A creative leader at the cutting edge of global and domestic philanthropy. Ada has worked for two decades to advance the power and influence of women and girls of color around the world, She has conceived groundbreaking disruptions to philanthropic norms and scalable models to transform the field along the way. By championing the formation of the first 'Women and Girls of Color Design Council' within a premium philanthropic and venture organization, she has envisioned a future in philanthropy and investment built around silo-busting investment strategies and fundamental trust in women and girls at the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity and economics. Ada is leading a growing community of funders committed to transforming capital and decision making.

Teresa C. Younger is an activist, advocate, renowned public speaker, organizational strategist, and a proven leader in the philanthropic and policy sectors. Having spent over 20 years on the frontlines of some of the most critical battles for comprehensive equity and the elimination of institutionalized oppression, she now serves as the President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Prior to joining the Ms. Foundation for Women, Younger served as the executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and as executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut – the first African American and the first woman to hold that position.

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Younger is a thought leader at the critical intersections of gender and race. Within the philanthropic sector, she serves on initiatives to shape and change the narrative of women and girls, including Women’s Funding Network, Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Funders for Reproductive Equity, Philanthropy New York, and Black Girls Freedom Fund.

Younger is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and in 2018 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in Humanities from the University of New Haven. In 2021 she was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. She is also a proud lifetime Girl Scout and Gold Award recipient.

Danielle Wood serves as an Assistant Professor in the Program in Media Arts & Sciences and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Wood serves at MIT as the Faculty Lead for African and African Diaspora Studies. Within the Media Lab, Prof. Wood leads the Space Enabled Research Group which seeks to advance justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space. The research of Space Enabled designs systems that use tools from space to promote sustainability on Earth and designs approaches to support sustainability in Space.

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Prof.Wood's background includes satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy. In her research, Prof. Wood applies these skills to design innovative systems that harness space technology to address development challenges around the world. Prior to serving as faculty at MIT, Professor Wood held positions at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Prof.Wood studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a Ph.D. in engineering systems, S.M. in aeronautics and astronautics, S.M. in technology policy, and S.B. in aerospace engineering.

Aisha Walcott  is a Senior Staff Research Scientist and Head of Google Research - Kenya. She has over a decade of experience working in Africa and leading teams to develop technologies that leverage AI to address some of Africa’s most pressing challenges. Her current work focuses on AI tools to address food insecurity across Africa.

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Prior to her time at Google, Dr. Walcott was a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM Research Africa and led projects on AI for global health with a focus on malaria control, maternal newborn and child health, family planning, and COVID-19.

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Dr. Walcott is passionate about working with clients and collaborators to drive advancements in science and computing, which will ultimately transform the African continent. 

Aisha earned her Ph.D. in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT with a focus on robotics. Currently, she serves on the board for the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) doctoral program, is the Workshops chair for the International Conference on Learning and Representations 2023 (ICLR’24), and on the organizing committee for US-Africa Frontiers in Science. Her work has led to over 30 patents and over 30 publications.

Cat Posey is an award-winning engineering leader who excels at untangling complex challenges and delivering compelling platforms and products that scale. At Capital One, Cat and her team developed industry-leading ML models to identify money laundering and received the company's highest honor.

Cat founded Tech by Superwomen to address gender inequality in tech, growing an international movement. She serves on the Whitman College President's Advisory Board advising on integrating emerging technology.

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Cat served at the White House's United States Digital Service founded by President Obama. As Head of Strategic Partnerships, her leadership was critical to reimagining digital services, including for veterans, immigrants, and refugees.

Cat and her work have been featured in government, tech, and mainstream media. She has delivered keynotes, including at Harvard WECode and Sweden's Internetdagarna.

Cat was born and raised in Alaska. Her journey – from The Last Frontier to the White House to the financial and tech worlds in NYC and SF, all while working to promote inclusion through Tech By Superwomen – has made her attuned to the importance of belonging. Cat is a keen observer and developer of individual and team strengths, lifting voices and encouraging neurodiverse and neurotypical talent to be their most unrestrained imaginative selves.

