https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/home-2020 daily 0.75 2020-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556667783190-YMO7YQ92RWCBY7L2O7HK/photo_1.jpg Home 2020 - Get Inspired Join us for the Women Of MENA In Technology Conference to: - Connect with like-minded professionals from a range of industries within tech and build an unparalleled network - Find mentors, investors, co-founders, employees, new clients through networking opportunities - Meet senior executives, business leaders, experts, influencers - Gain a deeper understanding of the skills, qualities and attributes needed to be a successful leader - Examine the barriers currently female leaders (and future leaders) are facing in the workplace and hear how to overcome them - Encounter brands and services targeting professional women https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1551828835336-9EENZ8HTBUKJ6XD14LES/home-Conference.png Home 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1514439234842-VPQA6SN5GTRV0DCL8APG/PWIT_Mission_Pic.jpg Home 2020 - Our Mission As technology becomes more integrated in our society and creates a new paradigm, it is up to us to be intentional about equity, inclusion, and diverse representation in the space. The 2020 Women of MENA In Technology conference is first of its kind, bringing together speakers and attendees that have been powerful catalysts of change, and now will come together to connect and evolve ideas of bettering the technology landscape globally. See agenda. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1514341796377-IBCXL1EUAJ3DAURACDUP/deena-shakir.jpg Home 2020 Deena Shakir is a partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), where she is responsible for managing partnerships for GV’s portfolio companies. She helps startups scale and grow by connecting them to the world’s largest companies. Prior to joining GV, Deena spent five years at Google doing business development for early-stage products in health care, research and machine intelligence, and search. She also spearheaded social impact investments for Google.org. Deena previously led public-private partnerships with Global 2000 companies as a presidential management fellow in the office of Secretary Clinton at the U.S. State Department. At the U.S. Agency for International Development, Deena was a partnerships advisor where she helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010. Deena co-founded her first company at 19, and is an angel investor and startup adviser. She serves as an advisor to the board of TechWadi (after serving as a Board Director for several years), and sits on the boards of the Harvard Alumni Association, the Project on Middle East Democracy, the Arab Film Festival, and the Asian University for Women. She is also a Board Advisor to Girls Who Code. Deena holds a joint Bachelor of Arts in social studies and Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard College and a master’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She delivered the 2008 Harvard Class Day speech, “From Baghdad to Boston: Dropping the Global H-Bomb. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1514067715049-ZBANR24B8QZF90949BHW/Yasmine.png Home 2020 Yasmine El Baggari, a native of Morocco and San Francisco based, is the founder and CEO of Voyaj, an online platform that connects people from around the globe for one-on-one meaningful exchanges to foster global understanding. Yasmine is committed to creating a safe environment where the exchange of ideas will result in mutual respect and our ability to embrace our differences, to empower each other to become citizens of the world committed to a healthy, peaceful planet. For the past four years, Yasmine’s reach includes research at Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department as an Youth Moroccan Ambassador to the United States. She has spoken at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, the Middle East Studies Association, and Obama's Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, NPR, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Yasmine has also received the Royal Air Maroc Award from the African Studies Association, Glamour Women of the Year Microsoft's Made Achieving Award, Hampshire College’s $60K Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, The Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, the Sander Thoenes Research Award, and two Ingenuity Awards. Recently, she was invited to the White House as one of the 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers, and on Forbes 30 Under 30's list as one of of the most inspiring and promising entrepreneurs in Africa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1517980190482-TW348VZ86TTFDZ6MXDA4/Anousheh+Ansari.jpg Home 2020 Dr. Anousheh Ansari is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prodea Systems a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm. As she launched her new company, in 2006, she also blasted off for an 11-day space expedition and captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first Muslim woman, and the fourth private explorer to visit space. This was the accomplishment of a childhood dream for her. As a successful serial entrepreneur and active proponent of world-changing technologies she along with her family sponsored the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award ignited a new era in private space industries. Anousheh has published her memoire titled “My Dream of Stars” to use her life story to inspire young woman around the world. Anousheh is a Vision Circle and Board member of the X Prize Foundation’s. She serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, to name a few. Anousheh is a UNESCO Good Will Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil (NYSE: JBL) and Peace First as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment. She currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally, with organizations such as ASHOKA, which supports social entrepreneurship around the world. Anousheh holds BS in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, MS in electrical engineering from George Washington University; honorary doctorate from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1545948599585-68OOJGTRDNIKN8NWTH0L/28278983_1736043913084573_1623504966173254531_n.jpg Home 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602798226769-QE0U5L618QALHJBVQHJ6/WOMENAIT.png Home 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604539018358-YUWI8MGW6CP6DC6QJ0UL/Rosie+Roca_Headshot.jpeg.png Home 2020 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/conference-2019 daily 0.75 2022-04-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581465290464-VLIOAEVEPJG87QXZJIJO/web-banner-Conference.jpg Home- 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581465938750-ZUWC6EMT6OCU3VC18F1H/roxane-zand-new.jpg Home- 2019 Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. She is also arts editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1514439234842-VPQA6SN5GTRV0DCL8APG/PWIT_Mission_Pic.jpg Home- 2019 - Our Mission As technology becomes more integrated in our society and creates a new paradigm, it is up to us to be intentional about equity, inclusion, and diverse representation in the space. The 2018 Women of MENA technology conference is first of its kind, bringing together speakers and attendees that have been powerful catalysts of change, and now will come together to connect and evolve ideas of bettering the technology landscape from within Silicon Valley and beyond. See 2019 Agenda https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581466001692-MNT0PMBS0LVJ5TB4V9LN/Tara-Sharifi-new.jpg Home- 2019 Tara Sharifi, 11 years old Maths and technology lover. Bronze & Silver award winner of The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise. Swimmer, Dancer and Guitarist. Year 7 Student at Aylesbury High School. Scored highest possible mark of 162 at Mensa UK IQ test. Fun Facts: Came 5th in the UK in rock & roll dance at the age of 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581466135478-G5SCTR18MHEOEZ90API2/Dr-Ali-parsa.jpg Home- 2019 Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1592266599266-S7ZQ0TL3BMVW6ISJKAFQ/252159.png Home- 2019 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/agenda2021 daily 0.75 2021-08-19 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/conference-2022 daily 1.0 2022-08-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/7a9ee60d-e162-46f7-b1b1-dbbc88624ea8/conference+locations.png Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/ebdbd582-cd8b-48c4-81c7-f491bed30004/Untitled+%281080+%C3%97+680+px%29+%287%29.jpg Home - Our Mission Our 2021 Virtual Conference was full of inspiration and authentic connections! We are returning this year virtually to bring our global MENA In Tech community together to learn, elevate, connect and support in creating a space for Women Of MENA In Technology worldwide. The 2022 Women of MENA In Technology conference is the first of its kind, bringing together speakers and attendees that have been powerful catalysts of change and now will come together to connect and evolve ideas of bettering the technology landscape globally.⁠ As technology becomes more integrated in our society and creates a new paradigm, it is up to us to be intentional about equity, inclusion, and diverse representation in the space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/f6f86470-7354-4b17-9813-a075a6ec5ea5/Untitled+%281080+%C3%97+680+px%29+%2810%29.jpg Home - Get Inspired Join us for the Women Of MENA In Technology Conference to: - Connect with like-minded professionals from a range of industries within tech and build an unparalleled network - Find mentors, investors, co-founders, employees, new clients through networking opportunities - Meet senior executives, business leaders, experts, influencers - Gain a deeper understanding of the skills, qualities and attributes needed to be a successful leader - Examine the barriers currently female leaders (and future leaders) are facing in the workplace and hear how to overcome them - Encounter brands and services targeting professional women https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/bb201d77-8676-485d-8af0-5b985dfe107c/conference+main+page+%285%29.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1660517658953-JD4E31A81N1ZJWQGR93S/eblast+conference.png Home https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/conference-2021 daily 0.75 2022-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/c164dfa7-3d78-451d-9f45-7304aca4158f/Conference+2021+Speakers+%289%29.png past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/82eacee7-b2d6-44fd-b373-d6765693ab83/Conference+2021+Speakers+%288%29.png past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/33ab7676-56f2-4a41-9ade-1657aff0a92b/Katie+Partridge.png past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/99c6707c-4eee-4434-97a0-75003dce4783/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2810%29.png past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/d0642c1d-9753-41b3-9d63-67a53d9fd99d/Dina+Saoudi.png past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/6850763c-f893-4c65-b07f-f12586ec7d5a/mentorship.jpg past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/ec36da97-266c-45f8-8ed0-36cc5d75033b/workshop.jpg past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/247c7c9b-0b4c-4528-9083-efaa5a46f952/ambassador.jpg past events_2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270666951-N1Z0K02PIOS5JDFT8342/Panel+3+-+1.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270654048-UYBHJFS6R6TCJMPZADWW/Panel+2+-+2.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270653236-8FZSKZIX0IJHN9NUTWI8/Mentorship+5.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270656036-NCKEXZLV9T353T0SI1R2/Mentorship+1.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270659012-0SBPGK1VQFDT3ZYJLA3D/FireSideChat04.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270659302-REP67OLFM8PL0MEWGTXT/Screen+Shot+2021-11-04+at+12.16.43+AM.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270661408-6CC8MW1DVK3DMAN0H0X6/Virtual+Hall+4.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1646270668221-4LXIYQDVER34S38YFW2T/Panel1_01.png past events_2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634248472758-41BRGG0GZAKKLJ8H9EC3/Sponsors+Linkedin+%281%29.jpg past events_2021 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/home-2021 daily 0.75 2022-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1615330347125-TI95Y73OC5QUEHAEH1BF/Untitled%2Bdesign%2B%25287%2529.jpg Home 2021 - Our Mission Our 2020 Virtual Conference was full of inspiration and authentic connections! We are returning this year virtually to bring our global MENA In Tech community together to learn, elevate, connect and support in creating a space for Women Of MENA In Technology worldwide. The 2021 Women of MENA In Technology conference is the first of its kind, bringing together speakers and attendees that have been powerful catalysts of change and now will come together to connect and evolve ideas of bettering the technology landscape globally.⁠ As technology becomes more integrated in our society and creates a new paradigm, it is up to us to be intentional about equity, inclusion, and diverse representation in the space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1615330300782-M5U675S9W02F6QBYLDON/conference+main+page.png Home 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1615330383851-SAK727UAZ0LPR6NVY5WR/Untitled%2Bdesign%2B%25286%2529.jpg Home 2021 - Get Inspired Join us for the Women Of MENA In Technology Conference to: - Connect with like-minded professionals from a range of industries within tech and build an unparalleled network - Find mentors, investors, co-founders, employees, new clients through networking opportunities - Meet senior executives, business leaders, experts, influencers - Gain a deeper understanding of the skills, qualities and attributes needed to be a successful leader - Examine the barriers currently female leaders (and future leaders) are facing in the workplace and hear how to overcome them - Encounter brands and services targeting professional women https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634248472758-41BRGG0GZAKKLJ8H9EC3/Sponsors+Linkedin+%281%29.jpg Home 2021 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/conference-2020 daily 0.75 2022-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/5e4e3762-eda5-412f-b627-3160f7d16e4d/home-Conference.png past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/95cfb335-2540-446b-87b2-7ad0044ea229/Kamelia%2BAryafar.png past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/64d7d14a-d46b-494f-b897-5b7df580e1bc/Heba%2BSayed.png past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/ab834e0a-a3b8-4cd4-b07e-93b9b9a2169e/Nooshin-Behroyan.jpg past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/fe6a1528-036a-4c62-9e87-e5ceb8013306/Hoda%2BGerami.png past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/9ba4272f-e702-43de-8da3-ea9e3418c073/Nazli%2BAlaghband.png past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/4a2ba4c3-dd3e-474e-ba7e-72db7329aa8c/Mentorship+3.jpg past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/0be776fa-408f-41a5-8a1f-b75067ee8c87/Workshop+10.jpg past events_2020 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604539018358-YUWI8MGW6CP6DC6QJ0UL/Rosie+Roca_Headshot.jpeg.png past events_2020 https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/contact daily 0.75 2020-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591060301610-OUN2VVHAZPPUV7BG3RB6/WoMENAIT.+Icon.jpg Contact https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/mentorship-lunch daily 0.75 2022-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635785100542-GW5VNLY7SJVATZSYPTB2/Arefeh+Taghi+Khani.jpg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Arefeh is an experienced Operational Excellence consultant with a demonstrated history of managing agile projects in the automotive and renewable industries. Currently she is working as a consultant for the London-based innovative telecom and cyber security solutions provider, Exponential-e and volunteering as the lead of the London chapter of Women of MENA in Technology. She has vast experience in Continuous Improvement practices, Lean Six-Sigma and Lean Startup, Digital Transformation and Business Management System development, helping businesses with improving their management systems and processes to achieve excellence. She has done her undergraduate studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Tehran, Iran and her post-grad and PhD in the same field with focus on electron microscopy of semiconductor materials and devices at University of Sheffield, UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/e6a55270-e22d-4c24-bbf6-2b687efd998e/Oumaima+Farik.jpeg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Oumaima Farik is Douar Tech's Program Coordinator supporting project management, partnership development, and stakeholder engagement within our programs. With family ties to Beni Mellal and currently based in Bouskoura, Oumaima Farik has been supporting Douar Tech as its Program Coordinator since February 2021. Oumaima has represented her Moroccan roots in cross-cultural programs around the world from South Africa to Qatar. In her previous experience as the coordinator for CIEE programs for more than seven years, Oumaima’s experience in program development allowed her to create more inclusive opportunities through experiential learning for her students. Oumaima has a Masters in Pedagogy of Cultural Mediation in Arts and Sciences from the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Rabat. She is committed to fostering intercultural competencies in students by reducing barriers to access and engagement through inclusive programming https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635392688405-OJFY8DDLPA74YPTTF9M3/1517514583397.jfif Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Arefeh is passionate about solving complex problems that require a multi-disciplinary and innovative approach. She is a life-long learner and enthusiast of the intersection between tech, culture and human behavior. Arefeh is currently working as a Senior Product Manager for Amazon Prime, based in Tokyo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/2480c00a-daf3-4a37-979e-ba591e427ebf/VinceKohli_Image+2021.jpg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Vince Kohli, An Empathy Scholar, is a Global Exponential Impact Capitalist and Silicon Valley Early-stage Investor, 6X Tech Entrepreneur, Serial Business Builder, Product Visionary, Inventor, Problem Thinking Doer, Public Speaker, and Author. Vince is a Global Impact Capitalist Maker, Exponential Impact Super Angel Investor focused on Hyperautomation, Enterprise Deep Tech, AI and ML impacting Enterprise and Social Enterprise Industries. Vince is a special invited member of MIT Technology review Global Panel and business advisor at Meta, Google, Amazon and Box. Vince serves as a StartpUp Judge at MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Google, Samsung, IBM, DraperU, Founder Institute, Founders Space, California State University, StartX, and NASA. Vince is a StartUp / ScaleUp Business Design Investor / Advisor/Mentor at Google4StartUps, Microsoft for StartUps, Singularity, Launch, IBM, StartX, AngelHack, Top Silicon Valley Incubators, Venture Builders, Venture Studios, and Accelerators at Alchemist, and 500 Global and YC. Vince invented the revolutionary Rapid Prototyping Investor Pitching Method termed as "Seven Second StartUp and ScaleUp Value Pitch". He is a High Impact Venture Mentor Maker in Silicon Valley for Global StartUps and ScaleUps Ecosystem, SAP recognized and awarded SAP Mentor Award and pioneered the first ever Corporate Mentorship Award. Vince is an Innovation Catalyst at UCSF for digital health, hardware and software design for medical devices, Corporate Startup Innovation at Honda Innovation, Samsung Tech Impact, Corporate Ventures with HP Ventures, and Samsung NEXT Ventures, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Venture Lab - IE Business School, Plug and Play, Silicon Valley. Vince has contributed valuable mentorship to 26K+ Founders Vision from 70+ Countries. He is a life changing coach for business / tech founders and on a Massive Transformation Mission to exponentially Impact Billion Entrepreneurs with Global Professional Business Venture Mentorship initiative and execute with the Pilanthropreneurologist mindset to Impact the Post COVID World with Empathy + EQ. Vince regularly speaks on UN SDG’s, Corporate Innovation, 5G, AI/ML, Quantum Technologies, Edge Computing, Blockchain, Scaling Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Global Resilience - Scaling the Innovation Economy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635392901154-CTRQOQNXIRRQ5YAEDR47/1593751901489.jfif Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Nasim Boustani is a “professional learner”, and after completing her BASc in Electronics Engineering in Shiraz University in 2000, her passion for a wide variety of new intellectual subjects and experiencing new cultures landed her in Canada. She pursued her love of science at UBC in Vancouver, completing her project at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC) and receiving her Masters degree in Experimental Particle Physics. Nasim then moved back to Iran to be an instructor in Shiraz Azad University, teaching Math, Physics and Electronics for a several of years. In 2007, she moved back to Vancouver, shifting her career focus into the Tech Industry and consequently completed her MBA in Management of Technology at SFU. Nasim has been working as an Operation Manager and Operations Director in various technology firms since 2009. Her responsibilities as a global Operation and Transformation leader have mandated her to excel at cross-functional and cross-cultural skills which are vital to implementing a sustainable change in the fast paced segments of the tech industry. In her free time, you may find her doing yoga, rock climbing, painting or singing. She is also an expert Yoga teacher who offers ad-hoc training sessions to friends in her free time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635383974004-SLPHHP5112R6D6YCIGTU/Nader+Abdelrazik+.png Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Nader is the Co-founder and CEO of MoneyHash: an early stage fintech company aiming to aggregate and streamline the fragmented payment and fintech ecosystem in the Middle East, Africa, and emerging markets. Prior to MoneyHash, he spent most of his career in academia and consulting working on technology management, venture design, and product innovation. He later switched to the startup world working with various tech startups in MENA. Nader is a Fulbright alum, and holds master's degrees from UC Berkeley and Nile University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181165064-97BJYOEQOE7XWE81F8VW/Rama+El+Safty+-+Photo+%281%29.png Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Rama is a seasoned Global Tech Executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector with diverse experience in sales & distribution, operations and business transformation in high growth and M&A scenarios. As former Andela's Country Director- a technology company that’s solving the global technical talent shortage - Rama built and launched Andela Egypt, while positioning it as a Tech company leader in the Tech ecosystem as well as the home to great tech talent. Before joining Andela, Rama led teams at IBM, Lenovo, and Dell working across different continents, moving from Cairo to Dubai to Paris. She recently moved back to Egypt to act on her long-time desire to help build the future of technology in her home country. Her energy and passion for building a great organization in Africa and the region are contagious. In her own words, ""dare to dream, believe in yourself, follow your passion and help build a better world"". Rama holds a BSc in Computer Science from The American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris in General Management and Entrepreneurship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634233177266-4LTAA3QAUTFV7Q3LJPIT/Fatemeh+Rezazadeh.JPG Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Fatemeh has more than 17 years of experience in Energy industry. Currently she is the Director of New & Low Carbon Business Development at Air Products where she works with a range of customers across the energy value chain on topics related to the Energy Transition. Prior to this role, she was the Venture Owner of Carbon Capture Technologies at Siemens Energy Incubator where she developed technology development and go-to-market strategies to build the CCS business for Siemens Energy, where she successfully pitched the business to potential investors to raise sufficient fund to take the venture to the next level up to the “Exit/Launch” phase. Fatemeh’s background is Mechanical Engineering, she has Masters in Energy from Heriot-Watt university and PhD in Low Carbon Energy Technologies from the University of Leeds in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634568107799-L23UPG67KMU5TZBYUHA1/Farah+Abd+El-Gawad.jpeg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Farah is a Senior Investment Associate at Sawari. She has experience in private equity, asset management and venture capital, encompassing a range of sectors, including non-bank financial services, agribusiness, FMCG and petrochemicals. Prior to working at Sawari, she co-managed public equity, fixed income and money market funds totaling more than 2 billion Egyptian pounds at NBK Capital. She has also worked at Tanmeya Capital Ventures (TCV), one of Egypt’s fastest growing private equity firms where she was part of the team that closed the first three transactions of the firm’s fund in less than two years totaling $12 million. Prior to that she worked at the Sawiris Foundation for Environmental Development where she took part in formulating the foundation’s overall strategy and was responsible for sourcing funding for its projects. Farah holds a bachelor’s in Finance from the American University in Cairo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/9d38dbab-270a-4c1a-af75-34117580388b/Ishara-Kotagama.jpeg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Ishara Kotagama is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder and CEO of Allerkids, a platform dedicated to creating an inclusive culture for children with food allergies. Ishara studied and worked in Australia, Europe, and Asia, with global marketing experience in industries including technology, healthcare, and CPG. She is an avid supporter of the arts and has served on the board of San Francisco Ballet, and currently serves on the board of TEDxMarin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635785301647-Z7DEB4ABOZG3VMEY7ZHO/Elliot+Reuben.png Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Elliot Reuben has worked in business, marketing and digital strategy & operations for over 25 years and for the last 7 years has been Director, Strategic Business Consulting for Salesforce in EMEA, working with global enterprises on developing innovative strategies for reaching the most ambitious of business goals. Prior to Salesforce he was a leading digital strategist and planning director in marketing & advertising agency-land, working on campaigns for a wide range of global, blue chip clients, from Diageo to Nestle, Microsoft to Peugeot and many more. He started out in the music industry, running his own labels and artist management companies, then ran international marketing & PR campaigns for independent labels. He spent four years in Cardiff as Chief Executive of Welsh Music Foundation and still maintains an unhealthy interest in music, occasionally playing drums for a moderately-acclaimed and commercially underwhelming band. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326927-U03VA5G3UQEFFI5FGV5G/28167778_1736049476417350_5877855858040778307_n.jpg Mentorship Lunch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327466-E4O432Q6ZAUWY771POP3/28168332_1736049683083996_5591437169059702983_n+%281%29.jpg Mentorship Lunch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327503-B2V3P6OH4JHEYE2UMTJH/28279704_1736048969750734_3684868987350078109_n.jpg Mentorship Lunch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326953-T6USMP2NUVWEV4QGIB7U/28058582_1736050983083866_4172639532529689177_n.jpg Mentorship Lunch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634609589527-3MYV9MIJQ06PPUIHH0KM/Gelareh-Taghizadeh-headshot.jpeg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Gelareh Taghizadeh is a Lead Data Scientist in a London-based tech company, CogX. She did her undergrad studies in Computer Engineering and her postgrad studies in Artificial Intelligence. Gelareh has published her research works in the field of applied AI during her years of working as a researcher in academia, and in 2015, she joined the industry and since then she has developed extensive experience in applying advanced machine learning techniques in Natural Language Processing domain. At her job as a Lead Data Scientist, she is involved in leading, mentoring, and managing data scientists in her own team and other teams, her team works closely with the product and development team to shape their machine learning models and put them in production. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634858583803-ZXEH6O74WS0DBNOXVNGY/Arezou+Seifpour+.png Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Arezou Seifpour is a product management lead, working and consulting in software companies of various sizes from early-stage startups to public companies. She volunteers with PDX Women in Tech, an organization which focuses on strengthening the Portland community of women in technology. She founded the PDXWIT Mentorship Program and currently serves as the Director of Innovation. As a change agent for the tech industry, Arezou has been involved in key advocacy efforts, including co-penning an open letter resulting in the removal of offensive tech billboards displayed in Portland's downtown core. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/7ab4317d-4957-446f-86ba-912b7aca929a/Tina+Mashaalahi.jpeg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Tina is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years’ experience, launching three technology based start-ups. Tina has advised and led start-ups and venture funds on their pre and post launch operations, business and investment strategies, and fundraising. Tina also invests in early-stage exponential and impact-driven technologies. Tina holds a Civil Engineering degree from UCL and is an advocate for women in STEM. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/17408fd3-5aa8-48fc-ba1e-db0491d3e470/Mentors_banner.png Mentorship Lunch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181127342-J162QNQS50W1583J0HDC/Azadeh+Dindarian.jpg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Azadeh holds a Ph.D., in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, she has co-founded, the Women AI academy to empower women around the world to get into AI-related jobs. Azadeh is an impact-driven entrepreneur and strategist, and a community builder with 12+ years of experience in project management and product management, delivering products with a strong background in Innovation and Digitalisation within a cross-functional team. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635384101614-2IO4QUFDAIY2JIUO93AB/Sally+Nowroozi.jpg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out Sally is a Customer Experience Evangelist at Salesforce, consulting with companies across EMEA on the future of their customer experience and has driven the development of digital transformation strategies and design of customer centric experiences across multiple industries. Having spoken at many global conferences such as Dreamforce, Sally advocates revolutionising organisational culture with the vision to use technology more innovatively. As an ambassador for women in STEM, she’s passionate about creating a change and is a Women of MENA in Tech Ambassador, enthusing young people and inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals. Sally has over 15 years experience in marketing, digital, ecommerce, branding, CRM and customer centric design and graduated from University of Arts London in Marketing + Advertising. In her spare time she aspires to connect people around the world with the culture of the Middle Eastern with her food blog and hosting Persian Supper Nights. (@cookingwithsaloomeh) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181142649-1GPKL3GD3PF3VX6OGZ9M/Dr.Maria+Mirzaei.jpg Mentorship Lunch - Make it stand out As a former rocket scientist who decided to change her career and life after a near death experience, Maria is a former Google consultant who is currently helping professionals accelerate their career transition. 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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633575084128-NV6SVOSE6HCTKJLG86EJ/IMG_5696.JPG ` - NEGAR AJAYEBI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655529946-Z58Z71PKQUOWA7EL82FZ/Aida%2BAnsari.png ` - AIDA ANSARI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619656025734-FX05IH9BELZFEFJRM4YS/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2020-10-25%2Bat%2B12.13_edited.jpg ` - AFROUZ AZADI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1655346236160-GCDAHUI6DG1T2QRMRP42/Hanae+Bezad.jpg ` - HANAE BEZAD https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619662405957-ZIXERFR8M20ZFJDB2N84/Maryam%252BFasihy.jpg ` - MARYAM FASIHY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634692000017-ACOKI3R9B53SF6CI1YU9/Parisa+Profile+Photo.jpg ` - PARISA MANSOURIAN https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655529151-GA5H2PPCZ0RZ4L56F00D/Sepideh.Nasiri.Headshot3_400_400.png ` - SEPIDEH NASIRI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619728491959-LWEI07OTUGXDIV0PZ7OE/shima%252Bnejadbahram-2.jpg ` - SHIMA NEJADBAHRAM https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1661396157568-9DAW2Q42ZOR294BYTDRI/Farnaz+Niazi.jpg ` - FARNAZ NIAZI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1655345020960-2A559DWPHEBDFM4J7I6B/Sally%2BNowroozi.jpg ` - SALLY NOWRUZI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655528693-XN38LUT3220LSCQ7ARYO/Carol-Simoes.jpg ` - CAROL SIMON https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1655345913172-OHRWLY13PSBWQXO3UMRS/Shahrzad%252BYavari.jpg ` - SHAHRZAD YAVARI https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers2020 daily 0.75 2020-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581535930413-9Z5SMUNFXK7DWZ44C5TN/istockphoto-477333976-612x612.jpg Speakers 2020-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556229449877-ZGLWSCFAULKD7TNWJTNV/Mahtab.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Mahtab Ghamsari is an entrepreneur and music/arts enthusiast currently working on transforming how we can interact with the digital world through every day objects. Her previous project VRSUS is a creative application for capturing live music in Virtual Reality and re-creating the concert experience. Her other projects have involved pipelines for machine learning, concert recommendation tools, integrations for online advertising and various small web projects. She studied Systems Design and HCI in the context of music. Her MA thesis presented methods and studies used in mapping live performance (human) gestures to sound in digital musical instruments. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740413474-AFK9J65K2BMYT09TNQDY/Nona.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Nona Keyhani, Associate (IP, Tech & Data), Reed Smith Nona grew up in Sweden and came to the UK aged 9 with her family. In 2012, Nona graduated with a Masters in Law from UCL in London and upon completing law school, she commenced her training as a lawyer with the international law firm, Reed Smith LLP. During her training, Nona undertook two in-house secondments; the first with a global media and broadcasting organisation. She assisted on a variety of matters across the business, supporting the commercial and online businesses. Nona also completed an in-house of an investment bank headquartered in New York, before qualifying in 2018. Since qualification, Nona specialises in privacy, data protection and technology law. She advises clients across a diverse range of industry sectors and also works in Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf (which is London’s financial district) on her part time secondment. Nona is a member of Persian Women in Tech London Chapter since last summer and helps organise monthly events in the city. She was one of the key member organising our one year anniversary at Google’s headquarters in London last year. She is also part of the planning committee for the inaugural Persian Women in Tech conference on 22 June 2019 in London. Nona assists with the legal and compliance issues which arise in respect of PWIT in the UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1551830636558-COQ3N516BK05TQ1UZL2I/28468639_1736050499750581_2386572956287547554_n.jpg Speakers 2020-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740061953-IM50M4A6O5LNWIOWCWZV/Faranak-Frahmand-Pour.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Faranak Farahmand Pour Currently Faranak lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559594607788-2NYY1OEXOJPDISL6B5LD/Kate-Nowrouzi.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Kate Nowrouzi is the Senior Vice President of Global Email Delivery & Business Strategy at Sparkpost. She built the Deliverability Operation from the ground up and lead all the initial monitoring, alerting and automation efforts. Her team helps Sparkpost enterprise customers achieve a high inbox rate through following email marketing best practices. A recognized authority on email and anti-spam practices, Kate worked as an anti-abuse engineer at AOL anti-spam operation. Before that, she was a Network Engineer at the pioneering ISP, UUNET/ Verizon. Kate continues to be an active voice in the worldwide messaging and anti-spam community. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, mentors young engineers in tech and serves as an adviser to PersianWomen in Tech, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Iranian women inthe STEM fields. In her free time, she enjoys helping her local high school robotics team as a mentor, promoting Norooz (Persian New Year) celebration at her local schools, senior centers and libraries in Springtime. She holds a B.S. in Network Engineering and an M.S. in Telecommunication Technologies from Strayer University in Washington D.C. and Leadership and Decision Making Certificate from Stanford University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560884248122-6KBM2ZNP73M0NC5XRLG0/Radin.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Radin Rahimzadeh is a Connected and Autonomous & Smart City Specialist with Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) where she supports private and public sector visionaries with technology facilitation and implementation to redefine mobility to advance safety, expand accessibility, reduce congestion, and encourage mode shift through adoption of electric and shared modes of transportation. Radin wrote the first Master Plan for the GoMentum Station, a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) proving grounds and is a part of the team that brought the first Shared Autonomous Vehicle to California, now approved to test on public roads. Radin’s approach to introducing new ideas and technology has been by way of systems thinking to make sure that challenges are addressed at their ROOT, solutions are co-created WITH community and positive impacts are enjoyed by ALL community members. Radin uses data to elevate missing stories, build resilient cities, and empower civic spaces. In 2016, Radin closed her tech empowered nonprofit to support and advise a like-minded leader, Sepideh Nasiri and Persian Women in Tech, an organization creating profound waves of change to empower, elevate and advance Iranian and MENA women in Tech. In addition to PWIT, Radin also advises early-stage startups. In between all of the excitement, Radin unwinds by playing piano, boxing and traveling to connect, converse, and build community around beautiful global cities rich in heart, culture, and history. She speaks fluent Persian, Spanish and English. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581535297930-BSRARYFI2XLHR6Y6HHMZ/istockphoto-477333976-612x612.jpg Speakers 2020-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556646010984-KUB2KILLWE4TTVNT40JQ/May-Samali.jpg Speakers 2020-1 May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As Chief Operating Officer, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is responsible for building and spinning out a new technology platform for citizenship education across the US. She is also a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. May's primary areas of interest include venture financing, tech policy, social entrepreneurship and adaptive leadership. She is published on these topics in multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, VentureBeat, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and industry events. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences (First Class Honors & University Medal) from Sydney University. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. May has extensive experience advising startups across the US and Australia. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. Prior to that, she was a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. She has also worked as a strategy consultant at a boutique venture firm and as an attorney in Sydney. In addition, May has worked for the President of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She has also provided strategic advice to Australian governments on innovation and startup policy. May also has non-profit management experience. She serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Persian Women in Tech, an organization supporting Persian & MENA women in STEM. She was previously Deputy CEO at 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest volunteer consultancy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581534976409-XRDHOJ2NMTNWO3VQAT5Q/facebook-profile-picture-no-pic-avatar.jpg Speakers 2020-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581534956728-912MKJY5SFUEJTVXNITC/istockphoto-477333976-612x612.jpg Speakers 2020-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815248891-R1VHH87MINWW43KJOZKM/Sepideh-Nasiri.jpg Speakers 2020-1 Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-2019 daily 0.75 2020-07-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876661035-M5LQP1DW3VDNHICYYQB8/roxane-zand-new.jpg Speakers 2019 Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. She is also arts editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062272908-IX098KKRUKXUPS87OWZN/DSC_1289+1+%2841%29.png Speakers 2019 May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As Chief Operating Officer, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is responsible for building and spinning out a new technology platform for citizenship education across the US. She is also a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. May's primary areas of interest include venture financing, tech policy, social entrepreneurship and adaptive leadership. She is published on these topics in multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, VentureBeat, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and industry events. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences (First Class Honors & University Medal) from Sydney University. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. May has extensive experience advising startups across the US and Australia. