the way people live, work and play. Former senior technology editor for Popular Science and in-house tech expert for Martha Stewart Living and host of “Living with Technology” on Sirius Radio, Suzanne used her expertise to create Techlicous.com, a women’s lifestyle site that provides consumers with friendly, helpful advice for making informed buying decisions and getting the most out of the products they already own. Throughout her career she has served as a consumer technology expert on TV, including CNN, NBC, CNBC, FOX News, and The Rachel Ray Show, as well as many radio shows across the country. Suzanne is also a regular contributor to Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living Radio and MSNBC.com/Today.com. Suzanne lives in New York City with her husband and their three children.

I am an occupational therapist with fifteen years of experience. For the past nine years I have specialized in assistive technology for adults and children and received the RESNA certification for assistive technology in 2003. I started the assistive technology program within the occupational therapy department at NYU Langone Medical Center in 2004. The goal of this program is to enable individuals with significant physical disabilities to independently access a computer, communicate, and access electronics in their home. In 2010, I co-started the Driving Rehabilitation Program at NYU Medical Center, focusing on evaluating adults and their ability to safely drive. I have been an adjunct professor within the occupational therapy department at New York University since 2006.

Elizabeth is currently a second year MBA student at Harvard Business School. She is co-founder of Tailored Trends, a mass custom clothing line targeted to women aged 35+. At Harvard, Elizabeth is a founding member of the Startup Tribe and is Co-Chair of the university's TechMedia conference. This past summer, Elizabeth interned in marketing and product management at Birchbox in New York. Prior to Harvard, Elizabeth worked as a Business Development Manager at Ogilvy & Mather and founded Ogilvy's youth marketing practice. Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with majors in Psychology and French.

I am a part time MBA student at NYU, full time Google employee and founder of the website Office-Envy.com, a site that celebrates unique and inspiring office space design, decor, supplies and services. I am also the author of Washington D.C. travel guide "Where to Date in D.C." I hope to someday work at a venture capital firm that funds female entrepreneur's ventures.

Sonia Kapadia is Founder and CEO of Taste Savant, a Restaurant Discovery Site. Taste Savant helps people find new restaurants to eat out at by aggregating reviews from sources you trust: friends, critics, bloggers, and normal people. Taste Savant is in Private Beta at the moment. Prior to launching Taste Savant, Sonia worked at numerous consumer facing companies and has deep experience in Brand Management, Marketing, and General Management. She spent 5 years at PepsiCo in the US and the UK. She had the entrepreneurial itch and left Pepsi to become CMO of a consumer products startup in the UK called Gu Chocolate Desserts (www.gupuds.com) which was sold in 2010 to another private company. Beyond consumer products, she also has spent time in fashion and retail. She was a Strategy Manager at Henri Bendel (owned by Limited Brands) and was a Marketing Director at Rent the Runway, managing Business Development and Partnerships. She has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sarah is a lifelong technology enthusiast with experience in both the corporate and startup worlds. A former senior project manager at an NYC-based software company, Sarah most recently founded Couptivate.com, a free digital wallet that organizes your daily deal purchases and helps you decide when to use them and makes sure you never forget to redeem them. Couptivate has been featured on Oprah.com, Business Insider, Mint.com and countless blogs. Having experienced the challenges of building a career in the male-dominated software industry, Sarah is passionate about supporting fellow female tech entrepreneurs and inspiring a new generation of women to pursue technology opportunities. Sarah is also an avid daily deal purchaser herself as well.

I'm a User Experience Designer, recently gone freelance to manage my own clients and work on my own projects. I help startups with user research, product strategy, and interaction design. I live in Williamsburg with my boyfriend and our cat, and I love to cook.

my name is roopa vasudevan and i’m a first-year student at NYU’s interactive telecommunications program, part of the tisch school of the arts. prior to joining ITP, i worked for several years as a producer for MTV’s award-winning documentary series true life. recent credits include “i’m a sex offender,” “i’m allergic to everything,” “i’m addicted to food,” and “true life goes on: where are your favorites now?” i also worked on MTV News’ sexting in america and have gone into the field as a shooter/producer for many other projects. i’m originally from cleveland, ohio, and graduated from columbia university in 2006 with a degree in film studies. i’m thrilled to be a part of ITP and excited to see how i can translate my video and television experience into a world of interactive, educational content. my goal is to create media that makes teenagers and young adults want to sit up and pay attention to the world around them, and also to create comfortable, welcoming, safe environments for teenage girls and young women to ask, explore, and learn.

Jean-Michelle Lopez is a corporate philanthropist, CSR strategist and pro-social campaign developer with a decade of experience leveraging talent and resources for social good. She serves as a resource on corporate responsibility, communication, strategic partnerships and employee engagement in the media and entertainment industry. Most recently, she managed MTV Networks’ Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs agenda, supporting the various channels’ pro-social initiatives. When she's not developing strategic partnerships with national non-profits, government agencies and talent in the industry, she is pursuing a Masters in Public Nonprofit Management and Policy from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. She is a member of NAMIC, serves on the board for the New York Women’s Foundations’ Girl Leadership Day, is a founding member of GoGreen Expo’s Eco-forum and supporter of ALEGRIA: Hope through Art.

Longtime Corporate Network Engineer reinvented as Entreprenuer Jamrista. Pursuing my passion for artistry preserving the harvest and waking up the food memories of your past.

Jill is a working mom living in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two young daughters. She's a lawyer by trade (Harvard undergrad, UC Hastings Law, Fulbright Scholar, then Manhattan DA turned corporate mergers and acquisition attorney). But when her first child was born, she realized she was completely untrained for her most important job: raising kids. Where was the manual? The more Jill read, the more she realized how essential the preschool years were, and how much they impact the rest of a child’s life. Research has shown that early childhood learning teaches executive function skills and “grit”, or the willingness to stick to something when it is hard. And many studies have found that if children don’t learn those skills young, often later it is developmentally too late. Cozy Owl is an online resource for busy, tech-savvy parents (of preschool children, ages 2-5) who are interested in active parenting to raise children prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Cozy Owl is not about drilling or test prep…it is about sharing the love of learning with your kids.

Dara Epstein graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Music degree. Pre-SmartSitting, Dara traveled the world singing opera and working with children wherever she happened to be. She has met and worked with countless families throughout NYC and the Hamptons, including a most beloved family she has been with consistently for the last four years. Since 2009, Dara has served as Executive Director of SmartSitting, an educational and mentor-based sitting company here in NYC. SmartSitting is a personal network and currently works with 175 sitters and 125 families in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

I have been working at startups forever. Some of what I've done in the past is switch to distributed source control, build agile and fast paced release process and roll production sites with a multi-data center architecture. I build great teams and great product using as much open source software as possible. I keep everything cool with a combination of people skills and appreciation for the myriad roles it takes to get a website designed, built, tested and deployed.

I'm passionate about entrepreneurial education to teach: - artists how to make a living at what they love - women how to get more from their job and their paycheck, starting in high school - small businesses how to reach the right customers with limited resources

Lauren Davis, an experienced music business attorney, has been teaching at New York University since 2002 and joined the Institute of Recorded Music full-time faculty ranks in 2006. Davis has developed and taught more than 9 courses on the legal and business aspects of the music industry. The focus and foundation of her teaching and professional work include: Music Industry Contract and Deal Negotiations, Artist Representation, Acquisition of Rights, Intellectual Property law, Business Start-Ups, Music Licensing, New Business Models, Music Business Curriculum Design and Development. In her capacity as attorney, Davis has advised high profile artists such as the Allman Brothers, LL Cool J, Reverend Run (Run DMC), Donnie McCLurkin, Boyz II Men, Salsa legend Celia Cruz, songwriters such as Michael Masser (“Greatest Love of All”), Albert Hammond (“It Never Rains in Southern California”), songwriter-producers such as Eve Nelson (Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Raven Symone, Eva Cassidy), and Andrea Martin ( Leona Lewis, Mary J. Blige , Monica, En Vogue, Sean Kingston, Melanie Fiona, among others). Davis has lectured on the business aspects of the music industry at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Berklee College of Music, Southern University at Baton Rouge, and Columbia University. She has also frequently lectured at music industry events sponsored by ASCAP, SXSW, and Women and Music, among others. As Internship Faculty Advisor, Davis is charged with cultivating internship opportunities for students with music industry employers, monitoring student internship placements and progress, and working with students to improve their employment prospects upon graduation.

As a PhD student in materials chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, I am working to create novel biomaterials out of proteins and metal nanoparticles that possess electronic properties. A New Yorker since childhood, I have lived in Canada, Sweden, and Italy pursuing my studies and working as an engineer. As a woman in the hard sciences, I would bring technical expertise and scientific insight to the community of Women Entrepreneurs. Although I am currently in academia, I have an entrepreneurial spirit and hope to commercialize the novel materials we are working on in our biomaterials lab for the benefit of fields including medicine and materials for alternative energy sources. There is a dearth of women in my field in general, and in particular women engineers who are interested in starting their own companies. I look forward to sharing my expertise with this community and of course learning all I can from veteran entrepreneurs!

Laura is a consumer software and Internet services industry veteran with two decades of experience leading top consumer brands such as ZoneAlarm, Yahoo and Netscape. Yecies joined SugarSync in Q4 2008 to expand the company and initiate an aggressive business and product growth phase. Most recently, Yecies was General Manager of the ZoneAlarm consumer and small business division at Check Point Software, responsible for all facets of business development, marketing, sales, and product. She led key initiatives to drive ZoneAlarm's technology vision and significantly increase brand awareness. Previously, at Yahoo, Yecies served as Global General Manager of the Yahoo Mail division. Earlier, Yecies was Vice President of the Netscape browser division at AOL where she was responsible for the development of Netscape 7.0 and the launch of the Netscape browser in 23 languages. Prior to Netscape, she led Latin American sales at Informix Software Corp. in Latin America. Additionally, Yecies served as Director of Marketing Programs for the Asia Pacific Latin America region at Gupta Corporation. Earlier in her career Yecies worked as an international risk analyst at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation – a division of the Agency for International Development and as a lecturer in International Marketing at Santa Clara University. Yecies received her M.B.A. from Harvard, plus an M.S.F.S. from Georgetown School of Foreign Service where she graduated with honors in International Business Diplomacy. She received her A.B. Magna Cum Laude in Government from Dartmouth and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.She has studied abroad at the London School of Economics and with Dartmouth in Blois, France. Yecies serves on the Board of several community non-profit organizations and has worked as a volunteer medical translator in Guatemala. She has lived in Brazil, France and England, is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and French and loves travelling the world as much as possible with her husband and four children.

Dasha Snyder is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. She created, wrote and executive produced THE D WORD, which played LGBT film festivals worldwide. Her most recent film, SPEED GRIEVING, was recently released on DVD. Snyder associate produced the documentary I WANT SO MUCH TO LIVE, and line produced TWO HANDS, nominated for the Best Documentary Short Oscar. She also worked in film programming at NewFest and Outfest. Prior to her film career, she worked as a web developer for Apple, AOL, Viant, LifetimeTV.com and SesameStreet.com. A life-long activist and media maker, she is currently writing screenplays and pursuing a Masters in Media Advocacy at NYU. Her Masters thesis, QWhere.org, connects LGBTQ people and resources in real time & space.

 Architect - turned - Jeweler Lisa Monahan is the founder of Lisa Monahan Metal Works the creator of the patent-pending Switch Gear™ Interchangeable Jewelry Line. Lisa is a metalsmith, and has been designing jewelry and sculptural metal works for the past 18 years.  She “Switched Gears” herself, as she is also a licensed architect and designed and managed construction projects for 20+ years, prior to becoming a metalsmith full time. Lisa's work has been featured on The Today Show, Daily Grommet and SheKnows.com.

