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Athena Speaker Directory
FIND TOP STEM SPEAKERS
Explore Athena's diverse talent roster to find the right STEM Speaker for your next event, conference, or board retreat. Securing a diverse conference speaker lineup requires lots of intentional work and this one-stop directory offers decades of experience among these female thought leaders in STEM. Directly contact any of these dynamic speakers to capture the unique perspectives from these leaders.
To become a Featured Speaker, email staff@athenaSTEMwomen.org.
Lola Adeyemo
Founder & CEO
EQI Mindset
EXPERTISE: Building Winning Teams | Employee Resource Groups | Career Transitions | Mentoring | Working Parent
SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: Gritty Leadership Conference (GrittyMovement) | AWIS Conference Speaker - AWIS San Diego | RACE Stories - Boulder Storyslam | Speaker - Power to Fly Network | Project Management Institute | Healthcare Business Women Association (HBA) | Podcast Guest Speaker - Inclusion 1st | Women Venture Summit Speaker
Shirin Alipanah
Principal
Avasant
EXPERTISE: Technology Evangelist | Manufacturing | Retail | CPG | QSR
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: SIM San Diego - Women in Technology Leadership | Society of Communications Technology Consultants International - Technology Trends and Cloud Migration Strategies for 2022 | Avasant / HCL - Driving Business Agility Through End-to-End Digital Transformation | Avasant - Enabling Business Transformation Through Digital Customer Journeys | ISSA - Blockchain Implementation Journey
Sarah Bacerra
Founder
Trailblazing in Color
EXPERTISE: People Innovator | Human Lover | Inclusion Pusher | Learning & Performance Leader | Certified High Performance Coach | Certified DISC Facilitator
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Startup San Diego - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Panel | The Center for Respectful Leadership - Changemaker Spotlight
Carolina Bravo-Karimi
Partner
Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP
EXPERTISE: Employment Law | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Workplace Investigations | Workplace Culture | Trainings on Inclusive Communication, Unconscious Bias, and Microaggressions
SPEAKING APPERANCES: Athena | Association of Corporate Counsel | University of San Diego School of Law | ChIPs Orange County Chapter | SunLaw | Federal Bar Association | California State Bar | San Diego Employer Association
Kimbra Brookstein
Staff Program Manager - Tech Women @ Intuit
Intuit
EXPERTISE: Women In Tech | Diversity In Tech | Building Inclusive Environments | ERGs | Allyship | Building Communities | Brand Building | Networking | Corporate Culture
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Blueprint for Success - Athena Pinnacle Award Winners | Male Allyship: Supporting Women in Tech - Women of Rady | Women Tech Leaders - GA & Yelp Panel | Moderator - San Diego Tech Women's Summit - IWD Panel | Surviving COVID: How to pivot during crisis - SD Women’s Venture Summit | Moderator, SD Resources To Level up Your Career - SDTWS | Moderator, Girls In Tech - SD: The different type of dev roles you can have in tech | Women In Tech Panel - Startup San Diego Convergence/Girls In Tech SD | Creating Tech Opportunities For Community Change - Western Regional Diversity Conference | How I Started Working In Tech - GeekGirl TechCon | Women In Tech: The Resources You Need To Level Up In SD - SDSW
Noushin Dunkelman
Founder & CEO
MaxSynergy
EXPERTISE: Organizational Development in Biotech Spaces | Communication Strategy | Operation Structure | Culture Development | Team and Talent Development
SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: SDEE | AWIS Conference Speaker | Lunchbio | SDBSA | EvoNexus | NCHR
Neha Giri
Software Architect
Intuit
EXPERTISE: Software Architecture | Open Source Software & How Women Can Get Involved | Building a Career in Software Architecture | Mentoring Framework and Best Practices to Support Women in Tech
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Grace Hopper Conference 2021 & 2020 "How to Make Your First Open Source Contribution" | Intuit Panel "Diversity and Inclusion"
Kristin "KG" Gustafson
CEO and Founder
Skapa Bio
EXPERTISE: CHRO Leadership in Biotech | Talent Management | HR System Optimization | Culture, Learning and Organizational Development in Biotech Space | Communication Strategy | Team Development
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Equilar Annual Conference | Women in Bio | Biocom | Radford Reward Annual Meeting | LeapHR | SHRM
Kerstin Kirchsteiger, Ph. D.