Annamie Paul is a multilingual human rights lawyer and climate policy advocate whose international career spans politics, diplomacy, and the non-profit sector. She made history in 2020 when she became the first Black person elected to lead a major Canadian federal party.

Annamie is a widely recognised and frequent speaker on climate, sustainability, and human rights. She serves as a Climate and Sustainability Advisor to leading organizations, including the Institute for Integrated Transitions where she provides strategic advice on the integration of material climate risks and opportunities in IFIT’s global conflict resolution work. In her previous role as Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Annamie was a tireless advocate for climate and environmental justice who built grassroot coalitions to champion climate action. In 2021 and 2022 she was named Woman of the Year and Person of the Year by several leading Canadian media outlets in recognition of her advocacy.

During her career, Annamie has worked in a wide variety of international roles at the cross-section of social justice and conflict resolution. She served as a diplomat in Canada’s Mission to the European Union in Belgium where she developed a strong network of NGO partners and served as an advisor to Canada’s Ambassador to the EU. As International Cooperation Advisor in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, she participated in field missions and advised on diplomatic strategies to secure member state engagement in ICC investigations. As EU/Brussels Director for Crisis Action - a MacArthur Award recipient – she brought together and led global coalitions for civilian protection campaigns that included private diplomacy and public advocacy. As the co-Founder of the Barcelona International Public Policy Innovation Hub (BIPP HUB) in Spain, she provided global NGOs with technical and governance support, training, and incubation.

Annamie is committed to promoting diverse representation in public leadership. She is the co-founder of the 1834 Public Policy Fellowship, Canada’s leading policy training program for young Black Canadians, is a Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and sits on National Council of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Boards of Baycrest Hospital and the 1834 Foundation.

Annamie is a Member of the Ontario Bar and holds a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. An awardee of the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship and Action Canada Fellowship, she is a citizen of Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis (CARICOM/OECS Member), and a permanent resident of Spain. Annamie has lived and worked in the Caribbean, Western Europe, North America, and Africa, and is fluent in English and French and proficient in Catalan and Spanish. She is the proud mother of two sons.

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Karla Palmer is a Manager of AI for Social Good and Sustainability at Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. There, she manages grantmaking for organizations leading AI interventions to food insecurity, maternal health, public benefits access, and more. 

Additionally, Karla leads Google.org’s environmental justice grantmaking, having launched the firm’s seminal initiative, the Environmental Justice Data Fund, a $9M fund for frontline communities that have been historically underserved and disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental degradation.

Before managing Google’s grantmaking initiatives, Karla worked as a Policy Specialist at Google where she helped shape the firm’s policies on user protection and privacy. A DMV native, Karla holds an Honors BA in Political Science and a certificate of Advanced Leadership Studies from American University.

Akomeno Omu is the Chief Academic Officer and Co-Founder of Kibo School of Technology, an online university that provides high-quality and affordable STEM degrees to African students. She has a wealth of experience as a researcher and educator at higher education institutions in Europe and Africa and is passionate about curriculum design, leadership development, and educational system building for the African context. 

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Before joining Kibo, Keno led the development of the Bachelor's in Entrepreneurial Leadership degree at the African Leadership University (ALU). She also served as the Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs and was a founding faculty member in the Engineering program at ALU’s campus in Mauritius. Keno joined ALU after spending two years as a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where she was responsible for teaching, supervising postgraduate students, and researching computational methods for the analysis of emerging renewable energy systems. Before that, she worked as a Research Scientist at the IBM Research Africa Laboratory in Nairobi, Kenya, developing technology solutions to address electricity access and reliability challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

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Keno holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, a Masters in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, the NASA Harvest Africa Program Director, and the Agriculture and Food Security Thematic Lead on the NASA SERVIR Applied Sciences Team. With a focus on satellite remote sensing, machine learning, and climate change, she spearheads innovative applications for agriculture and food security, land use mapping, humanitarian efforts, and more. 