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. Prior to that, she was a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. She has also worked as a strategy consultant at a boutique venture firm and as an attorney in Sydney. In addition, May has worked for the President of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She has also provided strategic advice to Australian governments on innovation and startup policy. May also has non-profit management experience. She serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Persian Women in Tech, an organization supporting Persian & MENA women in STEM. She was previously Deputy CEO at 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest volunteer consultancy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061295026-ZBSW4NMJZ8BPL6H7U4NP/DSC_1289+1+%2833%29.png Speakers 2019 Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062901575-7YI0VSZIXU954GK023EQ/DSC_1289+1+%2849%29.png Speakers 2019 Ash Ali An award-winning serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor, Ash sold his first internet business at the age of just 19 (and most recently his Dubai-based on-demand mobile app startup in 2018).As the first marketing director of Just Eat UK which IPO’d for £1.5 billion, he was included in the Top 250 Growth Hackers, as well as Top 100 Asian Tech Stars in the UK. With over 20 years of hands-on experience creating and growing startups, he has consulted, advised, and invested in hundreds of startups at various funding stages. Ash is a highly sought-after international speaker and expert on digital disruption and tech transformation, and has spoken at numerous global organisations and conferences including Salesforce, Ernst & Young and TEDx. His new book The Unfair Advantage – Boost Your Chances of Tech Startup Success (co-authored with Hasan Kubba) is coming soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560882585434-3E33NE44NZ82C1LXIDN7/Alireza.jpg Speakers 2019 Alireza Sadeghi is a Chartered Engineer with a PhD in Polymer Science. Over the past ten years he has worked on projects in various industries such as Oil and Gas, Renewable Energies, Pharmaceuticals, Polyolefins and Leather Chemicals in Iran, UK, Mexico, Germany, Italy, USA, Brazil and China. In 2013, he joined the University of Northampton as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate to collaborate with Xeros Ltd on developing a sustainable technology to enable tanneries to reduce their water usage and carbon footprint. The outcome of the project was awarded with the highest grade of "Outstanding" by UK's Technology Strategy Board (AKA Innovate UK) and following its conclusion, Alireza was offered a position at Xeros to work with their team on R&D, customer validation and supply chain management of the newly developed process. In his current role, as the Commercial Manager of Qualus (the leather technologies division of Xeros), Alireza works with the company’s clients and suppliers to ensure the adoption of the technology in tanneries is executed with minimum disruption to sites’ day-to-day activities and, in a timely and cost-efficient manner.  BSc Chemical Engineering – Sharif University of Technology, 2008  MSc Environmental and Energy Engineering – University of Sheffield, 2010  PhD Polymer Science – University of Sheffield, 2013 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061533234-QJMC7UM2UWSHZALBSRZ2/DSC_1289+1+%2835%29.png Speakers 2019 Khashayar Shahmiri is a Director of GQR, an award-winning search specialist organisation uniting the most talented people from STEM backgrounds with pioneering organisations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. After graduating from the University of Sur rey with honours in Management, Khashayar joined GQR in London where he leads their EMEA practice and is responsible for GQR’s global growth strategy across the Banking & Finance, Life Science, Technology, and Energy & Engineering sectors. Born in London to a third-generation Iranian family in the UK, he has maintained a passionate connection to Iran and the success of the community across the globe. He is a Tech enthusiast having previously studying Software Design & Development and is now involved with some crowdsourcing platforms focusing on technology start-ups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876695701-QXZTRHXL2X652G22EYMU/Dr-Ali-parsa.jpg Speakers 2019 Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062457099-O30WT4VF7LEEQD6E57U9/DSC_1289+1+%2843%29.png Speakers 2019 Asma Bashir is a legal professional with over 20 years experience within the legal services industry. Asma started her career within one of the largest Law Firm’s in the world before she became an entrepreneur herself. She grew her business from a start up to a global business within 10 years offering services to multinational companies in over 160 countries. In 2014, Asma’s business was acquired by a US firm, after which she helped grow their business in five other regions including the US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. She worked on acquiring new companies and integrating them into the existing teams before she departed to set up a new entrepreneurial venture at Centuro Global. Asma now helps young founders grow their businesses and scale into other regions across the globe. Asma is part of the Mayor’s International Business Programme in London and a Senator with the World Business Angel Forum (G20 Summit). She also works with Tech London Advocates and the Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest on various initiatives to help startups grow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061768224-4TPZ2LVPHMES24T1EYIY/DSC_1289+1+%2837%29.png Speakers 2019 Rana Alqrenwai "As a senior software engineer, Rana Alqrenwai has global responsibility for the tech and entrepreneurship field. She is passionate about building new commercial tech companies that tackle the biggest social challenges in the developed world. Excited by technology, Rana is driven by the desire to use her skills, experience, and energy to have a personal impact on the social issues that really. She used to be the Product Development and Women’s Inclusivity Manager at Mercy Corps in Gaza. Rana has global responsibility for the attraction, engagement, development, and experience of Mercy Corps most important asset - its people. She championed Mercy Corps’ mission ‘helping people build secure, productive and just communities.’ playing a critical role in enabling the organization ‘to commit to achieving demonstrable impact for stakeholders, using their feedback to innovate, learn and improve.’ With a growing employee base, Rana enabled Mercy Corps to scale, while working on the very elements that have made the organization so successful in gender equality to date. Rana brings 8 years of people leadership experience across multiple industries, geographies, and scale of businesses. Prior to joining Mercy Corps, Rana served as Product Manager of Microsoft first lab in Palestine, a leader in the outsourcing industry in different Saudi Companies and GGateWay, a social enterprise that has a hybrid business model aiming to build ICT graduates capacity to employ them in outsourcing projects. Rana has been working as a backend developer since 2010 and has experience in establishing two startups one for artificial intelligence software applications and the other for business organizations software environments. She established and led the Palestine Code Academy at Gaza Sky Geeks in partnership with Founders and Coders, she is also the founder of the first women-only coding club in the area. As a youth programs’ lead, Rana’s passion is around culture. She has the opportunity to work alongside Angel Hack, Iridescent, PCRF and Christian Aid, all is non-profit youth empowerment and culture space. She is an advisor to a number of young girls, as well as a mentor to a number of startups in system analysis and product development. Rana holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. She is working now as a founder in the second mission of Zinc Ventures Limited to “Unlock new opportunities for people in hard-hit places by globalization and automation” exploring new markets to start her business in England. She is exploring new opportunities to give the women in minority communities in the UK access to tech jobs by upskilling them to be qualified data engineers." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876677651-KEWMSK2E8I78894GMCU0/Tara-Sharifi-new.jpg Speakers 2019 Tara Sharifi, 11 years old Maths and technology lover. Bronze & Silver award winner of The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise. Swimmer, Dancer and Guitarist. Year 7 Student at Aylesbury High School. Scored highest possible mark of 162 at Mensa UK IQ test. Fun Facts: Came 5th in the UK in rock & roll dance at the age of 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062564943-JLVZ3QA80RORZA86H3LO/DSC_1289+1+%2844%29.png Speakers 2019 Xanyar Kamangar is a Founding Partner at Griffon Capital, a frontier market focused Asset Management, Venture Capital and Investment Banking group. Xanyar graduated with an MBA from London Business School. Prior to Griffon Capital, Xanyar spent 8 years as a Director in the Telecom and Technology investment banking team of Deutsche Bank in London advising some of the largest tech players in EMEA. Before that, Xanyar founded Tehran Computer, a leading provider of computer telephony solutions in the Middle East. Xanyar is also an active angel investor in tech companies in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560884248122-6KBM2ZNP73M0NC5XRLG0/Radin.jpg Speakers 2019 Radin Rahimzadeh is a Connected and Autonomous & Smart City Specialist with Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) where she supports private and public sector visionaries with technology facilitation and implementation to redefine mobility to advance safety, expand accessibility, reduce congestion, and encourage mode shift through adoption of electric and shared modes of transportation. Radin wrote the first Master Plan for the GoMentum Station, a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) proving grounds and is a part of the team that brought the first Shared Autonomous Vehicle to California, now approved to test on public roads. Radin’s approach to introducing new ideas and technology has been by way of systems thinking to make sure that challenges are addressed at their ROOT, solutions are co-created WITH community and positive impacts are enjoyed by ALL community members. Radin uses data to elevate missing stories, build resilient cities, and empower civic spaces. In 2016, Radin closed her tech empowered nonprofit to support and advise a like-minded leader, Sepideh Nasiri and Persian Women in Tech, an organization creating profound waves of change to empower, elevate and advance Iranian and MENA women in Tech. In addition to PWIT, Radin also advises early-stage startups. In between all of the excitement, Radin unwinds by playing piano, boxing and traveling to connect, converse, and build community around beautiful global cities rich in heart, culture, and history. She speaks fluent Persian, Spanish and English. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062834162-PE1UOSZXF6YBCP3T8KM0/DSC_1289+1+%2848%29.png Speakers 2019 Sara Ahmadi studied Fashion at Central St Martins in London before going on to work internationally for the likes of Calvin Klein, Preen, Target and many other brands before setting up own label in New York. Sara is also part of the Non-Executive board for http://depoint.ai helping their expansion into the UK market and a mentor for the Cherry Blaire Foundation. Sara holds an MBA from San Diego and was part of the founding team working with the British Council to bring the Wearable Tech Show to Abu Dhabi. Sara was the only female founder for the coveted Techstars Metro program in Berlin. Shopest has been featured in many publications including Cosmopolitan and been awarded top 50 in Retail Tech in Europe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1551830636558-COQ3N516BK05TQ1UZL2I/28468639_1736050499750581_2386572956287547554_n.jpg Speakers 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062353494-KCG1CJ2WE317CND577OS/DSC_1289+1+%2842%29.png Speakers 2019 Mahtab Ghamsari is an entrepreneur and music/arts enthusiast currently working on transforming how we can interact with the digital world through every day objects. Her previous project VRSUS is a creative application for capturing live music in Virtual Reality and re-creating the concert experience. Her other projects have involved pipelines for machine learning, concert recommendation tools, integrations for online advertising and various small web projects. She studied Systems Design and HCI in the context of music. Her MA thesis presented methods and studies used in mapping live performance (human) gestures to sound in digital musical instruments. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062770724-O4OKCAYCEJ7QZSH9GHVB/DSC_1289+1+%2847%29.png Speakers 2019 Tara Shirvani is a green infrastructure specialist, investor, speaker and millennial advocate. She is passionate about leveraging technology and finance to drive scalable impact to tackle today’s global trillion dollar infrastructure gap. She is a known expert in the field of green transport and infrastructure solutions, digital and AI strategies for mobility and transport. Tara manages the green infrastructure investment portfolio at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior, she was leading large-scale transport projects, at a total of $1.5bn, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and East Asia whilst at the World Bank in Washington DC. Tara grew up in Austria and Iran as a vocal advocate for climate change action. She graduated from Cambridge University with a Master’s in Engineering for Sustainable Development and at the age of 25 with a PhD in Chemistry from Oxford University. Dr Shirvani started her career working for the United Nations followed by investment banking at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Tara has received many awards for her work including Times of London Top 100 Rising Star in Science and Engineering, Forbes 30 under 30, Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society Global Female Rising Talent, Future Energy Leader CERA Energy, and WEF Global Shaper. She has been featured in multiple publications including Forbes, Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Financial Times, New Statesman, Stanford International Press, Harvard International Review and others. Tara is a prominent speaker on climate change and infrastructure finance. She speaks frequently at major international convenings at Harvard University, Stanford University, Fifteenseconds, World Economic Forum and others. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560285041040-MA1UY8S6VZ5HTC87G11T/Rehana+Nanji+.jpg Speakers 2019 Rehana Nanji, People Engagement, Programme Manager - Expedia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593063022815-WIX679WTX8PGJLI7DNEP/DSC_1289+1+%2851%29.png Speakers 2019 Mia Bennett is a recovering management consultant with a passion for building businesses and products. Companies she founded serve millions today, where she is now a board member. More recently, she set up and led PwC's Emerging Technologies practice and has been the Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures and Zinc, a mission-driven program. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062954581-CA5QEZYK54FC4TNG8HND/DSC_1289+1+%2850%29.png Speakers 2019 Sepideh Dundon, Channel Lead EMEA, LinkedIn Sepideh Dundon is a digital marketing strategist and tech enthusiast who has worked with startups and Fortune 500 companies. She currently leads LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Channel business across growth markets in EMEA, where she works with local partners to cultivate LinkedIn across the region. She has a wealth of experience in working with numerous industries including Technology, Telco, Education and Finance. At LinkedIn she is also responsible for the Environmental Sustainability Group, Go Green and is a People and Culture Ambassador. Sepideh holds a Masters in International Business from The European Business School, Regent’s College and a BA in Business Management and Mandarin from Kingston University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593845365869-PRO825XI56OS9DJ4AOAT/DSC_1289+1+%281%29.png Speakers 2019 Cansu Deniz Bayrak is Partner at Bethnal Green Ventures, an early-stage impact investor, where she leads fundraising for their investment vehicles. Previously, she was with the global accelerator Startupbootcamp, first running their MENA branch in conjunction with a $10M micro-fund in Istanbul, then scaling their industrial IoT programme to London and running it. She has been in the tech industry both as a founder and a facilitator for several years. Her background is in international politics and humanitarian law, before going into the tech industry she was with IGOs and NGOs like Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, and the UN in Turkey and France. Currently based in London, she is an alumna of UK Government's Tier 1 Tech Nation Exceptional Talent scheme. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061861723-PGDLGLWPT90SQN9R1BXX/DSC_1289+1+%2838%29.png Speakers 2019 Faranak Farahmand Pour Currently Faranak lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061441354-UU096OJWS0EHB1DDWHXU/DSC_1289+1+%2834%29.png Speakers 2019 Paria Ghorashi After an education in Oslo, Paria Ghorashi spent 8 year with Varner-Gruppen, as buyer and managerial roles, before transferring to Floyd by Smith, spending the next decade leading their international expansion across the MENA region. Following the birth of her first child, Paria founded blowout&go order to fulfil a clear gap in the market for a professional yet affordable mobile hair styling service in Dubai. Under her leadership as CEO the group has expanded to be regarded as one of the leading beauty brands in the region. Her distinct style and personality has led Paria to become one of the most talked about social and cultural influencers in the region, regularly working in partnership with major brands to assist in their marketing campaigns. Her remit has now expanded as blowout&go goes global with its beauty tech platform bgX. A groundbreaking new service delivering professional salon stylists to the customers via a global partnership with Uber. It has launched in London, Paris and Dubai and will move to the US in 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593061959722-GI5D20XSMSPSYMO7R96H/DSC_1289+1+%2839%29.png Speakers 2019 Maryam Daryabegi As a highly energetic strategy & innovation executive, Maryam Daryabegi has spent her life propelling change and creating purposeful impact. She has gained her experience from living in seven cities, three continents, and working with Fortune 500 firms, startups, non-profit organizations & universities. She brings a global vision on business, culture and share a unique perspective in strategy, innovation and design thinking. Maryam is passionate about building a collaborative community of global leaders via workshops, events, advisory and mentoring services. She thinks out of the box and likes connecting the dots. She inspires her clients to connect, learn and share experiences. Empathy, positivity and transparent collaborations is in her DNA. She has the pleasure of working with clients across multiple sectors in Banking, Luxury Retail, Fashion, Beauty, Art, Non-profit, Education, and Tech. Maryam is the founder of " Innovation Bazar" a boutique consulting firm based in NYC, providing creative problem solving solutions through leveraging Design Thinking methodologies & disruptive technologies. In addition to her consulting practice, she is an educator and facilitates an online executive course in digital business strategy offered by MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also a member of the Marketing Committee of UN WOMEN METRO New York Chapter, she advises the organization in creating compelling solutions for advancing equality and empowering women in the workplace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062692664-9GPYDMFX54EPFBYIXBW0/DSC_1289+1+%2846%29.png Speakers 2019 Kate Nowrouzi is the Senior Vice President of Global Email Delivery & Business Strategy at Sparkpost. She built the Deliverability Operation from the ground up and lead all the initial monitoring, alerting and automation efforts. Her team helps Sparkpost enterprise customers achieve a high inbox rate through following email marketing best practices. A recognized authority on email and anti-spam practices, Kate worked as an anti-abuse engineer at AOL anti-spam operation. Before that, she was a Network Engineer at the pioneering ISP, UUNET/ Verizon. Kate continues to be an active voice in the worldwide messaging and anti-spam community. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, mentors young engineers in tech and serves as an adviser to PersianWomen in Tech, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Iranian women inthe STEM fields. In her free time, she enjoys helping her local high school robotics team as a mentor, promoting Norooz (Persian New Year) celebration at her local schools, senior centers and libraries in Springtime. She holds a B.S. in Network Engineering and an M.S. in Telecommunication Technologies from Strayer University in Washington D.C. and Leadership and Decision Making Certificate from Stanford University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593845253346-4MVNXE6CG5KPFYOCJT9S/DSC_1289+1.png Speakers 2019 Nona Keyhani, Associate (IP, Tech & Data), Reed Smith Nona grew up in Sweden and came to the UK aged 9 with her family. In 2012, Nona graduated with a Masters in Law from UCL in London and upon completing law school, she commenced her training as a lawyer with the international law firm, Reed Smith LLP. During her training, Nona undertook two in-house secondments; the first with a global media and broadcasting organisation. She assisted on a variety of matters across the business, supporting the commercial and online businesses. Nona also completed an in-house of an investment bank headquartered in New York, before qualifying in 2018. Since qualification, Nona specialises in privacy, data protection and technology law. She advises clients across a diverse range of industry sectors and also works in Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf (which is London’s financial district) on her part time secondment. Nona is a member of Persian Women in Tech London Chapter since last summer and helps organise monthly events in the city. She was one of the key member organising our one year anniversary at Google’s headquarters in London last year. She is also part of the planning committee for the inaugural Persian Women in Tech conference on 22 June 2019 in London. Nona assists with the legal and compliance issues which arise in respect of PWIT in the UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593062629899-5AN7NC8A6WPE0MG39QAW/DSC_1289+1+%2845%29.png Speakers 2019 Zara Riahi is the CEO and founder of Contilio, a cutting-edge analytics startup that uses 3D computer vision and big data analytics to turn site data into real-time and intelligent insights for the 12Trn construction industry. Zara brings 12 years of global management, commercial, entrepreneurial and engineering experience driving growth and productivity for startups and multi-nationals in North America, Europe and Australia. Prior to Contilio, she has executed multiple tech investments at UBS, London and Westpac, Australia and was lead engineer and project director for billion-dollar construction projects in North America. She sits on the board of the early stage VC fund Alchemy, has advised many CEOs and boards on growth, digital transformation and operation initiatives and was head of business development for a round-A Silicon Valley startup. Zara holds an MBA from London Business School and a MASc in Earthquake Engineering from the University of British Columbia. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-2019copy daily 0.75 2020-02-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556229449877-ZGLWSCFAULKD7TNWJTNV/Mahtab.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Mahtab Ghamsari is an entrepreneur and music/arts enthusiast currently working on transforming how we can interact with the digital world through every day objects. Her previous project VRSUS is a creative application for capturing live music in Virtual Reality and re-creating the concert experience. Her other projects have involved pipelines for machine learning, concert recommendation tools, integrations for online advertising and various small web projects. She studied Systems Design and HCI in the context of music. Her MA thesis presented methods and studies used in mapping live performance (human) gestures to sound in digital musical instruments. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559594607788-2NYY1OEXOJPDISL6B5LD/Kate-Nowrouzi.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Kate Nowrouzi is the Senior Vice President of Global Email Delivery & Business Strategy at Sparkpost. She built the Deliverability Operation from the ground up and lead all the initial monitoring, alerting and automation efforts. Her team helps Sparkpost enterprise customers achieve a high inbox rate through following email marketing best practices. A recognized authority on email and anti-spam practices, Kate worked as an anti-abuse engineer at AOL anti-spam operation. Before that, she was a Network Engineer at the pioneering ISP, UUNET/ Verizon. Kate continues to be an active voice in the worldwide messaging and anti-spam community. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, mentors young engineers in tech and serves as an adviser to PersianWomen in Tech, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Iranian women inthe STEM fields. In her free time, she enjoys helping her local high school robotics team as a mentor, promoting Norooz (Persian New Year) celebration at her local schools, senior centers and libraries in Springtime. She holds a B.S. in Network Engineering and an M.S. in Telecommunication Technologies from Strayer University in Washington D.C. and Leadership and Decision Making Certificate from Stanford University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560884248122-6KBM2ZNP73M0NC5XRLG0/Radin.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Radin Rahimzadeh is a Connected and Autonomous & Smart City Specialist with Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) where she supports private and public sector visionaries with technology facilitation and implementation to redefine mobility to advance safety, expand accessibility, reduce congestion, and encourage mode shift through adoption of electric and shared modes of transportation. Radin wrote the first Master Plan for the GoMentum Station, a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) proving grounds and is a part of the team that brought the first Shared Autonomous Vehicle to California, now approved to test on public roads. Radin’s approach to introducing new ideas and technology has been by way of systems thinking to make sure that challenges are addressed at their ROOT, solutions are co-created WITH community and positive impacts are enjoyed by ALL community members. Radin uses data to elevate missing stories, build resilient cities, and empower civic spaces. In 2016, Radin closed her tech empowered nonprofit to support and advise a like-minded leader, Sepideh Nasiri and Persian Women in Tech, an organization creating profound waves of change to empower, elevate and advance Iranian and MENA women in Tech. In addition to PWIT, Radin also advises early-stage startups. In between all of the excitement, Radin unwinds by playing piano, boxing and traveling to connect, converse, and build community around beautiful global cities rich in heart, culture, and history. She speaks fluent Persian, Spanish and English. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556232414164-AJGPQG0KGNUWYAO5HZD9/Asma-Bashir.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Asma Bashir is a legal professional with over 20 years experience within the legal services industry. Asma started her career within one of the largest Law Firm’s in the world before she became an entrepreneur herself. She grew her business from a start up to a global business within 10 years offering services to multinational companies in over 160 countries. In 2014, Asma’s business was acquired by a US firm, after which she helped grow their business in five other regions including the US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. She worked on acquiring new companies and integrating them into the existing teams before she departed to set up a new entrepreneurial venture at Centuro Global. Asma now helps young founders grow their businesses and scale into other regions across the globe. Asma is part of the Mayor’s International Business Programme in London and a Senator with the World Business Angel Forum (G20 Summit). She also works with Tech London Advocates and the Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest on various initiatives to help startups grow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559748717341-NWHEUEFPY8RXNFKPIZX7/Zara+Riahi.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Zara Riahi is the CEO and founder of Contilio, a cutting-edge analytics startup that uses 3D computer vision and big data analytics to turn site data into real-time and intelligent insights for the 12Trn construction industry. Zara brings 12 years of global management, commercial, entrepreneurial and engineering experience driving growth and productivity for startups and multi-nationals in North America, Europe and Australia. Prior to Contilio, she has executed multiple tech investments at UBS, London and Westpac, Australia and was lead engineer and project director for billion-dollar construction projects in North America. She sits on the board of the early stage VC fund Alchemy, has advised many CEOs and boards on growth, digital transformation and operation initiatives and was head of business development for a round-A Silicon Valley startup. Zara holds an MBA from London Business School and a MASc in Earthquake Engineering from the University of British Columbia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560284959246-8VQF47X5MJXYMSVSWJXZ/Mia-Bennett.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Mia Bennett is a recovering management consultant with a passion for building businesses and products. Companies she founded serve millions today, where she is now a board member. More recently, she set up and led PwC's Emerging Technologies practice and has been the Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures and Zinc, a mission-driven program. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876677651-KEWMSK2E8I78894GMCU0/Tara-Sharifi-new.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Tara Sharifi, 11 years old Maths and technology lover. Bronze & Silver award winner of The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise. Swimmer, Dancer and Guitarist. Year 7 Student at Aylesbury High School. Scored highest possible mark of 162 at Mensa UK IQ test. Fun Facts: Came 5th in the UK in rock & roll dance at the age of 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559748231728-XYC214NDL6XML2H3N4NN/Tara-Shirvani.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Tara Shirvani is a green infrastructure specialist, investor, speaker and millennial advocate. She is passionate about leveraging technology and finance to drive scalable impact to tackle today’s global trillion dollar infrastructure gap. She is a known expert in the field of green transport and infrastructure solutions, digital and AI strategies for mobility and transport. Tara manages the green infrastructure investment portfolio at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior, she was leading large-scale transport projects, at a total of $1.5bn, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and East Asia whilst at the World Bank in Washington DC. Tara grew up in Austria and Iran as a vocal advocate for climate change action. She graduated from Cambridge University with a Master’s in Engineering for Sustainable Development and at the age of 25 with a PhD in Chemistry from Oxford University. Dr Shirvani started her career working for the United Nations followed by investment banking at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Tara has received many awards for her work including Times of London Top 100 Rising Star in Science and Engineering, Forbes 30 under 30, Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society Global Female Rising Talent, Future Energy Leader CERA Energy, and WEF Global Shaper. She has been featured in multiple publications including Forbes, Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Financial Times, New Statesman, Stanford International Press, Harvard International Review and others. Tara is a prominent speaker on climate change and infrastructure finance. She speaks frequently at major international convenings at Harvard University, Stanford University, Fifteenseconds, World Economic Forum and others. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556646010984-KUB2KILLWE4TTVNT40JQ/May-Samali.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As Chief Operating Officer, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is responsible for building and spinning out a new technology platform for citizenship education across the US. She is also a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. May's primary areas of interest include venture financing, tech policy, social entrepreneurship and adaptive leadership. She is published on these topics in multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, VentureBeat, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and industry events. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences (First Class Honors & University Medal) from Sydney University. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. May has extensive experience advising startups across the US and Australia. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. Prior to that, she was a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. She has also worked as a strategy consultant at a boutique venture firm and as an attorney in Sydney. In addition, May has worked for the President of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She has also provided strategic advice to Australian governments on innovation and startup policy. May also has non-profit management experience. She serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Persian Women in Tech, an organization supporting Persian & MENA women in STEM. She was previously Deputy CEO at 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest volunteer consultancy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876661035-M5LQP1DW3VDNHICYYQB8/roxane-zand-new.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. She is also arts editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815260324-65OJNHGTRSB8YA3H4O8F/Paria.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Paria Ghorashi After an education in Oslo, Paria Ghorashi spent 8 year with Varner-Gruppen, as buyer and managerial roles, before transferring to Floyd by Smith, spending the next decade leading their international expansion across the MENA region. Following the birth of her first child, Paria founded blowout&go order to fulfil a clear gap in the market for a professional yet affordable mobile hair styling service in Dubai. Under her leadership as CEO the group has expanded to be regarded as one of the leading beauty brands in the region. Her distinct style and personality has led Paria to become one of the most talked about social and cultural influencers in the region, regularly working in partnership with major brands to assist in their marketing campaigns. Her remit has now expanded as blowout&go goes global with its beauty tech platform bgX. A groundbreaking new service delivering professional salon stylists to the customers via a global partnership with Uber. It has launched in London, Paris and Dubai and will move to the US in 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560277502393-HTYHZUTCZOYZQDE9TY5R/ASH-ALI.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Ash Ali An award-winning serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor, Ash sold his first internet business at the age of just 19 (and most recently his Dubai-based on-demand mobile app startup in 2018).As the first marketing director of Just Eat UK which IPO’d for £1.5 billion, he was included in the Top 250 Growth Hackers, as well as Top 100 Asian Tech Stars in the UK. With over 20 years of hands-on experience creating and growing startups, he has consulted, advised, and invested in hundreds of startups at various funding stages. Ash is a highly sought-after international speaker and expert on digital disruption and tech transformation, and has spoken at numerous global organisations and conferences including Salesforce, Ernst & Young and TEDx. His new book The Unfair Advantage – Boost Your Chances of Tech Startup Success (co-authored with Hasan Kubba) is coming soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1581707402590-ANZ6Y1IETF23R7KBAC0J/web-banner-Conference.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559619656821-IANENVU8TDO5CBM24Y9S/Maryam-Daryabegi.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Maryam Daryabegi As a highly energetic strategy & innovation executive, Maryam Daryabegi has spent her life propelling change and creating purposeful impact. She has gained her experience from living in seven cities, three continents, and working with Fortune 500 firms, startups, non-profit organizations & universities. She brings a global vision on business, culture and share a unique perspective in strategy, innovation and design thinking. Maryam is passionate about building a collaborative community of global leaders via workshops, events, advisory and mentoring services. She thinks out of the box and likes connecting the dots. She inspires her clients to connect, learn and share experiences. Empathy, positivity and transparent collaborations is in her DNA. She has the pleasure of working with clients across multiple sectors in Banking, Luxury Retail, Fashion, Beauty, Art, Non-profit, Education, and Tech. Maryam is the founder of " Innovation Bazar" a boutique consulting firm based in NYC, providing creative problem solving solutions through leveraging Design Thinking methodologies & disruptive technologies. In addition to her consulting practice, she is an educator and facilitates an online executive course in digital business strategy offered by MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also a member of the Marketing Committee of UN WOMEN METRO New York Chapter, she advises the organization in creating compelling solutions for advancing equality and empowering women in the workplace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740061953-IM50M4A6O5LNWIOWCWZV/Faranak-Frahmand-Pour.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Faranak Farahmand Pour Currently Faranak lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560882860396-OSSOBAMMWEXVEXGEH65R/Deniz.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Cansu Deniz Bayrak is Partner at Bethnal Green Ventures, an early-stage impact investor, where she leads fundraising for their investment vehicles. Previously, she was with the global accelerator Startupbootcamp, first running their MENA branch in conjunction with a $10M micro-fund in Istanbul, then scaling their industrial IoT programme to London and running it. She has been in the tech industry both as a founder and a facilitator for several years. Her background is in international politics and humanitarian law, before going into the tech industry she was with IGOs and NGOs like Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, and the UN in Turkey and France. Currently based in London, she is an alumna of UK Government's Tier 1 Tech Nation Exceptional Talent scheme. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560882585434-3E33NE44NZ82C1LXIDN7/Alireza.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Alireza Sadeghi is a Chartered Engineer with a PhD in Polymer Science. Over the past ten years he has worked on projects in various industries such as Oil and Gas, Renewable Energies, Pharmaceuticals, Polyolefins and Leather Chemicals in Iran, UK, Mexico, Germany, Italy, USA, Brazil and China. In 2013, he joined the University of Northampton as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate to collaborate with Xeros Ltd on developing a sustainable technology to enable tanneries to reduce their water usage and carbon footprint. The outcome of the project was awarded with the highest grade of "Outstanding" by UK's Technology Strategy Board (AKA Innovate UK) and following its conclusion, Alireza was offered a position at Xeros to work with their team on R&D, customer validation and supply chain management of the newly developed process. In his current role, as the Commercial Manager of Qualus (the leather technologies division of Xeros), Alireza works with the company’s clients and suppliers to ensure the adoption of the technology in tanneries is executed with minimum disruption to sites’ day-to-day activities and, in a timely and cost-efficient manner.  BSc Chemical Engineering – Sharif University of Technology, 2008  MSc Environmental and Energy Engineering – University of Sheffield, 2010  PhD Polymer Science – University of Sheffield, 2013 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815269506-VDFK5SZB13QL5P9ADVNQ/Khashayar+Shahmiri.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Khashayar Shahmiri is a Director of GQR, an award-winning search specialist organisation uniting the most talented people from STEM backgrounds with pioneering organisations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. After graduating from the University of Sur rey with honours in Management, Khashayar joined GQR in London where he leads their EMEA practice and is responsible for GQR’s global growth strategy across the Banking & Finance, Life Science, Technology, and Energy & Engineering sectors. Born in London to a third-generation Iranian family in the UK, he has maintained a passionate connection to Iran and the success of the community across the globe. He is a Tech enthusiast having previously studying Software Design & Development and is now involved with some crowdsourcing platforms focusing on technology start-ups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560385465618-TVJHXGSOGTGF14XS8XTO/Sepideh-Dundon.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Sepideh Dundon, Channel Lead EMEA, LinkedIn Sepideh Dundon is a digital marketing strategist and tech enthusiast who has worked with startups and Fortune 500 companies. She currently leads LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Channel business across growth markets in EMEA, where she works with local partners to cultivate LinkedIn across the region. She has a wealth of experience in working with numerous industries including Technology, Telco, Education and Finance. At LinkedIn she is also responsible for the Environmental Sustainability Group, Go Green and is a People and Culture Ambassador. Sepideh holds a Masters in International Business from The European Business School, Regent’s College and a BA in Business Management and Mandarin from Kingston University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559750187283-2T6OMXR9YSY4HUH13J0M/Sara-Ahmadi.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Sara Ahmadi studied Fashion at Central St Martins in London before going on to work internationally for the likes of Calvin Klein, Preen, Target and many other brands before setting up own label in New York. Sara is also part of the Non-Executive board for http://depoint.ai helping their expansion into the UK market and a mentor for the Cherry Blaire Foundation. Sara holds an MBA from San Diego and was part of the founding team working with the British Council to bring the Wearable Tech Show to Abu Dhabi. Sara was the only female founder for the coveted Techstars Metro program in Berlin. Shopest has been featured in many publications including Cosmopolitan and been awarded top 50 in Retail Tech in Europe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815248891-R1VHH87MINWW43KJOZKM/Sepideh-Nasiri.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556583394622-UWQ71F01NUOZ1QPYLE89/Xanyar.