Founder, CEO, Executive Coach
Kerstin K Leadership Consulting
Making your organization irresistible - Talent attraction & retention made easy | Brain Science for High Performance | Driving innovation through DEI&B for parents and neurodiverse employees | Motherhood as a leadership position. How to translate new skills to propel your career forward | Other topics upon request
Stable Mama Podcast - Motherhood has prepared you to be a great leader | Love Your Life Show Podcast - Emotional Intelligence with Kerstin Kirchsteiger
Sheryl Kline
Founder & CEO
The Zone Lab, LLC
Defuse Emotionally Charged Conversations and Remain Highly Influential
Expertise: Mental Toughness and High Performance for Women in the Workplace via the 1:1 Fearless Female Leadership Coaching Proven Process | Speaking I Enterprise Digital Journey I Gain Olympic-Level Clarity on What's Next I Build Confidence to See it Through I Learn FBI-like Strategic Influence to Gain Buy-In From Leadership
Fearless Female Leadership Podcast Host
United Nations Global Leadership Summit I Women of Silicon Valley Conference (opened both days) I Women in Technology Network | CREW National Convention | Women of the Channel Conference NYC/Palm Springs | Oracle | VM Ware | Microsoft | Insight Enterprises I Bank of America I Autodesk I State Street Global Advisors I UC Berkeley Haas School of Business I CaptialOne I Hewlett Packard Enterprises I Pixar I SHRM
Cynthia Long, LSSMBB, PMP
Senior Manager and Change Leader BPR Continuous Improvement
Intuit
EXPERTISE: Revolutionary Leader for Continuous Improvement | Business Transformation Strategist | Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt | Public Speaker | Philanthropist | Mentor
SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: Strategic Conversations - Mentoring and Beyond (Women in Technology Festival) | Data - Driving from the Customer Seat (Intuit) | Cost of Complexity (Intuit) | Surviving Domestic Violence (Compass Center For Women and Families)
Cynthia Lopez
Team Lead
San Diego Gas & Electric
EXPERTISE: Operations | Speaking Up | Mentoring Females In STEM | Leadership | Team Development and Independence
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Alumni Speaker | San Diego State University Electrical Engineering Panel | SDG&E City Council Meeting | D&I Speaker | SDG&E Virtual Career Fair for Women In Construction
Molly McElwee Malloy, RN, CDCES
Senior Medical Science Liaison
Tandem Diabetes Care
EXPERTISE: Insulin Algorithms and Data Interpretation | Diabetes Technology | Patient Advocacy and Engagement | Medical Device Clinical Trials | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access in Healthcare
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: ADCES (American Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists) Past Spokesperson | ADA (American Diabetes Association) | Various Grand Rounds in the United States and Canada
Shawnnah Monterrey
CEO
BeanStock Ventures
EXPERTISE: Leadership | Product Development | Medical Device | Software | Regulatory
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Software as a Medical Device with the FDA | SLAS Women in Computer Science | MDSD - The Benefits and Challenges with Developing a Software Platform | SDSU Business Panel Discussion | PMWC FDA Regulation | A Peek into AI Proposed Regulatory Framework
Susan Poser
Vice President, Culture and Engagement
Oracle
EXPERTISE: Managing Your Career as a JOB (Joy, Opportunity, Brand) | Attracting & Engaging Employees for Success | Being an Ally to Drive D&I
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Ascend Inspiring Across Generations | San Diego State University Aztec Mentor Program Talks | Oracle Women Leaders | Oracle Professional Asian Leadership | Out & Equal Summit | San Diego Women's Week
Alaina Brinley Rajagopal
Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer
Esperto Medical
EXPERTISE: Women in STEM | Emergency Medicine | Aerospace Medicine | Global Health | Infectious Disease | Startups | Bringing Together Diverse Interests to Create New Ideas | Working Parents | Female Founders
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Kalamazoo College - Coronavirus, Altitude and Aerospace: Commonalities and Differences in Physiology | California Institute of Technology: COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of an Emergency Medicine Physician | University of California, Irvine: Viral Reactivation during Spaceflight | NASA Speaker's Bureau: Careers at NASA, Careers in STEM, Spacesuits, Spaceflight Physiology
Tiffany Rosik
Founder & CEO
TGR Management Consulting
EXPERTISE: Technology Strategy | Strategic Planning Processes | Program Management | Operational Efficiency
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Financial Executives International (FEI) San Diego Chapter | American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) San Diego Chapter | Athena Women on Boards Panel Discussion | SharpHeels Conferences | PMI San Diego | BioPharma Project Management Conference | Podcast guest speaking on Cybersecurity, Technology, and Leadership.