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Dr. Nakalembe is renowned for her expertise in remote sensing for agriculture monitoring and research, and she actively leads capacity-building initiatives in this field.

Her exceptional contributions have earned her numerous accolades. In 2020, Dr. Nakalembe was honored as the Africa Food Prize Laureate for her dedication to improving the lives of smallholder farmers through satellite technology and data-driven decision-making. Additionally, she received the Inaugural GEO Individual Excellence Award in 2019 and was recognized in the book "Women and GIS, Volume 2: Stars of Spatial Science" by ESRI Press. In 2021, Quartz Africa Innovators featured her as a leading figure in the industry.

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In 2022, Dr. Nakalembe solidified her position as an exemplary innovator by winning the prestigious Futures 100 Innovators award. Her groundbreaking research and pioneering applications have revolutionized the agricultural sector, driving sustainable land use practices and addressing global challenges. As a visionary leader and innovator, Dr. Nakalembe continues to inspire fellow researchers and industry professionals to explore the transformative potential of satellite technology and data science in advancing agriculture, food security, and climate resilience.

Nokuthula Mchunu is a Deputy Director at the African Open Science Platform hosted by the National Research Foundation, South Africa. She has a wealth of experience in academic outreach programs, the popularization of science, and STEM with local communities. She was a Senior Researcher from the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa in the Biotechnology Platform. 

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She completed a doctoral degree in fungal genomics and was previously a senior scholar in the Department of Biotechnology of the Durban University of Technology for more than 15 years. 

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She has also served as a scientist in several international institutions including the University of Cincinnati (USA), Lund University (Sweden), Tianjin University, (China), and the Centre for Chemical Biology (Malaysia). She is the first recipient of the Young Scientist Programme between China and South Africa. Her research focused on COVID-19 and pathogen surveillance in wastewater, fungal genetics, Cannabis, and African legume genomics.

Deloise de Fátima Bacelar de Jesus is the Founder and Executive Director of Batukee, an impact business focused on "Shooting power," which explores the relationship between decision-makers and the decision-making process, emphasizing the importance of healthy working relationships. Before that, she was the Head of Impact in Racial Equity at the Lemann Foundation. With over 15 years of experience in public policy and social change, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Public Policy Administration from the University of São Paulo and a Master's degree in Human and Social Sciences. As a black Brazilian woman who has personally witnessed the transformative power of education, she is deeply passionate about nurturing individuals to their fullest potential and contributing to a more equitable world.

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In the early years of her career, Deloise gained valuable experience working with public policy management and innovation. She actively served on the commission on racial quotas for the Sao Paulo municipal administration, playing a pivotal role in shaping policies to promote equity and inclusion. Additionally, she has focused on policies related to elementary and high school education through her work within the third sector. In her current position, she is committed to advancing racial equity as a national agenda by strengthening the Lemann Foundation's strategy in public education and empowering black leadership.

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Deloise's commitment to advancing racial equity is exemplified not only through her work at the Lemann Foundation but also through her engagement in mentorship, advisory roles, and educational initiatives. She has been providing professional mentorship for the past five years, offering guidance and support to individuals seeking to develop their careers. Furthermore, Deloise actively participates in advisory boards for a private organization, contributing her expertise to inform strategic decision-making. Additionally, she shares her knowledge and expertise by delivering lectures and teaching classes on topics within her areas of expertise.

Amina Doherty has spent the past twenty years working towards gender justice in global philanthropy. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Women’s Studies from McGill University (Distinction) and an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalization from the London School of Economics (LSE). Her strengths as a storyteller, community builder and leader help her envision new futures for women across the globe, and her deep experience in management, philanthropic strategy and thought leadership help her guide organizations to bring these visions to fruition.