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Xanyar Kamangar is a Founding Partner at Griffon Capital, a frontier market focused Asset Management, Venture Capital and Investment Banking group. Xanyar graduated with an MBA from London Business School. Prior to Griffon Capital, Xanyar spent 8 years as a Director in the Telecom and Technology investment banking team of Deutsche Bank in London advising some of the largest tech players in EMEA. Before that, Xanyar founded Tehran Computer, a leading provider of computer telephony solutions in the Middle East. Xanyar is also an active angel investor in tech companies in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560285041040-MA1UY8S6VZ5HTC87G11T/Rehana+Nanji+.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Rehana Nanji, People Engagement, Programme Manager - Expedia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876695701-QXZTRHXL2X652G22EYMU/Dr-Ali-parsa.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740413474-AFK9J65K2BMYT09TNQDY/Nona.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Nona Keyhani, Associate (IP, Tech & Data), Reed Smith Nona grew up in Sweden and came to the UK aged 9 with her family. In 2012, Nona graduated with a Masters in Law from UCL in London and upon completing law school, she commenced her training as a lawyer with the international law firm, Reed Smith LLP. During her training, Nona undertook two in-house secondments; the first with a global media and broadcasting organisation. She assisted on a variety of matters across the business, supporting the commercial and online businesses. Nona also completed an in-house of an investment bank headquartered in New York, before qualifying in 2018. Since qualification, Nona specialises in privacy, data protection and technology law. She advises clients across a diverse range of industry sectors and also works in Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf (which is London’s financial district) on her part time secondment. Nona is a member of Persian Women in Tech London Chapter since last summer and helps organise monthly events in the city. She was one of the key member organising our one year anniversary at Google’s headquarters in London last year. She is also part of the planning committee for the inaugural Persian Women in Tech conference on 22 June 2019 in London. Nona assists with the legal and compliance issues which arise in respect of PWIT in the UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815285500-2X1HEZUC1G0KWU5V7IR3/Rana-Alqrenawi.jpg Speakers 2019(Copy) Rana Alqrenwai "As a senior software engineer, Rana Alqrenwai has global responsibility for the tech and entrepreneurship field. She is passionate about building new commercial tech companies that tackle the biggest social challenges in the developed world. Excited by technology, Rana is driven by the desire to use her skills, experience, and energy to have a personal impact on the social issues that really. She used to be the Product Development and Women’s Inclusivity Manager at Mercy Corps in Gaza. Rana has global responsibility for the attraction, engagement, development, and experience of Mercy Corps most important asset - its people. She championed Mercy Corps’ mission ‘helping people build secure, productive and just communities.’ playing a critical role in enabling the organization ‘to commit to achieving demonstrable impact for stakeholders, using their feedback to innovate, learn and improve.’ With a growing employee base, Rana enabled Mercy Corps to scale, while working on the very elements that have made the organization so successful in gender equality to date. Rana brings 8 years of people leadership experience across multiple industries, geographies, and scale of businesses. Prior to joining Mercy Corps, Rana served as Product Manager of Microsoft first lab in Palestine, a leader in the outsourcing industry in different Saudi Companies and GGateWay, a social enterprise that has a hybrid business model aiming to build ICT graduates capacity to employ them in outsourcing projects. Rana has been working as a backend developer since 2010 and has experience in establishing two startups one for artificial intelligence software applications and the other for business organizations software environments. She established and led the Palestine Code Academy at Gaza Sky Geeks in partnership with Founders and Coders, she is also the founder of the first women-only coding club in the area. As a youth programs’ lead, Rana’s passion is around culture. She has the opportunity to work alongside Angel Hack, Iridescent, PCRF and Christian Aid, all is non-profit youth empowerment and culture space. She is an advisor to a number of young girls, as well as a mentor to a number of startups in system analysis and product development. Rana holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. She is working now as a founder in the second mission of Zinc Ventures Limited to “Unlock new opportunities for people in hard-hit places by globalization and automation” exploring new markets to start her business in England. She is exploring new opportunities to give the women in minority communities in the UK access to tech jobs by upskilling them to be qualified data engineers." https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-2 daily 0.75 2020-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876661035-M5LQP1DW3VDNHICYYQB8/roxane-zand-new.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. She is also arts editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815248891-R1VHH87MINWW43KJOZKM/Sepideh-Nasiri.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740061953-IM50M4A6O5LNWIOWCWZV/Faranak-Frahmand-Pour.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Faranak Farahmand Pour Currently Faranak lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560882860396-OSSOBAMMWEXVEXGEH65R/Deniz.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Cansu Deniz Bayrak is Partner at Bethnal Green Ventures, an early-stage impact investor, where she leads fundraising for their investment vehicles. Previously, she was with the global accelerator Startupbootcamp, first running their MENA branch in conjunction with a $10M micro-fund in Istanbul, then scaling their industrial IoT programme to London and running it. She has been in the tech industry both as a founder and a facilitator for several years. Her background is in international politics and humanitarian law, before going into the tech industry she was with IGOs and NGOs like Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, and the UN in Turkey and France. Currently based in London, she is an alumna of UK Government's Tier 1 Tech Nation Exceptional Talent scheme. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560882585434-3E33NE44NZ82C1LXIDN7/Alireza.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Alireza Sadeghi is a Chartered Engineer with a PhD in Polymer Science. Over the past ten years he has worked on projects in various industries such as Oil and Gas, Renewable Energies, Pharmaceuticals, Polyolefins and Leather Chemicals in Iran, UK, Mexico, Germany, Italy, USA, Brazil and China. In 2013, he joined the University of Northampton as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate to collaborate with Xeros Ltd on developing a sustainable technology to enable tanneries to reduce their water usage and carbon footprint. The outcome of the project was awarded with the highest grade of "Outstanding" by UK's Technology Strategy Board (AKA Innovate UK) and following its conclusion, Alireza was offered a position at Xeros to work with their team on R&D, customer validation and supply chain management of the newly developed process. In his current role, as the Commercial Manager of Qualus (the leather technologies division of Xeros), Alireza works with the company’s clients and suppliers to ensure the adoption of the technology in tanneries is executed with minimum disruption to sites’ day-to-day activities and, in a timely and cost-efficient manner.  BSc Chemical Engineering – Sharif University of Technology, 2008  MSc Environmental and Energy Engineering – University of Sheffield, 2010  PhD Polymer Science – University of Sheffield, 2013 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560277502393-HTYHZUTCZOYZQDE9TY5R/ASH-ALI.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Ash Ali An award-winning serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor, Ash sold his first internet business at the age of just 19 (and most recently his Dubai-based on-demand mobile app startup in 2018).As the first marketing director of Just Eat UK which IPO’d for £1.5 billion, he was included in the Top 250 Growth Hackers, as well as Top 100 Asian Tech Stars in the UK. With over 20 years of hands-on experience creating and growing startups, he has consulted, advised, and invested in hundreds of startups at various funding stages. Ash is a highly sought-after international speaker and expert on digital disruption and tech transformation, and has spoken at numerous global organisations and conferences including Salesforce, Ernst & Young and TEDx. His new book The Unfair Advantage – Boost Your Chances of Tech Startup Success (co-authored with Hasan Kubba) is coming soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815260324-65OJNHGTRSB8YA3H4O8F/Paria.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Paria Ghorashi After an education in Oslo, Paria Ghorashi spent 8 year with Varner-Gruppen, as buyer and managerial roles, before transferring to Floyd by Smith, spending the next decade leading their international expansion across the MENA region. Following the birth of her first child, Paria founded blowout&go order to fulfil a clear gap in the market for a professional yet affordable mobile hair styling service in Dubai. Under her leadership as CEO the group has expanded to be regarded as one of the leading beauty brands in the region. Her distinct style and personality has led Paria to become one of the most talked about social and cultural influencers in the region, regularly working in partnership with major brands to assist in their marketing campaigns. Her remit has now expanded as blowout&go goes global with its beauty tech platform bgX. A groundbreaking new service delivering professional salon stylists to the customers via a global partnership with Uber. It has launched in London, Paris and Dubai and will move to the US in 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556646010984-KUB2KILLWE4TTVNT40JQ/May-Samali.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As Chief Operating Officer, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is responsible for building and spinning out a new technology platform for citizenship education across the US. She is also a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. May's primary areas of interest include venture financing, tech policy, social entrepreneurship and adaptive leadership. She is published on these topics in multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, VentureBeat, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and industry events. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences (First Class Honors & University Medal) from Sydney University. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. May has extensive experience advising startups across the US and Australia. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. Prior to that, she was a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. She has also worked as a strategy consultant at a boutique venture firm and as an attorney in Sydney. In addition, May has worked for the President of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She has also provided strategic advice to Australian governments on innovation and startup policy. May also has non-profit management experience. She serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Persian Women in Tech, an organization supporting Persian & MENA women in STEM. She was previously Deputy CEO at 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest volunteer consultancy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559748717341-NWHEUEFPY8RXNFKPIZX7/Zara+Riahi.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Zara Riahi is the CEO and founder of Contilio, a cutting-edge analytics startup that uses 3D computer vision and big data analytics to turn site data into real-time and intelligent insights for the 12Trn construction industry. Zara brings 12 years of global management, commercial, entrepreneurial and engineering experience driving growth and productivity for startups and multi-nationals in North America, Europe and Australia. Prior to Contilio, she has executed multiple tech investments at UBS, London and Westpac, Australia and was lead engineer and project director for billion-dollar construction projects in North America. She sits on the board of the early stage VC fund Alchemy, has advised many CEOs and boards on growth, digital transformation and operation initiatives and was head of business development for a round-A Silicon Valley startup. Zara holds an MBA from London Business School and a MASc in Earthquake Engineering from the University of British Columbia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556232414164-AJGPQG0KGNUWYAO5HZD9/Asma-Bashir.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Asma Bashir is a legal professional with over 20 years experience within the legal services industry. Asma started her career within one of the largest Law Firm’s in the world before she became an entrepreneur herself. She grew her business from a start up to a global business within 10 years offering services to multinational companies in over 160 countries. In 2014, Asma’s business was acquired by a US firm, after which she helped grow their business in five other regions including the US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. She worked on acquiring new companies and integrating them into the existing teams before she departed to set up a new entrepreneurial venture at Centuro Global. Asma now helps young founders grow their businesses and scale into other regions across the globe. Asma is part of the Mayor’s International Business Programme in London and a Senator with the World Business Angel Forum (G20 Summit). She also works with Tech London Advocates and the Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest on various initiatives to help startups grow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559619656821-IANENVU8TDO5CBM24Y9S/Maryam-Daryabegi.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Maryam Daryabegi As a highly energetic strategy & innovation executive, Maryam Daryabegi has spent her life propelling change and creating purposeful impact. She has gained her experience from living in seven cities, three continents, and working with Fortune 500 firms, startups, non-profit organizations & universities. She brings a global vision on business, culture and share a unique perspective in strategy, innovation and design thinking. Maryam is passionate about building a collaborative community of global leaders via workshops, events, advisory and mentoring services. She thinks out of the box and likes connecting the dots. She inspires her clients to connect, learn and share experiences. Empathy, positivity and transparent collaborations is in her DNA. She has the pleasure of working with clients across multiple sectors in Banking, Luxury Retail, Fashion, Beauty, Art, Non-profit, Education, and Tech. Maryam is the founder of " Innovation Bazar" a boutique consulting firm based in NYC, providing creative problem solving solutions through leveraging Design Thinking methodologies & disruptive technologies. In addition to her consulting practice, she is an educator and facilitates an online executive course in digital business strategy offered by MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also a member of the Marketing Committee of UN WOMEN METRO New York Chapter, she advises the organization in creating compelling solutions for advancing equality and empowering women in the workplace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560284959246-8VQF47X5MJXYMSVSWJXZ/Mia-Bennett.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Mia Bennett is a recovering management consultant with a passion for building businesses and products. Companies she founded serve millions today, where she is now a board member. More recently, she set up and led PwC's Emerging Technologies practice and has been the Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures and Zinc, a mission-driven program. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556229449877-ZGLWSCFAULKD7TNWJTNV/Mahtab.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Mahtab Ghamsari is an entrepreneur and music/arts enthusiast currently working on transforming how we can interact with the digital world through every day objects. Her previous project VRSUS is a creative application for capturing live music in Virtual Reality and re-creating the concert experience. Her other projects have involved pipelines for machine learning, concert recommendation tools, integrations for online advertising and various small web projects. She studied Systems Design and HCI in the context of music. Her MA thesis presented methods and studies used in mapping live performance (human) gestures to sound in digital musical instruments. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1551830636558-COQ3N516BK05TQ1UZL2I/28468639_1736050499750581_2386572956287547554_n.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876677651-KEWMSK2E8I78894GMCU0/Tara-Sharifi-new.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Tara Sharifi, 11 years old Maths and technology lover. Bronze & Silver award winner of The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise. Swimmer, Dancer and Guitarist. Year 7 Student at Aylesbury High School. Scored highest possible mark of 162 at Mensa UK IQ test. Fun Facts: Came 5th in the UK in rock & roll dance at the age of 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1593050920680-V1ZGOFUMRVBTI324XP05/Rehana%2BNanji%2B.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Rehana Nanji, People Engagement, Programme Manager - Expedia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559748231728-XYC214NDL6XML2H3N4NN/Tara-Shirvani.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Tara Shirvani is a green infrastructure specialist, investor, speaker and millennial advocate. She is passionate about leveraging technology and finance to drive scalable impact to tackle today’s global trillion dollar infrastructure gap. She is a known expert in the field of green transport and infrastructure solutions, digital and AI strategies for mobility and transport. Tara manages the green infrastructure investment portfolio at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior, she was leading large-scale transport projects, at a total of $1.5bn, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and East Asia whilst at the World Bank in Washington DC. Tara grew up in Austria and Iran as a vocal advocate for climate change action. She graduated from Cambridge University with a Master’s in Engineering for Sustainable Development and at the age of 25 with a PhD in Chemistry from Oxford University. Dr Shirvani started her career working for the United Nations followed by investment banking at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Tara has received many awards for her work including Times of London Top 100 Rising Star in Science and Engineering, Forbes 30 under 30, Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society Global Female Rising Talent, Future Energy Leader CERA Energy, and WEF Global Shaper. She has been featured in multiple publications including Forbes, Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Financial Times, New Statesman, Stanford International Press, Harvard International Review and others. Tara is a prominent speaker on climate change and infrastructure finance. She speaks frequently at major international convenings at Harvard University, Stanford University, Fifteenseconds, World Economic Forum and others. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559594607788-2NYY1OEXOJPDISL6B5LD/Kate-Nowrouzi.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Kate Nowrouzi is the Senior Vice President of Global Email Delivery & Business Strategy at Sparkpost. She built the Deliverability Operation from the ground up and lead all the initial monitoring, alerting and automation efforts. Her team helps Sparkpost enterprise customers achieve a high inbox rate through following email marketing best practices. A recognized authority on email and anti-spam practices, Kate worked as an anti-abuse engineer at AOL anti-spam operation. Before that, she was a Network Engineer at the pioneering ISP, UUNET/ Verizon. Kate continues to be an active voice in the worldwide messaging and anti-spam community. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, mentors young engineers in tech and serves as an adviser to PersianWomen in Tech, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Iranian women inthe STEM fields. In her free time, she enjoys helping her local high school robotics team as a mentor, promoting Norooz (Persian New Year) celebration at her local schools, senior centers and libraries in Springtime. She holds a B.S. in Network Engineering and an M.S. in Telecommunication Technologies from Strayer University in Washington D.C. and Leadership and Decision Making Certificate from Stanford University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560884248122-6KBM2ZNP73M0NC5XRLG0/Radin.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Radin Rahimzadeh is a Connected and Autonomous & Smart City Specialist with Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) where she supports private and public sector visionaries with technology facilitation and implementation to redefine mobility to advance safety, expand accessibility, reduce congestion, and encourage mode shift through adoption of electric and shared modes of transportation. Radin wrote the first Master Plan for the GoMentum Station, a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) proving grounds and is a part of the team that brought the first Shared Autonomous Vehicle to California, now approved to test on public roads. Radin’s approach to introducing new ideas and technology has been by way of systems thinking to make sure that challenges are addressed at their ROOT, solutions are co-created WITH community and positive impacts are enjoyed by ALL community members. Radin uses data to elevate missing stories, build resilient cities, and empower civic spaces. In 2016, Radin closed her tech empowered nonprofit to support and advise a like-minded leader, Sepideh Nasiri and Persian Women in Tech, an organization creating profound waves of change to empower, elevate and advance Iranian and MENA women in Tech. In addition to PWIT, Radin also advises early-stage startups. In between all of the excitement, Radin unwinds by playing piano, boxing and traveling to connect, converse, and build community around beautiful global cities rich in heart, culture, and history. She speaks fluent Persian, Spanish and English. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560876695701-QXZTRHXL2X652G22EYMU/Dr-Ali-parsa.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556583394622-UWQ71F01NUOZ1QPYLE89/Xanyar.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Xanyar Kamangar is a Founding Partner at Griffon Capital, a frontier market focused Asset Management, Venture Capital and Investment Banking group. Xanyar graduated with an MBA from London Business School. Prior to Griffon Capital, Xanyar spent 8 years as a Director in the Telecom and Technology investment banking team of Deutsche Bank in London advising some of the largest tech players in EMEA. Before that, Xanyar founded Tehran Computer, a leading provider of computer telephony solutions in the Middle East. Xanyar is also an active angel investor in tech companies in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559750187283-2T6OMXR9YSY4HUH13J0M/Sara-Ahmadi.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Sara Ahmadi studied Fashion at Central St Martins in London before going on to work internationally for the likes of Calvin Klein, Preen, Target and many other brands before setting up own label in New York. Sara is also part of the Non-Executive board for http://depoint.ai helping their expansion into the UK market and a mentor for the Cherry Blaire Foundation. Sara holds an MBA from San Diego and was part of the founding team working with the British Council to bring the Wearable Tech Show to Abu Dhabi. Sara was the only female founder for the coveted Techstars Metro program in Berlin. Shopest has been featured in many publications including Cosmopolitan and been awarded top 50 in Retail Tech in Europe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560385465618-TVJHXGSOGTGF14XS8XTO/Sepideh-Dundon.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Sepideh Dundon, Channel Lead EMEA, LinkedIn Sepideh Dundon is a digital marketing strategist and tech enthusiast who has worked with startups and Fortune 500 companies. She currently leads LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Channel business across growth markets in EMEA, where she works with local partners to cultivate LinkedIn across the region. She has a wealth of experience in working with numerous industries including Technology, Telco, Education and Finance. At LinkedIn she is also responsible for the Environmental Sustainability Group, Go Green and is a People and Culture Ambassador. Sepideh holds a Masters in International Business from The European Business School, Regent’s College and a BA in Business Management and Mandarin from Kingston University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1554740413474-AFK9J65K2BMYT09TNQDY/Nona.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Nona Keyhani, Associate (IP, Tech & Data), Reed Smith Nona grew up in Sweden and came to the UK aged 9 with her family. In 2012, Nona graduated with a Masters in Law from UCL in London and upon completing law school, she commenced her training as a lawyer with the international law firm, Reed Smith LLP. During her training, Nona undertook two in-house secondments; the first with a global media and broadcasting organisation. She assisted on a variety of matters across the business, supporting the commercial and online businesses. Nona also completed an in-house of an investment bank headquartered in New York, before qualifying in 2018. Since qualification, Nona specialises in privacy, data protection and technology law. She advises clients across a diverse range of industry sectors and also works in Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf (which is London’s financial district) on her part time secondment. Nona is a member of Persian Women in Tech London Chapter since last summer and helps organise monthly events in the city. She was one of the key member organising our one year anniversary at Google’s headquarters in London last year. She is also part of the planning committee for the inaugural Persian Women in Tech conference on 22 June 2019 in London. Nona assists with the legal and compliance issues which arise in respect of PWIT in the UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815269506-VDFK5SZB13QL5P9ADVNQ/Khashayar+Shahmiri.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Khashayar Shahmiri is a Director of GQR, an award-winning search specialist organisation uniting the most talented people from STEM backgrounds with pioneering organisations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. After graduating from the University of Sur rey with honours in Management, Khashayar joined GQR in London where he leads their EMEA practice and is responsible for GQR’s global growth strategy across the Banking & Finance, Life Science, Technology, and Energy & Engineering sectors. Born in London to a third-generation Iranian family in the UK, he has maintained a passionate connection to Iran and the success of the community across the globe. He is a Tech enthusiast having previously studying Software Design & Development and is now involved with some crowdsourcing platforms focusing on technology start-ups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815285500-2X1HEZUC1G0KWU5V7IR3/Rana-Alqrenawi.jpg Womena 2019 Speakers (Copy) Rana Alqrenwai "As a senior software engineer, Rana Alqrenwai has global responsibility for the tech and entrepreneurship field. She is passionate about building new commercial tech companies that tackle the biggest social challenges in the developed world. Excited by technology, Rana is driven by the desire to use her skills, experience, and energy to have a personal impact on the social issues that really. She used to be the Product Development and Women’s Inclusivity Manager at Mercy Corps in Gaza. Rana has global responsibility for the attraction, engagement, development, and experience of Mercy Corps most important asset - its people. She championed Mercy Corps’ mission ‘helping people build secure, productive and just communities.’ playing a critical role in enabling the organization ‘to commit to achieving demonstrable impact for stakeholders, using their feedback to innovate, learn and improve.’ With a growing employee base, Rana enabled Mercy Corps to scale, while working on the very elements that have made the organization so successful in gender equality to date. Rana brings 8 years of people leadership experience across multiple industries, geographies, and scale of businesses. Prior to joining Mercy Corps, Rana served as Product Manager of Microsoft first lab in Palestine, a leader in the outsourcing industry in different Saudi Companies and GGateWay, a social enterprise that has a hybrid business model aiming to build ICT graduates capacity to employ them in outsourcing projects. Rana has been working as a backend developer since 2010 and has experience in establishing two startups one for artificial intelligence software applications and the other for business organizations software environments. She established and led the Palestine Code Academy at Gaza Sky Geeks in partnership with Founders and Coders, she is also the founder of the first women-only coding club in the area. As a youth programs’ lead, Rana’s passion is around culture. She has the opportunity to work alongside Angel Hack, Iridescent, PCRF and Christian Aid, all is non-profit youth empowerment and culture space. She is an advisor to a number of young girls, as well as a mentor to a number of startups in system analysis and product development. Rana holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. She is working now as a founder in the second mission of Zinc Ventures Limited to “Unlock new opportunities for people in hard-hit places by globalization and automation” exploring new markets to start her business in England. She is exploring new opportunities to give the women in minority communities in the UK access to tech jobs by upskilling them to be qualified data engineers." https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/about-womena-in-tech daily 0.75 2020-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1550008077828-KF3WNG14ZDN9SLFEIIPV/About-Banner.jpg About (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706138098-1GTU86LBST1FSXY665BB/Delband.jpg About (Copy) CHRISTINE SOUFASTAI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556646299691-SZ576V0NULJA39ZQNXNC/May.jpg About (Copy) MAY SAMALI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706153998-NJINMDWRY7AXW85QHTMJ/Armin_Shamskhou.jpg About (Copy) ARMIN SHAMSKHOU https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706124651-5JVPUF6FDO77RCINUVGG/Karim.jpg About (Copy) KARIM EMAMI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706187078-DMYTIBQ6U76BXS6RO0TU/Golpar.jpg About (Copy) GOLPAR SALEH https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553704096772-JVNGAHET4O1DHACVZ5EQ/Sepi-1.jpg About (Copy) SEPIDEH NASIRI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706195608-D7X0J11LF0NN3LKYL6M3/Maryam%2BFasihy.jpg About (Copy) MARYAM FASIHY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706163477-KO9N3YSKIKFS5N5PTHE3/Samira.jpg About (Copy) SAMIRA SAFFARZADEH https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553706177079-16QGV42Q8SIPGJ6OVPVO/Ali_Razfar_400_400.png About (Copy) ALI RAZFAR https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-1 daily 0.75 2020-07-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1590093264964-4MZ10WQKNOQ3HPBSRUB1/istockphoto-477333976-612x612.jpg Speakers (Copy) Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. She is also arts editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591292257691-80UC4JK3QONU364UPXI0/Sharif%25252BHeadshot%25252B3.jpg Speakers (Copy) Sharif El-Badawi currently serves as Partner at 500 Startups, the most active venture capital firm in the world. In his role, he manages 500 Startups' MENA fund, focusing on seed stage investments in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, Sharif is the Chairman of the Board and Head Mentor at TechWadi, where he leads the TW100 mentors and helps bridge MENA startups with Silicon Valley. He also serves on several advisory boards for startups in the MENA region and Silicon Valley. Previously, Sharif was the Partner Lead to VCs and Startups at Google where he worked with top tier VCs and their most promising startups on strategies that bring all of Google to their businesses. Joining from AdMob almost 7 prior, he led performance advertising strategy for Google's largest customers in North America covering Mobile, Search and Display ads. Before AdMob, Sharif was a technologist and serial entrepreneur having founded or co-founded several companies in the Consumer Internet and B2B space over twelve years. Sharif earned his MBA from UC Irvine Merage School of Business and his BS in Neuroscience from UCLA. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1553815248891-R1VHH87MINWW43KJOZKM/Sepideh-Nasiri.jpg Speakers (Copy) Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1590093335331-J9XE80N1Q71SGHRCPFZ2/Tara-Sharifi-new.jpg Speakers (Copy) Tara Sharifi, 11 years old Maths and technology lover. Bronze & Silver award winner of The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise. Swimmer, Dancer and Guitarist. Year 7 Student at Aylesbury High School. Scored highest possible mark of 162 at Mensa UK IQ test. Fun Facts: Came 5th in the UK in rock & roll dance at the age of 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560277502393-HTYHZUTCZOYZQDE9TY5R/ASH-ALI.jpg Speakers (Copy) Ash Ali An award-winning serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor, Ash sold his first internet business at the age of just 19 (and most recently his Dubai-based on-demand mobile app startup in 2018).As the first marketing director of Just Eat UK which IPO’d for £1.5 billion, he was included in the Top 250 Growth Hackers, as well as Top 100 Asian Tech Stars in the UK. With over 20 years of hands-on experience creating and growing startups, he has consulted, advised, and invested in hundreds of startups at various funding stages. Ash is a highly sought-after international speaker and expert on digital disruption and tech transformation, and has spoken at numerous global organisations and conferences including Salesforce, Ernst & Young and TEDx. His new book The Unfair Advantage – Boost Your Chances of Tech Startup Success (co-authored with Hasan Kubba) is coming soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1551830636558-COQ3N516BK05TQ1UZL2I/28468639_1736050499750581_2386572956287547554_n.jpg Speakers (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591291740127-V5VX0ZE8R93Y1OUA39RV/duygu_oktem1.png Speakers (Copy) Duygu Oktem Clark is a VC at the European Investment Fund where she leads early stage tech startup investments, and the Founder of DO Consultancy LLC - a boutique consultancy company focused on corporate innovation. Prior to that; as an Intrapreneur, she founded and ran Turkey's first corporate-run startup accelerator from scratch where she led 22 early stage investments. Before that, she was a Founding R&D Manager at Turk Telekom where she oversaw more than 40 R&D projects with an overall budget of +$100M. She has mentored hundreds of startups in the last 5 years and continues to help startups by serving as a jury member and mentor at many startup programs including the Chobani Startup Program,Founder Institute,United Nations Clean Tech,Telefonica Wayra UK and Startup Bootcamp. She is a Computer Engineer with Master Degree in Technology Management. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560385465618-TVJHXGSOGTGF14XS8XTO/Sepideh-Dundon.jpg Speakers (Copy) Sepideh Dundon, Channel Lead EMEA, LinkedIn Sepideh Dundon is a digital marketing strategist and tech enthusiast who has worked with startups and Fortune 500 companies. She currently leads LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Channel business across growth markets in EMEA, where she works with local partners to cultivate LinkedIn across the region. She has a wealth of experience in working with numerous industries including Technology, Telco, Education and Finance. At LinkedIn she is also responsible for the Environmental Sustainability Group, Go Green and is a People and Culture Ambassador. Sepideh holds a Masters in International Business from The European Business School, Regent’s College and a BA in Business Management and Mandarin from Kingston University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1590093359400-RIE9J5BPQWVXBF2U2MN1/istockphoto-477333976-612x612.jpg Speakers (Copy) Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591291268762-SDG9MWXWPKWYBW3IMVFV/Anousheh%2BAnsari.jpg Speakers (Copy) Dr. Anousheh Ansari is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prodea Systems a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm. As she launched her new company, in 2006, she also blasted off for an 11-day space expedition and captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first Muslim woman, and the fourth private explorer to visit space. This was the accomplishment of a childhood dream for her. As a successful serial entrepreneur and active proponent of world-changing technologies she along with her family sponsored the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award ignited a new era in private space industries. Anousheh has published her memoire titled “My Dream of Stars” to use her life story to inspire young woman around the world. Anousheh is a Vision Circle and Board member of the X Prize Foundation’s. She serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, to name a few. Anousheh is a UNESCO Good Will Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil (NYSE: JBL) and Peace First as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment. She currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally, with organizations such as ASHOKA, which supports social entrepreneurship around the world. Anousheh holds BS in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, MS in electrical engineering from George Washington University; honorary doctorate from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591291643522-T27DTA5DJW7GEWN3C8IL/deena-shakir.jpg Speakers (Copy) Deena Shakir is a partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), where sheis responsible for managing partnerships for GV’s portfolio companies. She helps startups scale and grow by connecting them to the world’s largest companies. Prior to joining GV, Deena spent five years at Google doing business development for early-stage products in health care, research and machine intelligence, and search. She also spearheaded social impact investments for Google.org. Deena previously led public-private partnerships with Global 2000 companies as a presidential management fellow in the office of Secretary Clinton at the U.S. State Department. At the U.S. Agency for International Development, Deena was a partnerships advisor where she helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010. Deena co-founded her first company at 19, and is an angel investor and startup adviser. She serves as an advisor to the board of TechWadi (after serving as a Board Director for several years), and sits on the boards of the Harvard Alumni Association, the Project on Middle East Democracy, the Arab Film Festival, and the Asian University for Women. She is also a Board Advisor to Girls Who Code. Deena holds a joint Bachelor of Arts in social studies and Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard College and a master’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She delivered the 2008 Harvard Class Day speech, “From Baghdad to Boston: Dropping the Global H-Bomb.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591292142735-ZHV1P3QEPZ2UPSU8JV7L/image-asset.png Speakers (Copy) Yasmine El Baggari, a native of Morocco and San Francisco based, is the founder and CEO of Voyaj, an online platform that connects people from around the globe for one-on-one meaningful exchanges to foster global understanding. Yasmine is committed to creating a safe environment where the exchange of ideas will result in mutual respect and our ability to embrace our differences, to empower each other to become citizens of the world committed to a healthy, peaceful planet. For the past four years, Yasmine’s reach includes research at Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department as an Youth Moroccan Ambassador to the United States. She has spoken at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, the Middle East Studies Association, and Obama's Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, NPR, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Yasmine has also received the Royal Air Maroc Award from the African Studies Association, Glamour Women of the Year Microsoft's Made Achieving Award, Hampshire College’s $60K Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, The Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, the Sander Thoenes Research Award, and two Ingenuity Awards. Recently, she was invited to the White House as one of the 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers, and on Forbes 30 Under 30's list as one of of the most inspiring and promising entrepreneurs in Africa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1592530175545-V8YAOYRU5K6UQ6F7CII2/Faranak-Frahmand-Pour.jpg Speakers (Copy) Faranak Farahmand Pour Currently Faranak lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1556583394622-UWQ71F01NUOZ1QPYLE89/Xanyar.jpg Speakers (Copy) Xanyar Kamangar is a Founding Partner at Griffon Capital, a frontier market focused Asset Management, Venture Capital and Investment Banking group. Xanyar graduated with an MBA from London Business School. Prior to Griffon Capital, Xanyar spent 8 years as a Director in the Telecom and Technology investment banking team of Deutsche Bank in London advising some of the largest tech players in EMEA. Before that, Xanyar founded Tehran Computer, a leading provider of computer telephony solutions in the Middle East. Xanyar is also an active angel investor in tech companies in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591291345756-Z221TQGKA5NMMZLONRK9/Allison%2BAllen%2BHeadshot.png Speakers (Copy) Allison Allen is VP of Diversity & Inclusion; Talent Management at Oath. In this role, she leads global efforts across Oath’s 50+ media and technology brands to build strong talent and organizational philosophies and culture. Allison also partners and works collaboratively across all levels of Oath’s brands to guide the company’s diversity and inclusion strategy, focusing on creating innovative approaches that result in an all-inclusive and diverse work environment. Her goal at Oath is to enhance the internal and external brand of the company from both the people and process perspective, as well as maintaining an exceptionally high bar for diverse talent. Prior to Oath, Allison was Vice President, Talent & Organizational Development for AOL Inc., where she created a series of new learning programs, technical end products and organizational/project models. Before AOL, she headed up the Global Organizational Development Practice at Bloomberg LP and was Vice President in Global Talent and Leadership at Deutsche Bank, where she worked with clients around a broad range of issues (e.g., strategy execution, leadership pipeline building, talent identification, change management and human capital systems). Allison began her career at Johnson & Higgins (now part of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.) where she focused on designing and implementing courses on insurance brokerage systems. Earlier in her career, Allison was a Manager of Learning & Organizational Development with Cushman & Wakefield,Inc. Allison completed her degree from New York University and is currently researching Masters programs focusing on Industrial Organizational Psychology & Human Resources Management. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591291836377-GMCCECHBLTEC9168AJK8/Dr-Ali-parsa.jpg Speakers (Copy) Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth. Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers daily 0.75 2022-09-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632359918467-LA80KZSKE4927YZ8HIME/Dina+Saoudi.png Speakers Dina Saoudi is the mother of Hashem and Hamzah, who define her purpose to help better the world for all children as much as her own. She co-founded Seven Circles, an investment and consulting agency focused on establishing strategic partnerships, creating new revenue streams, and building sustainable, impactful solutions. She is also the co-founder of its philanthropic arm, Seven’s World. Dina co-founded and heads Empowering throughTM (EtTM), a new breed of social enterprise with the purpose of empowering ecosystems to enable individuals economically and socially. EtTM's publications, platforms and events are based on a measurable and scalable model that identifies and connects stakeholders — aid agencies, private and public sectors, academia, impact funds, and civil society — to work together to enable and celebrate individuals. Since 2017, EtTM has been creating impact in more than 10 countries with a portion of the proceeds committed to giving back. Dina proudly serves two of Her Majesty Queen Rania’s initiatives as a member of the board of directors of The Children's Museum and the board of trustees of the Royal Health Awareness Society. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/d44fce61-5339-409d-a676-595c1b0abfdb/Moderator+%284%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Ella is a Vice President within Global Gateway, SVB’s international business development arm. Ella works with some of the most disruptive companies from emerging international markets, focused on India & Middle East North Africa regions. Based in San Francisco, Ella extends SVB’s network and services to leading venture capital firms and VC-backed companies in these regions as they expand globally. Joining Silicon Valley Bank in 2018, previously Ella was part of the Global Fund Banking team at SVB, where she helped providing banking and lending services to venture capital and private equity firms in New York. Before joining SVB, Ella worked at Morgan Stanley as an investment Advisor to institutional investors including pension funds, foundations, endowments, and government entities globally. Ella holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Technological Innovation & International Finance. Given her global upbringing, Ella is passionate about leveraging innovation and capital to invest in emerging global markets and is active with numerus initiatives facilitating inclusive global economic growth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/06ece7a1-7c82-412f-8414-6c1a7bcd721d/Mirzaie+Katy.png Speakers - Make it stand out Katy is a Partner at Baringa Partner. She has extensive of experience working in business transformation. Specialising in Operating Model, Organisational Design, Operational Efficiency, Enterprise Agility, Tech Transformation, Restructuring and Change, Katy is passionate about helping clients deliver their strategy effectively and efficiently. She understands how crucial it is that benefits are felt in the bottom line, working tirelessly to improve organisations and unlock potential savings. Having guided numerous high-profile agile transformation projects with clients including a string of multinational names across the energy industry and financial services sector, her skills and understanding have been developed at the highest level. In addition to her focus on providing consulting services to clients, Katy also heads up the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion agenda at Baringa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442847690-ELVRJKQ8OLBYLPR0LKMY/3.png Speakers - Moj Mahdara Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani is President & Founder of the #ArabInternationalWomen’sForum and a development economist recognised in #Arab and international government, private sector and NGO circles as a high-impact change agent focussed on women’s leadership and youth empowerment, working for progress, peace and prosperity in the Arab region and internationally. Mrs. Al Kaylani’s work for the last two decades has centred on economic empowerment for women and youth, having founded AIWF in 2001 as a development organisation supporting women’s leadership in social and economic growth in the MENA region and globally and serving as its Chair for nearly 20 years. She is a Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative 2017 and was the only Arab Commissioner to serve on the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work. She is a Board Member of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London, a Member of The Stimson East West Council on Track 11 Diplomacy, and a Member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard. She has received numerous regional and global awards for her exceptional efforts to enable and advance women and youth through education and economic engagement in the #MENA region and beyond. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/babf45d5-8289-4e8e-9887-40d55515928f/Sadaf+Hamidy.png Speakers - Make it stand out 18 years old From Afghanistan Herat A member of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team Game developer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/55865bb1-8e5c-4d51-91d3-da82a3ce7fa2/Keynote+%282%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Arefeh is an experienced Operational Excellence consultant with a demonstrated history of managing agile projects in the automotive, renewable and telecommunications industries. In the past year, she was working as a consultant for the London-based innovative telecom and cyber security solutions provider, Exponential-e. She is now moving to Baringa Partners as a senior consultant to help the firm with its growth and lead continuous improvement projects within the vast range of clients across the world. Arefeh has been involved with Women of MENA in Technology since it landed its London chapter back in 2017 and is volunteering as the lead of the London chapter at the moment being recognised as "Volunteer of the Year" in 2021 for her dedication and involvement in the mission of empowering women and girls in STEM that is very close to her heart. She has vast experience in Continuous Improvement practices, Lean Six-Sigma and Lean Startup, Digital Transformation and Business Management System development, helping businesses with improving their management systems and processes to achieve excellence. Arefeh has done her undergraduate studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Tehran, Iran and her post-grad and PhD in the same field with focus on electron microscopy of semiconductor materials and devices at University of Sheffield, UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/8ee7f48f-5176-4617-9106-3c2dbb156d8b/Ayda+Haydarpour.png Speakers - Make it stand out 16 years old A member and programmer for the Afghan Girls Robotics Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/595e9885-3b84-4245-bf11-3ba7c3678bf5/Riquier+Johana.png Speakers - Make it stand out Johana RIQUIER is a business strategist, award-winning diversity advocate, guest speaker and business strategist. She is an expert in the gaming industry in the Middle-Eastern and African markets. She is known for her pioneering approach to economic development and for securing several gaming partnerships with governments in the region. She founded Gamerging Solutions, a Solutions-focused agency focusing on disruptive innovation and social impact in the MEA region, leveraging Gaming and Emerging Technologies. Since joining the gaming industry, she has promoted and represented diverse demographic experiences and social impact projects in the digital and gaming spaces. She works head-on to advocate for the diversification of content, content creators, and communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634405842998-PAFTYIZSWXSA10D4AFOH/Parissa+Behnia+%282%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Neda Tabatabaie is Vice President, Business Analytics and Technology for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. In her 6th season with the Sharks, she is responsible for devising, developing, implementing and guiding the overall business strategy initiatives for the organization through the use of technology, data, and analytics. Tabatabaie has over 15 years of experience in the professional sports and entertainment industry. Prior to joining the Sharks, she served as Vice President, Best Practices at KORE Software where she was responsible for their Consulting Services. Prior to KORE, Tabatabaie spent 9 years at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) overseeing CRM, email marketing, research, analytics and digital for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Marlies and Toronto FC as well as other MLSE properties. Tabatabaie earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Toronto. She serves on the boards of Sharks Foundation, San Jose Downtown Association, and is an advisor to Women in Sports Technology (WiST). She was selected as one of the 100 of Women of Influence 2019 by Silicon Valley Business Journal and Sports Business Journal Game Changers class of 2019. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/f9311181-2e03-47f0-b124-e032fc17e84c/Keynote+%285%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Purnima Kochikar is the VP of Play Partnerships at Google Play where she oversees all aspects of the app ecosystem including strategy, operations, partnership management, technical and growth consulting. Her team partners both with the world’s leading companies and budding entrepreneurs to create effective mobile businesses that can reach global audiences. Prior to Google, Purnima held various roles at Nokia, including leading diverse developer initiatives across the globe. Before Nokia, Purnima held technical and engineering management roles, and started her career building a computer education company while still in college. She is passionate about K-12 education and entrepreneurship, and focuses on helping women excel in both. She serves on the advisory boards of the University of Minnesota and the Asian University for Women, which is educating future women leaders from South East Asia and the Middle East. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/4e75813f-ed44-403d-ad82-132026db4cb6/Sarah.png Speakers - Make it stand out Sara Sabry is a mechanical and biomedical engineer, and is the first female Egyptian Analog Astronaut. She is the founder and executive director of Deep Space Initiative, a non-profit company that aims to increase accessibility and opportunity in the space field while enabling deep space exploration for all Humankind. Sabry received her Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s degree in 2016 from the American University in Cairo, with a concentration in Mechatronics, as well as double minors in Biology and Chemistry. She received her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2020 from Politecnico Di Milano in Italy. Sara’s wide range of experiences span from Mechatronics and Robotic Surgery, to Stem Cell Development and Bioastronautics. After her studies, Sara worked at a Tech Startup in Berlin as the deputy CTO working on Augmented Reality mobile applications. This Fall 2022, she will begin her PhD in Aerospace Sciences at The University of North Dakota, where her research will focus on engineering the next generation of planetary spacesuits. Along with her studies, she plans to begin her private pilot license, as well as continuing her astronaut training. Sara is helping the Egyptian Space Agency with a number of exciting projects that will be announced this summer, including building the first analog research station in Africa. Sara was the team lead for the Transportation on the Moon group within the Lunar Commerce & Economics of the Moon Village Association, a PoliSpace external advisor, an independent researcher with Biofrequency Analytics, and a teaching associate at Mars University. Prior to her work in the Space industry, Sara was a Yoga instructor, Crossfit coach and spent some time practicing Mixed Martial Arts. In 2016 she traveled around Africa volunteering in different schools and organizations, including a Women Empowerment Center in Uganda, and a primary school in South Africa. Sara is extremely passionate about our oceans, is an Advanced Open Water Certified diver, and spent 6 weeks in Madagascar as a marine conservationist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/948cb5eb-9566-4c35-9386-7cbe39facffd/Keynote+%283%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out As a Principal CX Evangelist at Salesforce, Sally generates advocacy and enthusiasm for CX and how it can empower people and businesses. She focuses on futurology and strategic foresight to influence and inspire applications of technology. During her 7 years at Salesforce, she has consulted with enterprise companies on the future of their customer experience. Having spoken at many global conferences such as Dreamforce, she is a thought leader on what it takes to create world-class experiences. Sally has been recognised as the “Inspiring Ambassador’ of the year at MENA Women in Awards 2022. As an ambassador for women in STEM, she’s passionate about creating a change and is a Women of MENA in Tech Ambassador, enthusing young people and inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals. Sally holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Advertising, having graduated from University of Arts London in Marketing + Advertising and has over 15 years experience in her field. In her spare time she aspires to connect people around the world with the culture of the Middle Eastern with her food blog @cookingwithsaloomeh and hosting Persian Supper Nights. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632363158375-OKHBWC5J44RTKCXZ72W1/Parissa+Behnia.png Speakers - Make it stand out Parissa Behnia coaches C Suite and Senior leaders who are high will-high skill and have a growth mindset. In other words, they're badasses like you who go 80MPH in a 45MPH zone. These days, leadership is full of complexities whether you’re navigating from an audacious goal or trying to avoid that iceberg up ahead. In either case, Parissa's clients choose her because she's either sat in those seats or next to those seats often enough to know how it can feel to be alone in a crowded leadership room. She's unafraid to speak truth to power to help propel you forward. With over two decades of corporate, consulting, coaching and – let’s be honest – real life experience, Parissa’s key strategic difference is Empathy. Empathy in business is more than being nice to one another, it’s a strategic imperative. It means that leaders create context and understanding so that they do a better job of serving their customers AND engaging their teams. She’s so passionate about the application of empathy in business that she’s developed the Sixense Empathy Model for her clients to employ. And, she wants all of us to put empathy at the forefront of how we engage with everybody. One of Parissa’s favorite things to do is to stand in front of a whiteboard – real or pretend – to help clients imagine what the world could look like and then propels them as they navigate to that vision of success. This work enables clients to put together pieces of the puzzle to create the “A-Ha!” or “Eureka!” moment that ignites action. She leans into the discomfort of the unknown and invites her clients to embrace all of their talents (even ones they don’t recognize or value fully) to create their own paths out of the unknown. Parissa Behnia is a Certified Professional Coach, holds a BA from Northwestern University and MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635375958562-IJX4BJFB0VKM6AFA22O1/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2813%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634405591529-HR8MJMPWYERI54722IWS/Parissa+Behnia+%283%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Khawla is the founder and CEO of Takalam L.T.D, an online counseling platform that supports mental well-being. Takalam was founded in early 2020 to ease access to mental health services in a convenient, private, and affordable way, catering to individuals and organizations in a one-stop-shop digital solution. Takalam’s mission is to promote a state of well-being and the pursuit of a healthy mind by breaking the cultural stigma around seeking mental health care and create a social impact for a greater community benefit. Before devoting her work fulltime to Takalam, Khawla held several positions in various Abu Dhabi based government entities, including Emirates Foundation & twofour54 where she utilized her skills and expertise in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, Media & Communications. She also worked as an independent consultant for startups between the UAE & the US while she was based in Washington DC. Khawla holds a Master’s degree in International Business from Georgetown University in Washington DC and a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Communication Sciences from Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/21f0e5c2-b9a3-447f-b51a-6474740818bc/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.jpg Speakers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634247593853-77ZSKDODK4LKB6HMXD43/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2814%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out An international banking veteran and serial financial literacy entrepreneur, Dina Shoman brings almost two decades of experience to her role as Co-Founder of Verity, the Middle East’s family banking app that teaches kids and teens how to make smart money management decisions. Verity is Dina’s third financial literacy-focused venture, having previously founded inherQuests, a New York-based startup that offers subscription boxes with games and activities, built on a curriculum that empowers young girls to begin their financial journey, and Nahji, a Jordanian social enterprise that teaches basic financial concepts through a range of engaging resources. By working closely with educational and child development experts, both startups successfully integrated experiential and play-based learning with relevant content and programs, encouraging kids to start building their personal finance skills. Before starting her entrepreneurial journey, Dina was Executive Vice President and Head of Branding at Arab Bank. During this time she also served as a Board Member for Arab Bank Plc, Arab Bank Switzerland, Arab Tunisian Bank and Arab Bank Australia, as well as a number of non-profit organizations based in Jordan. Dina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bentley University. In addition, she has completed continued educational certificates in Organizational Design and Change Leadership from Georgetown University, and in Design Thinking from INSEAD. Adding to her cohort of achievements, Dina was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012, and ranked third out of the ‘Top 100 Most Powerful Arab Business Women in Listed Companies’ by Forbes Middle East. When she’s not exploring new and fun ways to teach kids the importance of saving and spending responsibly, Dina can be found whipping up her favourite dishes in the kitchen, traveling the globe, spending time with friends and family (especially her niece and dog), and singing karaoke every chance she gets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/fc9966cc-3be6-4352-9bf4-b09dae108e84/Somaya+Faruqi.png Speakers - Make it stand out Somaya Farqui is 19 yrs old and from Herat, Afghanistan. She is a member and spokeswoman of the Digital Citizen Fund’s Afghan Girls Robotic team. Somaya has won several awards, including a silver medal for Courageous Achievement at the FIRST Global Challenge - in recognition of science and technology - in the US; a Benefiting Humanity in AI award at World Summit AI; the Janet Ivey-Duensing's Permission to Dream Award at the Raw Science Film Festival; and the Entrepreneurship Challenge at Robotex in Estonia, Europe's biggest robotics festival. Last year, she was named one of BBC's 100 women in 2020. This year she and her team were featured in Forbes 30 under 30. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/edee9525-d88a-4542-951c-2602dd6b12e8/Moderator.png Speakers - Make it stand out After extensive experience in strategy consulting and Private Equity, Salma made the choice of entrepreneurship and innovation in 2015 to support the development of entrepreneurial innovation to address Africa's socio-economic challenges. Today, IMPACT Lab is a leading innovation accelerator in Africa, with more than 240 startups supported across 17 countries. IMPACT Lab also supports corporates and public institutions in their entrepreneurial innovation dynamic in Africa. Salma Kabbaj is a founding member for the Startup Ecosystem Federation in Morocco MSEC. Salma Kabbaj holds a Bachelor in Economics and Finance from McGill University (Montreal) and a Master in Management from the London School of Economics (London). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632359627440-4TQFL7A967ZGEQ86B6AZ/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers Hanane Benkhallouk is an award winning senior consultant with a broad scope of expertise and exposure to international markets. She counts 20 years of a diverse thriving career journey that started in New York city before moving to Dubai in 2005. Her multi-industry working experience included being in charge of innovation and entrepreneurship programs across the Arab World, at the Mohammed bin Rashid AlMaktoum foundation, which was the turning point in her career shift, Hanane works today as the Executive Director of Sustain Leadership consultancies. A culture change and certified innovation strategist, Hanane supports corporates, government institutions, NGOs and SMEs, in building human centric business models, and creating cultures of innovation to remain relevant in an ever-changing world. Hanane pioneered a multitude of initiatives which stemmed from her passion to accelerate the gender balance in the region: Lean in Arabia, the first lean in chapter in the GCC that she co-founded in 2014, the Link women to women mentoring program, she was also a founding VP of the first chapter in the GCC of the 80 year old women and girls empowering global organization, Soroptimist international. More recently, Hanane founded Tawazoun, the first think-do tank and platform in the Middle East that aims at accelerating the gender balance discussion in a fundamentally different way. Hanane is recognized as a thought leader, a global conference speaker, and a published author, with 2 co-authored book, and the first book coming up soon, some of her articles were also published on Harvard business review Arabic, and Forbes Middle East to name a few. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572234020-T43XJPV3SQDQR926NVEM/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%289%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Payam Zamani is the founder, chairman, and CEO of One Planet Group. Born in Tehran, Iran, Zamani was denied an education due to his following of the Baha’i Faith, a peaceful religion that focuses on the equality, love, and unity of people of all races and backgrounds. At the age of 15, Zamani was forced to flee Iran ultimately receiving asylum from the United States and arriving in San Francisco in 1988. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in environmental toxicology, Zamani founded Autoweb in 1994 along with his older brother, Frank Zamani. The first online car buying service, Autoweb made its stock market debut on March 23, 1999, ultimately changing the way people bought and sold vehicles. Within a day of its debut, Autoweb’s valuation reached $1.2 billion. In 2001, Payam launched Reply.com, a lead exchange and marketplace in automotive, real estate, and home improvement, that was relaunched as Buyerlink in 2015. Today, Buyerlink is the leading online auction marketplace for the generation and monetization of locally targeted and category-specific consumer demand. In 2015, Zamani also founded One Planet Group, a hybrid tech firm that owns and operates a portfolio of businesses and funds seed and early-stage startups, including Buyerlink, Quite Remarkable, California.com, BahaiTeachings, One Planet Media, One Planet VC, and One Planet Studios. Infused with Zamani’s deeply held religious beliefs, One Planet Group supports strong business ideas while also building an ethos that helps improve society and gives back to communities. Beyond trying to implement best business practices, One Planet Group tries to cultivate an environment that consciously thinks about how “innovation x intention” authentically translates to every aspect of the company, from culture, policies, and governing values to the companies’ impact on the surrounding community and on humanity as a whole. In 2020, One Planet Group was named a ‘Best Place to Work’ by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and also received the Better Business Bureau’s Torch for Ethics Award. Zamani was also honored as a ‘Best CEO for Diversity’ in 2020 by Comparably, was granted the Tahirih Justice Center’s ‘Hope Award’ (2016), and is a recipient of the University of California, Davis Award of Distinction (2018). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/fc20be51-1126-4aa5-a831-08f54bdd57eb/El-Sherif+Sonia+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Sonia El-Sherif is a first-generation American with immigrant parents from Egypt and Ireland. Her cultural upbringing instilled an openness and desire to connect with diverse people and groups. At a young age, she discovered that being a connector opened doors she didn't know existed. As Chief of Staff for JLL Spark Sonia develops and monitors critical business metrics that provide actionable information to JLLT senior leadership, JLL Executives, and Board. She drives operational efficiency and repeatability throughout Spark, a $100 Million Corporate Venture Capital fund for JLL. She serves as a highly visible strategic partner, focusing on long-term planning and projects to ensure the growth of the organization. She focuses on connecting startups to the resources needed to grow and creating a platform for those building a better and more equitable workplace. In addition, Sonia works tirelessly to bring diverse voices into the workplace of the future conversation. Prior to joining Spark, Sonia worked at JLL specializing in tenant representation on both a local and global level. She utilized JLL’s best in class technology platform to find creative solutions to meet her clients’ unique needs. Her responsibilities included technology platform management, global market analysis, lease and sale negotiations, client portfolio optimization, as well as all disposition and acquisition activity. Prior to JLL she worked at WBT and WESCO Distribution selling into the industrial, construction,and data center markets. She managed revenue streams for six states by establishing sales targets, deployment strategies, and go-to-market initiatives. Sonia was first a personal trainer for LifeTime Fitness and found that focusing on physical exercise significantly impacted her mental health. She spent the next few years guiding her clients to push past the mental blocks that got in the way of their goals. This role clearly defined her path and contributes to her love for helping founders today. Today, Sonia still heavily focuses on mental and physical health in and out of the workplace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/50673111-5006-474a-8161-79379f0c0787/Nahid+Rahimi.png Speakers - Make it stand out 18 years old From Afghanistan Nimroz A member of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team Mechanical engineer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634406728931-5PZ0IO5VY3O0RR4CZ5CO/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2815%29.png Speakers Sara Hamdan is a former Merrill Lynch banker, New York Times journalist and editor at Google. She is currently a podcast host, with an Instagram blog (@holidaysinheels) that has nearly 20,000 organic followers. She regularly writes pieces for Arab News, Conde Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure. Sara frequently appears on the radio and has moderated high level panels, including Harvard's ACH Conference 2021 and the World Economic Forum's Women in Leadership panel. A Berkeley and Columbia graduate, Sara has spent the last two years writing her debut novel. When she's not in front of her laptop, she's running around after her two kids. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/cbee247d-81e1-4050-9a04-4d5ca7f44c16/Dehghan+Shirin.png Speakers - Make it stand out Shirin Dehghan is a successful serial entrepreneur, currently CEO of Oxford Algorithms Ltd, an exciting start-up, bringing together the domains of AI and the financial markets. She is also Chair of mobile analytics software business Opensignal, tele-therapy solution provider Neurofenix and employee engagement AI software company, Winningtemp. Prior to Oxford Algorithms, she was an Operating Partner at Frog Capital. She founded and scaled Arieso before selling the business to JDSU. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/df7c07df-e5f6-4957-bc6e-fb2ea26e2021/Azam+Farzana.png Speakers - Make it stand out Farzana Azam heads up Ideation at SCIEX as part of the Strategy and Innovation team, and is responsible for contributing to the company's long term technology vision, strategic direction, and inorganic future growth. Farzana has been with SCIEX for 6 years, and most recently headed up the Pharma/CRO business Unit. Prior to SCIEX she spent over 8 years leading the marketing department at Celerion, an early phase CRO. She holds a master’s in chemistry from University of Kent at Canterbury and a BSc (Hons) in chemistry from University of Huddersfield in the UK. For the past 5 years Farzana has been actively involved in DEI programs. She has led and participated in regional and global DEI programs, has been active in the Women and Friends Associate Resource Group in Canada, and this year serves as co-lead. Farzana has acted as a mentor to many associates at SCIEX for the past 5 years, and is a member of WSTEM Toronto, where she mentors STEM women committed to developing their career path. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/339617c1-eb36-4d4b-a025-d3becef369d5/2022+Speakers+DAY+2+%283%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Narimane leads the Board of Women at Intel (a global leader in the semiconductor industry and computing, employing ~130,000 people worldwide). Serving as Board Leader has provided her the opportunity to partner across Intel to drive cross-company efforts promoting diversity and inclusion, and career growth and development for women. Since joining Intel in 2014, she has focused her career on advancing Intel’s integrated circuit design capabilities to extend Intel’s leadership in computing. She has held several engineering roles developing design methodologies and guidelines, translating electrical circuit designs into manufacturable products, and driving design and process technology optimizations. Narimane is known for developing partnerships and constructively challenging the status quo with colleagues and senior leaders. She is inspired by Intel’s mission to deliver products that benefit the lives of every person on the planet, and achievements in corporate responsibility, inclusion, and sustainability. Intel has given her great opportunities to develop as a technical leader. Narimane is excited to share her experiences and encourage women to act boldly in pursuit of their aspirations. She firmly believes that women not only have a place in technical fields, but that we must engage and encourage one another to fulfill the world’s need for beneficial innovations. Narimane earned her Master of Science degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris France. She draws great strength and resilience from having lived in 4 countries, adapting to local cultures, and learning to speak 3 languages. Originally from Egypt, Narimane now lives in San Jose, California with her husband, raising their sons (ages 8 and 3 years old). She enjoys an active lifestyle (running, tennis, swimming) and exploring new places, cultures, music, and cuisines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/fa830d6f-86e3-4ea3-afff-e1d5e8c64075/Shahad.png Speakers - Make it stand out Shahad Geoffrey is the founder and chief executive officer of Taffi Inc. A VC backed fashion-tech startup. She is building the first styling platform in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a vision to be the global fashion brand that creates possibilities for the unseen to be seen. The platform connects stylists with consumers and fashion brands. It creates opportunities for millions of women to be a stylist and have extra income to be part of the growing gig economy which contributes to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Before Starting Taffi, She worked for several companies in direct-to-consumer brands in different industries managing digital operations and marketing. In 2019, She was selected out of +100 candidates to work with the founder, Tim Draper on his fund, Draper Associates, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, California. Tim is a third-generation venture capitalist, invested in Skype, Tesla, Hotmail, and more. She worked with the investment team as an analyst and has done deal memos for companies that are valued today at $500M to $1B. Shahad Geoffrey attained her bachelor’s degree in business administration and minor in finance from INSEEC University, in Paris, France, in 2016. She got her first full-time job at a cosmetics startup as a second employee in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France, before it got acquired by a UK investor. In 2021, she was selected by Arabian Business as one of the 50 most influential women in Saudi Arabia. Also Shahad was a speaker at the Global Entrepreneurship congress, which took place in Riyadh in March 2022, where she discussed disruptive technologies and the growth of the fashion-tech industry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/103f7ddf-f02c-49b8-bf8e-e1dc6ccc9901/Keynote+%284%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Babak Parviz is the founder and lead of Grand Challenge, an organization chartered with identifying, investing in, and operationalizing entirely new areas for Amazon. Examples of recent launched products/services from Grand Challenge include Amazon Care, Comprehend Medical, Echo Frames, Amazon Glow, and Amazon Explore. Prior to joining Amazon in 2014, Babak was with Google as a Distinguished Engineer and Director at Google [x] where he founded the team and built Google Glass and founded the robotic surgery program (now an independent compa ny, Verb Surgical) and the active contact lens program (now a joint collaboration with Novartis). Prior to Google, he co-invented the biosensing technology resulting in the founding of Claros Diagnostics Inc. (acquired by OPKO). Since 2003 he has been a faculty member in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Washington. Babak received his BA in Literature (University of Washington), BS in Electronics (Sharif University of Technology), MS in Physics and MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering (University of Michigan), and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. His work has been put on display at the London Museum of Science and has received numerous recognitions and awards including National Science Foundation Career Award, MIT Technology Review 35, Time magazine’s best invention of the year (2008 and 2012), IEEE CAS Industrial Pioneer Award, Your Health Top 10 Medical advance of the year, and About.com top invention. He was selected by Ad Age as one of the 50 most creative people in the United States. In 2017 he received the University of Michigan Bicentennial Alumni Award. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572480271-MHF1IETFYQFTSXUU6RS7/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2810%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Nora Bavey, General Partner at Unconventional Ventures, a Nordic VC that focuses on impact tech companies founded by diverse founders. She is the the award-winning brand strategist who became a tech entrepreneur only to become an investor who focuses on diverse founders and sees ownership and entrepreneurship as the strongest tools for equality. With her understanding and focus on Sustainability, DEI and future trends, she is building ecosystems in the Nordic region to take advantage of the potential she sees being lost today. " https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/0220b245-aedf-4974-b981-50ae656463cc/Kanjumba+Wanjiku+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Wanjiku Kanjumba is an Aerospace Engineer, co-founder, chairwoman, and CEO of Vicillion – a technology research and development firm that also provides product development services, and the first Kenyan-born Project PoSSUM Scientist-Astronaut Candidate Program Graduate. She has a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering - Concentration in Dynamics and Control, a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering - Concentration in Astronautics, and a Minor in Spaceflight Operations. Wanjiku has experience working as an Aerospace Certification Engineer, Airworthiness Engineer, Aerospace Controls Engineer, Maintenance and Aircraft Performance Engineer for a high-ranked airline company and working under the Flight Operations department in a commercial drone company (where she gained her Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) remote (drone) pilot license). Wanjiku has made and continues to make strides in her career in solving problems and striving to make a difference on Earth and beyond. Her life mission is making the impossible possible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1e65201c-ad64-489c-8a12-b1a78debb9ea/Manal.png Speakers - Make it stand out Manal Habib is the CEO and founder of MightyFly. A graduate from both MIT and Stanford, Habib has developed a strong technical background in aerospace engineering. She previously specialized in flight controls and developed the first robust commercial flight controller. Manal is also a private pilot and in the process of building her own airplane. Her passion for aerospace, vision for a better world, and determination make her a motivated and unstoppable entrepreneur and leader. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/bff6d751-4abb-4d34-9a9e-d38f53f4d97c/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Rama is a seasoned Global Tech Executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector with diverse experience in sales & distribution, operations and business transformation in high growth and M&A scenarios. As former Andela's Country Director- a technology company that’s solving the global technical talent shortage - Rama built and launched Andela Egypt, while positioning it as a Tech company leader in the Tech ecosystem as well as the home to great tech talent. Before joining Andela, Rama led teams at IBM, Lenovo, and Dell working across different continents, moving from Cairo to Dubai to Paris. She recently moved back to Egypt to act on her long-time desire to help build the future of technology in her home country. Her energy and passion for building a great organization in Africa and the region are contagious. In her own words, ""dare to dream, believe in yourself, follow your passion and help build a better world"". Rama holds a BSc in Computer Science from The American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris in General Management and Entrepreneurship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/aa64f8f0-bcb6-4731-b1cc-2addeb8dc1e7/Modarresi+Shayna+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Shayna is Managing Director at RunwayGrowth Capital; she focuses on investments in the technology sector. Before joining Runway, Shayna was the Founder and Managing Partner of Lodestar Ventures, an early stage venture fund investing in technology companies that create lifestyle efficiencies. Shayna also serves as an Investment Advisor to Correlation Ventures, where she sources investments in early/growth stage technology companies. Prior to Lodestar, Shayna was a Partner at XG Ventures where she helped back nearly 50 companies (five of whom reached IPO: FB, TWTR, BOX, SFT, WISH). Before XG, Shayna managed DLA Piper’s venture group where she focused on making investment recommendations and enhancing the funding prospects of early and growth stage companies. Earlier in her career, Shayna was with Probitas Partners, where she was responsible for raising more than $3B from institutional investors for venture funds such as Scale Venture Partners, BCE Ventures, and IDG Ventures. While at Probitas, Shayna also advised on the firm’s secondary activities. She started her career in Investment Banking at Lazard and spent six years executing on M&A and Private Placements. Shayna was named a Women of Influence in Venture Capital by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and was a featured investor in the 2020 book “The Intelligent Investor: Silicon Valley”. Shayna is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She holds degrees in Molecular Cell Biology and Mass Communications. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634696387424-8VLOAG1HJ2NIQPSMV9G9/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2821%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Caroline works with UNICEF at global level and is based in Geneva. She is part of the Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) team and oversees the portfolio on Gender-Based Violence Innovations and Service Delivery. She is a GBV Specialist with over 12 years of experience working on GBV Information Management, GBV programming and fight against immunity of sexual violence mostly in Africa and the Middle East. She has been leading on the development of UNICEF’s GBViE portfolio which includes the Virtual Safe Spaces (VSS) online platform for women and girls and the digital GBV referral pathway app (eRPW). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/f3c35d31-9bb1-46af-a00d-f9f53d1515cb/Conference+2021+Speakers.png Speakers - Make it stand out Nour Moghrabi is a seasoned leader and manager with around 20 years of combined experience in leadership and management, workforce development, youth and gender integration, gender training, gender responsive budgeting, gender sensitive value chains and human resources management. She is a senior gender consultant with the World Bank Mashreq Gender Facility. She started her career in the ICT sector in the United States and then in Jordan, where she supported the establishment Cisco's first Technical Assistance Center in the region. Sourcing women to serve the center and expand in the region was part of her tasks, where she sought qualified and motivated technical engineers. Realizing the challenges women face in the tech industry, she supported mentoring projects for young women and girls in STEM, led partnerships with ICT and Telecom companies to institutionalize gender diversity management practices, twinning them with European peer companies, and developing pioneering case studies about business benefits of hiring female talents. As well, she fosters collaboration with ICT business association and initiatives to enable experience exchange and prompt higher rates of female market entrants to the labor force. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442890275-1LE1HOX75Z1TM76JANTQ/4.png Speakers - Make it stand out Saroj Kumar Jha is the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department (Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Iran) at the World Bank Group. He assumed the position on July 1,2017. Jha brings to the region a vast experience in a critical period of transition. Jha’s top priorities in his new role are: (i) maintaining a dialogue with all stakeholders to provide overall strategic leadership for the Bank’s engagement in line with the region's emphasis on job creation, sustainable growth, inclusion and governance; (ii) developing a strong analytical program that can inform policy and investment choices; and (iii) building effective, integrated country teams to ensure efficient and high quality support to the client focused on results. Before this, he was the Senior Director for the Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) Global Practice at the World Bank Group since February 2016. He provided strategic leadership addressing the challenge of fragility, conflict and violence, working across the World Bank Group and in close collaboration with partners. Earlier, Mr. Jha was the World Bank’s Regional Director for Central Asia based in Almaty from February 2012 until January 2016 where he led the Bank’s strategic engagements in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in cooperative management of water and energy, and regional action on climate adaptation and mitigation. Also, Mr. Jha worked as the Bank’s Global Manager for the Disaster Risk Management Practice and served as Head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery(GFDRR), which he founded in 2006. GFDRR is now the world’s largest global fund for disaster prevention and post-disaster recovery operations. Mr. Jha, an Indian national, joined the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Infrastructure Specialist in the Sustainable Development Network, after working for the Government of India (1990-2005) and the United Nations agencies (1999-2004) as a senior executive in the field of public sector management, infrastructure financing, natural resources management, natural disaster prevention, and environmental sustainability. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635371697513-F6BBLHWLK4QK62RCYREK/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Mitra Kashanchi is the Vice President of Chevron Chemicals, a position she has held since October 2020. Ms. Kashanchi began her career with Chevron 30 years ago as a chemist in El Segundo Refinery. Previously, she served as Salt Lake Refinery General Manager, Refinery Business Manager for the Richmond Refinery Hydro Processing Business Unit. In 2012, she was the Operations Manager at the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia. From 1991 to 2012, she worked at the El Segundo Refinery in various roles in technical, Oils planning, M&R and operations roles. Mitra earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from Iran National University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, both from California State University, Long Beach. Mitra has two daughters. One graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and now works in the field of Human resources Los Angeles Area. The other is currently studying for her Ph.D in Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her husband of 32 years, Ryan, is with Remax Premier-Realty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635375879585-KIMZOWVI6REJTOEFWWT4/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2812%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/95562efb-15c1-4568-8d7f-7cd86a072898/HB.png Speakers - Make it stand out Hanae Bezad is an impact tech entrepreneur and certified international project manager with 8 years of overall professional experience, including 5 years in social impact stewardship at a multi-award non-profit and 2 years of operational stewardship at a high growth tech startup. She developed a fluency across borders and sectors with an understanding of how different sectors (governments and international development institutions, civil society, business, and finance) impact systems-change, both locally and globally. Her areas of interest and expertise are at the intersection of technology, sustainability, inclusion, entrepreneurship and international development. Hanae is the founder of Douar Tech, an inclusive tech hub that helps build the resilience of vulnerable youth, especially women, from precarious backgrounds in rural and peri-urban areas, empowering them with digital skills. She recently helped define the strategy of the pan-African organization Smart Africa for Startups and Innovation Ecosystems on the continent, to support member countries to create favorable conditions for startups. Previously, Hanae was also the executive director of Le Wagon coding school in Morocco, bringing the innovative bootcamp to its first African market. Before launching Le Wagon in Morocco and founding Douar Tech, Hanae worked as a digital strategy consultant at Eleven in Paris. She was also a member of the board of directors of Led By HER, a social incubator that supports women entrepreneurs who are victims of violence. Hanae is a public speaker, and participated at a dozen international conferences as a keynote speaker, panelist or moderator (Demo Africa Oct 2018, House of Beautiful Business Oct 2019, AU-EU Meetup Jul 2020, AU-EU Youth Cooperation Hub Jul 2020, Make-IT Africa Sept 2020, AEDIHB Congress Oct 2020, EBN Congress Nov 2020, Emerging Valley May 2021, IEEE Sept 2021, MTL Connecte Oct 2021, etc.) Hanae is a fellow of the Harambeans African entrepreneurs Alliance, a fellow of the Responsible Leadership Network of the BMW Foundation and a fellow of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders and Ambassador for Africa and resident of the House of Beautiful Business. Hanae holds a Bachelor of Science and Social Sciences from SciencesPo Paris, a Bachelor of Science and Technology from Pierre and Marie Curie University, a Bachelor of Law from Panthéon Paris Sorbonne, a Master in Management from HEC Paris and a Master in Public Administration from SciencesPo Paris. She was the recipient of a 5-year Scholarship for Excellence granted by the French Government. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/57efe4f0-c205-464a-b6d5-2f3b9adcb595/Benchiba-Savenius+Najat+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Dr. Najat Benchiba-Savenius is an outsourced Chief Operating Officer and Board Member for Family Offices, most recently a Saudi Royal Family Office where she oversees the management of numerous companies and businesses across jurisdictions. Najat is also Founder and Director of Gazelle Advisory Group, a GCC-focused firm based in London that provides strategic leadership and comprehensive Arab Family Office services as an outsourced Chief Operating Officer. Najat has lived in various geographies and has fostered excellent Family Office and institutional investor relations in London, Casablanca, Cairo, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore. Najat has consulting experience across various sectors and industries in Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Middle East and was previously part of the McKinsey & Company Practice Management team in the Financial Institutions Group, Singapore. Najat is a University of Oxford graduate with distinction for her thesis research as well as a published PhD. Najat is a public speaker in both business and academic spheres across the world where she covers topics from oil diversification, Arab women in finance, entrepreneurship and general social and economic issues pertaining to the GCC region. An award-winning speaker and campaigner, Najat is a global champion in promoting Arab women in business, mentorship and workshops for women, having spoken widely on these topics working with both the public and private sectors in nudging policy change. Najat is fluent in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Italian. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634406760634-KI3SL6YIVSPJYGD941VW/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2816%29.png Speakers Roni Sharabi, is co-founder of MENAco community, a professional networking platform for women entrepreneurs from across the Middle East and North Africa (the MENA region). Additionally, she is the pedagogical manager at QueenB, a non-profit organization that teaches coding to young girls, and learning and development manager at Playstudios. Roni’s main goal is to create equal opportunity for the underprivileged and to promote collaborations through real human connections. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442540434-JT5SQMXM21QLI61907E7/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2815%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/88ac0094-13ef-46a5-a9f9-898f1dc5bc5a/Keynote.png Speakers - Make it stand out Noor is a biotech entrepreneur and recognized healthcare innovator. Her recent venture, Glamorous AI was acquired by X-Chem in 2021. Prior to that, Noor was an assistant professor at Aalborg University. Noor is passionate about data and artificial intelligence (AI) and is on a mission to cure disease by pushing the boundaries of what is possible with AI. She has a record of achievements in AI, including numerous papers published in the field and its application to drug discovery, as well as holding a number of AI patents. She sits on AI and diversity advisory boards for small and med-size organizations as well as universities advising on AI strategies — she was one of the 2018 winners of Innovators Under 35 Europe from MIT Technology Review and named one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2019. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635372141177-ER7A78V4H5LZR6643MY2/Conference+2021+Speakers+%283%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Diane El Hachem is a marketing thought leader who embarked on her marketing career 17 years ago. She’s best known for her track record of successfully translating plans into execution. Diane has been active in different industries including IT, Retail, Media, Telcom, F&B and Entertainment. And now she is the co-founder of Related, heading Strategic Partnerships at the company. Before Related, she worked with Seagate Technology for more than 8 years. As their Channel Marketing Manager for Europe, Middle East & Africa, she handled some of the most challenging markets and successfully led projects with top players like Amazon and Best Buy. At Related, Diane succeeded in designing and implementing an award winning unique coalition program including 150+ different brands for one of the biggest Real Estate companies in the region. When it comes to partnerships in the loyalty industry, Diane strongly believes in the power of experiential rewards that help brands move from a transactional connection to an emotional interaction with customers. She’s also part of WiiN Global - Women In Incentives Network, a space for top female leaders, female founders, and entrepreneurs in the global Incentive and Loyalty industry, as well as Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC), the UAE’s leading platform for the personal & professional development of business women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/8adae905-2c62-4ce4-ab8b-35f911160658/Ghannam+Nono.png Speakers - Make it stand out Nouran Ghannam (also known as Nono) is the cofounder and CEO of Stllr, the decentralized marketing network for quick access to vetted marketing freelancers and teams. Born through Stllr Network is Stllr Academy where young content creators and potential marketers are up-skilled for companies. She also founded Startups Galaxy, a platform showcasing MENA startups and launched their flagship event Techila Con during 2020. Her mission is growing the potential of the Middle East. She also mentors companies on marketing with the region’s top accelerators: Flat6Labs, AUC VLab, Falak SA and Techstars Riyadh. When OOO, she’s probably camping in Sinai. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632360116726-GMHVRVZW9RNLLYP1M885/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%282%29.png Speakers Sepideh Nasiri is the CEO and Founder of Women of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Technology (previously known as Persian Women In Tech). She is an award winning serial entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in the Tech Industry, and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Sepideh is responsible for the strategy and oversight of Women of MENA in Tech programs and global operations across 17 cities. As the CEO, much of Sepideh’s work is focused on connecting communities, companies, and individuals to bring change in how we should invest in minorities and immigrants. Sepideh’s leadership is recognized globally for advancing women’s careers in STEM, and developing scalable mentorship and community driven programs. Currently, Sepideh advises global initiatives such as WeMENA, a program by the World Bank, and TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Sepideh mentors many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology around the world, and serves as an advisor to many early stage startups. Prior to Women of MENA in Tech, Sepideh started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine, and later as the Vice President at Women 2.0. Sepideh has received several awards from government officials including David Chiu, the Assembly member of California, John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto, Scott Wiener, the Senator of California, and London Breed, the Mayor of San Francisco. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/58f36b64-dbf8-4890-9c5c-caaaba5e1724/Perez+Dalya+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Dalya Perez, PhD is a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, and qualitative researcher with expertise in Critical Race Theories and frameworks. She is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Mixed Reality where she works to advance inclusive hiring, to transform culture, and to influence equity in products. She is the daughter of an immigrant father from the Philippines and a refugee mother who is a Sephardi Jew from Egypt. She Her research has focused on the intersections of race and gender; equity gaps in matrixed systems; historical consciousness for Filipinx Americans, and the complexity of Jews of Color in the U.S. She lives and works on Duwamish and Coast Salish land and gives thanks to the first peoples. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/55a3e904-9a10-4632-8093-14286d2b2a0d/Ahmed+Sadia+E.+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Sadia has a history of working in Innovation, R&D and Product development. She has a background specialising in Technology and Sustainability; often operating at the intersection of business, academia and NGOs. Having completed her PhD in Computational Ecology and PGC in Business she has spent the last decade working with large companies and Start-ups, in senior leadership roles focussing on strategy, innovation and developing commercial solutions.She was recently invited by the British Embassy to take part in a delegation on ‘Green Technology’ as a leader in the space and was a Finalist for ‘The Every Woman CIO of the year 2022’ award. She currently leads Deloitte’s Climate Change and Environment Studio, focussing on innovative, impactful solutions in the sustainability, Net Zero and ESG arenas. Sadia cares deeply about women in STEM careers and strongly believes that Diversity and Inclusion in society and the workplace are not end goals themselves but the way towards a better, more effective, equitable culture and better business outcomes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/50977d5a-9749-4623-bbcc-027ce0b0b746/2022+Speakers+DAY+2+%281%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Zahra Bahrololoumi is the CEO of Salesforce UK and Ireland. She was appointed in March 2021 to lead the company’s operations across both key growth markets. Prior to joining Salesforce, Zahra worked for Accenture where she led the Technology business for the UK and Ireland with a particular focus on transformation in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and platforms underpinning new applications. Zahra has been widely recognised throughout her career as an industry leader, including Computer Weekly’s Most Influential People in UK Tech 2022, Woman of the Year for MENA Women In Tech Awards 2022 and Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2021, Zahra is a strong advocate for equality for all and has held many D&I roles across the world. She currently sits on the boards of TechUK, Cancer Research UK and Movement to Work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/5a5f52cb-7264-4565-8109-6eb5155ad242/Attaripour+Sahar+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Before co-founding Suzugia, Sahar Attaripour, has spent more than a decade working in the field of digital transformation consulting in different sectors in the UK, Belgium, and Italy. She has an MBA from the University of Southampton and a BA in industrial design. Since the acquisition of Suzugia by Alliance Bernstein in April 2022. Sahar is an SVP and portfolio manager at AB. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/2137e4a5-5d8a-4d08-82da-337e6845a519/Moderator+%282%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Massy is an entrepreneur and enthusiastic Strategic Business Leader working in emerging markets across multiple sectors with a focus on Tech ecosystem development. She has a passion for setting up new ventures and became a founder of a company in the Middle East and excited to an international JV. Also led and raised over 10M successful fundraise projects in the region and the UK. In recent years, she has focused on developing sustainable business ecosystems between the UK and the Gulf region, currently serving as the strategic advisor to the Saudi-UK Tech Hub and various other SMEs, as well as being part of the leadership team at the Institute of Directors, Young Executive committee, bringing together entrepreneurs who share an interest in corporate governance and inclusive leadership. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633717402098-U32FJLGDIZ8WQWHJ5ASU/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2813%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Ramy is the founder of 1984 Ventures, a seed fund focused on startups tackling antiquated industries. Before 1984, Ramy was the founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo where he served as a product executive under Marissa Mayer) and was one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks (Acquired by Microsoft). Ramy started his investing career at Khosla Venture working closely with legendary investors Vinod Khosla and Pierre Lamond on a number of investments including Square (NASDAQ:SQ), Groupme (acquired by Skype) Storify (acquired by LiveFyre) and Ness Technologies (acquired by OpenTable). Ramy holds a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634696741213-ULZQW4WVYTA4A8CX0VWB/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2818%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Enas Siam is the Co-founder and COO of Flextock, a tech enabled end-to-end fulfillment solution. She started her Career at Nestle gaining experience in channel sales development and distribution before moving to Careem where she became the GM of Careem Bus in Egypt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572767046-2IQTKJO0MSOR44F37SSI/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2811%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Katie Partridge is the CEO of Saphira Group, a private investment office headquartered in London with a presence in the US and the Middle East. The group is responsible for the management of ultra-high net worth individuals &global assets. Saphira Real Estate is the real estate advisory arm of the business and Saphira Technology Partners focuses on private equity investments. Katie is also the Founder and Chairwoman of Al Johara, a social enterprise organisation that fosters female leadership and cross-cultural understanding between the East and the West via tailored leadership, social entrepreneurship and mentorship programmes. The Four Pillars of the initiative also offer bespoke content on Education, Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship and Wellbeing through a digital platform and live events. Her institutional investment career includes working at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse First Boston and Caledonia Investments plc. Prior to setting up Saphira, Katie was responsible for the real assets investment arm of WMG Advisors, a multi-family office. Before that, she served as a Managing Director at Hannam & Partners (previously Strand Partners), a privately owned merchant bank that specialises in corporate finance and M&A transactions. Katie believes in making a difference at grassroots level and is a Founding Trustee of The Childhood Trust, a charity that supports the alleviation of childhood poverty and early development struggles of children in London. CHT raises millions of pounds in funds every year, and distributes grants supporting projects that assist in the practical, emotional and inspirational needs of over 250,000 disadvantaged children in the capital. Katie graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a Bachelor of Science Honours in Economics and Politics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635787616560-6C4LENUB0E0KL9VGNKC4/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2816%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Afnan is the Director of Women Entrepreneurship & Social Entrepreneurship department in SMEA, where she tirelessly works to increase women contribution to the economic and social growth of the Saudi Arabia. She has developed the national strategy to grow and enable women entrepreneurs through programs and initiatives such as Women Accelerator, the National Network for Women in Business, as well as making sure of women inclusion in national transformation projects. Prior to SMEA, Afnan had been the Executive Manager at Prince Sultan Fund for Women Development, leading programs to empower women and youth to develop their skills or start their own businesses. She led the team to build and operate the first and largest women incubator in Saudi Arabia. Afnan has also helped non-profits to develop and implement their strategy and programs, including public awareness campaigns and awards. Afnan is also a member in the Board of Trustees of Eastern Province Council for Social Responsibilities, and Nourah University in Society Service and Continual Education. Also a member of women committee in family committee. a Board member in women Spark . a member in the National Supervisory Unit of the Non-profit Sector https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/0163fbe6-325b-4eb0-a817-4325909d3383/2022+Speakers+DAY+1+%284%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Mitra Kashanchi is the vice president of manufacturing and supply for Chevron Chemical Company, a position she has held since October 2020. Ms. Kashanchi began her career with Chevron in 1992. Her most recent role before she joined Chevron Chemicals, she was general manager of Chevron’s Salt Lake Refinery, where she worked for three years. Prior to her Salt Lake assignment, Mitra was the refinery business manager for the Richmond Refinery. She also served as the operations manager for the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia. From 1991 to 2012, Mitra worked at the El Segundo Refinery in various roles, including an assignment as the refinery system division’s section head, where she was responsible for three cogeneration units, the water treatment unit, blending, and shipping and wharf operations. Mitra earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from Iran National University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, both from California State University, Long Beach. Mitra served on Utah Air Quality board and Utah Symphony Board of directors during her time at Salt Lake Refinery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633571982655-5HT15Z7U8VDLZCSAYDA6/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%288%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Jennifer Tacheff is an award-winning leader and strategist, who helps companies and founders grow and scale their impact. She’s launched global products, programs, and campaigns with world-renowned brands like Twitch, Sony, Twitter, Nike, etc and has helped to build some of the biggest, inclusive programs and communities in the tech industry. As Founder & CEO of Manifest Advisors, Jennifer has led her clients to become recognized brands and industry thought leaders in virtual culture, inclusion and talent, gaming, and technology. Jennifer serves on the SXSW Advisory Council and is a Board Advisor at Women 2.0, Onramp.io, Kijiji, Mothercoders and more. She’s been featured in Inc, GeekWire, BizTech, UN Women, Women in Silicon Valley, Women Transforming Tech, and Radius as well as How to Be an Ally, Adventures of Women in Tech, Leaders of Growth and is an Associate Producer of the award-winning film, "The Divisible." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635789830405-C2WRWEEHY5U0BFZBC0GM/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2818%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/9b6af8eb-a4cb-466d-96df-669fbbcb9f09/Baki+Dana+.png Speakers - Make it stand out Dana Baki is the Co-Founder & COO of MUNCH:ON (formerly LUNCH:ON), one of the region’s fastest growing tech companies that was recently acquired by Careem. Before starting MUNCH:ON, Dana was a Partner of Business Development at AlJal Capital—a boutique financing and venture capital firm in the United Arab Emirates. Previously, Dana worked for Procter & Gamble in the United States for 7+ years, benefiting from a wide range of assignments within the company and gaining expertise in Corporate Strategy, Marketing and Consumer Insights. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University and B.A. in Economics and English Literature from The University of Michigan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/cc5da895-bd6f-4e0f-a62e-0e44ba09bdbe/2022+Speakers+DAY+2.png Speakers - Make it stand out Maya Nasr is a PhD candidate in the Aerospace Engineering department at MIT, working with Professor Jeffrey Hoffman on the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) for NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. A native of Lebanon, she received her acceptance to MIT at the age of 16 and finished her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering from MIT in 2018 and 2021 respectively. She has previously worked on several projects including NASA’s Cassini mission activity on Titan, the OneWeb satellites network, the MIT KitCube Satellite, Zero Robotics ISS programming competition and the AquaMAV at Imperial College London. She is passionate about increasing global representation and access in the space sector and bringing awareness to nationality-based discrimination in career opportunities for foreign nationals. She is a TEDx talk-featured speaker about this topic and is currently the co-founder and project lead of the HUMANS—Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space—project that creates a symbolic avenue for space access worldwide and is intended to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in partnership with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). As part of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), she is the Policy Lead for the SGAC Taskforce on US Space Policy. She is additionally the research coordinator of the Space Law & Policy Project Group, and the lead of the Space Resources and Space Ethics & Human Rights subgroups. As part of the Space Consortium at Harvard and MIT, she has also completed the Group of Researchers for Interdisciplinary Politics of Space, Space Law, Policy and Ethics Graduate Workshop (GRIPS-SLPE). She has received a series of awards including the Yvnge Raustein Award (2015), MIT Advanced Undergraduate Research in Aeronautics and Astronautics Award (2017), MIT Rene H. Miller Prize for Excellence in Systems Engineering (2018), AIAA Best Paper Award for her paper “Evolution of the Flight Crew and Mission Control Relationship” (2020), the Gerald A. Soffen Memorial Fund for the Advancement of Space (2021), Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship (2022), and MIT Rene H. Miller Prize for Excellence in Systems Engineering (2022). She is also interested in entrepreneurship and startups and has worked on organizing the MIT Global Startup Workshop conference in Colombia and the MIT Global Startup Labs (GSL) program in Peru. Her primary research interests are space systems engineering and international space law, policy and ethics. Outside of MIT, she loves traveling around the world, painting, and writing Arabic poetry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/0617faee-6947-43f3-8b83-906c965e4367/Website+Speakers+Banner.jpg Speakers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635373322415-EX1BBAFICOUZH0ECK7JP/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2810%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Lateefa Alwaalan, is an inventor, and a serial entrepreneur. She started her first company at the age of 16. She earned her bachelor degree in computer science from King Saud university and later gained experience in information technology from working at different companies. In 2011, Lateefa earned a Technology management MBA from University of Washington. Her passion for Arabic coffee drove her to reinterpret how Arabic coffee drinkers consumed it. She started her first steps in (Yatooq) by manufacturing readymade Arabic coffee blends, and the first automated Arabic coffee machine. Yatooq sold thousands of coffee machines across the GCC countries and the world. She also recently co-founded Aroom a company focused on developing technology for coffee vending machines. Her passion for women empowerment drove her to co-found CellA+ in 2012. A Saudi professional women's network, which has about 3000 members. Lateefa acted as president of the network during 2015. Lateefa received Arabs Women Awards Entrepreneur of the year 2014, and in 2015 she received EY entrepreneur of the year for Saudi Arabia. Forbes magazine listed Lateefa in the Kingdom's most innovative leaders for 2013/2014/2015. More recently, Harvard Business School published a case study about Yatooq in Nov 2018. Currently, Lateefa is the managing director for Endeavour Saudi, which is part of Endeavor's global network. Being an Endeavour entrepreneur her self since 2014, she is driven by her believe of how endeavor supports high-potential companies can impact local economies positively. Lateefa has also been appointed as board member to the Riyadh chamber of commerce. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442905312-PZCMA361JPY31NJ3EPNT/5.png Speakers - Make it stand out Dr Anino Emuwa is the Founder and Managing Director of Avandis Consulting, a strategy and financial advisory firm in France. A former corporate banker with Citibank, she sits on the board of several organisations including Nottingham Trent University. A global women’s leadership expert, she is the founder of 100 Women@ Davos and Africa Women CEOs Network. Anino is an international speaker on entrepreneurship, fintech, and D&I, Anino has been invited to speak at prestigious institutions including Forbes, Reykjavik Forum, Facebook, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and the French National Assembly. She has received several awards including the Women in Fintech Award from TechPark Davos (2020). Anino chairs the African Women in Fintech and Payments Network (AWFP) Nigeria, and is a goodwill ambassador for the European Women in Payments Network (EWPN). Dr Emuwa holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nottingham Business School, an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and a BSc Economics from the London School of Economics. Anino is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a member of the Institute of Directors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/a048649b-d9b2-439a-a4a3-2cd0030b27a5/Wafa.png Speakers - Make it stand out With over 12 years of experience, Wafa Al Obaidat is the founder of PLAYBOOK, an edtech company that aims to accelerate women's careers. Wafa is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and Global Shaper, and has built successful businesses from the ground-up including the leading PR & Design Agency Obai & Hill. She hosts a number one rated show on Apple podcast, Women Power Podcast and has been named amongst the Top 50 Most Powerful Women by Business in Gulf. Wafa has been featured in Wamda, Harper's Bazaar Arabia and Entrepreneur magazine. Read more about Wafa on her website. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/647450e7-9d83-44ef-a033-5029b04918d6/Shaheem+Samineh.png Speakers - Make it stand out For close to twenty five years, learning and development has been the main focus of Dr Shaheem's career in a deep and deliberate manner, through the application of psychological and adult educational principles and practices. The intertwined nature of multiple roles throughout her career (such as a Learning & Development Senior Consultant, university professor and various leadership roles) are inseparable and constantly leveraged to engage in purposeful work to make a positive impact. So when Dr Shaheem works as a consultant or executive coach, her comprehensive and broad academic background colours and frames both the process and product of that engagement. Similarly, as a university professor, Dr Shaheem's consulting projects breathe life and relevance into her lectures. As Dean and Executive Director of an international business school with triple crown accreditation, Dr Shaheem merged and managed the kaleidoscope of her experiences in order to inspire, educate and transform lives by helping both staff and students progress towards their potential. Furthermore, Dr Shaheem's reach and impact extends across multiple continents through different dimensions. For close to seven years, she was a co-host on a talk radio show called 'Voices of Diversity' and had a monthly column called 'Psyched Sundays.' She has published a number of books and articles, is a senior research fellow and regular keynote presenter at conferences & Tedx speaker. She was also the founder of the first anti-bullying campaign in the UAE, 'Bolt Down on Bullying' and the founder and director of Balanced Leadership Circle, an association that aims to confront and prevent gender inequality. Through her social media platforms, she has touched the hearts and minds of many people worldwide. On International Women’s Day in 2018, Dr Shaheem was recognized by the Mayor of London for her extraordinary contribution to the UK. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/a0e08b8a-3d0d-4b17-b261-31da54f6998c/MM.png Speakers - Make it stand out Mina Mohit is the Director of Content Strategy for 1021 Creative, supporting YouTube EMEA. Before working with the video-sharing platform, Mina was a journalist for CBC News in Toronto, The Jordan Times in Amman, and Al Jazeera in London. Mina is passionate about helping students and recent graduates navigate uncharted career paths in media and tech. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/ec964769-ef3c-4d5b-81ef-321f5bd4a21d/mahtab.png Speakers - Make it stand out Mahtab is a technologist and musician interested in the intersection of music, art and technology. Mahtab is currently a senior Product Manager at FlawlessAI, working on transforming how dubbing is done in entertainment for global audiences. She was previously a Product Manager at Creative Passport, building a product to give music makers a recognisable digital identity that gives them direct control of their music industry data. Other experiences have included working on misinformation at Facebook, transforming how people interact with the digital world through sound at Hypersurfaces, applications in VR, live music, concert recommendation tools, and other web projects. Mahtab studied Systems Design and Music Technology. Her MA thesis presented methods and studies used in mapping live performance (human) gestures to sound in digital musical instruments. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635373988060-9SAIDHANOCC8LAY3AY15/Conference+2021+Speakers+%284%29.png Speakers - Make it stand out Melinda Briana Epler has more than 25 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs. As CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda is a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and activists around the world. As part of her changemaking work, she is an inclusive leadership coach, trains executive and management teams, and builds learning and development solutions for clients. Melinda is the author of How to Be an Ally (McGraw-Hill) and the host of the popular "Leading With Empathy & Allyship" podcast. She is also a TED speaker, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and former marketing and culture executive. She speaks and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, allyship, and empathy. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/mentorship-2020 daily 0.75 2021-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315819886-S9JEPUDYJV51ZG7KABS8/09+Alison%2BSonderegger.jpg Mentorship 2020 Alison Sonderegger is an Engineering Manager at Oath, where she oversees engineering teams focused on Video and Display Advertising. She is the Global Lead of the Women’s Inclusion Network ERG, which champions female advancement at Oath and provides an open forum for employees to discuss the realities of women’s experiences in the workplace. Alison is an advocate for inclusion and diversity in hiring as well as managerial practice. She has spoken to a number of underrepresented groups about issues they may face in the tech industry. Prior to Oath, Alison spent over 18 years working as a ftware gineer across various technology industries, including e-commerce site Nextag/WizeCommerce, mobile computing at Danger, Inc. (acquired by Microsoft and the precursor to Android), IP/trademark company NameProtect, not-for-profit health insurance company WEA Trust, and the early portals Excite and Snap.com. Alison holds a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315243176-J4XTYEY85B9C2GAA1QXX/DSC06818%2B%281%29.jpg Mentorship 2020 Soso Sazesh is the CEO and Founder of Growth Pilots, a leading digital marketing agency that partners with best-in-class technology companies to scale their paid advertising channels. He is also the Founding Partner of Tempo Ventures, an investment firm that helps portfolio companies with growth and marketing challenges. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603315383280-8MOBIJLMW8VY5D0I6E7O/Negin+Karami+.jpg Mentorship 2020 Negin Karami is a strategic HR leader who has worked in sales&makreting, manufacturing, and aviation industries. Negin is a progressive thinker with a passion for innovative HR solutions. She translates her deep understanding of business priorities into HR strategies that align with the business. In her current role, Negin leads the transformation of Filter’s people strategy, focusing on employee experience. She partners closely with the executive team to support and drive business results, foster manager and employee success, and ensure a high performing, engaged, diverse workforce. Negin holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM_SCP). In her free time, Negin likes to paint, read, take care of her plants, and explore the world with her boyfriend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604558281101-6HDQQE1HZM5FNCR880EC/Sayena+Maj+1+%282%29.png Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315699553-30N394NA7MQ6SL7401X9/02+Yasmine%2BEl%2BBaggari%2BHeadshot.png Mentorship 2020 Yasmine El Baggari, a native of Morocco and San Francisco based, is the founder and CEO of Voyaj, an online platform that connects people from around the globe for one-on-one meaningful exchanges to foster global understanding. Yasmine is committed to creating a safe environment where the exchange of ideas will result in mutual respect and our ability to embrace our differences, to empower each other to become citizens of the world committed to a healthy, peaceful planet. For the past four years, Yasmine’s reach includes research at Harvard University, and the U.S. State Department as an Youth Moroccan Ambassador to the United States. She has spoken at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, the Middle East Studies Association, and Obama's Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, NPR, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Yasmine has also received the Royal Air Maroc Award from the African Studies Association, Glamour Women of the Year Microsoft's Made Achieving Award, Hampshire College’s $60K Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, The Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, the Sander Thoenes Research Award, and two Ingenuity Awards. Recently, she was invited to the White House as one of the 100 Most Influential Travel Bloggers, and on Forbes 30 Under 30's list as one of of the most inspiring and promising entrepreneurs in Africa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604445195437-5ZCR936AQKJG0Z30NJJR/Meri+Birhane+.jpg Mentorship 2020 Meri Birhane is a Gates Millennium Scholar, holds two master's degrees and has a wealth of experience in IT sales. Ms. Birhane has been successful at building strong partnerships and leading organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers. Ms. Birhane is a pioneer on social media leveraging her 12,000+ followers on LinkedIn to sell over $1M in products and services. In 2017, she founded Meri Consulting Services, a Black owned and woman led consulting firm, helping IT providers and early stage startups improve productivity, book more meetings and increase sales. Ms. Birhane is a rising star in her field and has received recognition for her leadership in sales working with companies such as PIH Health, Crow Holdings, PopChips, Pacific Premier Bank, and San Diego Girl Scouts. Moreover, Ms. Birhane is frequently requested to coach and mentor sales teams. Prior to launching Meri Consulting Services, Ms. Birhane received a full academic scholarship to attend the University of California, Los Angeles. While there she received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and graduate degree in Public Health. Ms. Birhane later attended San Diego State University receiving a Masters degree in Business Administration. In her spare time, Ms. Birhane is the President of MCS Empowerment Coalition for Leaders of Color, where she hosts monthly networking events and provides resources to minority founders and business professionals. To learn more visit Meri Consulting Services. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315776439-C2Q1IRDI9ARXBH3BGMC3/04+MaySamali.jpg Mentorship 2020 May is an Investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm that provides seed capital and regulatory support to entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. The Urban Innovation Fund invests in high growth startups in industries such as transportation, financial services, and the future of work. 73% of its portfolio companies have a woman or person of color on the founding team. Previously, May served as a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator, where she managed the accelerator program and worked closely with the organization’s portfolio companies. During the last four years, Tumml incubated 38 startups, which created $190M in enterprise value and launched products and services for over 3.6M people. May has a background in law and public policy. Before Tumml, she worked as a strategy consultant at a boutique venture firm in Sydney, as a corporate lawyer at an international law firm, and as Deputy CEO at the world’s largest volunteer consultancy. In addition, she has provided strategic advice to Australian governments and corporations on digital innovation and startup policy. May earned her MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School and her economics and law degrees from the University of Sydney. She is also an Australian John Monash Scholar, a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership, and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue delegate. May’s writing on entrepreneurship has been featured in numerous press outlets, including TechCrunch, VentureBeat, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Philanthropy News Digest, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315526943-BCG54L5H337LY0OVVSN6/06%2Bamirbahadori.jpg Mentorship 2020 Amir is energized by being creative, and tapping into the opportunities for people and brands. He attended the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and the graduate program in interaction at NYU. His career began in the entertainment industry where his name is credited in television and feature films. As a designer, Amir has had the chance to conceive, design, plan and build digital products and experiences for the world's biggest brands, including Microsoft, Chanel, Proctor & Gamble, Paramount Pictures and Chase. Amir has a passion for making ideas real and creating products that solve authentic human needs. Amir has helped lead efforts to align brands & products with leading roles in experience design, brand strategy, creative direction, as well as corporate branding and advertising. Most recently he conceived and executed designs for a digital directory at the World Trade Center in NYC. Currently, Amir is a Director of UX at Walmart E-Commerce, helping create innovative experiences at the convergence of physical and digital retail. Amir is also a prolific photographer, painter and facilitator of design thinking, a process for creative problem solving. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591556529203-82KUFQ76CDMWB04VZ0J6/Original+Photo+-+Croped.jpg Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559925407419-XPAH3KQ9SFR1TGXAARWS/Ali-Tehrani.jpg Mentorship 2020 Ali Tehrani has founded two venture-backed AI startups. He is the co-founder and CEO of Astroscreen, which has raised $1m in funding and detects disinformation campaigns on social networks. Prior to Astroscreen, Ali founded Contactable, a news analytics company which was backed by Techstars and was acquired. Ali holds an Economics and Geography degree from University College London. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603314771556-8ZM719ZR6CEN2A7ZDCH1/Parsa+Hosseini.jpg Mentorship 2020 Parsa Hosseini is a senior data scientist at Tesla focusing on the machine learning initiative. He works towards developing machine learning and deep learning algorithms for innovative applications. He has been an adjunct lecturer and faculty member with several universities since 2009 and currently is with Santa Clara University. His research focuses on machine learning, deep learning, signal and image processing. He received the PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering with research in computer science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, the USA in 2018. He has served on the scientific committees and review boards of several national and international conferences and journals. He is a senior member at IEEE. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559925205883-I9ZSCURHAWHGQEV5DQMC/Maryam-Atakhorrami.jpg Mentorship 2020 With extensive international experience in developing science-based new businesses from both Industry and academic setting, Maryam Atakhorrami has structured numerous innovative commercial research deals across the healthcare R&D cycle, ranging from proof of concept and seed-funding to high-value strategic partnerships with Large Pharma, biotech and Medtech companies. Maryam is highly skilled in building and managing complex public- private partnerships across Healthcare ecosystem todeliver on variety of R&D programs in open innovation as well as competitive setting. In her current role as COO of London in HDR UK, she is leading the strategic implementation and operation of Health Data Research Partnership between five world leading Universities in London (UCL, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Queen Marry University London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) with NHS, Government and Industry to establish London as a world leading destination for Health Data research and innovation at scale. This is to create and enable revolutionary technologies that will transform Healthcare sector and improve lives of patients and populations. After completing her PhD in biophysics from VU- Amsterdam, Maryam joined Philips Corporate Innovation in 2006 and held variety of corporate functions in Innovation, Strategy and new business development. She joined UCL in 2013, where she led the creation of Business & Innovation Group in Translational Research Office. Her group advised academic entrepreneurs on understanding the funding landscape, working with key-stake holders and developing value proposition for academic-led industrial collaborations. Maryam has a strong multi-disciplinary scientific track record in basics and translational research, published extensively in high profile journals and holds a portfolio of IP in diagnostic, medical technologies and digital health. She is expert evaluator of European commission in setting up new centres of excellence across Europe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315733804-ZGQUI66EM4V5JZ2ANTEP/03+Shanna_Nasiri.jpg Mentorship 2020 Shanna Nasiri received her B.A. in Business Marketing from the University of San Diego in 2011 and a Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, in 2016. Shanna is passionate about opportunities for technology to accelerate social welfare and create sustainable impact. She values bold ideas that disrupt the status quo, collaboration, and risk-taking. Early in her career, Shanna gained experience in market research, corporate communications, and event planning while working at technology companies, Qualcomm and InvenSense. Shanna also serves as a Board Member for Wishbone.org and GreatNonProfits.org and a mentor for Fast Forward Accelerator. Aside from her work in philanthropy, Shanna is currently a Product Marketing Manager at an AI-technology start-up in San Francisco. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560278103800-E0TCJZKO3AXJZ6SZQJMY/image-asset.jpeg Mentorship 2020 Roxana is Chief Strategy Officer at Blend Network, peer to peer property lending platform. Prior to this, Roxana was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley and responsible for the design and implementation of fundamental-based and tactical commodity trade ideas. She started her career at Barclays advising institutional investors and pension funds on their commodity investment strategies. Most recently, Roxana founded the ‘Uber of Beauty’, leading UK mobile beauty platform Zeebba. Roxana holds an MSc in Financial Economics and Econometrics and a BSc in Quantitative Economics. Roxana is a volunteer outreach worker engaging with homeless people across London. She hosts a monthly Ladies Pampering Day for women and girls living in the streets in partnership with local homeless day centres. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315859833-41LPX9YO8GCA3OASW2F7/10+Manju%2BMude.png Mentorship 2020 Manju Mude is an industry Security leader with nearly 20 years of experience in building information security, risk management frameworks and vulnerability reduction programs. She is a “Paranoid” Security Leader at Oath, where she helps lead an essential CyberSecurity team defend against adversaries to protect billions of users. Prior to joining Oath, Manju held several leadership positions, including Chief Security Officer of Splunk, Security Leader at Apple, RSA, and Bank of America. She has also spoken at many industry events, including the Security Executive Women’s Forum, Santa’s Clara Law Ethics Center, ISACA Silicon Valley. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602567224276-H7U7L8NIRDW2UQM31I3X/Tara+Akahavn+1+%282%29.png Mentorship 2020 Tara Akhavan, Ph.D. is a visionary award-winner technology entrepreneur and pioneer in the field of Perceptual Display Processing for the consumer and automotive industry. She is the President and CEO of Faurecia IRYStec Inc. (formerly known as IRYStec Inc.), an innovation center that got acquired by Faurecia in April 2020. Tara founded IRYStec in 2015 and served as CTO for 5 years introducing eye-friendly display technology to the automotive industry. She has raised and has helped with raising over $8M in Angel and VC funding. Prior to founding IRYStec, she was awarded for scaling an Operations and Maintenance Center (OMC) product in the Telecommunications industry, all the way from analysis and design to deployment in a 3GPP mobile network with 20 Million subscribers. Tara obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and a Ph.D. in Image Processing and Computer Vision from Vienna University of Technology. Tara is the Canadian Committee member for International Committee for Illumination (CIE) and the Marketing Vice-Chair for the Society of Information Displays (SID). Tara has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 by EoY Canada as well as the founder of top 20 Innovative start-ups in Canada in 2018 by CIX, the Canadian’s Largest Investor Conference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560278287525-1NKNVGMMOYL04D1Z0VY9/image-asset.jpeg Mentorship 2020 Aida Mashkouri, Senior Data Scientist - Expedia Aida is a Senior Data Scientist at Expedia. Her main focus is on application of deep learning in Computer Vision and Recommender Systems. In her team they use Machine Learning and Data Science techniques to improve the content of their website leading to enhance customers experience and ease out their journey in booking holidays. She has a MSc in Technical Mathematics and Statistics. Her deep passion for learning new topics and technologies has helped her as a data scientist to be effective and impactful in facing challenging problems in industry. Coming from mathematical background, Aida loves the fact that in the data science world you can use both theoretical and practical aspects of the science for delivering meaningful products and better decision making. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604473827021-0K5VTOJ9CH21VMC416LN/Saleema+Vellani+1.png Mentorship 2020 Saleema Vellani is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, a professor, and the author of Innovation Starts With “I”. At the age of 21, Saleema co-founded and launched Brazil’s largest and #1 language school to finance an orphanage and social development programs, which has taught several thousands of students to date. Shortly after, she co-founded and ran a leading online translation agency in Italy to help companies expand their digital presence globally, while generating hundreds of jobs in the gig economy. The business was acquired in 2012. For over 12 years, Saleema has led 100+ international organizations, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies to their next stage of growth and innovation. As an intrapreneur, Saleema has been co-leading award-winning, groundbreaking research with the World Bank on solving food insecurity in conflict-affected countries through climate-smart technologies since 2016. Given her experience with running businesses online, in 2013, Saleema was hired by Upwork (formerly Elance) to train Washington DC-based organizations and business owners on how to hire and manage remote teams. Currently, Saleema and her team at Ripple Impact educate, advise, and connect entrepreneurs and hybrid preneurs who are seeking to increase their influence and maximize their impact. She also teaches Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University and is a frequent guest lecturer at business schools. Saleema is the Chair for the Global Conference for the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations (AHRMIO) in Brussels, Belgium. She is an advisor to several startups and impact-driven organizations, including Net Impact, SXSW Pitch, Startup Africa, Wonder Women Tech, and the World Bank Youth-2-Youth Community. Saleema holds a Bachelor's degree in International Development from McGill University and a Master's degree in International Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. Born and raised in Canada, she is proud of her multicultural upbringing as a Toronto native with East African and Indian roots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604555816429-QVBGRMDLF1FDUEF0K9Q2/image-asset.png Mentorship 2020 May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As a trained leadership and personal coach, May works with executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals to unlock their purpose, power and potential, and to unleash the career and life of their dreams. May is also the CEO, Ventures at High Resolves, where she is building and incubating a portfolio of technology ventures in the education sector. In addition, she is a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. May's primary areas of interest include impact investing, entrepreneurship, leadership and wellbeing. She is published on these topics in multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, Forbes, VentureBeat, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and industry events. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences (First Class Honors & University Medal) from Sydney University. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. May has extensive experience advising startups and CEOs across the US and Australia. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs shaping the future of cities. Prior to that, she was a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in San Francisco. She has also worked as a strategy consultant at an advisory firm and as an attorney in Sydney. In addition, May has worked for the President of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She has also provided strategic advice to Australian governments on innovation policy. May also has non-profit management experience. She previously serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Women of MENA in Tech, an organization supporting Persian and MENA women in STEM, and is a Facilitator and Advisor at Nalukai Summer Startup Camp for high school students in Hawaii. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602567110523-PB1HW3J0FEJ0PVCQ5U15/Matineh+Eybpoosh+3+%283%29.png Mentorship 2020 Matineh Eybpoosh is the CEO and co-founder of WattLearn, which is an AI software company for optimal dispatch of grid batteries. She led the company towards a successful acquisition in 2018 by an energy private equity firm, where Matineh and her team are now leading the deployment of WattLearn’s software to a fleet of utility-scale batteries. She has over 10 years of experience and leadership in building solutions to improve reliability, efficiency, and accessibility of clean energy. Before WattLearn, Dr. Eybpoosh was the Director of Data Science at kWantera, a Pittsburgh-based startup, where she developed and commercialized several market intelligence products for wholesale electricity price forecasting. She completed her Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University in CEE, where she developed machine-learning methods for proactive diagnosis of energy systems. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604557477600-8EGQZ4LE7UWJ725VCYLB/Bahar+Sateli+1.png Mentorship 2020 Bahar Sateli is a Manager and Senior Data Scientist at PwC AI & Analytics practice in Montreal, Canada. She has more than a decade of experience in advanced software engineering practices and building large-scale and adaptive solutions. With a doctorate in computer science from Concordia University, she holds an in-depth knowledge of development and operationalization of various AI solutions. In addition to her data science role, she is specialized in building explainable, robust AI models, and helping businesses understand the ethical implications of their use. Bahar is the co-founder of Knowlet Networks, a Montreal-based startup creating AI-powered personal research assistants that aid researchers in scientific tasks. Recently, she was recognized as one of the ‘Top 30 Influential Women Advancing AI in 2019.’ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560278266097-TBUCKK3IDXH95FW3C434/image-asset.jpeg Mentorship 2020 Dr. Sepideh (Sepi) Chakaveh, is a Senior Associate Tutor & Departmental Lecturer in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford and the CEO & Founder of Pixsellar Technologies a Big Data Video Analytics Start-up company. Sepi has worked both in the UK and Germany as Senior Scientist/Academic at Imperial College London, Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Fraunhofer Society & the University of Southampton where she was the co-founder & the former Director of Southampton Data Science Academy, the first UK on-line Data Science academy. After completing her doctorate working on Giotto Mission to Halley’s Comet, Sepi spent the first several years of career working as an Astrophysicist. Then in 1995 she moved to the Fraunhofer Society (Inventors of MP3 & Voice Over IP) where her first post was the project manager to build the first ever Internet in 5 Eastern European Countries & her last position was the chief technical architecture of the European Citizen Media Project. Sepi holds a PhD in Astrophysics & Space Sciences from University of Kent at Canterbury and a BSc in Electronics & Electrical Engineering from Nottingham Trent. Sepi is a member of the Open Data Institute, associated researcher of the Fraunhofer Society and was recently titled Persian Woman in Tech Data Science Thought Leader at a ceremony in Google HQ London. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604558512817-N8OTFFNKWD26PCDQUU5Z/Soodeh+Farokhi+1.png Mentorship 2020 Dr. Soodeh Farokhi is a visionary technology entrepreneur and a proven strategic executive with over 10 years of experience in the enterprise software space as a technology and product leader. She is the founder and chief technology officer of C2RO, a VC-baked enterprise SaaS company in Canada offering Privacy-aware AI Video Analytics solutions. Among her achievements, she was recognized as the finalist of the 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Innovation Award; the finalists of ARISTA 2018 Young Entrepreneur in Quebec; and the top 750 Digital IT Innovators in the World by DataBird journal in 2018. In her 27, she co-founded the first research-industrial institute in the field of service-oriented architecture in Iran. She serves as a business advisor for several tech startups and organizations and has been the executive team member of Women of MENA in the Technology Montreal since May 2018. She received her PhD. in computer science from Vienna University of Technology and has an M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in software engineering. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1559921426368-WFFJ0LJ8WAVWHZ19S1OX/Mia-Bennett.jpg Mentorship 2020 Mia Bennett is a recovering management consultant with a passion for building businesses and products. Companies she founded serve millions today, where she is now a board member. More recently, she set up and led PwC's Emerging Technologies practice and has been the Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures and Zinc, a mission-driven program. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315593751-4S8P2QVVL5AQALP5SCVF/08+Zanoon%2BNissar.png Mentorship 2020 Zanoon Nissar is the Founder of Women4Good, a network of women who have a passion for social impact. Zanoon has held various roles at Google and Microsoft in Corporate Social Responsibility, and scaled Google's Giving Week into a multi-million dollar giving initiative. She advises social impact startups and mentors women in Silicon Valley. Ms. Nissar is an Alumni of University Of Waterloo and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560279362285-NFPZSAKFLJVCIAGB3385/Khashayar-Shahmiri.jpg Mentorship 2020 Khashayar Shahmiri is a Director of GQR, an award-winning search specialist organisation uniting the most talented people from STEM backgrounds with pioneering organisations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. After graduating from the University of Sur rey with honours in Management, Khashayar joined GQR in London where he leads their EMEA practice and is responsible for GQR’s global growth strategy across the Banking & Finance, Life Science, Technology, and Energy & Engineering sectors. Born in London to a third-generation Iranian family in the UK, he has maintained a passionate connection to Iran and the success of the community across the globe. He is a Tech enthusiast having previously studying Software Design & Development and is now involved with some crowdsourcing platforms focusing on technology start-ups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602564869406-TA8EEPAY8QYV9XXW2L4Q/huma+Abidi+1+%282%29.png Mentorship 2020 Huma Abidi is a Senior Director of AI Software Products & Engineering at Intel, where she leads a globally diverse team of engineers and technologists responsible for delivering world class products that enable customers to create AI solutions. Huma joined Intel as Software Engineer and has since worked in a variety of Engineering, Validation, and Management roles in the area of Compilers, Binary translation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning. Twice she has received the Intel Achievement Award - Intel's highest honor and thrice awarded with the Intel Software Quality award, for delivering quality SW. She is passionate about women’s education, supporting several organizations around the world for this cause, she was nominated for VentureBeat 2020 and 2019 (finalist) Women in AI award in Mentorship, She was listed as one of the 4 women shaping Intel’s AI business by the Silicon Valley Business Journal Category. Huma holds a BS in pre-med and chemistry and an MS in computer science from the University of Massachusetts. She has been delivering keynotes at several major conferences, recently at the O'Reilly AI conference in San Francisco, MIT PAN Arab conference in Lebanon and author of several technical and women in tech blogs. She has been interviewed by numerous widely popular podcast hosts and major publications throughout the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602565596827-B4KFYZ1O28WBUF1KEMCT/Joy+Ajlouny+1.png Mentorship 2020 Entrepreneur/Founder of Two Startups, Having Raised Over $100 million In Venture Capital, Turned Investor, And Advisor, Joy Ajlouny Is Considered To Be A Maverick. Born And Raised In California To Palestinian Refugees, Ajlouny Has Built A Reputation For Her Success In Startups And Ventures Worldwide, All The While Disrupting The Status Quo Of Women In Business. Belonging To The Top One Percent Of Female Entrepreneurs, The Self-Made Entrepreneur Has “Gamified Rejection” And Carved Her Space In The Business World. In 2015 Ajlouny Co-Founded Fetchr, The Silicon Valley-Backed Tech Company That Was Created To Tackle The Middle East’s “No Address” Issue, Which Has Been Long Been A Hindrance To Growth In Emerging Markets. She Facilitated $11 Million In Initial Investments In Fetchr,As Well As $41 Million In A Series B Round In 2017. The Company Now Successfully Operates In Five Countries With A 4500-Person Staff, And Was Dubbed The Number One Startup In The Middle East By Forbes. In 2019, Ajlouny Demonstrated That She Was Beholden To Nobody When She Resigned From Her Position At Fetchr To Follow Her Passion Of Mentoring and Funding Entrepreneurs with Innovative Ideas. Ahead Of Founding Fetchr, Ajlouny Was The Driving Force And Sole Entity Behind The E-Commerce Luxury Fashion Platform Bonfaire. Acquired By Moda Operandi––A Fashion E-Commerce Giant Owned By LVMH And Condé Nast––In 2013, Just Two Years After Its Launch, This Was Only The Start Of What Would Develop Into A Long-Lasting Relationship Between Ajlouny And The Fashion Industry. Ajlouny Is Regularly Hired As A Consultant For Fashion Startups, As Well As For Venture Capitalists. Over The Last Decade, Her Unmatched Knowledge And Expertise In Funding And Investment, Startups And Marketing Strategies Has Compounded Into What’s Known As The “Joy Effect,” A Term That Refers To The Ripple Of Her Influence On A Multitude Of New And Once Suffering Companies. Considered An Expert In Emotional Marketing, She Follows The Rule Of Thumb That In Order To Be Successful, You Have To “Fall In Love With Your Customer.” With Less Than Three Percent Of Venture Capital Funding Raised By Women, Ajlouny Has Successfully Raised Multiple Rounds Of Funding For Her Two Startups, Acquiring Investments From Some Of The Most Prestigious Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firms. As A Self-Made Woman In The Industry, Ajlouny Is Passionate About Encouraging And Investing Knowledge Into The Young Women Of Tomorrow. Ajlouny Is Regularly Invited To Speak At Forums And Events Across The World And Most Recently Took The Stage At The World Economic Forum In Jordan And BoF VOICES In The UK. Her Talks Are Not Only Centered Upon Her Businesses, But On The Realities Of Being A Female Entrepreneur, The Double Bind And The Relentlessness It Takes To Secure A Position That Counters The Traditional Roles Allocated For Women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603315892763-8RUCPB1NF8G8SE696PUG/Xanyar+Kamangar.png Mentorship 2020 Xanyar Kamangar is a Founding Partner at Griffon Capital, a frontier market focused Asset Management, Venture Capital and Investment Banking group. Xanyar graduated with an MBA from London Business School. Prior to Griffon Capital, Xanyar spent 8 years as a Director in the Telecom and Technology investment banking team of Deutsche Bank in London advising some of the largest tech players in EMEA. Before that, Xanyar founded Tehran Computer, a leading provider of computer telephony solutions in the Middle East. Xanyar is also an active angel investor in tech companies in the MENA region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602566498234-IPTXTN6FGVNN3PWKSBK2/Angela+Solomon+1+%281%29.png Mentorship 2020 Angela M Solomon is the co-founder of Jaleesa, an award-winning social impact business in Lebanon that uses technology to help women from low-income households gain employment as child carers. Angela has also founded two restaurants and a communications strategy company. She served for ten years as a British diplomat, working in New York, Istanbul, Damascus, and Beirut. Angela currently consults for global children’s charity Theirworld, creating innovative education programs in the Middle East and Africa. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604558766125-GSZZTJHAW22CTCG8CR9V/Taniya+Mishra+1.png Mentorship 2020 Dr. Taniya Mishra is the founder and CEO of SureStart. She has been an AI scientist for over 10 years, with many peer-reviewed articles, 48 awarded patents, and featured press articles in MIT Technology Review, NBC Learn and The Atlantic. Taniya is deeply passionate about increasing AI workforce diversity through opportunity equity. This passion led her to create Affectiva’s very popular EMPath AI training program while serving as Affectiva’s Director of AI Research. Now through SureStart, Taniya’s goal is to make this same type of program available to other innovative AI companies who prioritize DEI, so that together they can raise up a new generation of diverse young tech talent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315561564-X3GE585YVKVPWZXXTUYP/07+Sharif%2BHeadshot%2B3.png Mentorship 2020 Sharif El-Badawi currently serves as Partner at 500 Startups, the most active venture capital firm in the world. In his role, he manages 500 Startups' MENA fund, focusing on seed stage investments in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, Sharif is the Chairman of the Board and Head Mentor at TechWadi, where he leads the TW100 mentors and helps bridge MENA startups with Silicon Valley. He also serves on several advisory boards for startups in the MENA region and Silicon Valley. Previously, Sharif was the Partner Lead to VCs and Startups at Google where he worked with top tier VCs and their most promising startups on strategies that bring all of Google to their businesses. Joining from AdMob almost 7 prior, he led performance advertising strategy for Google's largest customers in North America covering Mobile, Search and Display ads. Before AdMob, Sharif was a technologist and serial entrepreneur having founded or co-founded several companies in the Consumer Internet and B2B space over twelve years. Sharif earned his MBA from UC Irvine Merage School of Business and his BS in Neuroscience from UCLA. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602566781477-X0C81CTGAJHLY2AVU1CJ/Gelareh+Taghizadeh+1.png Mentorship 2020 Gelareh Taghizadeh is a Senior Data Scientist at CognitionX. She has extensive experience in applying advanced machine learning techniques on different natural language processing applications; and she has worked for different tech startups to shape their products. Gelareh holds a bachelor degree in computer engineering, master degree in artificial intelligence and she is a PhD candidate in computer science at Vienna University of Technology. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602565293541-EXQOK7NDYPUA1CZW8O6L/Anurag+Agarwal++1.png Mentorship 2020 Anurag Agarwal is an Investor Director at Oman Technology Fund looking at early and growth stage deals in MENA. Prior to joining OTF, he was with another private VC fund – ArzanVC based out of Kuwait investing in early stage opportunities. At OTF, he is responsible for identifying interesting opportunities for investment, as well as conducting due diligence, business plan analysis, negotiating and executing deals. Post investment my time is spent helping portfolio companies tackle product, technology, and talent acquisition challenges. That responsibility also extends into helping our startups with fund raising by tapping into my network of angel investors and venture capital firms regionally and globally. Prominent investments include Careem, Swvl, Mejuri, Trukker, WrappUp, EON Board Member: eMushrif (Oman) Previously, Anurag has also worked with Baker Tilly international, J.P. Morgan and Standard & Poor's. He has completed his Bachelor's in Finance from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, India. He has also completed his Chartered Accountancy from India and CFA from USA. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604556390687-R85JD7PI9IO9L9N600HS/Fatemeh+Rezazadeh+1.png Mentorship 2020 Fatemeh has more than 16 years of experience in Energy industry. Currently she is the Director of New Low Carbon Business Development at Air Products where she works with a range of customers across the energy value chain on topics related to the Energy Transition. Prior to this role, she was the Venture Owner of Carbon Capture Technologies at Siemens Energy Incubator where she pitched the business to potential investors to raise sufficient fund to take the venture to the next level up to the “Exit/Lanuch” phase. Fatemeh’s background is Mechanical Engineering, she has Masters in Energy from Heriot-Watt university and PhD in Low Carbon Energy Technologies from the University of Leeds in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin where she conducted research and provided strategic advisory on developing new solutions for green and low carbon energy businesses suitable for the future of Energy and Oil & Gas industries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326927-U03VA5G3UQEFFI5FGV5G/28167778_1736049476417350_5877855858040778307_n.jpg Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327466-E4O432Q6ZAUWY771POP3/28168332_1736049683083996_5591437169059702983_n+%281%29.jpg Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327503-B2V3P6OH4JHEYE2UMTJH/28279704_1736048969750734_3684868987350078109_n.jpg Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326953-T6USMP2NUVWEV4QGIB7U/28058582_1736050983083866_4172639532529689177_n.jpg Mentorship 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591315684346-P5PF43A4G13JXYU2KY3L/01%2BCameron%2528Cam%2529Kashani.jpg Mentorship 2020 Godmother of Silicon Beach, Expert Speaker with US State Department, 3x founder, and single mom of twin boys, Cam has worked with 4000+ Entrepreneurs and 700+ startups. She is on a mission to humanize business and her vision is a global economy that thrives on WE, not ME. Today, Cam is on to her third company, COACCEL: The Human Accelerator, a unique 3- month program, 1-1, that focuses on building powerful, mindful leaders. COACCEL: The Human Accelerator specializes in Female Founders, though are open to Humans. Learn more at COACCEL.com. Previously, Cam cofounded the first co-working space in Los Angeles for technology startups and entrepreneurs in 2010, Coloft, which was infamously referred to as groundzero for the LA tech ecosystem. During her four years there, Coloft had over 1400 alumni, including Uber LA, Instacart, Fullscreen and so many more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602566058665-G1YWDL42LAREAAB5VKDZ/Khashayar+Shahmiri+1+%281%29.png Mentorship 2020 Khashayar is a Director of GQR, an award-winning search specialist organization uniting the most talented people from STEM backgrounds with pioneering organizations throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. After graduating from the University of Surrey with honors in Management, Khashayar joined GQR in London where he leads their EMEA practice and is responsible for GQR’s global growth strategy across the Banking & Finance, Life Science, Technology, and Energy & Engineering sectors. Born in London to a third-generation Iranian family in the UK, Khashayar has maintained a passionate connection to Iran and the success of the community across the globe. Khashayar is a Tech enthusiast having previously studying Software Design & Development and is now involved with some crowdsourcing platforms focusing on technology start-ups." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604557613741-EAU21UV91C70L7H4MBZV/Ahva+Sadeghi++1.png Mentorship 2020 Ahva Sadeghi is a passionate social entrepreneur and the Co-Founder and CEO of Symba. Symba is an all-female founded tech startup focused on designing the future of work. Using data-driven insights, Symba helps companies manage their contingent workforce. Symba has received multiple awards, funded by leading accelerators, and backed by prestigious organizations including the World Bank and US Department of State. Prior to launching Symba, Ahva held multiple positions with the US Department of State, Peace Corps, and various nonprofits. She has been recognized as a US Department of State Global Entrepreneur Scholar and John Lewis Humanity in Action Fellow for her commitment to social entrepreneurship. In her academic studies, Ahva pursued Economics and Human Rights. She completed her graduate studies at the London School of Economics where she served as President of the LSE Human Rights Committee. Ahva did her BA at the University of Arizona Honors College where she founded the University's first human rights student organization. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the cello. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604558672460-61MJC61FPJ4BD3I6M8OS/Ahva+Sadeghi++2.png Mentorship 2020 Faz specializes in the unique talent needs of startup organizations from seed stage through on-going funding rounds. Earlier this year, her employer, Entangled Group was acquired by Guild Education. At Entangled, she led the expansion of the team over 300% in 3 years by building talent systems for rapid and sustained growth. She is passionate about skills-based hiring and growing diverse teams geared for impact and innovation. Prior to joining Entangled, she managed operations for tech startups at SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s startup incubator. This experience has helped her deeply understand what it takes to identify the right high-impact individuals for each company and determine how they can be best utilized to grow thriving businesses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1560279300906-H78ADS0H2HQOQUOWNX0X/Faranak-Frahmand-Pour.jpg Mentorship 2020 Faranak Farahmand Pour, currently lives in Dubai and works at SAP’s Global Strategic Initiatives, a high performing sales organization responsible for the strategy, structure and negotiation of highly complex partnership and opportunities. Faranak joined GSI in 2015 initially located in The Netherlands focusing on SAP EMEA North region (Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries) and moved to Dubai in August 2016 focusing on SAP EMEA South region (Africa, Middle East, South Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey). Faranak is a key member of the GSI team successfully leading the strategy, structuring and negotiation of large complex opportunities with our customers in EMEA. Faranak has demonstrated the ability to engage with customers in various countries and cultures. Faranak is also the Chapter Lead for the SAP Business Women’s Network in the United Arab Emirates. The business women’s network (BWN) is an employee-driven network at SAP to help women advance their careers and the company’s business. By sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience, we help one another develop skills and career advancing opportunities to drive SAP’s success. More information can be found on https://news.sap.com/2017/07/ten-years-business-womens-network-sap/ Between August 2013 and July 2015, Faranak headed the Legal Department for SAP in The Netherlands, managing all legal matters for SAP Nederland B.V. including drafting and negotiating agreements (software licensing, Cloud Services, Consulting Services, (IT) outsourcing, purchasing and sales). Prior to joining SAP, Faranak was part of the Legal Depart of Philips International B.V. providing legal support for the divisions of Philips IP&S, “Philips Corporate IT”, “Philips Forwarding and Distribution”, “Philips Group Purchasing” and “FINOPS”(Finance Operations) worldwide. Faranak has a Master of Law in International Business Law and a Bachelor of International & European Law from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, both graduated Cum Laude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604473507041-TICDKA8BNFD6ZKS0ST1E/Sahrzad+Yavari+1+%281%29.png Mentorship 2020 Shahrzad is a public health strategist and a women's rights advocate. She has over 10 years of experience designing programs in the global health sector with a focus on technology and innovation. As a Program Director, Shahrzad has launched and scaled a health technology program in more than 20 countries. Shahrzad advises nonprofit organizations that want to use technology to overcome global challenges focusing on health. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603316104961-4CRTIFS8JVRYXYVZWKGP/Mitra+Lohrasbpour.jpg Mentorship 2020 Mitra is a Partner at the South Park Commons Fund, an early stage venture fund based in San Francisco. She makes investments in pre-seed and seed stage companies with a focus on software startups. She joined SPC from Nava Public Benefit Corporation, the software company responsible for the improved healthcare.gov insurance marketplace. At Nava, Mitra spearheaded business development efforts and won contracts to build new VA benefit appeals and Medicare incentive payments systems. Prior to Nava, she led revenue analytics and international expansion efforts at Dropbox. Mitra began her career at Bain as a management consultant and is on the board of LeanMarket. She graduated from MIT. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/workshop-2020 daily 0.75 2022-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603389329737-0F20H8CR08KYF2IAH5AA/Amir%2BBahadori.jpg Workshop 2020 Amir Bahadori, Owner of Confetti Labs, brings an interdisciplinary and strategic design approach to exploring the question of what it means to live, design, and collaborate in an era of accelerating change. Amir is a multi-modal design leader and conversation catalyst--a speaker, facilitator, and program designer who creates unique experiences driven by storytelling, collaboration, and play. He regularly connects dots and ideas for Fortune 500 companies and C-Level audiences as a frequent facilitator of innovation workshops, and collaborative creative processes. Amir has designed for the world’s biggest brands, including Microsoft, Viacom, Mattel, Paramount Pictures, and Proctor & Gamble https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603393173911-LCVY6O84PVB4GMRFNAXB/image-asset.jpeg Workshop 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603389625671-FP7R0L2Q25J2KQBF7NLS/Sahar%2BMandi%2B2020.jpg Workshop 2020 Sahar is a Harvard-trained communications strategist, speaker, and diversity & inclusion advocate, who founded Sahar L. Mandi Consulting to provide targeted communication skills training to immigrant & minority professionals. She brings over 10+ years of presenting experience in a range of settings and industries, including non-profit organizations, up-and-coming startups, and globally-recognized corporations such as CNN, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal & E! Entertainment. You can listen to Sahar's popular professional development podcast, Speak Up & Lead on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. You can also follow her quick communication tips on IG @saharmandi_comm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604471530474-OD3ZYAASKWVFQ4WRRVXX/Sara+Safari.jpeg Workshop 2020 Sara Safari is an author, speaker, mountain climber, college professor, Electrical Engineer and advocate for women empowerment. She has received the award for The Global Citizen from the United Nations Association in 2015. She is a board member and director of development in Empower Nepali Girls foundation. She also has received the award for Outstanding Practice with Broad Impact in the area of women and leadership from International Leadership Association in 2017. Sara will be the first Iranian in history to climb the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks in each continent, to raise funds for organizations that are empowering women. She has published three books “Follow my Footsteps”, “Above the Mountain's Shadow” and “Making a Difference”, to share her story with the world. She is working on a featured film and a documentary with a talented team of directors and producers who have extensive experience working on complex social justice issues. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/about-womena-in-tech-2020 daily 0.75 2021-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591487243512-JONBNQ87IG7HSTV9PKAB/Helen%2BMokharinia.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 HELEN MOKHTARINIA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604086351833-0G0V3YBS5F47MTIXKWJ8/Carol-Simoes.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 CAROL SIMON https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604356934216-SEBNBSCK8R4EA7RN7RVM/image0.jpeg About Womena in Tech 2020 AREFEH AMELI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591486314954-22XJZXGWU91GB8852KG9/Maryam%2BFasihy.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 MARYAM FASIHY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591487762081-JSP4OC5HQTZYA4H6NQDV/Mina-Alyanix300.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 MINA ALYANI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1592514214807-F60IE1TL4K1C3BJIC0PR/Sanna-Nour-400x400+1+%281%29.png About Womena in Tech 2020 SANNA NOUR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591488133732-GSXPGXOHIO6AG8O7SIAI/Parisa-Mansourian-400x400.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 PARISA MANSOURIAN https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1600634058805-MV2S5IA48H0CJMONJ82I/Unknown+1+%282%29.png About Womena in Tech 2020 MAHYA KARDANI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591487118325-X2WXBAZ0VZ200L93SDTR/Aida%2BAnsari.png About Womena in Tech 2020 AIDA ANSARI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1605928840351-SIVKIPBYUN35SJ1N8Z2N/mentor+1.png About Womena in Tech 2020 FERESHTEH RASHIDI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1592514162140-YUEQ4OXDPNTCYRBI5Z5A/DSC_1289+1+%281%29.png About Womena in Tech 2020 AIDA GORGANI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1595534274732-9FYAW178F7HDLMIHU6E6/conference-banner-About4.