Melissa Kushner is the Founder and Executive Director of goods for good, an innovative nonprofit organization using excess goods to create educational and economic opportunities for the people of Malawi, Africa. Currently over 67,000 children and their caregivers are benefitting from goods for goods programs. Based on her experience over the last decade, Melissa is now setting her sites on addressing the inefficiencies across the nonprofit sector. She is currently building Nonprofit-share, the first online tool dedicated to enabling nonprofits to operate as partners in a greater system of social change. Nonprofit-share aims to redefine how nonprofits engage, communicate and collaborate with each other. Melissa received the Torch Award and Distinguished Young Alumna Award from New York University, has been featured on NBC’s Nightly News and presented at the TEDx Atlanta Conference in 2010. Melissa received her Masters in Public Administration from New York University, and Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Online Shopping Expert Michelle Madhok is the Founder of SHEFINDS MEDIA – publisher of SheFinds.com, Bridefinds.com and MomFinds.com, online publications distributed via e-mail and blogs that help millions of busy women everywhere shop the web for the latest fashion and style finds. A widely regarded shopping expert, Michelle has shared her expertise as a columnist/editor/authority with MSN Shopping, Real Simple, AOL Shopping, Better.TV, Metro Newspaper, Women’s Wear Daily, The Rachel Ray Show, GMA, The Today Show, The CBS Early Show, The Martha Stewart Show, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. Her book Wear. This. Now. will be published in August 2012. twitter: @shefinds

Allison Q. Taylor: is an MBA candidate at NYU Stern, focused on Social Innovation and Impact, Global Business, and Luxury Marketing. Allison was a Social Impact Internship Fund Fellow, and spent her summer working on developing the REVIVAL Style business pilot, and building retail partnerships for Indego Africa, which is a Social Enterprise working with Rwanda artisans and US based fashion designers and retailers. She has experience working in product development and merchandising in the fashion retail industry with both The Limited and Target. She also has expertise in fundraising and strategic partnership development from her time working with the national nonprofit organization, KaBOOM!. As a Co-founder of REVIVAL Style she working to grow the (soon to launch) social enterprise and increase the scale of its social impact in the coming years.

Katie Clegg is one of the founding members and Chief Eating Officer of www.foodiacs.com. Foodiacs, founded in 2010, is an online food community that connects consumers to gourmet food artisans and experiences. A lifelong entrepreneur and Foodiac herself, Clegg started her first food business in the 4th grade selling gourmet popcorn. Before Foodiacs, she held various writing and marketing consulting positions in both the private and public sectors. Clegg is a graduate of Millsaps College, a Second Century Scholar and was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship.

Weathermob, a Boston/London-based launched its first iPhone app seven weeks ago and is rapidly building a base of weather reporters across the world. Available FREE for iPhone in the weather category, Weathermob is an app designed to make talking about the weather as social an online experience as it is already for the millions of people who use it to open conversations with strangers, colleagues, friends and family in real life.

Kara is the Co-Founder & CEO of new event discovery platform Signalfy, the go-to resource for what's on and who's going, in your city. Kara regularly consults NYC fashion, travel and consumer businesses on digital marketing strategies. She previously worked on Wall St as an Equity Research Associate at Susquehanna International Group. Kara is graduating in May 2012 with her MBA from NYU Stern, specializing in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Digital Marketing. She is an advisory board member for global humanitarian travel & media company Mission.tv. Kara is currently in Donna Karan's Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program and will be volunteering in Haiti in February 2012.

My passion for learning was unleashed when I received my library card at five years old. Language has flowed through me for decades. In the last twelve years, as an Open Captioner, I've provided the bridge between hearing people and people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Unconscious barriers still exist that exclude people with hearing loss. I hope to expand my work of teaching business and government how to remove barriers to communication access so more people can engage in our cultural dialogue and we can receive the benefits of their talents and intelligence.

Lilia Ziamou Associate Professor of Marketing at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, The City University of New York where she has been teaching at the graduate and undergraduate level, as well as in executive education. She is also a Consultant at the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship where she is advising small business owners primarily in the areas of marketing strategy, and product/service design, and a Fellow of the Rubin Museum of Art. Lilia’s has been invited to present her research at leading industry research labs including at AT&T, Verizon, Intel and Unilever and has consulted in the areas of innovation, creativity, and design in the US, Greece, and Mexico. She has taught at executive programs at several institutions, in the US, Europe, and China. Lilia is also a sculptor and new media artist. Her work blends traditional and new media to explore the sensations of the body through sculpture, photographs, projections, and video. She is currently a graduate student at ITP / NYU.

Leonna Sylvester Founder of ShoeBreeze LLC @INNOgenius Leonna Sylvester has an innovative minds that bringing forth new and creative ways to advance how we progress. Her simplistic yet detailed approach yields a new vision for our every day lives. With a lengthy background in fields such as Customer Care, Product Development & Branding, Web Development, Moderator and Management, Leonna is investing her time in developing a new and innovative alternative to the online shopping experience; one that will simplify the way consumers shop for shoes online, as well as their experience in store at local retailers. Leonna received her Bachelors in Business Administration & International Business from the New York Institute of Technology, and has recently completed her Masters in Technology Management & Innovation from Polytechnic Institute of New York University. She is the owner of Brooklyn Freecycle Organization a group with over 24’000 members and an investor, volunteer and fundraiser for Verizon Foundations HOPELINE, TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS and SHOWER FOR THE SHELTER. In her free time, Leonna is an avid volunteer with “Bigs United”, an affiliation of ‘Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization. Leonna has a passion for seeing the dreams of tomorrow become a reality today and with ambitions of opening the gateway to a better and simpler life, she dedicates herself to just that. Beginning with her online retail portal, “Shoebreeze LLC.”, Leonna plans to enhance the retail inventory structure for local businesses while increasing revenue and making the shopping experience more enjoyable for all consumers. With the success of this endeavor, we can expect much more to come from this bright and innovative mind in the near future.

Holly Lynch’s long-standing commitment to social progress and women-led enterprise permeates everything she does and is the lens through which she views the 21st century world of marketing and business building. A native of New York City and a graduate of Harvard University, Holly is an advertising, strategic planning and brand communications veteran, with over 12 years experience at agencies such as Ogilvy, BBH and StrawberryFrog. She led the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Self-Esteem fund, has consulted with Procter & Gamble on how to innovate and promote a healthier, more sustainable product line for future generations, and sits on the boards of numerous nonprofits. But after working across a multitude of channels, brands and consumer segments, she began to envision a future and global economy in which at least 50% of the world’s successful and socially progressive brands and businesses would and should be led by women. As a result, Holly comes to 85 Broads to champion and build this future for women. 

I'm a newly-minted entrepreneur. I fell into this whole thing when I became a patient and first time consumer of health care (well, other than delivering my two delicious babies). 7 months in, and I'm loving the energy, excitement, challenges, and opportunities of building a product and brand.

Adda Birnir is a founder of Balance Media, a client service and product development shop that focuses on the rapidly changing needs of digital media companies. Balance Media works with clients such as WNYC, ProPublica, and The New York Times, to create interactive news applications. Balance Media is also about to launch two new products: Balance Digital Publishing (a tablet publishing software for media companies) and Digital Divas (Digital knowledge for all the divas).

I have been a public relations professional for over a decade, beginning my career at Rubenstein, a New York City-based strategic communications and media relations firm. My clients included Rockefeller Center, The Whitney Museum, Data.org, DonorsChoose.org, and the Tribeca Film Festival, among others. After relocating to Minneapolis, I focused my efforts on women-owned companies and began working with fabulous lifestyle brands like Red Stamp and Anne M. Cramer. I have been fortunate to land clients in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, O Magazine, InStyle, and Lucky. In addition, I spend time on pro-bono work for a few local nonprofits. I graduated from Colgate University with a B.A. and have an M.Ed. from Harvard University. I currently reside in Minneapolis with my husband and three children.

Miral Sattar is founder and CEO of BiblioCrunch, the next generation epublishing platform that makes creating eBooks as easy as 1, 2, 3! Miral is an engineer and entrepreneur with roots in the publishing business and has worked in the media industry for over 10 years. Miral launched a lot of the digital initiatives at TIME.com (video & podcast channel, iPad & mobile site, mobile apps, blogs, newsletters, SEO). Miral's work has been published in TIME, CNN, NY Daily News, Metro, JANE, and Our Town. Miral has taught sessions at the Yale Publishing Course, CUNY, and has presented at O'Reilly Media/Internet Archive's Books in Browser conference. Miral and her companies have been featured in the WSJ, NYTimes, Glamour, Vogue India, Huffington Post, Gawker, Media Bistro, Publishing Perspectives, AOL Pop Eater, among others! She graduated from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, and receiving her M.S. in Digital + Print Media from NYU.

I am a NYC fashion designer of the women's contemporary clothing line, Spoon Fashion. I moved to NYC just under a year ago in pursuit of starting my own line of clothing and I hope to launch my first collection by the end of 2012! Previously, I interned for two notable fashion designers, Zac Posen and Diane Von Furstenberg and after graduating Syracuse University with a BFA in fashion design and a minor in textiles, I spent two years working for Rue La La as an Assistant Stylist. I am pleased to be attending this event and look forward to meeting you all!

Carla Engelbrecht Fisher is a game designer with a research obsession. She is the founder of No Crusts Interactive, a children's game design consulting firm. Having spent more than a decade making children's digital goods, she's produced, researched, and consulted on a wide variety of commercial and educational products, from Web to mobile to console, including the Nintendo Wii and DS as well as the Xbox 360 Kinect. Before starting No Crusts Interactive, she worked for Sesame Workshop, PBS KIDS, and Highlights for Children. Carla is a published author as well as a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studies technology and its relationship with human cognition and development, particularly as it applies to children and games. Carla holds a master's degree in media studies from the New School University and has, on occasion, been known to twist balloon animals and hats.

i design and write greeting cards for recycled paper greetings. some of my cards are tech based, some aren't. the cards that don't make the cut, wind-up on my blog: inbetweenloadingthedishwasher.com. i also work in advertising as a freelance copywriter.

Hoseb Management is a New York City based music management company that exclusively represents record producers, mixers, engineers, and songwriters from all over the United States. Owned and operated by Melissa Emert-Hutner since its creation in early 2007, Hoseb Management provides unrivaled personal attention to its entire roster, a trait that is increasingly hard to find within the current climate of the music industry. Add to the mix many years of experience and success in countless facets of the business along with an unwavering passion for music, and it is no wonder why Hoseb has become a thriving, boutique company with clients working on top-name projects from around the world.

Lisa Morales-Hellebo is a seasoned Creative Director and e-commerce strategist with more than 16 years experience helping B2C companies from start-ups to F500 (such as Coca-Cola, P&G, Hasbro, Nexxus) maximize their conversions via multi-channel brand strategy, development, and extension. Lisa has set her sights on redefining the future of open commerce via her patent pending technology start-up — Shopsy™. Shopsy is a fast, fun & addictive shopping engine that puts consumer goods in context. The site uses your Style DNA to deliver head-to-toe custom outfit recommendations that you can search, filter, lock in items, dynamically REMIX by price or color in seconds, and of course buy, save and share — www.shopsy.com. Born in the Bronx, New York, Lisa went on to college in Pittsburgh, where she received her BFA in Graphic Design from Carnegie Mellon University with University Honors. She is a life-long lover of all things fashion, is addicted to magazines, new media and travel. While living in Norway with her husband for nearly three years, she freelanced and mastered the language, adding fluent Norwegian to her list of accomplishments. Lisa currently lives in the DC suburbs with her husband and two boys.

Angie Wojak is the Director of Career Services at Columbia University's School of the Arts. Prior to joining Columbia, Angie served as Director of Career Services at Parsons The New School for Design where for over a decade she helped aspiring artists, business entrepreneurs, and designers launch their careers. Trained as a painter and printmaker, she earned her MFA from the University of Missouri and her BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts. Angie is a twice published author, having co-authored Spark Your Career in Fashion and Starting Your Career as an Artist. She has lectured on art and design career topics at universities and conferences across the country, including Comic-con International, Harvard University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Pratt Institute.

Founder and CEO of Isis Partners, advisory firm working with growth companies in the health, wellness and healthcare market places. 20+ years experience providing financial, strategic, operational and capital raising services to companies from start up through IPO as well as leading restructurings and turnarounds. Founder and host of The Cancer Caregiving and Caregivers Symposium to be held in Boulder, CO March 31-April 1, 2012 (www.cancercaregiving.us). Have helped launch multiple non profits focused on kids, education and fitness including StreetSquash, The Wellness Initiative and Mile High Squash. Isis has offices in NYC and Boulder, CO.