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Over the last two decades, she has worked with a diverse range of clients including governments, international NGOs, community-led groups, and individual philanthropists. With over 15 years of experience with resource mobilization and grantmaking, she’s a catalyst for strategic partnerships between organizations with shared goals. She specializes in global operations, and governance, including adaptive change that results in large-scale, lasting results.

She is a founding member of FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund, an organization that aims to strengthen the capacity of young feminist organisations around the world, and the Black Feminist Fund, the first global institution of its kind focused explicitly on supporting Black feminist movements. Amina previously worked at theAssociation for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), leading a number of strategic initiatives, supporting global community relationship building and solidarity efforts. She has worked with a number of Women’s Funds in the feminist funding ecosystem including  Mama Cash, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), and most recently as co-board chair of the Global Fund for Women where she served for a decade.

In 2019, Amina joined the Equality Fund as the Program Director for the Caribbean Women’s Voice and Leadership Program. She is currently the Vice President of People, Equity and Culture at the Equality Fund.

Amina is currently an inaugural fellow B-WEL (Black Women in Executive Leadership), a global initiative focused on improving the numbers, experiences, and impact of Black women in senior and executive leadership.

She is available for consulting, advisory work, remote or in-person facilitation and public speaking.

Amina has lived and worked in Africa, Europe, North America and the Caribbean. She currently makes her home on the small Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda, where she finds daily joy in exploring new music, cooking delicious food, and navigating motherhood. She is also cooking up a vision for a Caribbean feminist fund.

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Dr. Jamika D. Burge is an authority on research and programming that investigates the intersectionality of Black women and girls in computing, which led her to co-found blackcomputeHER.org (pronounced ‘black computer’), an organization dedicated to supporting computational thinking, design thinking, and workforce development for Black women and girls in computing+tech. She has served as CEO and Board President since 2022, and under her leadership, blackcomputeHER has raised almost $2M in capital for delivering impact through blackcomputeHER programming.

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She is also Head of Research for Enterprise Products & Experience at Capital One, where she leads a team of researchers and strategists who develop human insights, at scale, for experiences that include Eno, Capital One’s conversational AI and EASE, the award-winning app that supports customers to manage all of their account information in a single place. She is also the Founder of Capital One's Intersectional Symposium, which centers intersectionality as fundamental to exploring the dimensions of how our lived experiences matter in the products and experiences we create for each other and customers, and she contributes to the Fair and Responsible AI Principles initiatives. At Capital One, she is also a member of the Blacks in Tech (BIT) Leadership team, where she leads strategic operations that measure the efficacy of professional development opportunities for Black associates and allies.

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A serial entrepreneur, Jamika is also Founder and Principal of Design & Technology Concepts, LLC, a tech consultancy that focuses on computer science education & research, and inclusive design. She has consulted for Google, the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT), the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, among others, and she was formerly a research scientist consultant with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF).

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Dr. Burge serves on the advisory board for the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) (since 2015), the Virginia Tech Alumni Advisory Board for the Computer Science Department (since 2017); the Friends of Technology Advisory Board (Advisors to the President), at Grambling State University (since 2019); and the Center for Inclusive Computing, at Northeastern University (since 2020). She is a graduate of Fisk University and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. In addition to serving as a research and industry practitioner, she has also been a computer science professor at several HBCUs, including Spelman College, North Carolina A&T State University, and Howard University.

Afua Bruce is a leading public interest technologist who works at the intersection of technology, policy, and society.

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Afua is the Principal of the ANB Advisory Group LLC, a consulting firm that supports organizations developing, implementing, or funding responsible data and technology. With her background in software engineering, data science, and artificial intelligence, combined with experience developing and deploying technology in and with communities, Afua incorporates an equity-based framework into her engagements.

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Afua is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an affiliate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Berkman Klein Center. Afua’s newest book, The Tech That Comes Next: How Changemakers, Technologists, and Philanthropists Can  Build an Equitable World, describes how technology can advance equity.