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 - 3rd Annual Women of MENA In Tech Conference 2020 "The Next Wave of Innovators" November 5th & 6th #FacingTheFutureTogether https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604085770597-LDI55DGXTQM30L5YUPNL/saina.jpg About Womena in Tech 2020 SAINA GORGANI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591486186043-UHMH8KJOFZU3BIJ29HD7/Sepideh.Nasiri.Headshot3_400_400.png About Womena in Tech 2020 SEPIDEH NASIRI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604085960661-WC2WLS0LQWS15BAETAT4/niloo.png About Womena in Tech 2020 NILOOFAR RAZAVI https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591487843349-YRX52C6OCR6ZRZFTL9TD/IMG_3806.jpeg About Womena in Tech 2020 ELAHEH MOLA https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-2020 daily 0.75 2021-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1599181343580-A7P4U1JKAGW87SANPJA9/Heba+Sayed+1.png Speakers 2020 Heba Sayed is the Strategy Leader for Cloud and AI unit at IBM Middle East and Africa. In her capacity, she leads the strategy development to identify growth opportunities and plans for this high growth unit for IBM. Prior to this role, she has led a number of marketing leadership roles at IBM in Egypt and the UAE. Heba believes she had a cool career, with roles sitting at the intersection of strategy, marketing and technology, and is excited about the rising focus on customer centricity in the region. Heba is also a public speaker on future of marketing and emerging technologies and has spoken in the region’s most renowned conferences like Arab Luxury Summit, DubaiLynx Festival of Creativity, Mashable Social Media Day, Watson Summit, ArabNet Digital Summit, amongst many others. In 2017, Gulf Marketing Review, the leading marketing publications in the Middle East, selected Heba as one of top 40-under-40 marketers in Middle East and North Africa region, in recognition of the role she plays as an active change agent in the world of technology regionally. In 2019, she was selected by Linkedin as a Top Voice in Gulf for her efforts in sparking conversations around emerging technologies. She holds a bachelor’s in business administration, with concentration in Marketing, from the American University in Cairo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604637067503-CD4C9SVQQO5C9K9BCHDL/Sanna-Nour-400x400+1+%281%29.png Speakers 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604447462593-O03BESY34Y8BNK128CN1/image-asset.png Speakers 2020 Nora Lamoudi-Sutcliffe has over 15 years of experience in enterprise sales and strategic account management roles in the technology industry. She has worked in London, Paris and Dubai. Today, she is a Senior Account Director at LinkedIn in London helping large technology clients leverage LinkedIn's Marketing Solutions to drive business growth. Nora also Co-Leads the Women@LinkedIn Employee Resource Group (ERG) in the UK. Their goal is to achieve gender parity at every level of the organisation through initiatives, programs and resources that empower women in the organisation to achieve their goals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603312813333-6EIUZVQUKNMBY11WKHBK/Shanti+Ariker.jpg Speakers 2020 Shanti Ariker currently serves as VP & Deputy General Counsel at Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), a $1B+ revenue high growth CPaaS business, where she leads the corporate and commercial legal teams. Shanti Ariker has been a practicing lawyer for more than 20 years with experience working internationally and with high-growth companies. As leader of the corporate legal team at Twilio, she attends all board and committee meetings of the company, takes the minutes as Assistant Corporate Secretary. She has worked closely on Environmental, Social & Governance programs and has expertise in charity law, formation and an understanding of different philanthropic models. Shanti founded the legal pro bono program at Salesforce to work on social justice initiatives, including helping DACA recipients, creating a legal tool kit for judges in connection with the United Nations and Consortium for Street Children. She serves on the Executive Committee of American Friends of Hebrew University (Pacific Northwest Chapter), the Advisory Board for the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law & Israel Studies and is a board member and corporate secretary for the Simpson Literary Project. She resides in Lafayette with her husband and twins and is an aspiring writer, currently working on her memoir. Shanti holds a J.D. from University of Virginia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602120046591-ZN7WHQQR3QN71YFZKB3X/Jocelyn+Mangan+1.png Speakers 2020 Jocelyn founded Him For Her, a social impact venture aimed at accelerating diversity on corporate boards. She has over two decades of technology experience building iconic global mobile apps and market-leading software products at some of the world’s best local, consumer, and marketplace companies, including CitySearch, Ticketmaster, OpenTable and Snagajob. Jocelyn currently serves on the boards of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA), ChowNow, an online food ordering system and marketing platform, and is an advisor to Homebase, a platform to help local businesses manage hourly work. Jocelyn was honored as a member of the 2016 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute, was a global ambassador for the Vital Voices Global Partnership, and was one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” in 2015. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1600122133956-EBRQRNASSLJUKWXJ6D7F/0+%281%29.jpg Speakers 2020 Roya Mahboob A serial entrepreneur and one of the first female CEOs in her home country, Afghanistan. As CEO of Digital Citizens Fund, Bright Citizen (coffee and tea), Roya’s work is focused on digital literacy to bridge the gap between education and the job markets. Digital Citizens Fund has 15,000 graduates from its 13 digital classrooms and has incubated ten female startups. Roya is currently in development with the Afgan government to build STEM schools in Afghanistan to unlock new opportunities for the inclusion of female entrepreneurs in hard to reach places using airspace and blockchain technology. Roya is also the champion and coach of the world renowned Afghan Girls Robotics Team, the Afghan Dreamers, who are inspiring a nation to see the potential of girls differently. Roya was named as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013, and received the 2014 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, The Advancement of Gender Equality through Education Award, Young Leader of World Economic Forum 2015, Wonder Women 2018, 2019 Education Award Winner, the prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholarship , D.Sc. Honorary Doctor of Science of Engineering from McMaster University, Fellow of Executive education Stanford and is a founding Leader of The NewNow, a group of rising global leaders tackling global challenges. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604697124875-L15AI2AMRECTP2CE3LE7/ilias%2BBenjelloun.jpg Speakers 2020 ilias Benjelloun is the co-founder of MTLNewTech, the largest volunteer-driven tech startup non-profit in Canada for the last 10 years, coaching 1000+ startups along the way. He is also in charge of the Open Innovation Strategy at Desjardins for the last 5 years, co-founding programs such as Cooperathon.com for impact entrepreneurs, or Startup in Residence helping startups blossom within large organizations. He is recognized for empowering organizations, startups, and tech communities alike to have a more symbiotic relationship to deliver fair, respectful, and meaningful open innovations benefiting society. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603430402368-1GMUDVBIKQJO6GSTTH5B/Sharif+El-Badawi++1.png Speakers 2020 Sharif El-Badawi is a founding Managing Partner of Plus Venture Capital (+VC), the leading seed stage investment firm in the Middle East and North Africa region, where he invests across sectors from seed to growth within the region and diaspora. Previously, he co-founded and managed the first US-based venture capital firm with a dedicated fund for the MENA region and was the most active venture capital investor in the region during its investment period from 2017-2020. In his role, he manages the 500 Startups MENA fund, 500 Falcons, which invested in over 180 startups across 15 countries. In addition, Sharif serves on the board of San Francisco Bay Area based non-profit TechWadi where he was the chairman of the board from 2015-2019 helping build meaningful bridges between MENA startups and Silicon Valley. He also serves on several advisory boards for startups, organizations and governments in the MENA region and Silicon Valley. Prior to his career in investing, Sharif was the Partner Lead to VCs and Startups at Google where he worked with top tier VCs and their most promising startups on strategies that bring all of Google to their businesses. Before joining the Global Partnerships team, he spent 5 years leading performance advertising strategy and solutions for Google's largest customers in North America covering Mobile, Search and Display ads. He joined Google through the $750m acquisition of AdMob, the world’s leading mobile advertising network. Before AdMob, Sharif was a technologist and serial entrepreneur having founded or co-founded several companies in the Consumer Internet and B2B space over a twelve year period starting in 1998. Sharif earned his Master of Business Administration from University of California, Irvine Merage School of Business and his Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. He recently relocated from his home state of California to Dubai with his wife and three children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603402125347-4F0EQHJG1HCKF0VU7UXZ/Amal-D.gif Speakers 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1600120744451-42LDB3Q3PEDM7C4QDO7H/Nooshin-Behroyan.jpg Speakers 2020 Nooshin is the Founder and CEO of Paxon Energy & Infrastructure Services. In under 3 years, Nooshin has grown the company into America’s #9 fastest growing and a leading Woman Owned consulting management firms heavily focused on improving critical infrastructures in the oil, gas, and utilities industries. The company’s focus is on energy- innovative approaches that emphasize on technologies for energy-efficient solutions, paving the way for clean and safe energy. Paxon has become a trendsetter and game changer in the oil and gas industry and has been recognized with over 100 awards as a result. In 2019, Paxon was the recipient of the Energy Innovator Award by Corporate Visions as the Best-Woman Run Oil & Gas Services Firm in the USA. As a multi-disciplinary organization with a focus on superior client service, Paxon specializes in project and program management, construction management and 3rd party inspection, document and project controls, field quality control and safety services. Nooshin serves as the board president for National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)- San Francisco Bay Area. She also sits on the advisory boards for American Gas Association (AGA) and To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation (TCL). She has spoken at hundreds of leading industry events in the US. In 2020, Nooshin received the Enterprising Woman of the Year Award and was named Top 20 Young Professionals under 40 by Engineering News Records. With 15,007% Three-year growth rate, Paxon was named the #9 fastest growing company in America on the Inc.5000 and No.1 Female Lead company on the same list. Nooshin holds a B.A. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Davis, and is a graduate of UCLA’s MDE program. She is also a professionally trained piano player and has played for the U.C. Berkeley Jazz Ensemble. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603430996921-HX7W6YYFQLUQZRUHTTYS/Eileen+Brewer+1+%281%29.png Speakers 2020 Eileen Brewer is the Director of the Takween Accelerator, the first startup Accelerator in Iraq, which just launched their first cohort in September in the middle of a pandemic! She comes with 20 years of experience working for tech companies in Silicon Valley and 5 years of being an angel investor through Golden Seeds, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has traveled throughout the MENA region supporting entrepreneurs through training events at American Corners, incubators and universities. She has also been a mentor for the US State Department TechWomen program since 2012 which has introduced her to hundreds of business women in MENA. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603431159560-LTD1PD36AN3Z00E1HBAM/image+1+%281%29.png Speakers 2020 Rita Makhoul has an eye on what tech entrepreneurs, innovative corporations, and governments are doing in the MENA region. She advises regional and global players by providing them with in-depth insights on the region to support their business objectives. Rita also mentors startups and advises international organizations on the MENA region. Previously, Rita was responsible for the growth and development of the Arabnet Insights unit. Arabnet Insights collaborates with clients to position them as thought leaders covering a range of products and services produced to educate the market about disruptive technologies, explain the business value, and provide guidance for decision-makers. Rita has a wealth of strategic experience from her 18 years in the communications industry working with global top agencies including H+K Strategies and TBWA. Having led key accounts across industries and finding her passion in the digital, tech, and startup industry. Rita was awarded with ‘The Middle East Women Leadership Award’ in 2018 and ‘The Pioneering Women Leader Award’ in 2019. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602693337839-HMH018DYTSHAICHO92K8/_Shally+Zomorodi+%281%29+1+%281%29.png Speakers 2020 SHALLY ZOMORODI, Co-Anchor FOX 5 Morning news My alarm goes off at 2 a.m. every weekday morning to co-anchor the FOX 5 Morning news from 6a.m. – 10 a.m. Many people look at me with shock and surprise when they hear how early I wake up. Yes, it’s early, it's dark and you are still sleeping. But it’s worth it. I work with the most amazing people. Raoul makes me laugh all morning and Chrissy is one of my dearest friends. Not to mention all the wonderful people who make up our team. I graduated from California State University Fullerton with B.A. in both Communications and Political Science. Not wanting to move from California I decided to attend law school. I held the title of Miss Orange County USA at that time and while competing for Miss California USA my life changed. I won an award from the producers of KTTV FOX 11 in Los Angeles for Journalism. The award gave me the chance to tour the studios in Los Angeles and get advice on how to start a career in broadcasting. That one day turned into an internship which turned into a job as a news assistant for GOOD DAY LA. I left law school and did not look back. My first on air job was for Good Morning Southeast Texas at the ABC affiliate in Beaumont. I then moved back home to southern California and have been here since. Over the past 12 years I worked as a video journalist for Voice of America, and a reporter/ host for City View Channel 35. Before coming to FOX 5 I anchored DAYBREAK OC, a 2-hour live morning show. I am now living my dream co-anchoring the FOX 5 Morning News. When the lights go off, I am back home with my amazing husband Bruce, our three boys and daughter. Life has changed since we had our babies and I love every minute of it. I spend my free time cooking, belly dancing and hanging with my family (known as the Persian Posse). Oh yes — and catching up on sleep. I’m known around the newsroom for… being Kraft services. Always cooking and feeding the morning team. If I wasn’t in TV news, I would… be a teacher. When I was a little girl, I would gather all the little kiddos and teach. Even though it’s not my profession today I still look for opportunities to guide and mentor. I am lucky enough to coordinate the intern program here at FOX 5 and get to teach every day! On my days off, I can be found… rolling somewhere with the Persian Posse as Raoul and Chrissy say. My large family and friends are always getting together to eat, play music or visit some exciting place. My most memorable TV moment… oh maybe the little moment when Raoul tricked me into licking an IPAD. Payback is coming to Mr. Martinez.My guilty pleasure is… A glass of wine and chocolate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1598383304419-M993HJBAQ9UQKB6FX07F/564322+1.png Speakers 2020 Laila is a Principal at 500 Falcons, 500 Startups’ MENA Fund based out of Dubai. Prior to that, Laila has worked with several Venture Capital across the MENA region; Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) in UAE and Algebra Ventures in Egypt where she led transactions and worked with portfolio companies on fundraising and operational enhancements. Prior to joining, Laila was active in the venture capital and startup landscape in Egypt, where she worked as a consultant for several start-up businesses assisting them in developing operational and fundraising schemes. She led investment assessments and provided recommendations to several VCs and family offices in the region. In 2014 – while completing her MBA – Laila joined the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley in London as a summer associate, after which she opted to move back to Egypt to pursue a career among the now-thriving startup community. Prior to her postgraduate studies, she worked as an associate at Qalaa Holdings, a regional private equity firm based out of Cairo, where she focused on the alternative energy, oil & gas and glass sectors. Laila earned her master's in Business Administration from the London Business School. She holds a dual undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Law from the American University in Cairo and Cairo University respectively. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604553865842-BYVR3VH5VXT8F5TTJ1Z8/Kamelia+Aryafar+1.png Speakers 2020 Kamelia Aryafar, Ph.D. is the Director of Cloud Artificial Intelligence at Google where she work with amazing teams of ML/AI engineers and scientists focused on building Google cloud AI industry solutions. Prior to Google, Dr. Aryafar was the Vice President and Head of Data Science at Overstock.com where she led the core machine learning, data science, marketing data science and personalization teams focused on building scalable machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning and computer vision tools to curate a personalized experience for Overstock users. Prior to Overstock she has been a Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Etsy for more than four years. Before Etsy, she was doing a Ph.D. in computer science and machine learning, building large-scale classification and information retrieval models. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604697312346-NNCWN14QWFURGX6DX7S9/Parvaneh+Darius.jpg Speakers 2020 Parvaneh is a Senior network design engineer at The Walt Disney Company, Where she leads Corporate network designs services to various business units within Disney like Media, Parks and Resorts, studios … . She has been with the company for 8 years in different technology roles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602479192763-5BE9WNBO4RV9WKLCBR0D/photo_2020-10-11_22-04-42+1.png Speakers 2020 Samira Khan works at the intersection of social innovation/impact + tech at Salesforce.org (the social impact center of Salesforce). Samira has worked across corporations, governments, and the social sector for over thirteen years on innovative solutions to solving some of society’s greatest challenges. She is especially interested in corporate venturing and business model innovations for good. Her work spans the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. She is a former strategy / management consultant; and while at A.T. Kearney in Southeast Asia, she played a lead role in starting and building its social impact organization. She is also passionate about topics related to gender and youth empowerment toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She can be found @samiraakhan on Twitter / LinkedIn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604453211721-1TQVI7XW7FL1FH6JWHHY/Samrah+Khan+1.png Speakers 2020 Samrah Khan is a Head of Saas ISV Alliances at Google where she leads the partnerships between SaaS companies and Google Cloud to serve their customers. Samrah was previously a Senior Executive and Vice President of Business Development at Instart. There, she drove strategic GTM initiatives and global expansion that led to several new streams of revenue and acquisition for the company. Prior to that she was at MuleSoft responsible for launching alliances with large consulting firms where she built the practice from zero and fueled the velocity to huge IPO. MuleSoft later got acquired by SFDC in 2018. Prior to MuleSoft she was an early employee at TeleNav. She held several critical roles in engineering, product management and sales that contributed to the company growth leading to IPO. She has a Bachelors in Computer Science from Santa Clara University and currently resides in Bay Area, CA. She is actively engaged in several philanthropy projects, as well as mentor and advisor to many. When she is not keeping busy with work, you can find her scuba diving somewhere around the globe, learning a new language or enjoying a meal with her husband, 2 kids and a dog. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1598383955070-Q94MVI3WY131HYA1YK07/3er3+1+%282%29.png Speakers 2020 Sepideh Nasiri is the CEO and Founder of Women of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Technology (previously known as Persian Women In Tech). She is an award winning serial entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in the Tech Industry, and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Sepideh is responsible for the strategy and oversight of Women of MENA in Tech programs and global operations across 17 cities. As the CEO, much of Sepideh’s work is focused on connecting communities, companies, and individuals to bring change in how we should invest in minorities and immigrants. Sepideh’s leadership is recognized globally for advancing women’s careers in STEM, and developing scalable mentorship and community driven programs. Currently, Sepideh advises global initiatives such as WeMENA, a program by the World Bank, and TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Sepideh mentors many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology around the world, and serves as an advisor to many early stage startups. Prior to Women of MENA in Tech, Sepideh started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine, and later as the Vice President at Women 2.0. Sepideh has received several awards from government officials including David Chiu, the Assembly member of California, John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto, Scott Wiener, the Senator of California, and London Breed, the Mayor of San Francisco. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1599181271428-OTRH0J4MYLLV2MUVOH6H/456+1+%282%29.png Speakers 2020 Hoda is a highly experienced, creative and self-motivated executive; with nearly 25 years of experience in delivering innovation and driving business value for customers in their respective industries. She worked for leading multinational software companies including SAP, Oracle & Microsoft in regional and global capacities, where she lived and worked in three different continents (Europe, Asia and Africa), which gave her a well-rounded experience in dealing with different cultures, challenges and business models. Hoda joined SAP in 2013 in the UAE where she held various positions before being appointed as Managing Director for SAP Egypt in Feb 2018. In her current capacity, Hoda is responsible for SAP’s in country presence and growth strategy including driving sales, marketing and operations. This in addition to her role in leading global education and training platforms to expand Egypt’s digital ecosystem and workforce. Given her impact in transforming SAP business in the country, Forbes acknowledged her leadership by recognizing her as one of the Middle East Most Influential Women for 2018. She was also recognized as one of the Top50 Women in Egypt in early 2019 & was selected again by Forbes as one of the Power Businesswomen in the Middle East in early 2020. Hoda was nominated by SAP Middle East South cluster employees and awarded the “Diversity & Inclusion Champion” for her leadership and significant impact in that area in 2019 & was also selected to be on the Women to Watch Program at SAP in early 2020. Hoda is one of the Middle East’s leading technology innovators and pioneers – supporting public and private sector customers to advance their digital transformation agendas, drive new business models, and transform citizen and customer experiences. Since her appointment as Managing Director of SAP Egypt, she made strong progress on Egypt’s investment plan, expanding the breadth and depth of the SAP Channel Partner Program, and is continuing to enhance the partnerships with the academic sector to support young talent development and job creation. Over the past year, Hoda completely transformed the whole engagement model for the company in Egypt where she engaged strategically with the top leaders in the country starting from the Egyptian President (having 4 interactions with President Sisi in less than a year- two of which were focused roundtables in addition to one dedicated meeting for discussing the company’s business in the country), the Prime Minister, and several key Ministers; actively positioning the value that SAP can bring to the country’s digital transformation agenda, in line with vision 2030, and the positive impact this can yield on the economy. She also significantly expanded the company’s network to a large number of impactful CEOs, business leaders and top influencers across various industries. This has dramatically transformed the company’s exposure which resulted in winning significant transformational projects in both Public and Private Sectors; including the National Tax Reform Program with the Ministry of Finance, the Transformation of the Oil & Gas Sector with the Minister Of Petroleum, the ERP for the New Administrative Capital among many others. In the last 2 years, SAP Egypt under her leadership had its best performance ever since the company establishment almost 10 years ago for both revenue and contribution, with a significant double-digit growth for the On-Premise business & triple digit growth for the Cloud business. She also managed to position SAP Egypt as the top performing country across the whole of Middle East South Cluster; winning the Market Unit of the quarter for 6 Quarters out of 8 since her appointment. She also went beyond the Middle East South cluster to be recognized as a winning Market Unit across the whole of Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa Cluster. SAP Egypt was constantly recognized as a Top Employer in Egypt for the first time under her leadership. Hoda managed to secure significant investments from SAP board to expand the company presence in the country including the establishment of a new office to reflect the aspired growth plan of tripling the presence in the country within three years. Being the first ever female to be appointed by SAP as a Managing Director in the whole of Middle East & North Africa region in addition to being the first ever female to be appointed to lead a Multinational Software companies in Egypt, Hoda capitalized on her international experience and succeeded to overachieve all her KPIs Since joining SAP in 2013, Hoda played a pivotal role in supporting the company’s growth strategy to transform the UAE Market. During her role as Chief Operating Officer in 2017, the UAE & Oman won the Market Unit of the Year award and Hoda was recognized as the top COO for Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa region (EMEA South) where she acted as the local executive sponsor for several strategic digital transformation engagements including: Expo2020 Dubai, EmiratesNBD Bank, Etihad Airways, wasl, RTA & Emaar among many others. Hoda represents women in leadership as part of SAP’s Women Leadership Excellence Acceleration Program (LEAP) across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She regularly speaks at global and regional forums. She has been also selected by the American Chamber of Commerce to co-chair its Digital Transformation committee for the term starting October 2019. Hoda holds a B.Sc. with Distinction & Honors in Engineering from Alexandria University in addition to Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction from Maastricht School of Management. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603426131682-MHCNC6H0OL7OXZG9855W/Sadaf-Masaeli+copy.jpg Speakers 2020 Sadaf Masaeli, based in San Francisco, is an Iranian Makeup Artist, Beauty Blogger and digital influencer. She started her career in 2014 in the field of makeup training with Instagram as Sadaf Beauty. In a very short time, she was able to attract the attention of Iranian and foreign users. The audience's attention and interest in her caused the world's famous brands such as Huda Beauty, Jeffrey Star, Too Faced, etc. to work with her. In 2019, Sadaf was named the second most influential makeup artist after James Charles by France Forbes and Vogue Magazine. Sadaf has a bachelor's degree in chemistry and AS in health science. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604534380872-25AQ8WES60U81RN719M2/Group+9377+%282%29.png Speakers 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1598381809800-6FYBOCQNMC6IKJX3WY2D/Shadee+Barkan+1.png Speakers 2020 Shadee Barkan is a seasoned and veteran education technology executive and also an active investor/advisor in ‘future of work’ and mission-driven startups. Shadee is currently Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU). Prior to 2U, Shadee served on the founding team of Trilogy as Chief Partner & Development Officer. Trilogy is a workforce accelerator that partners with the world's leading universities to help companies bridge the digital skills gap. Under Shadee’s leadership, the company grew to 50 university partners in 55 locations globally and over $100M in sales. Trilogy was acquired by 2U, Inc. in 2019. Prior to joining Trilogy, Shadee was Vice President of Strategic Accounts for Jornaya, a high-growth startup where she was responsible for the acquisition and growth of the company’s education-focused clients. Combined, Shadee brings more than 20 years of executive experience at education technology companies including Kaplan and Peterson’s. Shadee holds a B.A. in English and French Literature from Rutgers University, and lives in New Jersey with her husband and two ‘always hungry’ teenage sons. Outside of work, Shadee is an avid runner, Whole Foods junkie and is her happiest when traveling with her family to ski, sun, and explore. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604565165478-1TB65ADP2KCDP1NVPF7D/Asma+Ishaq-200221-IMG_0622+1.png Speakers 2020 Asma Ishaq is the Chief Executive Officer of Modere, a global, live clean lifestyle brand whose advanced science portfolio of beauty and personal care, health and wellness, and household products are currently sold in 42 international markets. Ms. Ishaq pioneered the collagen/HA dietary supplement and skincare markets when she co-founded Jusuru International in 2009 with a blue-ribbon product line based on Liquid BioCell®, a highly successful, premiere line of patented liquid collagen and hyaluronic acid nutraceuticals, nutricosmetics and skincare products. Ms. Ishaq led Jusuru through its acquisition by Modere in February 2017 and was appointed Modere’s CEO less than one year later in January 2018. Ms. Ishaq was named Chairperson of the Collagen Stewardship Alliance, the new collagen trade association created by the Trust Transparency Center, in March 2020. She is also a committee member on the Council of Responsible Nutrition, sits on the Advisory Board of the Fragrance Creators Association, the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and the Committee of 200 (C200), is a Zenith member of the Women President’s Organization (WPO), and serves on the Board of Directors of the Direct Selling Association (DSA) and the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), as well as on the CEO Council of the World Federation Direct Selling Association (WFDSA). A sought-after speaker on industry stages including the World Collagen Conference and NutriCosmetics Summit, Ms. Ishaq has also appeared on Fox, CBS, ABC, NPR, and in Forbes as a go-to expert. Her work has earned recognition and awards from organizations such as SupplySide West, New Hope and the DSA. She was named NutraChampion by NutraIngredients in 2020 and led her company to the third ranking on the WPO’s annual list of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Led Companies that same Year. Ishaq earned her BA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA with a dual concentration in finance and marketing from Rice University. She is the recipient of Rice University’s Alumni Industry Excellence Award in Entrepreneurship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1600909586361-5QWGQBAYDDX41XZ98MR8/Hoda+Gerami_Head+Shot+%281%29+1.png Speakers 2020 Hoda Gerami is a Principal Product Manager at Amazon, currently leading product management for Worldwide Operations IT infrastructure and Computer Vision domains. Hoda joined Amazon four years ago as a Sr. Product Manager, after interning at Amazon as an MBA hire. Over her tenure at Amazon Hoda has worked on Amazon Export Expansion Initiatives, Amazon Fulfillment software, and Operations IT Infrastructure technologies. Hoda is an experienced product leader who specializes in driving vision and roadmap around business and product scalability and global expansion. Most recently, she has launched a new product that externalizes Amazon Fulfillment Technology warehouse tools and software off of Amazon Corporate Network (making Amazon’s warehouse management software available on the internet). Hoda is known for her customer obsession, ability to effectively collaborate with cross functional teams of business and technical partners, and continuously delivering results. Hoda has received her MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, and Economics from the University of Toronto. On a personal front, Hoda is passionate about education and empowering everyone to receive education. Hoda sits on the board of Amin Arasteh Foundation, providing financial and merit based scholarships to American/Iranian students and volunteers her time with many other educational based charities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603402109917-BNXHM1YVUWULK75OW14K/Moj-M.gif Speakers 2020 - Moj Mahdara Moj Mahdara is the Founder and CEO of Beautycon, a globally-recognized community for content creators, celebrities, fans, and brands. As CEO, she is responsible for driving brand vision for Beautycon and its growth initiatives, which include strategic media partnerships, content development and distribution, market intelligence, and e-commerce. Mahdara is an accomplished speaker, business figure and an active investor with international recognition for her expertise in Gen Z and Millennial consumer profiles and behaviors. She has been named to multiple lists over the years, including ones in Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire magazine; Fast Company’s “Most Creative People” list, The Hollywood Reporter’s “Top 25 Most Powerful Digital Players,” Women’s Wear Daily’s “Digital Power Posse” list and Variety’s “Digital Entertainment Execs to Watch,” and has traveled nationally and internationally to present Beautycon’s first market intelligence white paper, FOMO Vol. 1. Mahdara resides in Los Angeles with her wife, Roya, their son, Neev, and their dog, Sufi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1599179443345-BHL1TULPZXXT3EEKOP21/Tala+Al+Jabri+-+Copy+1.png Speakers 2020 Tala is a Partner at HOF Capital, a global early-stage technology fund investing in next-gen technology companies that have the potential to radically transform the future. She focuses on global opportunities, particularly in FinTech and, and overseas the Fund's MENA pipeline. Tala is a founding member of Saudi Arabia’s angel investment fund and is a member of its investment committee. She is a strategic advisor to L Catterton Asia, the world’s premier PE firm focused on luxury and consumer brands and is a Board Member at Women In FinTech Bahrain. Her work and original writing has been featured in Financial Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and other widely-read publications. Tala holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance & Women Studies from McGill University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602700156998-Z23I79CTWU5L8S9RTL5T/123+%281%29.png Speakers 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1604554148460-1P99AU7ICUAJS84PYWA7/Nazli+Alaghband+1.png Speakers 2020 Nazli Alaghband has been at Google for over 11 years, currently leading the PMO (program management organization) for Ads- Measurement products and programs. Before joining Ads Nazli led Product Operations for Google Cloud where she rolled out processes and tools that enabled ~13,000 Googlers to execute faster and better. Prior to Google Nazli ran implementation of large scale telephony systems deployments for customer support companies. Nazli holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603944359218-BK3BKFCMLN1CF8986H75/Sally+Photo+Blue+3+Web+1.png Speakers 2020 Born in Iran, grew up in the UK and seven countries later, I have made Switzerland my home. My passion for technology was ignited at age nine and has been the key driver of my career. Now my mission is to make software smarter through Sustainable Circular Technology. I am committed to merge my software technology knowledge with a deep understanding of the business to achieve ideal solutions for my clients. My passion for technology combined with 30+ years of experience in software consultancy for some of the world's largest enterprises has led me to the first Sustainable Circular Technology. As a leader, speaker and technology specialist, I challenge the status quo and bring the breadth of my expertise to every conversation. Now, I am gearing up to turn the technology world on its head, bringing software out of the shadows and into the limelight; with SmarterApproach Methodology (SAM). 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Make it stand out Misha Kouzeh is a TEDx speaker, consultant and lecturer at UCLAx with expertise in digital marketing, social impact and sustainability across three continents. Born and raised in the Netherlands, she took a leap of faith to pursue her Californian dream and found her true purpose. For the past decade, she has worked with organizations such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, the United Nations' World Health Organization as well as Cal State Universities and various nutrition technology companies to leverage the power of marketing, social impact and education to drive positive change. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634859138783-YH7GG0P3DQXS51GS82WX/_Diana+Fusekova.jpeg Workshop - Make it stand out Diana is a data driven tech marketer that is passionate about achieving transformational business results through data-driven creative marketing strategies and automation. In addition to her primary job function, Diana has been recognized by organizations for her extraordinary commitment to driving diversity and inclusion programs and running #IamRemarkbale workshops. She is passionate about technology, women empowerment, diversity & inclusion. She strongly believes that by celebrating success we can spark a sense of joy and belonging. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632284244042-VOUEFLQ4EBJOWFLFTGVL/Dr+Sara+Safari.png Workshop - Make it stand out Dr. Sara Safari is an author, speaker, mountain climber, college professor, Electrical Engineer and advocate for women empowerment. She has received the award for The Global Citizen from the United Nations Association in 2015. She is a board member and director of development in Empower Nepali Girls foundation. She also has received the award for Outstanding Practice with Broad Impact in the area of women and leadership from International Leadership Association in 2017. Sara will be the first Iranian in history to climb the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks in each continent. She is climbing to raise funds for seven organizations who are empowering women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634608300211-08L6PRYYNX89JWKE0OY1/Yonah_Welker_blue.jpg Workshop - Make it stand out Yonah Welker has been working at the intersection of tech and society since 2005 - when he became a tech explorer and launched a hardware think tank. In his career journey, he worked with tech startups and labs, helped to facilitate tech ecosystems through North America to APAC, MENA, Africa, screened over a few thousand teams, contributed to policies, frameworks, ethics, public and multilateral initiatives. In 2020/21 Yonah spent over 60 world appearances to bring awareness to the neurodiversity/ability exclusion crisis, ethics and the role of social AI, robotics and tech. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/speakers-2021 daily 0.75 2022-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634405591529-HR8MJMPWYERI54722IWS/Parissa+Behnia+%283%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Khawla is the founder and CEO of Takalam L.T.D, an online counseling platform that supports mental well-being. Takalam was founded in early 2020 to ease access to mental health services in a convenient, private, and affordable way, catering to individuals and organizations in a one-stop-shop digital solution. Takalam’s mission is to promote a state of well-being and the pursuit of a healthy mind by breaking the cultural stigma around seeking mental health care and create a social impact for a greater community benefit. Before devoting her work fulltime to Takalam, Khawla held several positions in various Abu Dhabi based government entities, including Emirates Foundation & twofour54 where she utilized her skills and expertise in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, Media & Communications. She also worked as an independent consultant for startups between the UAE & the US while she was based in Washington DC. Khawla holds a Master’s degree in International Business from Georgetown University in Washington DC and a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Communication Sciences from Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635373988060-9SAIDHANOCC8LAY3AY15/Conference+2021+Speakers+%284%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Melinda Briana Epler has more than 25 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs. As CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda is a strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and activists around the world. As part of her changemaking work, she is an inclusive leadership coach, trains executive and management teams, and builds learning and development solutions for clients. Melinda is the author of How to Be an Ally (McGraw-Hill) and the host of the popular "Leading With Empathy & Allyship" podcast. She is also a TED speaker, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and former marketing and culture executive. She speaks and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, allyship, and empathy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635372141177-ER7A78V4H5LZR6643MY2/Conference+2021+Speakers+%283%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Diane El Hachem is a marketing thought leader who embarked on her marketing career 17 years ago. She’s best known for her track record of successfully translating plans into execution. Diane has been active in different industries including IT, Retail, Media, Telcom, F&B and Entertainment. And now she is the co-founder of Related, heading Strategic Partnerships at the company. Before Related, she worked with Seagate Technology for more than 8 years. As their Channel Marketing Manager for Europe, Middle East & Africa, she handled some of the most challenging markets and successfully led projects with top players like Amazon and Best Buy. At Related, Diane succeeded in designing and implementing an award winning unique coalition program including 150+ different brands for one of the biggest Real Estate companies in the region. When it comes to partnerships in the loyalty industry, Diane strongly believes in the power of experiential rewards that help brands move from a transactional connection to an emotional interaction with customers. She’s also part of WiiN Global - Women In Incentives Network, a space for top female leaders, female founders, and entrepreneurs in the global Incentive and Loyalty industry, as well as Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC), the UAE’s leading platform for the personal & professional development of business women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442905312-PZCMA361JPY31NJ3EPNT/5.