I'm a co-founder and CEO of Splitable, a group payment solution for online checkout that makes it easy for friends to split the cost up front. Having worked as an event planner for several years, I saw the payment portion of collecting and front money as a huge pain and burden for the organizer (who's already done so much). I wanted to come up with a way that would let a group pay together that would sidestep the need to ever collect or have to front money. Prior to founding Splitable, I worked as an appellate attorney. I got my start as on the Intellectual Property legal team for the US Senate Judiciary Committee. After 6 years working as an attorney, and after being honored with admission to the US Supreme Court in 2010, I founded Splitable with my two co-founders (both engineers). Our team is 5 people strong and growing.

I am creating all-weather shoes and bags that women can wear with confidence in professional situations. My shoes and bags combine elegant styling with athletic performance, weather resistance, and cradle to cradle design principles.

Tish Shute is a Creative Technologist/Reality Architect working in Will Wright's "Think Tank," Stupid Fun Club, Inc. Tish is a synthesist, an entrepreneur, designer, speaker, writer, cyborg anthropologist, and founder of Ugotrade – a leading blog focused on augmented reality, and the future of mobile social communications. Tish is also the co-chair/co-founder of Augmented Reality Event, and Co-Founder of ARWave. Tish’s career in new media and technology began with working in motion control, robotics, and visual effects for film, television, theme parks and aerospace. She continues her interest in innovation and paradigm shifts as an entrepreneur and creative technologist. She is passionate about putting people at the center of their augmented mobile social futures. Tish has an MFA, Hunter College, NYC, and a Ph.D (all but dissertation) in Anthropology, from the Program in Culture and Media, New York University where she pursued her interest in the uptake of new technology from a more academic POV.

Luisa is a documentary filmmaker, social entrepreneur and continuous explorer. She has worked in Colombia, China, India and New York leading participatory video projects with youth in marginalized communities. Currently, Luisa is pursuing a MS at ITP and is a NYU Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her current work focuses on creating interactive social platforms that instigate civic engagement and social change through the use of documentary-style storytelling. She also works on interactive video installations and animation to bring a little bit of play and magic to grown-ups’ lives.

I am a first year graduate student at ITP. Prior to beginning my studies at ITP, I focused on content design and user experience at several start ups and worked in education in various roles. I graduated from Harvard 2010 magna cum laude plus with a degree in Government and a specialty in Latin American Studies.

Steph Yiu is a third culture kid, which means she grew up in American expat communities around the world. Hailing from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, she is the founder of denizenmag.com, an online magazine for people who grew up abroad. She is also the New Media Strategist for America's Test Kitchen, and was formerly the web editor for the Chicago Tribune's RedEye. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

A second-year student at ITP, I am a designer, programmer and researcher who seeks to adapt new technologies to problems of information access and accountability. My thesis project is a mobile health application that will improve the accuracy of and patient adherence to current self-assessment tools for Macular Degeneration, a degenerative eye disease that affects over 9 million Americans.

Elena Parker is a cross platform storyteller. In 2009, She co-wrote and co-produced the HBO Documentary Make Me Young: Youth Knows No Pain. Elena then served as the Managing Editor on the New York Public Library’s first iPad app, a digital magazine called Biblion: The Boundless Library. The first edition presented over 700 original source documents and photos in an immersive environment and was named the Best Education App of 2011 by Apple. This past fall, Elena assisted in developing, writing and producing two transmedia projects from Lance Weiler and the Workbook Project: Robot Hearts Stories and “Wicked Solutions for a Wicked Problem.” Currently, she is helping to expand The Workbook Project's DIYDays conference to include more experiential aspects along side of its industry talks. Her focus during her master studies at ITP is on transmedia, interactive video and new platforms for long-form storytelling.

Sabrina Ricci is a co-founder of FictionBrigade, a publisher of flash fiction. Flash fiction is a complete story that is either between 50-1500 words, a piece of art, or a video under 2 minutes. Sabrina graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Communication and a minor in Professional Writing, with an emphasis on editing. She spent a year freelance writing and then moved to New York to pursue the M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media from NYU, which she will complete this spring. Her publishing credits include working at LIFE, Wendy Lamb Books at Random House, and the ebook department at Simon & Schuster. She has also worked and written for Santa Barbara Magazine, HardMagic Publishing, the online newspaper Noozhawk, and the Daily Nexus. In her free time she writes fiction.

Kristin Loeb is the creator of Navigator, a mobile application that assists the blind and visually impaired with navigating indoor spaces, by using a mixture of augmented reality and Bluetooth technology.  After graduating ITP in 2010, Kristin started working as an interaction designer at R/GA with the mobile and social platforms team, where she is currently working on an breakthrough project for Nike.  While at ITP, Kristin and a group of fellow students created an interactive television application for Boxee that allows the viewer to learn more about what is currently on the TV screen, such as actors, or music.  She also worked on a number of mobile inspired projects.  Prior to ITP, Kristin worked as a freelance documentary filmmaker and producer for companies such as HBO, The Sundance Channel and Washington Square Films. In her spare time, Kristin likes to surf and eat gelato.

Tiffany Ho is a rising senior at Yale. A serial entrepreneur, she founded ReadySetLaunch and Osus Inc. This past August, she launched The Little Salad Shop in New Haven, CT. Tiffany was a coxswain for Yale Men's Varsity Lightweight Crew, where her boat captured a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints Regatta - Freshmen Lightweight Eight Grand Final in May 2009. Tiffany is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Tiffany is conducting research for her year-long sociology thesis and book proposal in the subculture of entrepreneurship. Her areas of focus the structure / agency of subcultural norms and the architecture of social identities.

Marisa Bramwell is an exceptional and hard-working digital television producer, manager and content creator. She is currently an MBA student at Baruch College (concentration Entrepreneurship, Class of '12) with a specific focus on digital media business opportunities, development and production. Full-time, Ms. Bramwell is the Northeast Assignment Editor for ABC News, where she is responsible for organizing the logistical and editorial aspects of news coverage in the northeast region for Good Morning America, World News, Nightline, and ABCNews.com. In addition to her responsibilities at ABC News and Baruch, Ms. Bramwell runs a vacation home rental business that has a consistent five-star customer satisfaction rating for four years running on HomeAway.com. She enjoys acting, writing, photography and video editing in her spare time.

Tiffany is a senior at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and is focusing on Social Entrepreneurship. While attending NYU she has developed a number of business plans and in doing so won a seed grant while participating in the ‘Reynolds Be a Changemaker Challenge’. She believes in ‘doing well by doing good’ and has studied the anatomies of notoriously great companies. It is apparent to her how treating employees with the utmost care, and being authentic, transparent, and responsible can help increase a business’s bottom line. Tiffany has acquired a three-pronged skill-set while studying at NYU that consists of marketing, business, and design. She assumes that this skill-set, combined with her commitment to social progress will enable her to create a business that will add value to people’s lives.In the meantime, she hopes to contribute her skills and work ethic to a company that she admires soon after her impending graduation in May. Her present goal is to secure an intern position with a company that is profitable and has a clear social mission. She is looking forward to meeting all of the entrepreneurs at the WE conference and is excited to share all of her previous challenges as well present ideas and aspirations.

CEO and Founder of JumpThru, a company that accelerates the founding and success of women-owned companies that use the internet to offer new products and services to women. www.jumpthru.net JumpThru offers a subscription eletter about technology with visuals and videos, www.mytechletter.com. Co-Founder of Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) the first startup accelerator and mentorship-driven program designed for women-founded companies in mobile technology. www.womeninnovatemobile.com Former Investment Banker for over 21 years having started at Goldman Sachs in 1980 after Columbia Business School. Left Goldman voluntarily to found boutique firm and served as first President. Launched new lines of business at Lazard Freres and also Shattuck Hammond Partners. At SHP started health care technology practice focusing on software and Internet in 1998. Member of New York New Media in late 1990's (angel investing group). Member of Golden Seeds, angel investing group since 2009. Investments range from SAS cloud company to Golden Seeds Fund 2. www.goldenseeds.com Profiled in the book Beyond 85 Broads. Selected as one of CVC 30 Columbia Venture Community's "30 Columbians who have accomplished the most interesting things in the technology, entrepreneurship, and venture industries" www.columbia.vc served as a Judge for various start up competitions including Start Up Weekend NY, Technovation, Columbia Social Entrepreneurs and Vatortv.

Graduated from FIDM with Associate in Arts in Fashion Design and obtained Bachelor of Business Administration in Design and Management, Bona Kim has vast experience in both production and retail side of fashion industry especially in E-commerce. Now studying at ITP, New York University, she is embarking on a new journey in combining technology with design, art and fashion. Her first attempt to whimsical wearable technology, called "Dance Party Twinkle Skirt" was featured on Maker Magazine's live show last year.

I'm a bookworm to the core and have spent my career exploring the various ways people can tell stories. Since 1995, I've been working as a website editor and writer, with many jaunts into other media spaces, including on-air television reporting, public radio researcher, book and graphic novel reviewer, documentary and oral history enthusiast. Still and always looking for the best ways to connect people, stories, words, images.

I’ve been working in digital content for quite some time now, usually within the cushion of a large media company: In the early days of online, I was managing editor at Epicurious, and later, deputy editor at Style.com, both at Conde Nast. Around the advent of web 2.0, I headed the launch of Real Simple magazine’s first content website. And more recently, I was VP, digital content, for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s digital properties. Now, as the VP of Content for Unstuck, which released its first iPad app in December 2011, I’m adapting my large-company skills to start-up land — and loving it, as I watch our brand-new brand gamely compete with big names in the lifestyle category.

Alicia Yaffe – CEO – Alicia Yaffe launched The Spellbound Group in 2011 to execute unique campaigns for bands and brands to build sustainable markets. Alicia applies her years of expertise as the chief architect behind the integrated marketing department at Rocket Science, where she directed social media campaigns, digital sales initiatives, and on-and-off-line events to build successful campaigns for her clients at The Spellbound Group. Her experiences co-managing So-Cal Punk forefathers Unwritten Law honed her negotiation skills, and her ninja-like abilities to get in the heads of both niche communities and broad audiences. Alicia has been a speaker on Social Media Marketing and Outsourcing Marketing for effective campaigns at the NARM conventions for 2009 and 2010, and moderated a panel at the CMJ Music Marathon in 2009 about selling physical products in a digital world.

Now a nutritionist, but a previous career as a professional opera singer had her singing at Carnegie Hall, in Rome, and in cities across the U.S. She went back to school to study her passion, nutrition, and merge it with her love of entrepreneurism. Currently the CEO and founder of startup, Nutribump, on online nutrition service for women who are pregnant or trying to conceive.

Jody Culkin is an artist who has shown her sculptures, photographs and new media pieces at museums and galleries throughout this country, including P.S 1, the Clock Tower, the Neuberger Museum, the Bronx Museum, and internationally, including IV Salon y Coloquio International de Arte Digital in Havana, Cuba; Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome Italy; Amerika Haus in Cologne, Germany; Canterbury Arts Festival in Canterbury, England. She received an Artists Fellowship in Sculpture from the New York Foundation on the Arts, a sponsored project grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, a Design Award from the New York City Department of Transportation, and a research fellowship from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Department. She is currently a Professor at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College in the Media Arts and Technology Department, where she is Deputy Chair. She has a BA from Harvard University in Visual Studies and and MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Department.

I’m a Boston-New York based Creative technologist and Media Artist who loves to experiment and research in order to implement technology in everyday life. I’m passionate on moving images on big and small screens and how to create new ways of experimenting with them. I believe in the power of information and the implementation of the user’s experience depending on geographic locations and their personal needs.

Paige Yim recently received her M.A. in Food Studies from New York University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations. Paige has a diversity of experience in food and possesses a multidisciplinary understanding of the food system and how it relates to the environment, politics, culture, and people. She has held previous roles in brand strategy and digital communications, combined with over 10 years of food-related work experience. Most recently, Paige worked at Rick’s Picks as Social Media Director. Before that, she worked at advertising agencies for clients like Kraft, Prego and Diet Coke. It was with this experience that inspired her to switch career paths to make a difference in the food system, aiming to make it more equitable and sustainable.

