Vicky has served as host, presenter, panelist, and workshop speaker for several private entities and entrepreneurial organizations teaching the methods of social media branding and online lead generation.She brings with her over 12+ yrs of experience having worked at Univision WXTV-41 and PRNewswire. In September 2017, Llerena was named Top 25 Brand Builder by Leading Women Entrepreneur, a prestigious award recognizing women brand builders in New Jersey. Her team was recognized by NJBIZ (2017) as an influential Latino-Millenial media agency in New Jersey.The Real Estate Disruptor -- her most recent collaborative project -- launched this summer of 2019 with creator and co-host Ralph Dibugnara. The organization serves as a hub for real estate agents looking to grow and scale their business . Her articles have been featured in NJBiz, Huffington Post, CEO Blog Nation, and many more media outlets.

Adenah Bayoh embodies the American dream. At age 13, she escaped the civil war in her native country of Liberia, immigrated to the United States and is now one of the most successful restaurant and real estate development entrepreneurs in her home state of New Jersey. She is the founder and CEO of Adenah Bayoh and Companies, the parent corporation that owns her unique restaurant collection, which includes IHOP franchises in Newark, Paterson, and Irvington, New Jersey with a fourth location set to open in the spring of 2020 in downtown Newark, New Jersey. When Adenah cut the ribbon on her first IHOP location at 29, she was the youngest IHOP franchisee in the country. Because of her relentless commitment to excellence and customer service, by 2010 the location had become the fastest-growing in the Northeast, and it remains one of the top grossing in the region. In late 2017, Adenah realized her dream of opening her own signature fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant, Cornbread in Maplewood, New Jersey. In 2019, through a landmark partnership with Walmart, the restaurant chain expanded to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with locations in Walmart stores in West Mifflin, Tarentum and Greensburg. In spring 2020, Cornbread will continue its expansion opening its second New Jersey location in downtown Newark. Adenah is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University where she earned a degree in Business Management.

Dr. Ginny Baro is an entrepreneur, international speaker & leadership coach, career strategist, and #1 bestselling author of Fearless Women at Work with over 20 year’s leadership experience in highly competitive work environments in financial services and technology. Today, she is the CEO and founder of ExecutiveBound™ and Fearless Women @Work™. As the creator of the innovative and proven method C.A.R.E.S. Leadership Success System™ and groundbreaking virtual leadership development program the Fearless Leadership Mastermind™, she serves by helping leaders rise to their potential.

Ginny is a sought-after speaker, trainer, and facilitator for teams and leaders. She has facilitated leadership training and coaching programs successfully for individuals and global companies with over 65,000 employees and delivered keynotes impacting international audiences larger than 7,000 people. Her coaching model and programs provide tangible results for individual leaders and corporate partners across industries and profit and non-profit sectors, including Verizon, Merck, Baker Hughes, S&P Global, Schroders, TDAmeritrade, UBS, NJIT, the Rockefeller Foundation, and others. 

Karen Rios is the Co-founder and CEO of Lifesaver a Barclays/Techstars-backed fintech company. Prior to founding Lifesaver, Karen served as Chief Compliance Officer for Seminole Management Company. Karen was the first Latina and youngest C-level officer in the firm’s history. Prior to that role, she worked for an education technology startup. In another life, she worked as a beat writer in Paris while studying abroad at the Sorbonne, and would later return to the U.S. to work for the Obama Campaign. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University.

Beatrice Sibblies is the managing partner of BOS Development, a community-focused real estate development and brokerage firm based in Harlem. BOS Development creates the spectrum of projects necessary for a vibrant community – including residential, religious, educational, hospitality, retail and commercial developments. BOS Development’s debut project, 88 Morningside, is an 80,000 sf residential co-op and community facility building structured on a 99-year ground lease from a Presbyterian church. With the building’s sleek interior and exterior design, the project received numerous accolades for its design quality and the project proved to be one of the most successful residential developments in Harlem. The project also resulted in the successful renovation and expansion of the church facilities and created an annuity for ongoing operations.

