ATHENA Women's Entrepreneurship Summit 2025

Jill Brooks-Garnett is the president of Hestia Housing Company, an affordable housing developer based in Los Angeles. Jill has 25 years of experience in the industry, having served in executive leadership for the country’s largest owners of affordable housing. Jill Brooks-Garnett is the president of Hestia Housing Company, an affordable housing developer based in Los Angeles. Jill has 25 years of experience in the industry, having served in executive leadership for the country’s largest owners of affordable housing.

Carmen Palafox is the Founding Partner at 2045 ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles. Carmen is also a Partner at MiLA Capital, an early stage venture capital firm specializing in hardware. Prior to venture capital, she was Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where she scaled investment operations going from $75 Billion AUM to $300 Billion AUM.

Carlos Gutierrez is the Chief Strategy Officer at Larta Institute. Carlos leads efforts to initiate and nurture Larta’s enduring partnerships with federal agencies that support R&D-driven ventures under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Institute for Standards & Technology (NIST), and others. Carlos has a B.S. degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Cal State University, Northridge, and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC).

Tara Roth is the president of the Goldhirsh Foundation, a $60 million, 100% mission-aligned foundation that supports innovation via its financial, human, and social capital. Tara oversees all aspects of the Foundation, including assisting with sourcing and vetting investments that aim to advance human life and well-being and catalyze human potential. Last year, the Foundation named a new, all-female investment committee—believed to be the first such investment committee at an organization of its size and scope.

Under Tara's leadership, the Goldhirsh Foundation spearheads LA2050, a community-guided initiative creating a shared vision for LA’s future. The largest activity of LA2050 is the LA2050 Grants Challenge, a $1 million crowd-sourced program in which Angelenos cast more than 100,000 votes online annually on proposals aimed at improving LA. Via LA2050, Tara has developed partnerships with organizations such as the Snap Foundation, Citi, and the Annenberg Foundation.

Tara started her career at Franklin Templeton, and with a particular lens on marketing and sustainability, has remained purposeful in business and finance as the founding COO ofGOOD, working withNew Schools Venture Fund, and serving on myriad boards including theAd Council andAltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles. She received an MBA from Oxford University, where she was awarded a Skoll scholarship in social entrepreneurship.

In 2024, the Los Angeles Business Journal named Tara one of the 20 Most Influential Civic Leaders in Los Angeles and one of the Most Influential 500 People. She previously sat on the board of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, and was a senior fellow at the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab at the USC Marshall School.

Chris is the founder and president of The Robert Group (TRG), a public affairs consulting firm specializing in community outreach, public education, legislative advocacy, and economic development. She has an extensive background in the areas of transportation, economic development, and land use which is complemented by over 30 years of community involvement.

Chris grew up in Inglewood and received her BS in Public Administration from USC. After participating in the DC semester, Chris became a Legislative Analyst for Congressman Julian C. Dixon and would go on to serve 5 years on Capitol Hill before deciding to pursue an MBA at the Walter A. Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Chris's work in Washington included working on funding strategies and legislative solutions for Los Angeles’s notorious traffic congestion. She served as a Senior Administrative Analyst and as a Manager of Government and Public Affairs at Metro before forming The Robert Group (TRG).

For over 30 years TRG has led several efforts educating, engaging and motivating communities—and especially communities of color - to weigh in on transportation solutions that would transform communities including the Wilshire Bl subway, Downtown LA's Regional Connector, and the Exposition Corridor's light rail line.

In addition to the firm's work in transportation, TRG has also played a major role in several significant land use projects including many regional parks throughout the County and major land use transformations including the redevelopment of a former thoroughbred racetrack into what is now Sofi Stadium and the development of a former vacant lot into what is now Intuit Dome.

TRG continues to identify creative, strategic methods of motivating broad and authentic participation to ensure the projects they work on are truly representative of the communities they impact and generate the positive long-term impacts intended.

La Keisha Landrum Pierre is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Emmeline Ventures, a pioneering early-stage VC fund dedicated to empowering female founders and businesses focusing on women’s health, wealth, and well-being. In a sector where women receive less than 2% of all VC funding, Emmeline Ventures stands out by strategically investing in companies that drive significant societal change and enhance life for women globally.