Ellen is founder of Friends of Tilonia, Inc. which takes its name from Tilonia, a small village in India that is home of the Barefoot College. Ellen and a team of Barefoot e-commerce managers from Tilonia have developed an online enterprise, Tilonia.com, to market artisan products directly to international buyers. With a direct-to-buyer model, these artisan producers earn a greater percent of product sales than through traditional export channels and are empowered to build and manage their own enterprises. Ellen has over 20 years experience in developing new businesses and web-based financial services delivered to major financial firms. She is a member of Investors’ Circle, and mentors enterprise start-ups at New York University’s Stern School of Business and Pratt Design Incubator. She is a graduate of Stern and the University of Minnesota. She lives in Brooklyn when not on the road in India.

Mariama Todd is a Senior Financial Analyst at Wolters Kluwer, a media company serving the legal industry. She works to establish and deliver upon revenue goals while maintaining the bottom line. Her position is a blend of finance, strategy and marketing. Mariama has held a wide variety of finance-related positions in the media industry: Business Manager for the Real Estate Media division of American Lawyer Media, Strategic Pricing Manager at Meredith Corporation, assistant business manager for Inc. and Fast Company magazines and consumer marketing and editorial finance-related positions at Primedia and Fitness magazine. She has a B.A.with honors in History from Dartmouth College and a M.A. in Magazine Publishing from New York University. Mariama is currently working on icon, her own media endeavor for an overlooked, yet viable market segment: African American women ages 35-55. icon is the digital lifestyle destination that speaks to the unique fashion, beauty, relationship and financial needs of “women of a certain age” This product is not about perfection or emulating younger women. It is about relishing the uniqueness that these women have earned. The tagline says it all: "For the grown up you".

I'm the founder of Little Borrowed Dress, a new site with a mission to eliminate the phrase “you can totally wear it again” from every bride's vocabulary by offering bridesmaid dresses for RENT! We design and manufacture our own 'no alterations required' styles which are available via an internet / mail-order model. Prior to Little Borrowed Dress, I was an operations and strategy consultant advising clients across US, Europe and Africa and obtained an MBA from London Business School.

Since leaving the kitchens of Taste Caterers, one of New York's top tier caterers in 2010 , Kimberly Ramin has launched her own brand, et al fine food & events. Catering private, corporate and social events from Cape May to Montauk, et al fine food has grown as a brand that is know for creativity, quality & style. In July 2011 et al opened it's first retail location featuring high end creative handcrafted foods.

Lisa Duggan is the publisher of The Parent du Jour, a 365 day web project, featuring mothers and fathers from around the world. It has been described as, "An online book being written one day, and one parent, at a time." Since Lisa's attendance at the inaugural 2011 WE Festival she has; written for Forbes.com, edited her first book (The Protesting Parent: With Stories from Occupy Wall Street, 2011) and signed on as Associate Producer for a documentary film about activist parents, The Parents of The Revolution. You can also find Lisa's writing at TheMotherHoodBlog.com.

Marie Wiltz is a Vice President, Senior Media Specialist for Ketchum’s New York-Global Media Network. Marie is an expert in thought leadership and executive visibility and has worked with clients to reinforce companies’ global thought leadership by placing their most prominent executives in the most prestigious news outlets and speaking venues (World Economic Forum, Wall Street Journal CEO Council, USA TODAY CEO Forum). Marie has worked extensively with top tier national media and digital media. Marie has secured placements ranging from CNBC, NBC Nightly News, Nightly Business Report, CBS Early Show, Bloomberg TV, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Forbes, Fortune, BloombergBusinessWeek, Fast Company, Portfolio.com. She has extensive experience in the financial services, energy and healthcare/pharmaceutical industries with clients such as NextEraEnergy (formerly FPL), Applied Materials, Philips Electronics, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson Controls and IBM among many more. In the digital media space, Marie led the construction and launch of the FedEx Newsroom, which garnered a Bronze Sabre, Web Marketing Association and W3 Award. Prior to this, Marie completed her Peace Corps service and a management training program at JPMorgan Chase. Marie is interested in being more entrepreneurial at work to further drive tech initiatives as well as leverage her background in speaking opportunities and top tier media to help entrepreneurs drive the growth of their businesses. She loves yoga in her free time and is mulling over an idea for a yoga site/business.

Johanna Zeilstra is co-founder of GiveBack, a philanthropic rewards program for employees and consumers. Her focus with GiveBack is to help businesses accelerate their corporate social responsibility programs through cause marketing and workplace giving. Johanna previously served as a senior-level Vice-President at JPMorgan Chase for 6 years in a variety of roles. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada, and subsequently worked in China, Indonesia, France and across the USA. Her clients included Delta AirLines, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, People’s Bank of China, Industrial Bank of Japan, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lucent Consumer Products, Philips, NASD, and Amoco Canada. Johanna is originally from the Netherlands. She was educated in Canada where she earned a Sociology degree and then an MBA in Operations Management. She is an active board member of several a large not-for-profit organizations and lives in Westchester, NY with her husband and three sons.

We're telling people what things cost in health care, a traditional mystery. Shouldn't you know that your MRI could cost as little as $400 or as much as $3,500 here in New York? Your birth-control pills, $4 or $50? Shouldn't you be able to know other health costs, too? We're here to help. The health-care marketplace is the biggest remaining opaque market, and it is ripe for transparency, just as airline ticket sales, real-estate sales and car sales were once ripe for transparency. Rising health costs are perhaps the biggest problem facing us as a nation. We have recently won two $20,000 grants, one from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (Jeff Jarvis of "What Would Google Do?" and "Public Parts," was my lead professor for the first grant) and one from the International Womens Media Foundation, where Liza Gross and her team are among our strongest supporters. We're using tools like shoe-leather reporting, crowdsourcing, curation and sourcing of pricing databases and cool data visualization and interactivity. The site is up in beta, the product of my 10 months of work, with a group of freelancers. We're now building the team, and looking to improve the product and raise money to go further. I'm the founder/CEO, and I won these grants after volunteering for a buyout from The New York Times two years ago, after almost 25 years there as an editor, reporter and exec.

Jenny is a co-founder of Jackson Fish Market www.jacksonfish.com, a small software startup focused on making beautiful software experiences. Their latest product is A Story Before Bed www.astorybeforebed.com - the first (and only) service that lets parents, grandparents, and children record video of themselves reading children's books and play it back as often as they like on the Mac, PC, or iPad. Before Jackson Fish, Jenny worked at Microsoft from 2001–2007 as Creative Director of the Windows User Experience team. When she isn't running her startup, she serves on the board as Experience Director of the AIGA Seattle chapter and works on national & local organizations to foster the next generation of creative design talent headed for the tech industry. She was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Technology by the Puget Sound Business Journal and was awarded Seattle 2.0 Best Startup Designer in 2010. She tweets @helveticagirl

As an artist and freelance consultant in the social media space, I help people, brands and businesses create and manage a global web presence that helps drive traffic to their web sites, and clients to their doors. I have a strong focus on social networking and developing knowledge sharing processes for business. In recent years I have been working with a cutting edge Leadership and Diversity consulting with a focus on Social Media Optimization and communication design. I manage communities and conversations for organizations through tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and help build an engaged and loyal fan base with simple strategies that I’ve learned from 10+ years in social marketing experience.

Erica Kane is the President of The Brooklyn Pasta Company, a family-owned venture seeking to reinvent the face of Italian American cuisine with artisanal products that utilize local and organic ingredients. Erica currently also works as a restaurant consultant and food stylist. Prior to this, she worked as a research analyst at hedge fund Moore Capital, covering the food and beverage industry among others. Erica holds a B.A. from Columbia University and degrees in Culinary Arts and Culinary Management from the Institute of Culinary Education.

Emily received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon with an emphasis in design and environmental science. Since graduating in 2009, Emily has worked throughout the US, Central America, Europe, New Zealand, and China. Recently, she studied photography and contemporary art practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and regularly shoots for nonprofits and galleries. In 2010, Emily co-founded the Green Space Rehabilitation Project in Portland, Oregon. It aims to restore neglected urban green spaces through bioremedial gardens and design. She is now working on an incubator NGO for school properties specifically.

Anita has over 10 years of solid e-commerce experience. In her most recent online commerce role, she was VP, E-commerce at Nutrisystem. Prior to that, she headed product for Wallop (a Microsoft Ventures start-up) as well as Ingenio (funded by Benchmark Capital and acquired by AT&T YellowPages.com). Anita has expertise in building B-to-B and B-to-C platforms, search and advertising, user experience design, product management viral metrics optimization, online marketing, and social networks. Anita holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. She earned her B.A. in Politics from New York University with a minor in Mathematics. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, performs account management, and leads the delivery of conversion rate optimization services to clients. Anita’s civic projects include TechGirlz – a project to expand exposure to and interest in technology among young girls in the Philadelphia area. She is also Chair of the Marketing Communications Committee for the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs and is a member of the Mayor’s Digital Philadelphia task force. Anita shares her wealth of web analytics knowledge by teaching product management and online marketing internationally.

I am a graduate student in the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU. When I’m not making LED lights blink or programming cat drawings, I enjoy running, biking, teaching spin classes, yoga, Central Park, fresh air, good food, red wine, and the occasional game of Scrabble.

Neetu Sidhu is an NYU Gallatin Graduate student pursuing an interdisciplinary Masters program in Social Entrepreneurship within the fashion industry. Through her studies, Neetu is conducting extensive research on economic development and poverty alleviation, social entrepreneurship and the fashion industry with a heavy focus on business, anthropology and sociology. Neetu helped launch and grow Haden, a NYC-based clothing line, working directly with the designer on all aspects of the product lifecycle. Neetu has marketing, communications, business development and project management expertise from her years working with SMART Technologies and Karo Design. Most recently, as Co-founder of REVIVAL Style, Neetu has been actively engaged in the planning, development and upcoming launch of REVIVAL Style’s pilot collection. REVIVAL Style is an apparel social enterprise that positively impacts rural female Indian artisans, US garment manufacturers and stylish US women.

40:20 Vision is a resource to start conversations, share experiences and facilitate mentoring between generations. The idea is that we can have more than 20:20 vision if we share and pass on our knowledge in a mentor-like, collaborative setting. My mission is to build a community that gives visibility to different choices and outcomes and connects women to those who have the expertise they need to help forge their own path. I am particularly inspired by the entrepreneurial community and it's innate and growing spirit of sharing. I also hold live-mentoring events where younger and more experienced entrepreneurs can get the issues they are struggling with on the table and discuss with others who have been through the same experiences. My motivation for starting 40:20 Vision was influenced by my 20 plus years of experience in strategic planning, innovation and consumer insight at both ad agencies and strategic consultancies.

Yonni is an arts administrator at the Tisch School of the Arts and is committed to helping performing artists realize their creative visions. She is also a proud member of the Park Slope CSA. Combining her background in both education and community agriculture, she is developing a student-centered food co-op which promotes energy efficient agricultural methods and affordable local produce. She is especially interested in best practices regarding sustainability in the urban marketplace. Yonni is also a devoted, albeit awkward, tap dancer.

I began my professional career in retail as an asst. buyer at Nordstrom in Seattle, WA, moving on to B. Dalton Bookseller in Minneapolis, MN as an advertising coordinator and then on to account management at Sattchi & Sattchi Advertising and AC&R Advertising in NYC. After 8 years in the corporate world, I decided to pursue my dreams and became an entrepreneur doing something I loved: planning and producing events. I co-founded This Is It! Productions, Inc. in 1994, a full service event production company specializing in outdoor community festivals. Ten years later we created a sister company, This Is It! Stageworks, LLC, which focusses on staging, lights and sound for any size event.

Jennifer Shannon is a second year student at ITP with a passion for science, mathematics, and art. She has a background in computing and web development and received her B.S. from Columbia University, where she was a Physics major.

Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship MS candidate from NYU-Poly

Adrienne is the CEO and Founder of myPlanit, a “geo-time” platform, whose first customer will be a consumer mobile and web application. myPlanit's goal is to "humanize the Internet" by organizing information across time and place. Previously, Adrienne was the Vice President of AOL's innovation team that incubated from strategy to execution large, new startups. Prior to joining AOL, Adrienne worked at Shearman & Sterling, as an attorney structuring and negotiating international corporate transactions, and at Lotus Development Corp. and Accenture, as a technology consultant and software programmer. Adrienne is the inventor on three granted patents in location based services. She has a law degree with honors from the Fordham University School of Law, a BSEc with honors from the Wharton School and a BA with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.

I am so happy to be back at 721 Broadway where I had a great Tisch-ian education! I am a singer/writer and the co-founder of GoChords.com. GoChords.com is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for creating simple lead sheets, complete with chord symbols, lyrics, and simple notation. It is a great tool and resource for guitar, ukulele and mandolin players alike. With GoChords.com features you can: Drag-and-drop the placement of chord symbols above lyrics. Change chords as you change instruments or change the key with a single click. Use a huge library of built-in chord shapes. Create your own custom chord shapes. E-mail your song sheet to people who are not yet members. Create groups to share your music with others. Message other members both publicly and privately. Play along "mouse-free" with the auto-scroll feature. Use on your the computer, iPad, iPhone, and Android. And lots more! PS Check out my YouTube films. Shot at 721 Broadway back in the day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXGFo2WI2aw, http://www.youtube.com/user/LC323/videos

I am a passionate entrepreneur committed to the energy/environmental fields. I have worked in large corporations, non-profits, and start-ups and always feel best when I'm creating something great that has never existed before. I grew up moving around thanks to parents who changed their careers midstream (great role models!) I now live in NYC with my family. I love the WEF community and am looking forward to the next Festival. The Megawatt Hour, launched publicly in December 2011, is a B2B subscription service that brings transparency to deregulated power and gas markets. Currently business customers spend $500 million on brokers and consultants to help navigate deregulated energy markets. They spend a lot and receive little to no actionable information to help them save money and time. The Megawatt Hour changes all that.

Krista Sande-Kerback is the Head of Strategy for 85 Broads. She oversees the global operations of 85 Broads, advising regional chapters and campus clubs run by volunteers around the world. She develops new strategic programs and partnerships; organizes professional networking events, conferences, and webinars; manages website development projects in line with strategic business objectives; and helps promotes the 85 Broads mission through social media tools and strategic networking. Before joining the 85 Broads team, she pursued a Fulbright Grant in Hamburg, Germany and worked as a management consultant for Opera Solutions in NYC. Krista is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and majored in geography and minored in German and Public Policy. Follow her on Twitter: @kristasande

Founder of Blue Sky Media NYC, a media consulting boutique. We advise early stage digital media companies on all aspects of business operations, from distribution and syndication of content, business planning, fund raising, revenue generation and sales. For more background and a client list, please go to BlueSkyMediaNYC.com.

Depending on the day and the time, I'm a dancer, a chartered accountant, a system builder, a designer, or a grant writer. My favorite new saying is 'take more chances, dance more dances'.

Jamie Gutfreund serves as head of business development for The Intelligence Group, a division of Creative Artists Agency. As a member of the IG Management Committee, her role entails leading the company’s initiatives in client services, marketing & sales, technology innovation and product development. She has been a frequent presenter and advisor to leading IG clients such as Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret and Disney, and contributes daily to helping IG clients (and prospective clients) engage the cultural trend and market research output that IG engenders. An early pioneer in digital entertainment, Jamie worked for both Microsoft and Prodigy developing original content and business strategies for clients, brands and entertainment partners. Jamie also served as a business development executive focused on international marketing campaigns for Saatchi & Saatchi in London. Also, she is a mother of two (one Gen Y, one Gen Z) and lives in Los Angeles.

Innovation - People - Impact...a summary of what I am passionate about. My current role is Director of Marketing & Innovation for a small consulting company - I want to leverage my skill-sets from my management consulting background to develop new ideas, start a new business, and have an impact on people's lives in some way. I hope to network and learn from the intelligent business women of today and use that connection to do something amazing. I am a big believer in surrounding yourself with those you aspire to be and learn from which is why I'm excited to meet everyone at this event.

You never know where this CEO of online furniture platform, RemoteStylist.com, will turn up -no literally! Her flight path from a little town in Ontario, Canada to Neuchatel Junior College in the Swiss Alps, to University of Victoria on Canada's West Coast, followed by a Career in Finance on Toronto's famed Bay Street gave the words traveller and networker new meaning. Five years in, the entrepreneur in her saw an opportunity and home staging outfit, Organized Outcomes, was born. Helping 750+ time-starved homeowners maximize their return while transitioning homes in six years, Kelly saw yet another opportunity and thus RemoteStylist.com was born. She's been featured in the New York Times, Inc. and Fortuen Magazines, Canada's National Post and Toronto Star and Dubai's Gulf News among others. She's been on HGTV. She's presented at the Canadian Association of Women Entrepreneurs & Executives, Telus Small Business Week, the Enterprise Council on Small Business Summit and RIM’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium. She is also part of RIM's Blackberry Influencer Program. Follow her on twitter @kellyfallis. Majorly obsessed with planes, travelling and Muskoka dock time - and she's proud to be Canadian!

Rogue Female Fitness is New York’s first women-only fitness company that offers fun, yet no-nonsense workouts for the real New York City woman: those who take their social lives as seriously as their fitness, and aren’t willing to sacrifice either. As “rogue” females in the fitness world, we do not and will not do what people expect. We know that over-restrictive diets and excessive exercise don’t mesh with real life. We believe that life balance actually makes us stronger—and happier. By combining the intense side of fitness and the fun side of life, we know you’ll feel better too. Prior to co-founding Rogue Female Fitness, Helena was a senior associate with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and an associate at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York focused on mergers and acquisitions, securities, private equity and corporate governance work. Helena graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and the New York University School of Law.

Barin Nahvi is part of a three-member team at Hearst Innovation, a group within the diversified media company that fosters entrepreneurship and new business building inside the organization. Before joining Hearst (and after completing an MBA at Kellogg), she worked in McKinsey & Company's New York office. She also serves on the board of a nonprofit media company, Next American City, that is relaunching as a digital-only enterprise.

Allison Madison was born into recruiting. A second generation recruiter, she began her career in 1996 when she began working at her mother’s staffing company. In 2006 Allison took over her mother’s firm and created Madison Approach Staffing. Allison’s experience in recruiting led her to her most recent endeavor, the development of a cloud-hosted video interview software application, Candid Capture. Candid Capture enables recruiters to create customized and timed interview questions. Candidates then simply log in, record and upload their responses. The recruiter can then view and share candidate profiles with hiring managers and decision makers. Allison is currently the President of the New York Staffing Association, and is the Westchester Chapter Director. She is a member of the Westchester/Putnam Workforce Investment Board and also serves on the Board’s Youth Council. Allison is a member of the Board of Directors for the Lakeland Education Foundation which serves the second largest school district in Westchester County where she serves as the Grants Chairperson. She also serves on the event planning committee for the Women’s Enterprise Development Center. In her non-work-hours, Allison is a mother of three and, therefore, spends her weekends running from football, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, girl-scouts, school concerts, art classes……. An adventure seeker, you may well spot her rock climbing, paint balling, hiking, biking, or just generally being a P.O.T.A.T.O. (a Person Over Thirty Acting Twenty One). She even manages to squeeze in a date-night from time-to-time with her husband of 13 years. (Yes, I do have ADD and yes, it is an inherent advantage!)

My curiosity for the human condition has most recently led me to the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch where I study and innovate for interactive, human centered design. Over the past few years I gained international professional experience in Egypt and India where I developed and implemented projects that addressed extreme poverty and hunger among street children, combated gender based violence, and celebrated diversity and promoted tolerance among marginalized communities. My academic background is in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on the Middle East and Social Entrepreneurship.

MICHELE SHAY is best known for her Tony nominated performance in August Wilson's Seven Guitars for which she also received Outer Critics Circle and NAACP awards. Born in the south and raised in New Jersey she is an Actress, Director, Producer, Healer and Certified Coach. She has served on the NY and NJ state Arts Councils, and Theater Panels for the NEA and Princess Grace Foundation. Currently she is teaching acting in the New Studio at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Michele has an eclectic background that includes a marriage to a magazine publisher, being one of a team of coaches delivering Leadership Alchemy to NASA Scientists and Engineers, and making lunches and producing a video for the Mind-Body Medical Institute to promote their stress reduction program for teachers. At the heart of everything she does is a commitment to find and celebrate the magic in an individual or an organization and help them express it. In a time of challenge and change she is looking to create opportunities for collaboration between business and the arts that access and actualize the collective human capacity to be extraordinary.

Representing Artisans, Homeware and Gifts from South Africa, 10% of all profits go to producing "Surviving and Thriving", a documentary based on Thriving after adversity.

Margaret Croom, CEO/Publisher: 23+ years of experience in the technology industry and managing data, as well as marketing and entrepreneurial endeavors. Her skills and expertise were developed at such companies as IBM, EDS, Momentix and American General. Nosey Parker is her creation to promote shopping at the best locally owned businesses that market to women using her guidebook, mobile app, blog and social media.

Carole is a passionate leader with 15 years of grant-making, policy, legislative & programmatic experience on important social issues—education, youth development, equity, poverty, environment/sustainability, technology. For almost 9 years, Carole has been the Executive Director of MOUSE--an innovative youth development organization that empowers underserved students to provide technology support and leadership in their schools, supporting their academic and career success.

Kirsten Bischoff is Founding Partner of HATCHEDit.com. HATCHEDit.com is a mobile whiteboard for managing your personal life. We bring online, social collaboration tools into the home. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she has spent most of her career entrenched in the highly entertaining world of…finance. She gained operational experience at a hedge fund startup that grew to $1bn in assets, spent 3 years as a marketing assistant at BlackRock, and most recently toiled as a senior editor for an online financial news publication. Kirsten lives in Springfield, NJ and when she is not working on HATCHEDit.com she can usually be found playing chauffer to her over-scheduled twelve-year-old daughter Sophie.

Megan is a Founding Partner of HATCHEDit.com. HATCHEDit.com is a mobile whiteboard for managing your personal life. We bring online, social collaboration tools into the home. A graduate of University of Cincinnati she has over a decade’s worth of Wall Street experience spanning both sales trading and asset management marketing. A Bear Stearns alum, she worked for eight years on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Following that she became a Managing Director and then successfully transitioned to JP Morgan where she was the Director of National Accounts for the Institutional Advisory Business at JP Morgan Asset Management. Megan lives in Westfield, NJ with her husband Josh and their daughter Madeleine.

Diana is the Founder of Clinical Navigation, which provides individuals with a resource both live and soon online to effectively navigate their personal health agenda, diet and lifestyle goals. Clinical Navigation connects individuals with cutting edge health and wellness information from prominent clinicians and provides individuals with customized solutions to answer their health questions. Diana completed her graduate work both at NYU-GSAS and at Columbia University. She completed her certification in the treatment of Eating Disorders and Addictions at the William Alanson White Institute and CSAB. She began her career as Associate Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery at NYU Medical Center and subsequently at the Institute for Neurosurgery and Neurology at Beth Israel. Her research on brain and spinal cord tumors has been published internationally. Following, this she transitioned to Healthcare Communications where she was Chief Science Officer/EVP, Managing Director at Wishbone (acquired by Rosetta) and then EVP, Managing Director launching Global Brands for companies that include Novartis, GSK, Pfizer, Genzyme as well as a successful medical education company.

Kate Thorman is a freelance writer living in NYC. She moved here after traveling around the world and living in Paris -- where she worked for a film production company-cum-independent press -- intending to continue developing her film and traditional writing backgrounds. When she fell into Jauntsetter, a start-up travel site and e-newsletter for New Yorkers, she found herself in the midst of the rapidly expanding NYC start-up world. This summer, she and photographer Nora Chovanec decided it was time to capitalize on their talents and interests in a way that no other company had by starting a media production company that would synthesize the various media platforms upon which contemporary culture depends. Their first project is a travel and food show called The Innocents Abroad.