Marcia Ashong is the Founder and CEO of TheBoardroom Africa (TBrA), the largest regional network of board-ready female executives. Founded in 2016, TBrA’s mission is to accelerate the appointment of women on boards and build a growing pipeline of board-ready women while inspiring and educating the business community on the power of diverse leadership. Marcia believes that solutions to complex global problems will emerge when leaders prioritize the inclusion of women especially women of color) and make them key voices in global discourse.

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A lawyer by training and former oil and gas industry executive, Marcia is an Eisenhower Global Fellow, an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, in 2019 she was named among the 100 Most Influential Africans for developing the largest community of women leaders in Africa and the diaspora, among others, working with corporates in Africa and across the globe to diversify their boardrooms. In 2022 she was named in the 100 under 40 edition of the Most Influential People of African Descent. She also sits on the Ghana Advisory Committee of Mastercard Foundation, and in 2017 she was named among Ghana's 20 Under 40 business leaders.

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Her desire to champion women in the workplace is rooted in her experience as a rising star in the energy sector. Previously the youngest-ever African Country Manager for a major multinational energy services company. She has over a decade of experience in legal, consulting, governance, and business growth strategies. TBR Africa’s unique positioning in the market has led to it securing more than $5m in funding from investors like British International Investment and Blue Haven Initiative. She is passionate about transforming the face of leadership and catalyzing stronger corporate governance on the continent. She is an avid writer and speaker on the energy sector, leadership diversity, and the intersections of sustainability and corporate governance.

Aimee Allison is a writer, democratic innovator, and visionary champion of racial and gender justice. She is the Founder and President of She the People, the nation's leading organization dedicated to an America redefined and inspired by women of color.

Renowned for her national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions, Allison organized and moderated the nation's first presidential forum for women of color, attended by Presidential candidates and more than 1,000 women from across the country, garnering major national press.

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At She the People, Allison leverages media, research and analysis to show the power of the women of color electorate, increase voter engagement, and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. In her writings in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and Essence Magazine, Allison has made the definitive case that women of color are the saving graces of our American democracy.

Her early experience growing up in a multiracial family and searching for belonging in mostly white communities honed her ability to build bridges with others often marginalized and dismissed. Her work is firmly grounded in finding shared history and a common vision to create new political and cultural pathways to change.

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Allison holds a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University. In the early 1990s, Allison earned a rare honorable discharge from the U.S. Army as a conscientious objector, launching 30 years of efforts to build communities and launch campaigns grounded in love, justice, and belonging. She is at work on several groundbreaking media projects highlighting the legacy and history-making impact of women of color as the vanguards for multiracial solidarity and democracy.

Leila Akahloun is an international development specialist and social justice advocate. She currently serves as Senior Advisor to Her Excellency Graça Machel. Through her work with the Graça Machel Trust, she advances international advocacy and financial investments in child health and nutrition, education, women’s economic empowerment, leadership, and good governance, as well as climate justice and equitable COVID-19 vaccine access.

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Ms. Akahloun has over 20 years of experience in promoting social justice and accelerating social change through strategic investments in innovative development initiatives and high-level advocacy. She possesses expertise in the creation and implementation of organizational strategy, as well as strategic partnership building and fundraising. She has acquired extensive insights into the design of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, collaborations with private and public-sector partners, as well as venture capital investments in social entrepreneurs. As a seeker of meaningful social impact and systemic change, she has a proven ability to increase the capacity and efficiency of African NGOs through strategic planning and institutional development.

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Ms. Akahloun is a believer in the power of mobilizing networks across sectors and geographies to accelerate social change. She sits on the Board of Trustees of Ashoka Southern Africa, Impact Investing SA, and Play Africa. She is also a Partnerships and Engagement Advisory Board Member of Save the Children – South Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Politics from Georgetown University and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago. In 2018, Ms. Akahloun was named Global Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40 in the Humanitarian Sector. She was selected to join the ranks of The Women's Impact Alliance as a Catalyst in 2020. A true global citizen, having lived and worked in numerous countries in North and South America, Africa, and Asia, she speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese. Ms. Akahloun is currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.