Noramay Cadena is the Managing Partner of Supply Change Capital, a venture capital firm investing in technology across the food system supply chain. Over the last 10 years, Noramay has invested in over 90 companies across industries and stages. Prior to her career as an investor, Noramay spent over a decade in the aerospace industry as an engineer and operations leader. In 2024, she was recognized as an Inspiring Emerging Manager by Annenberg Foundation's PledgeLA and as a Pioneer Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women. In 2022, she was recognized as one of ten women of influence in private markets by PEI. She’s also been named one of fifty-five rising star VCs who shook up the industry (2021), one of fifty renowned women in robotics (2020), and was named one of the top 100 influential Latinas in the United States by Latino Leaders Magazine from 2020-2022. She’s an original cofounder of Latinas in STEM (2013) and SomosVC (2019), a Kauffman Fellow, and holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Valeria Martinez is a Principal at VamosVentures, an LA-based venture capital fund investing in diverse teams building disruptive, tech-driven solutions to some of today’s most pressing challenges. Valeria began her career at Deloitte Consulting, where she specialized in the intersection of human capital and technology. After nearly six years in consulting, she transitioned into investing, gaining experience at funds such as Harlem Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Stanford’s Impact Fund. Valeria holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. As the daughter of Mexican immigrant entrepreneurs, she is passionate about uplifting founders from underrepresented backgrounds and investing in the communities she comes from.

Qiana Patterson is a dynamic leader, operator, and investor committed to fostering inclusive
innovation that delivers a thriving inclusive economic ecosystem . As the Managing Partner at
Nayah, a Family Office Venture Studio, she combines strategic vision with operational
excellence, driving early-stage ventures toward sustainable growth. Qiana excels in due
diligence, back-office management, founder support and gaining access to sought after deal
flow. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, Seattle, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.

Dr. Jessica Hutcheson is a dynamic leader with over 25 years of experience in education, learning and development, and nonprofit leadership. As the Vice President of Learning and Development at ChargerHelp!, she is responsible for designing and implementing innovative training programs that equip the workforce with the skills needed to support and sustain electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. Jessica's expertise in executive coaching, instructional leadership, and professional development has positioned her as a key driver in shaping the future of workforce training in the clean energy sector.

Jane Melia is the CEO and co-founder of Harvest Thermal with a mission to transition homes off gas comfortably, safely, affordably, and at scale. She co-founded Harvest when her old gas furnace was about to die and she knew thermal storage could make heat pumps better. Today Harvest’s revolutionary Smart Thermal Battery™ has been installed in nearly 300 homes and recently won the prestigious Gold Nugget Grand Prize Award for new home construction, earned a spot on Time’s TIME's Top GreenTech Company 2024 list, and is a finalist for the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2024 Awards. She is a Civil Engineer by training and has a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics from Cambridge University.

Elissa's research concerns social networks in new venturing – encompassing network development for startup resource acquisition and crowdfunding. Her work has been published in journals including Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Before joining USC, Elissa was on the faculties of Loyola Marymount University and Baruch College.

Jill Brooks-Garnett is the president of Hestia Housing Company, an affordable housing developer based in Los Angeles. Jill has 25 years of experience in the industry, having served in executive leadership for the country’s largest owners of affordable housing. Jill Brooks-Garnett is the president of Hestia Housing Company, an affordable housing developer based in Los Angeles. Jill has 25 years of experience in the industry, having served in executive leadership for the country’s largest owners of affordable housing.

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.

Carmen Palafox is the Founding Partner at 2045 ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles. Carmen is also a Partner at MiLA Capital, an early stage venture capital firm specializing in hardware. Prior to venture capital, she was Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where she scaled investment operations going from $75 Billion AUM to $300 Billion AUM.

Geraldine Martin-Coppola is an experienced executive in the consumer space. She has scaled some of today’s leading digitally native brands, having been the COO of Tastemade, the President of GOOP, and the General Manager of Fabletics, where she grew the business from 0 to $250MM in revenue in three years.