Mitch Cahn started Unionwear in 1992 with 6 sewers and a contract to make baseball hats for Ralph Lauren. Now Unionwear is one of the largest private employers of Newark Residents, with 175 employees, and contracts to manufacture accessories for every branch of the armed services, every Democratic candidate for president, and brands such as Vineyard Vines and Supreme. Unionwear won the Domestic Textile Association's inaugural 'Reshoring Award" for bringing textile jobs back to America in 2019. In 2016 Mitch won the New Jersey Manufacturing Lifetime Achievement Award from NJBIA and was just named to NJBIZ magazine's 50 Most Powerful People in New Jersey Manufacturing. Mitch is on the board of Newark Regional Business Partnership, NJ Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and the Newark Workforce Development Board, where he has served as Chairman. Mitch is a frequent panelist, podcast guest, and guest lecturer on topics including fair labor, lean manufacturing, cloud mobile ERP, co branding with Made in USA, and has appeared on TV shows ranging from The Profit to The Daily Show.

Doug Zacker is the host of The Righteous Capitalists, a biweekly podcast that features business owners and entrepreneurs who run their businesses for the equitable benefit of all of their stakeholders. With a strong belief that how we make money matters, Doug speaks with his guests about what it takes to run their businesses in a way that is typically seen as going against the historical norms of their industries.

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Doug has had a varied career during which he has seen capitalism from many sides: on the ground in communities of need as a Teach For America corps member in Houston and then program director in NYC; studying for an MBA at Georgia State University; developing programs to spread The New York Times through all levels of educational institutions; leading global corporate responsibility efforts for The Home Depot; and helping businesses communicate their purpose through photographs and videos via his own business, Zacker Images. All along, from classrooms to boardrooms, Doug has questioned conventional wisdom in an effort to always find solutions that benefit people beyond the bottom line.

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Doug grew up in the NYC suburbs of NJ with his single mother and three older sisters. He then lived in the midwest, southeast and Texas, before returning to NJ, where he currently resides in South Orange with his remarkable wife, Marietta, and his three incredible daughters.

Janelle Benjamin is an accomplished serial entrepreneur and investor. She is one of the precious few black female entrepreneurs to raise over $1 million in funding and successfully exit. Previously, she was the co-founder and COO of SuperData Research which was acquired by Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) in 2018. Janelle is a prominent advocate of STEM-based careers for women and girls, and specializes in advising B2B startups. In 2017, she was featured in Crain’s magazine. She received a B.S. in Financial Mathematics from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Currently, Janelle lives in Brooklyn with her husband Joost and son Maximus.

Lorine Pendleton is a seasoned business development executive and attorney with extensive experience in the legal, technology and entertainment industries.She is a Lead Investor in Portfolia’s recently launched and eight fund Rising America, which invests in companies with founders of color, women, LGBT or companies with products or services addressing these markets. Portfolia is an innovative platform of investment funds for women designed to back innovative companies for returns and impact. Portfolia focuses on opportunities in high-growth segments that are routinely undervalued or poorly understood by traditional venture capital and has made 40 investments in 29 companies and have had two significant exits since its initial fund founding in December 2015. She is a graduate of Brown University (B.A. Economics), New York Law School (JD) and Kauffman Foundation FastTrac New Ventures Entrepreneurship (Graduate Certificate).

Tim Sullivan became Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) in February 2018. The NJEDA serves as the State’s principal agency for driving economic growth and is committed to making New Jersey a national model for inclusive and sustainable economic development by focusing on key strategies to help build strong and dynamic communities, create good jobs for New Jersey residents, and provide pathways to a stronger and fairer economy. 

During his tenure, Tim has led the NJEDA’s transformation into a comprehensive economic development organization, including the creation of new offices and initiatives aimed at implementing Governor Phil Murphy’s vision for a stronger and fairer economy by enhancing New Jersey’s long-term economic competitiveness in strategic sectors and communities across the state.  Tim has overseen the creation of the NJEDA’s Office of Economic Transformation, focused on catalyzing industry clusters; the Office of International Trade & Investment, the lead international business development office in State government; the Office of Policy, Planning and Research, focused on policy development and implementation, program evaluation and economic reporting; and, a dedicated Small Business Unit charged with providing robust financial, workforce, and technical support to the State’s small business community, with a focus on historically underrepresented firms.

Tim is a graduate of Georgetown University.  

Bonin Bough is one of the foremost-awarded marketing executives in the world, the host of CNBC’s Cleveland Hustles, and the author of Txt Me (646) 759-1837.

As one of the youngest-c-suite executives at a Fortune 50 Company, he has worked for billion-dollar CPG brands including Mondelez and PepsiCo before starting Bonin Ventures - a growth accelerator that helps businesses of all shapes and sizes achieve revenue growth faster than they ever believed possible.

