ATHENA Women's Entrepreneurship Summit

Lauren Santo Domingo is the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Moda Operandi, the luxury women's fashion ecommerce platform. A former American Vogue editor, Lauren set out to create a place where women from all corners of the globe could shop designers' complete runway collections – a benefit only offered to editors or stylists at the time. 

Tony is a General Partner and head of NEA's technology investing practice, which is typically two thirds of NEA's funds. Tony focuses on investments in the software and internet sectors with emphasis on SaaS and marketplace ecommerce companies. In addition, he is actively involved in NEA’s investing activities in China and Europe.

A broadcast journalist, media pioneer and digital communication leader, Willow Bay is the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The first female dean of USC Annenberg, Bay oversees more than 200 faculty and staff, and more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students across the fields of communication, journalism, public relations and public diplomacy.

As an entrepreneur for over 15 years, Cris is the CEO of Enroot, the organic non-alcoholic beverages she founded alongside Brad Pitt and John Fogelman and in partnership with the James Beard Foundation and 12 award-winning chefs. As a certified B Corp, Enroot is a female-led team who gives back to the Foundation’s programs for women in food.

Since stepping down from the “day to day” of running Mendocino Farms, a premium fast casual gourmet sandwich and salad concept that she founded in 2005, Ellen has focused her time, energy and passion supporting female and minority founded businesses. Ellen is using her twenty years of experience growing food brands to help early-stage founders understand their purpose, operationalize their values, get the resources they need and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes she made.

Candace Nelson is a serial entrepreneur, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Wall Street Journal contributor and an expert in turning one’s passion into a profitable business. Her debut book, The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secret Recipes from Candace’s Kitchen was a New York Times Bestseller and her book on entrepreneurship, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe for Turning Your Passion Into Profit published by HarperCollins Leadership on November 8, 2022 is a Wall Street Journal bestseller. 

Sabrina K. Garba is a respected executive strategist and business psychologist focused on culture, communications, and organizational strategy. Sabrina is passionate about creating environments that help people reach their highest potential by incorporating core business principles with leadership and learning and development.

Melissa Hanna, JD, MBA, is co-founder and CEO of Mahmee, an integrated care delivery platform for maternal and infant health that connects new and expecting parents, independent providers, and enterprise healthcare organizations to ensure access to comprehensive healthcare for moms and babies everywhere.

Kim is Founder & CEO of Cluster, the first labor marketplace for hardware companies to hire mechanical and electrical engineers. Cluster works with America’s top OEMs, electric vehicle, aerospace and hardware companies.

Julia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent and has been an on-air reporter for the network since 2006. She also plays a central role on CNBC’s bicoastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” delivering reporting, analysis, and CEO interviews.

Monica has extensive experience in entrepreneurship center leadership having built robust and award-winning programming portfolios. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business (MBA) and Howard University (BS in civil engineering).  Monica is on the board of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers and VentureWell, is an Investment Committee Member of the Mass Mutual Catalyst Fund, and an Advisory Council Member of the CNBC Disruptor 50.

A broadcast journalist, media pioneer and digital communication leader, Willow Bay is the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The first female dean of USC Annenberg, Bay oversees more than 200 faculty and staff, and more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students across the fields of communication, journalism, public relations and public diplomacy.