Susan Kaplan, Founder of Kaplan Consulting and Coaching, is a Business Consultant, Business Coach and Career Coach. She uses her Yale MBA, Coach Certification and over 15 years of marketing top national brands to help clients achieve their business and career goals more effectively and efficiently

Dana is a software engineer and the founder of The Melody Book, a startup creating iPhone/iPad apps. With the first app Classical Melody Book, users can quickly search through an entire database of sheet music for piano, flute, guitar, violin, voice, clarinet and orchestra by name, year, composer or the first few notes in a piece's theme. Her interests in photography, graphic design, art and music come together nicely in her work. Dana is always looking to combine design and technology.

Wagenknecht co-founded the New York City and Austrian based research and development lab Nortd with Stefan Hechenberger during a fellowship at Eyebeam Atelier in 2007. Nortd developed the first commercial open source multitouch system in 2007 called CUBIT and multiple iterations which have followed. Currently they are in the final phases of developing an open source laser cutter called Lasersaur which has already received numerous awards and international media attention from places like the BBC and Forbes. Addie has also done some other interesting things but feels its more important you know that she loves her dog, coffee and back country skiing. She spends her time in between Austrian Alps and New York City, and hangs out in Portland a lot, (but who are we kidding, she lives on airplanes and the internet). Addie received her Masters from New York University and more recently has been a fellow at places like Carnegie Mellon University, CultureLab UK, Eyebeam, ISIS and Hyperwerk Basel.

Multiplatform producer at Ramona Pringle Productions Inc., part of the New Media faculty at Ryerson University in Toronto, and currently hosting and producing the online series "rDigitalife" exploring what it means to be human in today's wired world.

I'm the founder of Closet Groupie, a person-to-person online marketplace where members can buy and sell items directly from each other's closets. I spent several years working in various positions in the fashion industry (YSL, DKNY, Club Monaco, and PVH) before joining the family business, Kelly's Kids. I took the start-up plunge and quit my job two years ago. I'm still trying to convince some friends and family that not having a steady salary does not mean that I'm unemployed!

Ariana is an artist, designer and fashion entrepreneur living in New York. Building upon her decade of experience in fashion and art she founded Charm & Strange, a website and retail experience that allows women to breathe new life into their own unused jewelry. C & S has a mission of creating heirloom quality pieces out of previously loved jewelry, keeping narrative alive and products out of the landfill. Ariana juggles this business with her art making and apartment renovation. Her sculptures have been exhibited around the world including the Museum of Arts and Design here in NYC with write-ups in the New York Times and Timeout New York, among others. Her hand-built apartment was featured on HGTV and she is in development of another exciting reality based TV show.

I'm an attorney turned entrepreneur working on my first tech start-up in the sustainability space. myEcoScope is a peer-driven platform that empowers its members to provide each other with the know-how, tools, motivation and support needed to make better, more sustainable choices in their everyday lives. I live in New York City with my husband and son.

Grace Lissauer is the founder of The Chocolate Nation (thechocolatenation.com), an online marketplace and event business dedicated to artisanal chocolate from around the United States. Lissauer’s mission is to promote the chocolatiers’, their inventive creations, ranging from truffles to bon bons, bark to bars, which are all handcrafted using the finest and freshest ingredients. After 20 plus years as a senior executive in the fashion industry, Lissauer knows something about business and creativity. In addition to successfully launching two national retail brands, she has proven expertise in design/merchandising, product development and marketing for such companies as Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor and Talbots. In addition to the retail aspect of The Chocolate Nation, Lissauer has also combined her eye for luxury with her lifelong passion for chocolate, offering the unique and innovative service of Chocolate Concierge: styling artisanal chocolates for events; designing custom creations for personal and corporate gift giving, and fulfilling the chocolate and gift-giving wishes of her clientele.

A senior editor at national magazines, author of two books and columnist for newspapers and national magazines, I've always written for food. in 2007, I was compelled to become an entrepreneurial-journalist when confronted by the lack of good women's content. Now there's too much to keep track of, so I've built a big-momma site to bring it all together--a front page for women online: Vitamin W. It's about crowd-funding women's journalism and women's organizations at the same time--lifting and rising. In 2008, I started an oped section called Women Make News. In my 20s, I developed the first mid-life magazine for women --which eventually turned into Living Fit. A graduate of Wellesley College, I come from a long line of feminists--my college-educated great grandmother was deemed the woman in Georgia who contributed the most to the suffrage movement.

Stephanie Harbour is an investment banker turned entrepreneur and is passionate about the topic of women and work. She is currently President and Owner of Mom Corps NYC. Mom Corps NYC is a specialized search firm that helps clients fill high-level, non-traditional roles. In its first year of operations, Mom Corps NYC has worked with clients including Sony, Whole Foods, Avon and Morgan Stanley, and has built a database of over 9,000 candidates in the New York City area. Prior to Mom Corps, Stephanie worked at Centerview Partners, a mergers and acquisitions advisory and private equity firm based in New York. At Centerview, Stephanie advised on over $25 billion of transactions and worked closely with clients on corporate strategy and deal execution. Stephanie was also deeply involved in recruiting, training, mentorship and development at the firm. She started her career at UBS Investment Bank in New York City in the Global Consumer Products and Retail group. Stephanie graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Economics and a concentration in Political Economy. She lives on the Upper East Side in Manhattan with her husband.

I'm the CEO of VerveCards.com, an award-winning boutique ecard site. We’re all about glorious color, vibrant design, ingenious wit – and no scary links! (That’s our silver bullet). Ecards appear instantly in the recipient’s email, and it’s possible to send back a direct reply. Verve won About.com's Readers' Choice Award this year for Best Ecard site with 90% of the votes against all the big guns -- quite a thrill! I was a fine artist (painter/mixed media) for more than 20 years -- did some copywriting, consulting and curating, too -- and, now I'm thoroughly enjoying the wild ride of Startup World! Everything I'm passionate about -- color, design, humor, human connectedness and entrepreneurship -- gets tapped daily -- yay!

Julia Levy is the co-founder of Culture Craver, a NYC-based service that changes the way people interact with the arts by facilitating social curation of culture. Culture Craver's website and mobile application generate custom film, theater, and art recommendations based on the tastes of the friends and professional critics users trust. Julia is also currently serving as the Project Director of the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security, co-chaired by Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein. Previously, Julia was the Director of Communications for the New York City Department of Education. She graduated from Dartmouth College and Columbia Business School. She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

I am the co-founder of StudentsforService, a non-profit which engages high school students from communities and schools across New York City in community service programs. Our mission is to harness the energy, talents and enthusiasm of NYC youth to address social problems and cultivate the next generation of civically engaged leaders.

I'm a digital producer at Discovery, a writer and columnist for Scientific American, and a MBA student with a passion for communicating science and digital forward-thinking.

Gina Noel D'Ambrosio is the founder and Director of Salsa International, a Latin social dance program based in midtown Manhattan for the past 10 years. The mission of Salsa International is to use social dance as a means to improve adult fitness, coordination, musicality and social networking skills. Gina Noel maintains complete responsibility for company vision, corporate and client relations, and program development. Prior to opening Salsa International, Gina Noel was a freelance performing artist and classical singer. Career highlights include performances at Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Vienna Konzerthaus. Ms. D'Ambrosio was the primary sponsor for the Salsa International Talented Youth (SITY) program, bringing dance to underprivileged teens, from 2006 to 2011. She currently volunteers her time with Junior Achievement, City Harvest, and as a cross-training sponsor for Leukemia Lymphoma Society - Team in Training. Gina Noel received her BA from New York University and a dual Master's of Music degree from Temple University, where she was a teaching fellow.

Adee Telem is Co-Founder and CEO (US) of The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC), a strategy consulting firm operating at the intersection of the for- and non-profit worlds. TSIC provides businesses, foundations, philanthropists, charities and social enterprises with the advice and support they need to maximize their social impact. TSIC has headquarters in London with offices in New York and Dubai. Adee specializes in building smart alliances between the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. She has a passion for leveraging technology for social impact and has worked with leading companies like Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Sony and LinkedIn. With a background in Middle East policy and conflict resolution, she previously served as West Coast Director for the OneVoice Movement and held research positions at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the US Institute of Peace. Adee has been named one of 65 American-Jewish Leaders by the Center for Leadership Initiatives and has been selected as one of 25 Emerging Leaders in Conflict Resolution by the U.S. Department of State and the Washington-Ireland Program.

Dana Ostomel is a marketing and branding expert with nearly a decade of experience developing integrated marketing solutions for brands in a wide range of industries, from Snapple and CENTURY 21 to The Home Depot, DIRECTV and MasterCard. Years before she got married, she wondered how anyone could store so many presents-and even if they could, how they had the time to accept, unwrap, return (often), track and use them all. It seemed like a second job. Her understanding of consumer behavior led her to believe she could simplify the registry process, and not just for weddings, but for any gifting or fundraising event. She set out to create a service that would allow people to get exactly what they wanted, when they wanted it -- a fresh, interactive way to say cash would be the perfect gift. And so Deposit a Gift, the next generation gift registry, was born. Dana has a Bachelor's degree in communications from U.C.L.A. and has also studied in Israel and Spain. She is fluent in Spanish and loves to travel, exercise and cook.

Christine Doempke is a second year student at ITP. She has been a math/science/college test-prep educator for over 10 years, as well as a choreographer and yoga teacher. She interested in the development and education of the whole person and breaking down the barriers between mind-body learning. Prior to coming to NYU, she studied Dance/Theater Arts and Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University.

Jazmin Chavez is a Social Media Strategist living in New York City. A lawyer by trade, she focuses on social media and movement strategies for non-profit organizations, artists, web series, federal agencies and small businesses across the nation. Her current projects include Justicia Hoy, which utilizes innovative lawyering to monitor, comment and report on news, laws and events that have an impact on the Latino and immigrant community across the nation and Social Bueno, a site on social media for social good. She is the co-founder of Pinxe Cards, a spanglish greeting card company and is a featured writer for Being Latino, Fox News Latino, Ms. JD, and The Social Media Monthly Magazine.

Janet is the co-founder of For the Makers, a space for sharing ideas, skills and inspiration. By combining hand-picked DIY materials delivered monthly with expert tutorials it makes making easy, social and fun. Before founding For the Makers she designed jewelry for clients including Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade, Alexis Bittar and Chloe + Isabel.

Katie is the co-founder of For the Makers, a space for sharing ideas, skills and inspiration. By combining hand-picked DIY materials delivered monthly with expert tutorials it makes making easy, social and fun. Before founding For the Makers she designed jewelry for clients including Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Club Monaco and Target.

Zuhairah Scott Washington is the Founder & CEO of KAHNOODLE. She developed the concept behind KAHNOODLE as a newlywed when she became frustrated that the likelihood of being successful at her marriage was no better than flipping a coin and getting tails. She couldn’t understand why there were online tools that allowed you to achieve other life goals like losing weight or saving money but there was nothing out there to help you build better relationships. Like any other forward thinking woman who sees a problem that needs fixing, she decided to build her own tool that could help other committed couples more proactively manage their relationship success. Zuhairah is passionate about leveraging technology to build profitable, innovative, and useful products that improve human well-being. She has over a decade of digital media, finance, product management, and business development experience in global markets including London, New York, and Dubai. Previously, she was the UK Director of Business Development for the European equivalent of Yelp. Prior to that, she was the youngest Vice President at a private equity firm with $20B in AUM. She has a JD/MBA from Harvard and a BA from UCLA.