Bonin has been responsible for some of the most successful organization transformations, and the rapid growth of some of the world's most-loved billion-dollar brands including Oreo, Cadbury's, Pepsi, Gatorade, and Frito-Lay. Most recently, as the Chief Growth Officer of SheaMoisture, he helped grow the business by close to 50% in 12 months leading to the company being acquired by Unilever for close to $1 billion dollars.

During his time as Chief Media Officer at Mondelez International, Bonin managed over $3 Billion dollars in media spend, making him the seventh largest media buyer in the world. Highlights from his tenure include shifting the organization from just-3% to over-32% digital spend - adding $2 Billion in top-line net revenue and $300m in bottom-line savings. He helped brands like Sour Patch Kids become the fastest growing candy brand in the world. When he added eCommerce to his role, he grew online sales from $65m - $265m in the 18 months that he ran it. Before that, he led digital globally for PepsiCo and built two global digital agencies prior to that one for IPG.

Bonin has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement. He can also be found in lists such as Fortune’s “40 under 40”, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Ebony’s Power 100 and The Internationalist’s Internationalists of the Year.

Adrienne M Fudge pursued her love of cooking after a career in Human Resources. She was a HR Manager for several Fortune 500 companies before changing careers paths to pursue her dream of becoming a chef.  In 2007, she enrolled in the Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) of Hudson County Community College. To expedite her knowledge and experience she auditioned for the American Culinary Federation's Northern New Jersey's Junior Team. She and the team won the state title for two consecutive years, and Fudge was asked to coach the team the following year. In 2008 she registered 40 Dreams Catering, a traditional off-site catering company. She also established Aunt Bay's Delights.

 In 2015, an opportunity was presented for her business to become a provider of Home Delivered Meals for senior citizens. She applied and was awarded a contract with an insurance company to provide meals. Since then she has contracted with multiple insurance companies and is delivering meals in eight New Jersey counties. Her goal is to grow the business across the country (USA). In addition to attending CAI. Fudge holds a MA from Seton Hall University and a BA from Fordham University; both degrees are in Communication with a focus on Human Resources. 

Dr. Alissa Gardenhire takes the education of your children seriously. She believes in the ability of every child to thrive academically with proper support and is delighted to offer, with her talented staff, such support at her South Orange center. Dr. Gardenhire has over 5 generations of teachers in her family and is proud to have joined them in the supplemental education sphere. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Urban Planning and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She is a proud mother, daughter and active community member. She enjoys entrepreneurship, fitness, beach vacations, meditation, and cooking.

Ms. Gray worked behind the scenes in production for the entertainment and commercial industry with MTV, 40 Acres & Mule, PBS, HBO, and Saatchi & Saatchi. Kimberly began working in tech with an Israeli startup called Fashioholic as Chief Creative Officer fostering affiliate marketing partnerships with high profile brands. Uvii 1.0 launched private beta Apple Enterprise as a Finalist at SXSW’s Interactive Release It 2018. Kimberly attended Howard University; she is the daughter of two Washington D.C. Public School principals.

IyaSokoya Karade aka Coach Iya, is the Owner and CEO of the Athletic Arts Academy, NJ LLC. As the NJ District Sports Director for Gymnastics for the Amateur Athletics Union (AAU), a certified Professional Member, a USAG National Coach, Meet Director, member of the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges (NAWGJ), her mission is to is to create community leaders through the discipline and rigor of gymnastics. Our program is designed to help children not only gain physical strength and ability, but also learn the fundamentals they need to succeed as leaders in school, in communities, and in life. Once a youth athlete herself, Coach Iya understands how a well-rounded, athletic experience can impact a person’s life. The Athletic Arts Academy is operated in a 10,000 square foot facility located in Orange, NJ. She operates a year-round program where she has serviced over 1,000 young athletes from the organization's inception. Students enjoy affordable tuition and training schedule accommodating to busy families. The Academy serves children from various child welfare and social services agencies. Coach Iya founded and directs the A3 Youth Gymnastics Scholarship Fund. A 501(c)3 subordinate organization under the Amateur Athletic Union. The A3YGSF has provided low to no-cost tuition for competitive athletes with financial need. The A3YGSF has garnered support from private philanthropists, local government and small businesses, as well as long-standing women's organizations such as The North Jersey Links. The programs offers training to beginners as young as age four. "Team A3" is a travelling competitive team. These athletes have won local, State, National, and International titles. Team A3 has travelled from New Jersey to California to Florida and Bermuda. They have competed and won against athletes from as far as South Africa, Great Britain, and Canada.