Lauren Ross
Senior Associate
Fragomen
EXPERTISE: Options for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals to Work in the United States | Pathways to Permanent Residence for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals | Immigration as a Recruiting Tool for STEM Employers | Naturalization & Citizenship Law
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: 2022 AILA Border Issues Virtual Conference | Tech San Diego Presents | AILA California Chapters Conference | AILA Annual Conference on Immigration Law | AILA Agora | MBL Benefits | ILW Audio Seminar | New York Law Journal
Leslie Schulze
President & CEO (Fractional CFO)
Cornerstone Business Solutions, Inc.
EXPERTISE: Finance | Accounting | Operations & Administration | Financing Activities, Including Venture Capital Financing | Non-Dilutive Funding (Including Government Contracts and Grants) | Corporate Collaborations | Mergers and Acquisitions | Asset Acquisitions/Sales
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: CFO Fireside Chat, - Finance and Accounting for Bioscience Companies East Conference
Holly Smithson
CEO
Athena
EXPERTISE: Women’s Leadership Advocate & Keynote Speaker | Diversity & Inclusion for Corporate Culture | Data-driven Strategies on DE&I & Profits | Why Male Allyship is Key to DE&I
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: United Nations 74th General Assembly | The Atlantic Magazine - Innovators Lab | DeviceTalks West Conference | BD’s International Women Day Conference | Illumina's Destination for Diversity - Advancing Women in a Global STEM Hub | 2023 VMUG UserCon
Hitomi Taguchi
Certified Life and Career Coach
EXPERTISE: Leadership and Coaching Skills for Scientists and Engineers | Confidence | Renaissance Soul | Creativity
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: American Chemical Society | Electrochemical Society | Pittcon | TEDx | US Department of Energy - Energy Frontier Research Centers | Universities
Dr. Alessandra Wall
Founder
Noteworthy
EXPERTISE: Psychologist | Leadership | Women in Tech | Executive Coaching | Career Planning | Building Social Capital | Speaking Up | Finding Allies
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena Leadership Academy | Opting In: Becoming a Male Ally in the Workplace | Women's Week San Diego | European Women's Network | Marine Corps | Cisco | Northrup| HP | Bank of America
Anne Welsh, PhD, ACC
Clinical Psychologist & Executive Coach
Dr. Anne Welsh
EXPERTISE: Supporting working parents, Navigating parental leave for employees and managers, Emotional Intelligence, Workplace wellness, Mental health, Perinatal mental health, Women in STEM leadership, Mindfulness as a leadership tool, Fair Play (sharing the mental load) as a leadership tool
SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: Technology Networks, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, University of New Hampshire, Harvard University, Women In ETFs, Cambridge Preschool of the Arts, Podcast guest on over 15 podcasts including Wisecast: Women In STEM, Brave Women at Work, and Mission First, People Always.
Shirley Yager
Director, Product Management
Qualcomm
EXPERTISE: Business Strategy | New Business Opportunity Analysis | Market Research | Business and Product Development | Startup Consulting | Mentorship | Career Coaching
SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena Racing Podcast | Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance | San Diego State University Aztec Mentorship Program | Various Qualcomm women's groups
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