Kanchan is co-founder of SwitchBiotics, a virtual drug-discovery start-up focused on de-risking academic stage technologies through the pre-clinical phase for eventual partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. SwitchBiotics has been primarily focused on antibiotics for superbugs, a large and growing unmet medical need. Kanchan completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University in 2008. Her interest in commercialization of biological discoveries led her to intern with Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, MA. Kanchan was also the Managing Director of the Harvard Biotechnology Club and Program Leader of the Startup Leadership Program, aimed at mentoring and grooming the next generation of start-up CEOs. Kanchan enjoys yoga, running, cooking (and eating) and lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

Mary Jean is a serial entrepreneur, located in San Francisco, California. Her current focus is working on a disruptive educational technology platform, which will enable kids to create "learning games" for mobile platforms. She has over 25 years global marketing and market research experience, having lived and worked in Japan, Thailand and Germany. She seeks other like-minded entrepreneurs who seek to disrupt and modernize American's educational "system". She is also an Adjunct Marketing Professor at various universities. Degrees include B.S., Georgetown University, MBA, University of South Carolina, DBA, Golden Gate University. She also speaks Japanese; please contact me if you are working in the edu/tech. space or just want to meet global-minded entrepreneurs.

Diana Huang is a second year graduate student studying at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Her interests lie primarily in studying and experimenting with technology to invent new forms of media and storytelling. She currently runs Guidesly, Inc. with Zach Schwartz and was a participant of the media focused 2011 NY SeedStart program.

Suzanne Seggerman is an award-winning new media thought leader and public speaker on games and media for social impact. Founding the award-winning non-profit Games for Change (G4C), she has served as an advisor for a wide variety of social impact projects including The President's Innovate To Educate STEM Initiative and Michelle Obama's Healthy Kids Campaign, and is also the Co-founder of PETLab, a public interest design and research lab at the New School. Co-founder and former President of Games for Change (G4C), the leading global advocate for social impact games, Suzanne started the organization in 2004 with the conviction that games can change the world — for the better. Known as "the Sundance of Video Games" for "socially-conscious game-makers," Games for Change is the leading global advocate for games in the public interest. Suzanne served as catalyzer and primary evangelist for the new movement, giving talks at events around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, PDF, NTEN, PopTech, and the Harvard Human Rights Conference. She has been featured in a wide variety of press including the New York Times, Time Magazine, ABC News, The Korea Times, Newsweek, The Guardian, and was a winner of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Award. Suzanne is also a nationally rated Scrabble player. For more information, please see:www.suzanneseggerman.com.

Biotech entrepreneur interested in early stage ventures - focused on discovering therapies for diseases with high unmet need. Looking forward to meeting other passionate committed women leaders!

Monica Rawicz is the Founder of ContagiousGood which, through the sale of cause inspired t-shirts designed through crowdsourcing, empowers and inspires individuals and nonprofits to come together to raise money and awareness for the causes they are passionate about. Prior to ContagiousGood, Monica ran a freelance graphic design business, managed projects for various community organizations, founded a local women’s learning community, graduated from NYU’s ITP program, lived abroad and, along with her husband, is raising 4 always wonderful and more than occasionally complicated children.

The only woman entrepreneur in an incubator full of men, I'm the CEO and Co-Founder of PurpleCloud Technologies. I founded my company after working in various departments within the hospitality industry and discovering how inefficient their operations are. With a great passion for hotels and an unwavering determination to create more efficient hotel operations, I founded my company. PurpleCloud Technologies creates various mobile solutions for the hospitality industry. Otherwise, I am very involved with my Lithuanian heritage and love to dance the polka!

Digital brand and marketing strategist, general manager, entreprenuer. A former Vice President of US Interacitve and Senior Director with the international pubic relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Master's degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Works with corporations, advertising and PR agencies and associations to develop products, original content and secure distribution and marketing. Areas of special interest include health & wellness, entertainment, technology, fashion, fitness, retail, media. Specialties Positioning, branding, applications and content development, distribution and integrated marketing, business development.

KEILA CORDOVA is Co-Director & Founder of the 954 Dance Movement Collective (954DMC) and Artistic Director for keila cordova dances/3 Pony Show. The mission of the 954DMC is to get everyone dancing by creating an environment that supports artists who dance; exploring opportunities for healing dance practices; building community through dance; supporting the creation & enjoyment of the moving arts & theater. keila cordova dances/3 Pony Show explores the human narrative in dance, words and song, inspired by empathy, hyperbole, pregnant silences, coincidence and the power of community. Keila Cordova grew up writing stories and watching her mother dance in Panama before migrating to California, where she was both a gymnast and a cheerleader. She soon began creating movement work of her own and went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in Rhetoric and studied Modern Dance. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School and has taught movement and writing in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta. In 2010-2011, Ms. Cordova received a Leeway Foundation award and a Puffin Grant to support the launch of Dance for PD (Parkinson’s disease) in Philadelphia at the 954 Dance Movement Collective (954DMC), in partnership with the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Lutheran Settlement House, Penn Health and the Parkinson’s Council. Ms. Cordova is a choreographer, writer, performer whose work has been presented by numerous venues and festivals. Ms. Cordova has also received artistic support with Funds for New Work awards from Harlem Stage, a commission from the Greenwall Foundation and the International Center for Advanced Studies (NYU); artist residency awards from the Constance B. Saltonstall Foundation, The Millay Colony, Norcroft, as well as an Audre Lorde Fellowship. For more information visit www.954dmc.weebly.com and www.keilacordova.com.

Kelsey is the Founder & CEO of NYC-based venture, InstEvent, an event venue marketplace that simplifies the event venue search and booking process for organizers and venues. Kelsey launched the company after numerous frustrating experiences planning alumni and non-profit events. Prior to InstEvent, Kelsey worked as an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments and as a business development and M&A associate for Sears Holdings. She resides in NYC and holds a Kellogg MBA and a BA from Williams College.

Co-Founder & CEO of Artsicle

Lara Aldag has 10 years of tech, startup and venture capital experience. She is currently the co-founder and COO of Higgle, a consumer-driven platform for competitive pricing. Prior to Higgle, she was a Senior Venture Associate at Tallwave, where she focused on sourcing, evaluating and managing investments and other business development opportunities. Prior to Tallwave, Ms. Aldag founded TAG, an advisory firm specializing in business development, strategy, and capital raising strategies for startups and early-stage companies. Between Tallwave and TAG, she partnered and worked with over 20 technology and new-media startups and growth-stage companies. Previously, Ms. Aldag was a Partner and Senior Associate at Electranet Capital, an investment fund based in San Francisco, where she focused on the firm’s technology investments, and managed the firm’s marketing initiatives and business partnerships. Ms. Aldag began her career as an Investment Banking Analyst in Credit Suisse’s Technology Mergers & Acquisitions Group, where she advised internet, software, and new-media clients in leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, growth driven transactions, and sale auction processes. During her tenure, she completed over $20 billion in transaction value. Prior to Credit Suisse, Ms. Aldag was an intern in the Strategy Finance group at Intel, where she was responsible for developing a cost allocation model for the D2 facility in Santa Clara. Ms. Aldag holds a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University with additional studies at the London School of Economics.

Emily Cavalier is the founder of Midnight Brunch supper club, an invite-only pop-up dining experience that focuses on ethnic food and cocktails. She designs and produces white label events and consults on event & social media strategy with start-ups, high net-worth brands, boutique agencies & food/spirit-based businesses. Current and past clients include Google, Conde Nast, Clean Plates and the Vendy Awards. Cavalier is also the founder and publisher of MouthOfTheBorder.com, a site about ethnic culture and food in NYC. Emily connects food lovers and cool businesses to new audiences using food and cocktails as well as art and local culture. Her company does that in person via custom walking tours, dining experiences and event consulting as well as online via social media strategy and execution. Emily also writes at Mouth of the Border, a site for lovers of ethnic food and cocktails in NYC.

Meghan Doherty joined the 85 Broads team in September 2010 as the Head of Business Development. In this role she works as part of a small team handling the day to day operations of the organization, securing new members and corporate partners, launching new global chapters and working with the chapter and club officers to promote the 85 Broads brand. Prior to 85 Broads, Meghan was a consultant at the Hay Group in their Leadership & Talent Practice. Meghan graduated from Harvard College in 2008 with a degree in Psychology. During her time there Meghan was an active member of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, Habitat for Humanity, Kappa Alpha Theta and the Harvard College Fund.

Adrissha Wimberly is a financial markets expert and co-Founder and COO of Smarteys. Smarteys is the extension of Adrissha's commitment to create simple, life-improving, strategic innovations for the financial services market. After graduating cum laude from Howard University, Adrissha made for the Big Apple and rapidly ascended the financial ladder on Wall Street. After three enriching years at JPMorgan Chase & Co., as a NASDAQ equity trader for semiconductor stocks and a derivatives marketer, she was recruited to Bear Stearns & Co., Inc., where she eventually became vice president of credit risk management. She yearned to find out what makes businesses thrive and decided to leave New York – She moved to the Windy City where she was accepted into the prestigious University of Chicago Booth School of Business.. Adrissha was a natural Smartey because friends frequently solicited her financial advice, and she knew that many young professionals lacked the resources and tools to make sound financial choices out of college. While at Booth, she co-founded a financial management software company, Smarteys, and co-developed its personal finance methodology. Under her excellent leadership, Smarteys is poised to be the next big name in finance. Adrissha is a teaching assistant for Booth's strategy and entrepreneurship courses and speaks regularly at industry events as a personal financial Smartey.

Khwezi Magwaza, Freelance Writer and Multimedia Journalism Graduate Student NYU, Studio 20 Khwezi is the former editor in chief of Seventeen South Africa (Seventeen is the world's leading teen media brand). She attended the Wykheham Collegiate School for Girls, thereafter attending Rhodes University in Grahamstown to study Journalism. Her career started in fashion PR, with clients like ELLE magazine and SA Fashion Week, before working at YFM as an Events Manager, producer and DJ. Later, she worked as a senior reporter at HEAT magazine and launched South African Broadcasting Corporation’s popular entertainment show The Real Goboza. Magwaza was recently awarded a prestigious Ford Foundation Scholarship and is currently reading for her Masters degree with the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University in the innovative digital specialization known as Studio 20.

Gail M. Simons, CFP®, is a seasoned financial professional as well as a successful entrepreneur. As the co-founder of The Highbridge Financial Group, Inc., Gail’s passion is to help people realize their dreams and achieve their life goals. Gail is a recognized expert in financial planning, having been quoted in many financial publications and has been awarded the Five Star Wealth Manager designation by Westchester Magazine for the past three years. After a rewarding career in corporate finance, including a position as director of financial planning for Reader's Digest Association, Inc. and then as financial director of a subsidiary that developed a number of start-up companies, Gail was inspired to launch the first of what was to become several successful business ventures of her own. “The Community Health & Medical Guide™” brought to the tri-state area a publication that educated and assisted the consumer in making more informed health-care decisions while providing a forum for health professionals, facilities, and institutions to market their services. Gail’s last venture before shifting her focus from health to wealth as she created her financial planning practice more than 20 years ago, was the establishment of GMS Associates, Inc., a real-estate property tax consulting firm, which continues to be a prominent presence in the industry. Gail stepped down as President of the Fairfield/Westchester Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, but continues her involvement as a member of the Board of Trustees. She has a B.A. in Economics from New York University, an MBA in Finance and Investments from the Baruch Graduate School of Business, and the CFP® designation from the College for Financial Planning.

Trekking for Kids is a (TFK) is a non-profit corporation, which organizes purpose-driven treks for socially-conscious hikers in some of the world’s most remote and iconic locations. A Trekking for Kids expedition is like no other because it provides Trekkers with a truly unique opportunity to combine their thirst for adventure and the outdoors with their desire to help those less fortunate. TFK focuses on the orphans who live in the shadows of the world’s most coveted adventure destinations.

I am the Founder and CEO of RAREculture, a platform to promote and market extraordinary artists and designers in product design. I have been a visionary design and trend forecasting executive for over 20 years. As a fashion executive, my foresight in anticipating trends in design and in business has helped me to achieve tremendous success. I have been involved in developing a wide range of products in apparel and home design, in both retail and manufacturing. My intuitive ability has allowed me to launch businesses and grow them well into the mid-million dollar range. My vision and mission for RAREculture is to provide consumers with unique, high-quality merchandise that is not mass produced and marketed. I also have a deep dedication to providing the platform for these extraordinary artists and designers to develop their brand, market their products directly to buyers and tell their story.