Barbara is an angel investor with a personal portfolio of over 60 startups in the United States and Europe. She is a founding member of Astia Angels, an international angel group. She serves on the investment committee for a variety of venture funds: Rising Tide Europe, Rising Tide US, Portfolia Enterprise Fund, Portfolia First StepFund. She is a limited partner in other funds such as LearnLaunch’s edtech fund and Avestria’s women’s health fund.

Barbara serves on the board of directors for Portfolia Inc, a fintech company disrupting venture capital. She also led the company’s $3mm Seed Round.

Barbara serves on the board of directors of Founders First Capital Partners, a fintech company providing revenue-based financing to small to medium-sized companies led by underrepresented founders which recently received a $100 million credit facility.

All of the companies in Barbara's personal portfolio had a woman on the founding team at the time of investment.  Barbara is co-founder and principal at The Impact Seat s strategy consulting company focused on diversity and inclusion. She began her career at KPMG as an economist performing intellectual property valuations for multinational companies. She holds a Masters Degree in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University and a BA in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University.

Olivia Owens is the General Manager of iFundWomen of Color, the platform for women of color to raise capital through crowdfunding, grants, coaching, and the connections needed to launch and grow successful businesses. This funding ecosystem is designed to empower early-stage, women entrepreneurs and bridge the funding gap for women of color. Olivia was a founding team member of iFundWomen and managed Business Development and Partnerships. iFundWomen launched in 2016 and continues to help women raise millions of dollars in capital. Before launching iFundWomen of Color, Olivia’s leadership brokered critical partnerships to help scale the business (GirlBoss, The Wing, The Riveter). She supported the creation of iFundWomen’s startup funding playbook and helped build-out one of the nation’s largest connected communities of women business owners through the platform. Olivia previously held positions at Under Armour in people and culture. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

I've spent my career as a financial services professional, building teams that deliver outstanding customer service and unique financial solutions to meet clients' needs. I have twice now built successful entrepreneurial finance units - at Progress and the EDA. I have a track record of building strong networks and adding value for our clients.In my current role as the founding Director of the NJ EDA's Technology & Life science team, I have delivered over $1 Billion in investments, business incentives, tax credits, and venture fund investments to emerging technology companies. I've orchestrated cross functional teams to allow for the successful deployment of these funds, and all of the supporting infrastructure and resources needed to execute the seamless delivery to customers. 

Seble Tareke-Williams is a real estate entrepreneur with a professional background leading community economic development programs across a wide strategy spectrum ranging from non-profit social programs to private community investment initiatives. Most recently, Seble was a Managing Director at the Vanbarton Group, a commercial real estate investment advisor and manager to institutional clients. At Vanbarton, Seble led asset management on cross-sector domestic portfolios and launched and oversaw the NYC Interborough Fund, which targeted retail, multifamily, and office investments in submarkets across New York City’s five boroughs that historically lacked institutional investment. Prior to Vanbarton, Seble was the Director of Economic Development at IMPACCT, a Brooklyn-based affordable housing developer and non-profit community development organization. Seble is an active angel investor with Pipeline Angels and Portfolia, focused on capitalizing companies led by diverse founders. Seble received her B.A. with honors from American University and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she was a Toigo Finance Fellow.

Peggy Wallace is a Managing Partner of Golden Seeds. Peggy has been a leader in the growth of Golden Seeds from 5 members when she joined in 2005 to one of the Nation’s largest angel networks with 300 members today. Widely recognized for its best practices and expertise, Golden Seeds was the first angel group formed to focus on the immense opportunity of investing in women leaders with a keen focus on educating investors to join the early stage investment asset class. To date, Golden Seeds has invested $130 million into 150+ companies in enterprise, healthcare and B to C, which have gone on to raise over $1 billion.

Hester Agudosi is a veteran government leader with diverse experience that spans over twenty-five years. She began her career in public service as a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and transitioned to serving in senior management positions in government which include: Chief of the Office of Bias Crimes and Community Relations and Chief of the Prosecutors Supervision and Coordination Bureau for the Division of Criminal Justice; Deputy Director of Equal Opportunity for the Office of the Attorney General; and Director of Equal Opportunity and Public Contract Assistance for the Department of Environmental Protection. She was recently appointed by Governor Phil Murphy to serve as the first Chief Diversity Officer for the state of New Jersey.

Cynthia is an Executive Recruiter, Talent Consultant, and Leadership Coach with over fifteen years of management experience. Cynthia started Wager because she saw firsthand how the lack of salary information created unnecessary information barriers and anxiety in the workplace for both women and men. Professionals and executives kept asking the same question, “Who can I ask about salaries?” In response she created WAGER, a compensation consultancy that teaches individuals how to ask for more and coaches companies on how to create effective salary transparency policies.

Prior to her move into the talent field, Cynthia worked as an international relations and policy expert for the Department of Treasury, Homeland Security and JP Morgan, and served in Peace Corps, Nicaragua. Cynthia is also the Founder of the Cheeky Monkey Club, a networking group for women who hate to network, is a Board member of her hometown’s Girls Inc., and hosts a makerspace in her basement studio. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Betty Ng is the founder and CEO of Inspiring Diversity, LLC (“iD”), which provides organizations, educators, and families with FASST (Frameworks, Assessments, Systems, Storytelling, and Training) solutions to build inclusive and high-performing culture.

Betty is a #1 bestselling author, tech and media entrepreneur, trainer, professional speaker, consultant, and thought leader. She co-authored “PO-LING POWER: Propelling Yourself and Others to Success” with her mother (Po-Ling). She and her children have also launched the bestselling and award-winning Persevering Penguins and Pals children’s book series, to serve as guidance tools for social-emotional learning grounded in diversity and inclusion.

Betty is regularly engaged to speak as well as train on PO-LING POWER™, the Present Paradigm™, and other empowering topics to drive diversity with inclusion. Betty has also spearheaded the development of the PO-LING POWER™ app and platform for users to collaborate with their allies to inclusively achieve goals that matter. She is a regular contributor to Thrive Global and has appeared in top-tier publications including Forbes, Bustle, Ladders, and Fairygodboss. She has also been featured on Fox 5 Good Day Street Talk.

Prior to founding iD in 2016, Betty was a Senior Vice President of Corporate Development with twenty years of corporate and financial services experience at organizations including Moody’s, Citigroup, American Express, and Arthur Andersen. Betty holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a B.A. in Economics with honors from Stanford University, and an executive education certification for the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian-American Executives from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She also is a California Certified Public Accountant (Inactive Status) and an Advanced Certified Open Water Diver. In her spare time, Betty enjoys traveling the world with her husband (Darin) and two young children (Moorea and Jasper).

Reginald Canal is a Financial Services Professional with Fortis Lux Financial. Fortis Lux is a boutique financial planning firm that offers risk protection strategies and comprehensive wealth & investment management. Prior, Reginald excelled in a variety of roles at HSBC over a 15 years banking career including a two-year overseas assignment with HSBC’s Consulting Group in Hong Kong, managed HSBC’s New York City flagship Premier Affluent Center to record sales results and started the Affluent African American Segment targeting High Net Worth Individuals and Commercial Clients. He is a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association; founding board member of the Haitian Roundtable; member of the Board of Directors of Valley Arts; and the Multicultural Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reginald holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and a Master in Business Administration in International Business from Binghamton University.

Zoe Bogan is a member of the Corporate Development (M&A) Integration team at KPMG LLP, which is responsible for driving integration improvements for US acquisitions.Her expertise includes project management, integration planning, issue resolution, cultural assessment, finance & budgeting, stakeholder management and relationship building. In addition she serves on the Leadership Council for KPMG’s Network of Women (KNOW) with an influence to address and respond to the diversity matters in the corporate setting.

Mois Navon is one of the founding engineers of Mobileye, where he designed the EyeQ family of SoC (System On a Chip) - the chip powering the autonomous vehicle revolution. He is the author of numerous hardware patents in the field of image
processing and computing hardware. Prior to Mobileye, Mois worked for notable companies such as IBM and NASA's JPL as well as a number of Israeli Start-Ups.

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Tiasia is a third-time founder and social entrepreneur with a decade of professional experience in leading strategic communications, fundraising, business development, and public-private initiatives. Her experience in working with community-based organizations and small businesses has given her deep insights into the complex nature of economic development. She has managed partnerships with major institutions such as Forest City Ratner, HBO, the Rockefeller Foundation, Alloy Real Estate Development, H&R Block, JetBlue, Interbrand, Edison Properties (Manhattan Mini Storage), Ace Hotel, and the Association of Legal Administrators of New York City. In addition, Tiasia has launched tech and digital initiatives at nonprofits such as The Thrive Network, MoCADA, and Groundswell. Her work has led her to being the recipient of the 2018 NYN Media 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in social impact.