Jessica Simons-Cohen has always exhibited a creative and entrepreneurial spirit. At the young age of 16, she put her artistic skills to work and started her very own jewelry business. Jessica’s Jewels was born and she was off on her first venture as a business woman. After attending New York University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a minor in Art, she furthered her studies and received her Masters in Special Education from Fordham University. Throughout the following years, Jessica combined her passion for art and education into successful opportunities. While working as a special education teacher by day and a tutor by night, Jessica started another business – Piece by Piece Gifts. Piece by Piece is a unique handmade gift company, specializing in personalized frames and keepsakes for all occasions. She looks forward to attending the Women’s Entrepreneurial Festival to network and be inspired to launch her next venture.

http://www.thebirdwheel.com/ The Bird Wheel is a group of passionate women cyclists who all have their own focus: from building world class custom frames, fashionable cycling apparel, local bikes shops, to public policy advocates that make cycling safer for everyone. We aim to reach beyond cycle chic and present inspiring stories, useful reviews of female specific products and moments of bike zen. http://www.nonavarnado.com/about/ Nona Varnado clothing and accessories bridge the gap between fashion and real athletic apparel using high-tech and traditional fabrics. Our clothing is made in NYC with attention paid to ecologically responsible production methods. Instead of having one set of “bike clothes” and another set of normal clothes – discover the joy of pants designed for surviving the elements, daily riding and making a gorgeous impression. Jackets that have the details of a technical jacket but the look and feel of a high end fashion garment. Nona Varnado apparel makes commuting by bike to socializing more comfortable, stylish and safe.

Jessica Lachs is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GiftSimple, a site that lets users register for gifts they want and tap into their Facebook network to pool contributions from friends and family. She recently received her MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a dual major in Entrepreneurial Management and Strategic Management. Prior to Wharton, Jessica was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, where she worked with companies in the technology, retail and service industries. She also holds a BS with honors from Cornell University.

Whitney Johnson is the president and co-founder of Clayton M. Christensen’s investment firm Rose Park Advisors, a former Institutional Investor-ranked sell-side analyst on Wall Street, a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and a TEDx speaker. Her work was recently cited as a HBR Editor’s Pick for 2011; she was also listed on Inc Magazine’s 12 People to Follow on Twitter in 2012; you can follow her on twitter at @johnsonwhitney. Whitney is the author of the forthcoming, DARE-DREAM-DO: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream (Bibliomotion, May 2012). She and her husband have two children and reside near Boston, MA.

I write software to build things, hopefully meaningful, useful, beautiful things.

Emily is the Founder & CEO of Baking for Good, an online bakery inspired by the idea of the bake sale. We bake delicious, all-natural brownies, cookies, and other sweet treats and donate 15% of the net proceeds from each purchase to a charity that the customer chooses.

Jen Consalvo is Co-Founder, COO and Editor of the tech-focused media company, Tech Cocktail, as well as the Founder of Thankfulfor, an online gratitude journal community. She has worked in product development for over a decade, leading large and small teams in a range of product areas such as digital imaging, community & social platforms and personalization. The majority of her career was at AOL, planning and building products used by millions of people globally. Consalvo is also co-producer of Digital Capital Week (@DCWEEK), a week-long festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital. DCWEEK 2011 attracted over ten thousand people. Jen was named a 2011 Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine, was featured in DC Modern Luxury Magazine in “The Smart Set”, in the Washington Post cover story “Digital Nomads Choose Their Tribes” and also in the Huffington Post story “What is Work? Cutting Yourself Free With Heart“. Over the past few years, Jen’s products have been featured in such places as WashingtonPost, TechCrunch, CNET, Mashable and more. Outside of the tech world, photography, travel and health are her passions. Her new book, Love Your Photos: A Simple Guide To Photographic Happiness is available now.

Ilysse is an independent consultant with 20 years of cross-disciplinary experience working with individuals, agencies and start-ups to deliver creative insights and solutions. Her perspective links early Silicon Valley and Multimedia Gulch to the current New York tech scene. She has documented start-up successes and emerging markets for InterActivity Magazine, written and designed countless web pages for digital media studios, and for clients such as Apple, match.com, Netscape, Microsoft, Oracle and NetObjects. A native New Yorker who's moved around, her careers span the interactive arts, specialty foods, ideation, journalism, small business and life coaching, event planning, wellness and lifestyle. She has coordinated events from the massive NASFT Fancy Food Show to local wellness fairs to custom retreats. She has hiked in the woods with clients in pursuit of life purpose. The 2011 WE Festival inspired Ilysse to attend ITP Camp to reimmerse herself in the recently possible. Her current interests surround creating unique online experiences and communities, personal documentaries, design thinking, and applying gaming strategies to marketing and real-world challenges. She earned a writing degree from Johns Hopkins, studied design at SF State Multimedia Studies Program, Parsons and SVA, and is a certified life coach. Ilysse loves to find needles in haystacks, think multi-dimensionally, cook without recipes, play Scrabble, and revel in nature with her tech-obsessed family.

Julie Fredrickson began her career with the launch of Coutorture Media, a network of fashion websites that was acquired by Sugar Inc. Post acquisition, Fredrickson became Sugar Inc’s Affiliate Network Manager where she oversaw the growth of Sugar’s syndication & distributed content partnerships She has created digital strategies for Pepsi, Tropicana, SoBe, Patron and Equinox Fitness Clubs. Most recently she served as Ann Taylor’s Manager of Digital and Social Marketing where she oversaw their digital branding. Her current startup playAPI is a platform for brands to create social applications and games. We offer a unified suite of technologies that allow brands to integrate game mechanics, API data and social graphs into custom experiences that bridge the divide from online into the real world.

Anne is founder and lead designer at ANNE M CRAMER. After years of honing her design skills, Anne opened her Minneapolis studio and officially launched the luxury label, ANNE M CRAMER, in Spring 2011with one iconic piece, The Flynn Skirt. It was met with the highest praise from both local and national press including Lucky, Glamour and was selected as "Best Of" in Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine and Minnesota Monthly. In Fall 2011, Anne introduced her first full collection to rave reviews, once again. ANNE M CRAMER is now available at select retailers, both domestic and international, as well as on-line at www.annemcramer.com. Anne's style transcends beyond fashion and into home decor where her Minneapolis home has been featured in many publications, including Design*Sponge, Matchbook Magazine and Midwest Home.

I am a first-year MBA Candidate at The Wharton School, majoring in Entrepreneurial Management. I worked in education for six years, as a Teach For America corps member, a charter school teacher, and a development associate for a charter school management organization. Immediately prior to business school, I founded and operated an admissions essay editing service for candidates from nonprofit backgrounds, and built a vegetarian food website, foodsense.is, which I continue to manage. I am interested in starting a business that serves women through consumer web, potentially in the food or wedding space.

User experience designer, writer, consultant

I'm cofounder of openMaterials (a research group focused on open source and DIY experimentation with smart materials), of altLab (Lisbon's hackerspace), of fabriCulture (a project dedicated to promoting open source digital fabrication and maker culture), a member of NYC Resistor, and co-chair of the Open Hardware Summit 2012. I'm a phd candidate at FCSH-UNL and a visiting scholar at ITP-NYU. My academic research is funded by a fellowship from the Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal and the UTAustin|Portugal program. I'm also pretty bad at writing bios...

Kate Lee is a literary agent at ICM. She joined ICM’s literary department nine years ago, after two years of working as a reporter at a weekly magazine. While still an assistant, she gained notice for being the first agent to scout for and develop authorial talent from the web. Lee represents a range of fantastic authors who write engaging and fresh nonfiction — entrepreneurial, journalistic, memoir, and everything in between — new commercial and literary voices in fiction, pop culture and young adult.

I've been working in the design field since 2000 creating a range of interactive and print projects for a variety of mediums including web, mobile, video, newspaper, magazine, advertising, and print as a interaction designer, graphic designer and product manager. In 2005 I received my Master’s degree at NYU’s ITP. My graduate research focused on social software, mobile applications and storytelling. While finishing my degree, I spent some time as an entrepreneur and designer working to make socialight.com a consumer product. I now spend my days at R/GA as an Interaction Design Director working on projects for Kiehl's, Armani, Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Tiffany, L'Oreal and McCormick.

Established my first business venture at aged 13, and haven't stopped since. Originally from Scotland, immigrated to Israel, established a branding agency helping launch Israeli technology companies and products to international markets. Today I am the founding partner of co'motion, a totally new concept for creative services agencies. Most agencies today specialize in one format or another — web, branding, social media, iPhone apps, etc. co’motion brings together leaders in each of these areas. Fifteen award-winning agencies have united to form a “super agency” offering a complete range of sales, marketing & promotional tools, with best-of-breed solutions across the board.

Imagine Fashion (iF) is a groundbreaking fashion and luxury digital destination featuring the most innovative store windows from around the globe. The first of its kind, iF Windows allows consumers to ‘window shop’ in real time regardless of location. iF will select and curate the very best windows produced by Retailers such as Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman and brands such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton, as well as unique boutiques such as Jeffrey, New York and Collette, Paris. www.imaginefashion.com/windows In 2012, iF will be launching a bespoke shopping experience, where viewers will be able to not only view all featured fashion and accessories in greater depth but also shop instantly from the window gallery. Imagine Fashion in Live Time. Imagine Window Shopping, quite literally, all that you see. Currently in beta, iF represents a new kind of viewing, shopping and sharing experience where creative inspiration is at the heart of our content, fuelling the desire of our viewers’ to Share & Shop. iF is home to a team of prestigious editorial contributors – covering Style, Fashion Film, Art & Culture in film-based featurettes for the most engaging viewing. The Peripatetic Fashionista - Godfrey Deeny, continues to share his unique view point with iF on all things fashion from Paris and around the world. With recent exclusive film interviews with some of the world’s most talented designers, including Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani and Christopher Kane, Deeny continues to deliver exclusive insider- insights from the Fashion elite. www.imaginefashion.com/the-peripatetic-fashionista Ladies and Gentlemen - Casey Spooner and Adam Dugas, iF's i Arts contributors continue to post their video blog 'Ladies & Gentlemen' every Tuesday and have developed an avid cult following, including up close interviews with Chloe Sevigny, James Franco and Marina Abramovic. www.imaginefashion.com/ladies-gentlemen Fresh Intelligence - is iF’s curated fashion film platform giving home to the most progressive new talent working in motion featuring thought provoking film pieces. www.imaginefashion.com/fresh-intelligence iF also released two of its own editorial fashion films in 2011, offering a revolutionary level of interaction as viewers were able to Share & Shop on all featured fashion, accessories and beauty within the films and purchase directly. Premiering, prominent directors included Francesco Carrozzini with ‘A Letter’ and Dusan and Hilde Reljin's, 'Matchstick Girl'. www.imaginefashion.com/fashion iF offers the most celebrated global luxury brands a beautifully controlled editorial environment across online and mobile. iF's team is international, with a dedicated team in New York and London.

I'm a student, teacher, author, a member of NYC Resistor, and co-chair of the Open Hardware Summit in 2012. I'm currently working on a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at NYU-Poly, funded through a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. I have my own consulting company and plan to be a professor that works on technology transfer from the lab to the real world.

My background is on broadcasting journalism. I've been working for Brazilian TV networks for the past 12 years and I'm also a second year student at ITP. I'm really passionate about storytelling and transmedia.

Anh Q. Ly is a media architect and designer, exploring the intersection between information, human-to-computer interaction and art. Ly's multidisciplinary approach has led her to develop projects such as iStride, a device that helps runners correct their running stride, and Open Mic, a phone app that connects people through storytelling. Ly is currently a graduate student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Prior to attending ITP, Ly was a business journalist and multimedia producer for MSN.

I am the founder and CEO of FreshTraveler.com, a travel vlog that encourages off the cuff adventures, off the beaten path. I want to build that blog into a socially-conscious digitally based business that promotes sustainable travel in emerging economies. I have my BA from Emerson College in TV Production. While getting my MFA from NYU Tisch's School in Dramatic Writing, I also took classes in social entrepreneurship from the Wagner School. My passions in life are traveling, cooking, and filmmaking and I want to using those media to bridge a deeper understanding between different cultures. I want to use my skills to make an economic difference in the lives of local people all over the globe.