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Dr Anino Emuwa is the Founder and Managing Director of Avandis Consulting, a strategy and financial advisory firm in France. A former corporate banker with Citibank, she sits on the board of several organisations including Nottingham Trent University. A global women’s leadership expert, she is the founder of 100 Women@ Davos and Africa Women CEOs Network. Anino is an international speaker on entrepreneurship, fintech, and D&I, Anino has been invited to speak at prestigious institutions including Forbes, Reykjavik Forum, Facebook, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and the French National Assembly. She has received several awards including the Women in Fintech Award from TechPark Davos (2020). Anino chairs the African Women in Fintech and Payments Network (AWFP) Nigeria, and is a goodwill ambassador for the European Women in Payments Network (EWPN). Dr Emuwa holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nottingham Business School, an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and a BSc Economics from the London School of Economics. Anino is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a member of the Institute of Directors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634247593853-77ZSKDODK4LKB6HMXD43/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2814%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out An international banking veteran and serial financial literacy entrepreneur, Dina Shoman brings almost two decades of experience to her role as Co-Founder of Verity, the Middle East’s family banking app that teaches kids and teens how to make smart money management decisions. Verity is Dina’s third financial literacy-focused venture, having previously founded inherQuests, a New York-based startup that offers subscription boxes with games and activities, built on a curriculum that empowers young girls to begin their financial journey, and Nahji, a Jordanian social enterprise that teaches basic financial concepts through a range of engaging resources. By working closely with educational and child development experts, both startups successfully integrated experiential and play-based learning with relevant content and programs, encouraging kids to start building their personal finance skills. Before starting her entrepreneurial journey, Dina was Executive Vice President and Head of Branding at Arab Bank. During this time she also served as a Board Member for Arab Bank Plc, Arab Bank Switzerland, Arab Tunisian Bank and Arab Bank Australia, as well as a number of non-profit organizations based in Jordan. Dina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bentley University. In addition, she has completed continued educational certificates in Organizational Design and Change Leadership from Georgetown University, and in Design Thinking from INSEAD. Adding to her cohort of achievements, Dina was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012, and ranked third out of the ‘Top 100 Most Powerful Arab Business Women in Listed Companies’ by Forbes Middle East. When she’s not exploring new and fun ways to teach kids the importance of saving and spending responsibly, Dina can be found whipping up her favourite dishes in the kitchen, traveling the globe, spending time with friends and family (especially her niece and dog), and singing karaoke every chance she gets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632360116726-GMHVRVZW9RNLLYP1M885/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%282%29.png Speakers 2021 Sepideh Nasiri is the CEO and Founder of Women of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Technology (previously known as Persian Women In Tech). She is an award winning serial entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in the Tech Industry, and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Sepideh is responsible for the strategy and oversight of Women of MENA in Tech programs and global operations across 17 cities. As the CEO, much of Sepideh’s work is focused on connecting communities, companies, and individuals to bring change in how we should invest in minorities and immigrants. Sepideh’s leadership is recognized globally for advancing women’s careers in STEM, and developing scalable mentorship and community driven programs. Currently, Sepideh advises global initiatives such as WeMENA, a program by the World Bank, and TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Sepideh mentors many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology around the world, and serves as an advisor to many early stage startups. Prior to Women of MENA in Tech, Sepideh started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine, and later as the Vice President at Women 2.0. Sepideh has received several awards from government officials including David Chiu, the Assembly member of California, John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto, Scott Wiener, the Senator of California, and London Breed, the Mayor of San Francisco. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/8ee7f48f-5176-4617-9106-3c2dbb156d8b/Ayda+Haydarpour.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out 16 years old A member and programmer for the Afghan Girls Robotics Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572234020-T43XJPV3SQDQR926NVEM/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%289%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Payam Zamani is the founder, chairman, and CEO of One Planet Group. Born in Tehran, Iran, Zamani was denied an education due to his following of the Baha’i Faith, a peaceful religion that focuses on the equality, love, and unity of people of all races and backgrounds. At the age of 15, Zamani was forced to flee Iran ultimately receiving asylum from the United States and arriving in San Francisco in 1988. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in environmental toxicology, Zamani founded Autoweb in 1994 along with his older brother, Frank Zamani. The first online car buying service, Autoweb made its stock market debut on March 23, 1999, ultimately changing the way people bought and sold vehicles. Within a day of its debut, Autoweb’s valuation reached $1.2 billion. In 2001, Payam launched Reply.com, a lead exchange and marketplace in automotive, real estate, and home improvement, that was relaunched as Buyerlink in 2015. Today, Buyerlink is the leading online auction marketplace for the generation and monetization of locally targeted and category-specific consumer demand. In 2015, Zamani also founded One Planet Group, a hybrid tech firm that owns and operates a portfolio of businesses and funds seed and early-stage startups, including Buyerlink, Quite Remarkable, California.com, BahaiTeachings, One Planet Media, One Planet VC, and One Planet Studios. Infused with Zamani’s deeply held religious beliefs, One Planet Group supports strong business ideas while also building an ethos that helps improve society and gives back to communities. Beyond trying to implement best business practices, One Planet Group tries to cultivate an environment that consciously thinks about how “innovation x intention” authentically translates to every aspect of the company, from culture, policies, and governing values to the companies’ impact on the surrounding community and on humanity as a whole. In 2020, One Planet Group was named a ‘Best Place to Work’ by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and also received the Better Business Bureau’s Torch for Ethics Award. Zamani was also honored as a ‘Best CEO for Diversity’ in 2020 by Comparably, was granted the Tahirih Justice Center’s ‘Hope Award’ (2016), and is a recipient of the University of California, Davis Award of Distinction (2018). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1602700156998-Z23I79CTWU5L8S9RTL5T/123+%281%29.png Speakers 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635371697513-F6BBLHWLK4QK62RCYREK/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Mitra Kashanchi is the Vice President of Chevron Chemicals, a position she has held since October 2020. Ms. Kashanchi began her career with Chevron 30 years ago as a chemist in El Segundo Refinery. Previously, she served as Salt Lake Refinery General Manager, Refinery Business Manager for the Richmond Refinery Hydro Processing Business Unit. In 2012, she was the Operations Manager at the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia. From 1991 to 2012, she worked at the El Segundo Refinery in various roles in technical, Oils planning, M&R and operations roles. Mitra earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from Iran National University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, both from California State University, Long Beach. Mitra has two daughters. One graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and now works in the field of Human resources Los Angeles Area. The other is currently studying for her Ph.D in Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her husband of 32 years, Ryan, is with Remax Premier-Realty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634696741213-ULZQW4WVYTA4A8CX0VWB/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2818%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Enas Siam is the Co-founder and COO of Flextock, a tech enabled end-to-end fulfillment solution. She started her Career at Nestle gaining experience in channel sales development and distribution before moving to Careem where she became the GM of Careem Bus in Egypt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/21f0e5c2-b9a3-447f-b51a-6474740818bc/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.jpg Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442847690-ELVRJKQ8OLBYLPR0LKMY/3.png Speakers 2021 - Moj Mahdara Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani is President & Founder of the #ArabInternationalWomen’sForum and a development economist recognised in #Arab and international government, private sector and NGO circles as a high-impact change agent focussed on women’s leadership and youth empowerment, working for progress, peace and prosperity in the Arab region and internationally. Mrs. Al Kaylani’s work for the last two decades has centred on economic empowerment for women and youth, having founded AIWF in 2001 as a development organisation supporting women’s leadership in social and economic growth in the MENA region and globally and serving as its Chair for nearly 20 years. She is a Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative 2017 and was the only Arab Commissioner to serve on the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work. She is a Board Member of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London, a Member of The Stimson East West Council on Track 11 Diplomacy, and a Member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard. She has received numerous regional and global awards for her exceptional efforts to enable and advance women and youth through education and economic engagement in the #MENA region and beyond. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635375958562-IJX4BJFB0VKM6AFA22O1/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2813%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634696387424-8VLOAG1HJ2NIQPSMV9G9/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2821%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Caroline works with UNICEF at global level and is based in Geneva. She is part of the Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) team and oversees the portfolio on Gender-Based Violence Innovations and Service Delivery. She is a GBV Specialist with over 12 years of experience working on GBV Information Management, GBV programming and fight against immunity of sexual violence mostly in Africa and the Middle East. She has been leading on the development of UNICEF’s GBViE portfolio which includes the Virtual Safe Spaces (VSS) online platform for women and girls and the digital GBV referral pathway app (eRPW). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634406760634-KI3SL6YIVSPJYGD941VW/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2816%29.png Speakers 2021 Roni Sharabi, is co-founder of MENAco community, a professional networking platform for women entrepreneurs from across the Middle East and North Africa (the MENA region). Additionally, she is the pedagogical manager at QueenB, a non-profit organization that teaches coding to young girls, and learning and development manager at Playstudios. Roni’s main goal is to create equal opportunity for the underprivileged and to promote collaborations through real human connections. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442890275-1LE1HOX75Z1TM76JANTQ/4.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Saroj Kumar Jha is the Regional Director of the Mashreq Department (Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Iran) at the World Bank Group. He assumed the position on July 1,2017. Jha brings to the region a vast experience in a critical period of transition. Jha’s top priorities in his new role are: (i) maintaining a dialogue with all stakeholders to provide overall strategic leadership for the Bank’s engagement in line with the region's emphasis on job creation, sustainable growth, inclusion and governance; (ii) developing a strong analytical program that can inform policy and investment choices; and (iii) building effective, integrated country teams to ensure efficient and high quality support to the client focused on results. Before this, he was the Senior Director for the Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) Global Practice at the World Bank Group since February 2016. He provided strategic leadership addressing the challenge of fragility, conflict and violence, working across the World Bank Group and in close collaboration with partners. Earlier, Mr. Jha was the World Bank’s Regional Director for Central Asia based in Almaty from February 2012 until January 2016 where he led the Bank’s strategic engagements in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in cooperative management of water and energy, and regional action on climate adaptation and mitigation. Also, Mr. Jha worked as the Bank’s Global Manager for the Disaster Risk Management Practice and served as Head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery(GFDRR), which he founded in 2006. GFDRR is now the world’s largest global fund for disaster prevention and post-disaster recovery operations. Mr. Jha, an Indian national, joined the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Infrastructure Specialist in the Sustainable Development Network, after working for the Government of India (1990-2005) and the United Nations agencies (1999-2004) as a senior executive in the field of public sector management, infrastructure financing, natural resources management, natural disaster prevention, and environmental sustainability. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/fc9966cc-3be6-4352-9bf4-b09dae108e84/Somaya+Faruqi.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Somaya Farqui is 19 yrs old and from Herat, Afghanistan. She is a member and spokeswoman of the Digital Citizen Fund’s Afghan Girls Robotic team. Somaya has won several awards, including a silver medal for Courageous Achievement at the FIRST Global Challenge - in recognition of science and technology - in the US; a Benefiting Humanity in AI award at World Summit AI; the Janet Ivey-Duensing's Permission to Dream Award at the Raw Science Film Festival; and the Entrepreneurship Challenge at Robotex in Estonia, Europe's biggest robotics festival. Last year, she was named one of BBC's 100 women in 2020. This year she and her team were featured in Forbes 30 under 30. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633717402098-U32FJLGDIZ8WQWHJ5ASU/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2813%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Ramy is the founder of 1984 Ventures, a seed fund focused on startups tackling antiquated industries. Before 1984, Ramy was the founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo where he served as a product executive under Marissa Mayer) and was one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks (Acquired by Microsoft). Ramy started his investing career at Khosla Venture working closely with legendary investors Vinod Khosla and Pierre Lamond on a number of investments including Square (NASDAQ:SQ), Groupme (acquired by Skype) Storify (acquired by LiveFyre) and Ness Technologies (acquired by OpenTable). Ramy holds a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632359627440-4TQFL7A967ZGEQ86B6AZ/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers 2021 Hanane Benkhallouk is an award winning senior consultant with a broad scope of expertise and exposure to international markets. She counts 20 years of a diverse thriving career journey that started in New York city before moving to Dubai in 2005. Her multi-industry working experience included being in charge of innovation and entrepreneurship programs across the Arab World, at the Mohammed bin Rashid AlMaktoum foundation, which was the turning point in her career shift, Hanane works today as the Executive Director of Sustain Leadership consultancies. A culture change and certified innovation strategist, Hanane supports corporates, government institutions, NGOs and SMEs, in building human centric business models, and creating cultures of innovation to remain relevant in an ever-changing world. Hanane pioneered a multitude of initiatives which stemmed from her passion to accelerate the gender balance in the region: Lean in Arabia, the first lean in chapter in the GCC that she co-founded in 2014, the Link women to women mentoring program, she was also a founding VP of the first chapter in the GCC of the 80 year old women and girls empowering global organization, Soroptimist international. More recently, Hanane founded Tawazoun, the first think-do tank and platform in the Middle East that aims at accelerating the gender balance discussion in a fundamentally different way. Hanane is recognized as a thought leader, a global conference speaker, and a published author, with 2 co-authored book, and the first book coming up soon, some of her articles were also published on Harvard business review Arabic, and Forbes Middle East to name a few. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635375879585-KIMZOWVI6REJTOEFWWT4/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2812%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633571982655-5HT15Z7U8VDLZCSAYDA6/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%288%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Jennifer Tacheff is an award-winning leader and strategist, who helps companies and founders grow and scale their impact. She’s launched global products, programs, and campaigns with world-renowned brands like Twitch, Sony, Twitter, Nike, etc and has helped to build some of the biggest, inclusive programs and communities in the tech industry. As Founder & CEO of Manifest Advisors, Jennifer has led her clients to become recognized brands and industry thought leaders in virtual culture, inclusion and talent, gaming, and technology. Jennifer serves on the SXSW Advisory Council and is a Board Advisor at Women 2.0, Onramp.io, Kijiji, Mothercoders and more. She’s been featured in Inc, GeekWire, BizTech, UN Women, Women in Silicon Valley, Women Transforming Tech, and Radius as well as How to Be an Ally, Adventures of Women in Tech, Leaders of Growth and is an Associate Producer of the award-winning film, "The Divisible." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/f3c35d31-9bb1-46af-a00d-f9f53d1515cb/Conference+2021+Speakers.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Nour Moghrabi is a seasoned leader and manager with around 20 years of combined experience in leadership and management, workforce development, youth and gender integration, gender training, gender responsive budgeting, gender sensitive value chains and human resources management. She is a senior gender consultant with the World Bank Mashreq Gender Facility. She started her career in the ICT sector in the United States and then in Jordan, where she supported the establishment Cisco's first Technical Assistance Center in the region. Sourcing women to serve the center and expand in the region was part of her tasks, where she sought qualified and motivated technical engineers. Realizing the challenges women face in the tech industry, she supported mentoring projects for young women and girls in STEM, led partnerships with ICT and Telecom companies to institutionalize gender diversity management practices, twinning them with European peer companies, and developing pioneering case studies about business benefits of hiring female talents. As well, she fosters collaboration with ICT business association and initiatives to enable experience exchange and prompt higher rates of female market entrants to the labor force. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/bff6d751-4abb-4d34-9a9e-d38f53f4d97c/Conference+2021+Speakers+%281%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Rama is a seasoned Global Tech Executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector with diverse experience in sales & distribution, operations and business transformation in high growth and M&A scenarios. As former Andela's Country Director- a technology company that’s solving the global technical talent shortage - Rama built and launched Andela Egypt, while positioning it as a Tech company leader in the Tech ecosystem as well as the home to great tech talent. Before joining Andela, Rama led teams at IBM, Lenovo, and Dell working across different continents, moving from Cairo to Dubai to Paris. She recently moved back to Egypt to act on her long-time desire to help build the future of technology in her home country. Her energy and passion for building a great organization in Africa and the region are contagious. In her own words, ""dare to dream, believe in yourself, follow your passion and help build a better world"". Rama holds a BSc in Computer Science from The American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris in General Management and Entrepreneurship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572767046-2IQTKJO0MSOR44F37SSI/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2811%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Katie Partridge is the CEO of Saphira Group, a private investment office headquartered in London with a presence in the US and the Middle East. The group is responsible for the management of ultra-high net worth individuals &global assets. Saphira Real Estate is the real estate advisory arm of the business and Saphira Technology Partners focuses on private equity investments. Katie is also the Founder and Chairwoman of Al Johara, a social enterprise organisation that fosters female leadership and cross-cultural understanding between the East and the West via tailored leadership, social entrepreneurship and mentorship programmes. The Four Pillars of the initiative also offer bespoke content on Education, Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship and Wellbeing through a digital platform and live events. Her institutional investment career includes working at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse First Boston and Caledonia Investments plc. Prior to setting up Saphira, Katie was responsible for the real assets investment arm of WMG Advisors, a multi-family office. Before that, she served as a Managing Director at Hannam & Partners (previously Strand Partners), a privately owned merchant bank that specialises in corporate finance and M&A transactions. Katie believes in making a difference at grassroots level and is a Founding Trustee of The Childhood Trust, a charity that supports the alleviation of childhood poverty and early development struggles of children in London. CHT raises millions of pounds in funds every year, and distributes grants supporting projects that assist in the practical, emotional and inspirational needs of over 250,000 disadvantaged children in the capital. Katie graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a Bachelor of Science Honours in Economics and Politics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635789830405-C2WRWEEHY5U0BFZBC0GM/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2818%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/50673111-5006-474a-8161-79379f0c0787/Nahid+Rahimi.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out 18 years old From Afghanistan Nimroz A member of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team Mechanical engineer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635373322415-EX1BBAFICOUZH0ECK7JP/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2810%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Lateefa Alwaalan, is an inventor, and a serial entrepreneur. She started her first company at the age of 16. She earned her bachelor degree in computer science from King Saud university and later gained experience in information technology from working at different companies. In 2011, Lateefa earned a Technology management MBA from University of Washington. Her passion for Arabic coffee drove her to reinterpret how Arabic coffee drinkers consumed it. She started her first steps in (Yatooq) by manufacturing readymade Arabic coffee blends, and the first automated Arabic coffee machine. Yatooq sold thousands of coffee machines across the GCC countries and the world. She also recently co-founded Aroom a company focused on developing technology for coffee vending machines. Her passion for women empowerment drove her to co-found CellA+ in 2012. A Saudi professional women's network, which has about 3000 members. Lateefa acted as president of the network during 2015. Lateefa received Arabs Women Awards Entrepreneur of the year 2014, and in 2015 she received EY entrepreneur of the year for Saudi Arabia. Forbes magazine listed Lateefa in the Kingdom's most innovative leaders for 2013/2014/2015. More recently, Harvard Business School published a case study about Yatooq in Nov 2018. Currently, Lateefa is the managing director for Endeavour Saudi, which is part of Endeavor's global network. Being an Endeavour entrepreneur her self since 2014, she is driven by her believe of how endeavor supports high-potential companies can impact local economies positively. Lateefa has also been appointed as board member to the Riyadh chamber of commerce. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634406728931-5PZ0IO5VY3O0RR4CZ5CO/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2815%29.png Speakers 2021 Sara Hamdan is a former Merrill Lynch banker, New York Times journalist and editor at Google. She is currently a podcast host, with an Instagram blog (@holidaysinheels) that has nearly 20,000 organic followers. She regularly writes pieces for Arab News, Conde Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure. Sara frequently appears on the radio and has moderated high level panels, including Harvard's ACH Conference 2021 and the World Economic Forum's Women in Leadership panel. A Berkeley and Columbia graduate, Sara has spent the last two years writing her debut novel. When she's not in front of her laptop, she's running around after her two kids. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635442540434-JT5SQMXM21QLI61907E7/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2815%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635787616560-6C4LENUB0E0KL9VGNKC4/Conference+2021+Speakers+%2816%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Afnan is the Director of Women Entrepreneurship & Social Entrepreneurship department in SMEA, where she tirelessly works to increase women contribution to the economic and social growth of the Saudi Arabia. She has developed the national strategy to grow and enable women entrepreneurs through programs and initiatives such as Women Accelerator, the National Network for Women in Business, as well as making sure of women inclusion in national transformation projects. Prior to SMEA, Afnan had been the Executive Manager at Prince Sultan Fund for Women Development, leading programs to empower women and youth to develop their skills or start their own businesses. She led the team to build and operate the first and largest women incubator in Saudi Arabia. Afnan has also helped non-profits to develop and implement their strategy and programs, including public awareness campaigns and awards. Afnan is also a member in the Board of Trustees of Eastern Province Council for Social Responsibilities, and Nourah University in Society Service and Continual Education. Also a member of women committee in family committee. a Board member in women Spark . a member in the National Supervisory Unit of the Non-profit Sector https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634405842998-PAFTYIZSWXSA10D4AFOH/Parissa+Behnia+%282%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Neda Tabatabaie is Vice President, Business Analytics and Technology for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. In her 6th season with the Sharks, she is responsible for devising, developing, implementing and guiding the overall business strategy initiatives for the organization through the use of technology, data, and analytics. Tabatabaie has over 15 years of experience in the professional sports and entertainment industry. Prior to joining the Sharks, she served as Vice President, Best Practices at KORE Software where she was responsible for their Consulting Services. Prior to KORE, Tabatabaie spent 9 years at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) overseeing CRM, email marketing, research, analytics and digital for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Marlies and Toronto FC as well as other MLSE properties. Tabatabaie earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Toronto. She serves on the boards of Sharks Foundation, San Jose Downtown Association, and is an advisor to Women in Sports Technology (WiST). She was selected as one of the 100 of Women of Influence 2019 by Silicon Valley Business Journal and Sports Business Journal Game Changers class of 2019. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632359918467-LA80KZSKE4927YZ8HIME/Dina+Saoudi.png Speakers 2021 Dina Saoudi is the mother of Hashem and Hamzah, who define her purpose to help better the world for all children as much as her own. She co-founded Seven Circles, an investment and consulting agency focused on establishing strategic partnerships, creating new revenue streams, and building sustainable, impactful solutions. She is also the co-founder of its philanthropic arm, Seven’s World. Dina co-founded and heads Empowering throughTM (EtTM), a new breed of social enterprise with the purpose of empowering ecosystems to enable individuals economically and socially. EtTM's publications, platforms and events are based on a measurable and scalable model that identifies and connects stakeholders — aid agencies, private and public sectors, academia, impact funds, and civil society — to work together to enable and celebrate individuals. Since 2017, EtTM has been creating impact in more than 10 countries with a portion of the proceeds committed to giving back. Dina proudly serves two of Her Majesty Queen Rania’s initiatives as a member of the board of directors of The Children's Museum and the board of trustees of the Royal Health Awareness Society. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/babf45d5-8289-4e8e-9887-40d55515928f/Sadaf+Hamidy.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out 18 years old From Afghanistan Herat A member of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team Game developer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633572480271-MHF1IETFYQFTSXUU6RS7/Copy+of+Conference+2021+Speakers+%2810%29.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Nora Bavey, General Partner at Unconventional Ventures, a Nordic VC that focuses on impact tech companies founded by diverse founders. She is the the award-winning brand strategist who became a tech entrepreneur only to become an investor who focuses on diverse founders and sees ownership and entrepreneurship as the strongest tools for equality. With her understanding and focus on Sustainability, DEI and future trends, she is building ecosystems in the Nordic region to take advantage of the potential she sees being lost today. " https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632363158375-OKHBWC5J44RTKCXZ72W1/Parissa+Behnia.png Speakers 2021 - Make it stand out Parissa Behnia coaches C Suite and Senior leaders who are high will-high skill and have a growth mindset. In other words, they're badasses like you who go 80MPH in a 45MPH zone. These days, leadership is full of complexities whether you’re navigating from an audacious goal or trying to avoid that iceberg up ahead. In either case, Parissa's clients choose her because she's either sat in those seats or next to those seats often enough to know how it can feel to be alone in a crowded leadership room. She's unafraid to speak truth to power to help propel you forward. With over two decades of corporate, consulting, coaching and – let’s be honest – real life experience, Parissa’s key strategic difference is Empathy. Empathy in business is more than being nice to one another, it’s a strategic imperative. It means that leaders create context and understanding so that they do a better job of serving their customers AND engaging their teams. She’s so passionate about the application of empathy in business that she’s developed the Sixense Empathy Model for her clients to employ. And, she wants all of us to put empathy at the forefront of how we engage with everybody. One of Parissa’s favorite things to do is to stand in front of a whiteboard – real or pretend – to help clients imagine what the world could look like and then propels them as they navigate to that vision of success. This work enables clients to put together pieces of the puzzle to create the “A-Ha!” or “Eureka!” moment that ignites action. She leans into the discomfort of the unknown and invites her clients to embrace all of their talents (even ones they don’t recognize or value fully) to create their own paths out of the unknown. Parissa Behnia is a Certified Professional Coach, holds a BA from Northwestern University and MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/mentorship-2021 daily 0.75 2022-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181165064-97BJYOEQOE7XWE81F8VW/Rama+El+Safty+-+Photo+%281%29.png Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Rama is a seasoned Global Tech Executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector with diverse experience in sales & distribution, operations and business transformation in high growth and M&A scenarios. As former Andela's Country Director- a technology company that’s solving the global technical talent shortage - Rama built and launched Andela Egypt, while positioning it as a Tech company leader in the Tech ecosystem as well as the home to great tech talent. Before joining Andela, Rama led teams at IBM, Lenovo, and Dell working across different continents, moving from Cairo to Dubai to Paris. She recently moved back to Egypt to act on her long-time desire to help build the future of technology in her home country. Her energy and passion for building a great organization in Africa and the region are contagious. In her own words, ""dare to dream, believe in yourself, follow your passion and help build a better world"". Rama holds a BSc in Computer Science from The American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris in General Management and Entrepreneurship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635785301647-Z7DEB4ABOZG3VMEY7ZHO/Elliot+Reuben.png Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Elliot Reuben has worked in business, marketing and digital strategy & operations for over 25 years and for the last 7 years has been Director, Strategic Business Consulting for Salesforce in EMEA, working with global enterprises on developing innovative strategies for reaching the most ambitious of business goals. Prior to Salesforce he was a leading digital strategist and planning director in marketing & advertising agency-land, working on campaigns for a wide range of global, blue chip clients, from Diageo to Nestle, Microsoft to Peugeot and many more. He started out in the music industry, running his own labels and artist management companies, then ran international marketing & PR campaigns for independent labels. He spent four years in Cardiff as Chief Executive of Welsh Music Foundation and still maintains an unhealthy interest in music, occasionally playing drums for a moderately-acclaimed and commercially underwhelming band. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634568107799-L23UPG67KMU5TZBYUHA1/Farah+Abd+El-Gawad.jpeg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Farah is a Senior Investment Associate at Sawari. She has experience in private equity, asset management and venture capital, encompassing a range of sectors, including non-bank financial services, agribusiness, FMCG and petrochemicals. Prior to working at Sawari, she co-managed public equity, fixed income and money market funds totaling more than 2 billion Egyptian pounds at NBK Capital. She has also worked at Tanmeya Capital Ventures (TCV), one of Egypt’s fastest growing private equity firms where she was part of the team that closed the first three transactions of the firm’s fund in less than two years totaling $12 million. Prior to that she worked at the Sawiris Foundation for Environmental Development where she took part in formulating the foundation’s overall strategy and was responsible for sourcing funding for its projects. Farah holds a bachelor’s in Finance from the American University in Cairo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/e6a55270-e22d-4c24-bbf6-2b687efd998e/Oumaima+Farik.jpeg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Oumaima Farik is Douar Tech's Program Coordinator supporting project management, partnership development, and stakeholder engagement within our programs. With family ties to Beni Mellal and currently based in Bouskoura, Oumaima Farik has been supporting Douar Tech as its Program Coordinator since February 2021. Oumaima has represented her Moroccan roots in cross-cultural programs around the world from South Africa to Qatar. In her previous experience as the coordinator for CIEE programs for more than seven years, Oumaima’s experience in program development allowed her to create more inclusive opportunities through experiential learning for her students. Oumaima has a Masters in Pedagogy of Cultural Mediation in Arts and Sciences from the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Rabat. She is committed to fostering intercultural competencies in students by reducing barriers to access and engagement through inclusive programming https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181127342-J162QNQS50W1583J0HDC/Azadeh+Dindarian.jpg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Azadeh holds a Ph.D., in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, she has co-founded, the Women AI academy to empower women around the world to get into AI-related jobs. Azadeh is an impact-driven entrepreneur and strategist, and a community builder with 12+ years of experience in project management and product management, delivering products with a strong background in Innovation and Digitalisation within a cross-functional team. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/7ab4317d-4957-446f-86ba-912b7aca929a/Tina+Mashaalahi.jpeg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Tina is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years’ experience, launching three technology based start-ups. Tina has advised and led start-ups and venture funds on their pre and post launch operations, business and investment strategies, and fundraising. Tina also invests in early-stage exponential and impact-driven technologies. Tina holds a Civil Engineering degree from UCL and is an advocate for women in STEM. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634609589527-3MYV9MIJQ06PPUIHH0KM/Gelareh-Taghizadeh-headshot.jpeg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Gelareh Taghizadeh is a Lead Data Scientist in a London-based tech company, CogX. She did her undergrad studies in Computer Engineering and her postgrad studies in Artificial Intelligence. Gelareh has published her research works in the field of applied AI during her years of working as a researcher in academia, and in 2015, she joined the industry and since then she has developed extensive experience in applying advanced machine learning techniques in Natural Language Processing domain. At her job as a Lead Data Scientist, she is involved in leading, mentoring, and managing data scientists in her own team and other teams, her team works closely with the product and development team to shape their machine learning models and put them in production. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/2480c00a-daf3-4a37-979e-ba591e427ebf/VinceKohli_Image+2021.jpg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Vince Kohli, An Empathy Scholar, is a Global Exponential Impact Capitalist and Silicon Valley Early-stage Investor, 6X Tech Entrepreneur, Serial Business Builder, Product Visionary, Inventor, Problem Thinking Doer, Public Speaker, and Author. Vince is a Global Impact Capitalist Maker, Exponential Impact Super Angel Investor focused on Hyperautomation, Enterprise Deep Tech, AI and ML impacting Enterprise and Social Enterprise Industries. Vince is a special invited member of MIT Technology review Global Panel and business advisor at Meta, Google, Amazon and Box. Vince serves as a StartpUp Judge at MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Google, Samsung, IBM, DraperU, Founder Institute, Founders Space, California State University, StartX, and NASA. Vince is a StartUp / ScaleUp Business Design Investor / Advisor/Mentor at Google4StartUps, Microsoft for StartUps, Singularity, Launch, IBM, StartX, AngelHack, Top Silicon Valley Incubators, Venture Builders, Venture Studios, and Accelerators at Alchemist, and 500 Global and YC. Vince invented the revolutionary Rapid Prototyping Investor Pitching Method termed as "Seven Second StartUp and ScaleUp Value Pitch". He is a High Impact Venture Mentor Maker in Silicon Valley for Global StartUps and ScaleUps Ecosystem, SAP recognized and awarded SAP Mentor Award and pioneered the first ever Corporate Mentorship Award. Vince is an Innovation Catalyst at UCSF for digital health, hardware and software design for medical devices, Corporate Startup Innovation at Honda Innovation, Samsung Tech Impact, Corporate Ventures with HP Ventures, and Samsung NEXT Ventures, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Venture Lab - IE Business School, Plug and Play, Silicon Valley. Vince has contributed valuable mentorship to 26K+ Founders Vision from 70+ Countries. He is a life changing coach for business / tech founders and on a Massive Transformation Mission to exponentially Impact Billion Entrepreneurs with Global Professional Business Venture Mentorship initiative and execute with the Pilanthropreneurologist mindset to Impact the Post COVID World with Empathy + EQ. Vince regularly speaks on UN SDG’s, Corporate Innovation, 5G, AI/ML, Quantum Technologies, Edge Computing, Blockchain, Scaling Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Global Resilience - Scaling the Innovation Economy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634858583803-ZXEH6O74WS0DBNOXVNGY/Arezou+Seifpour+.png Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Arezou Seifpour is a product management lead, working and consulting in software companies of various sizes from early-stage startups to public companies. She volunteers with PDX Women in Tech, an organization which focuses on strengthening the Portland community of women in technology. She founded the PDXWIT Mentorship Program and currently serves as the Director of Innovation. As a change agent for the tech industry, Arezou has been involved in key advocacy efforts, including co-penning an open letter resulting in the removal of offensive tech billboards displayed in Portland's downtown core. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326927-U03VA5G3UQEFFI5FGV5G/28167778_1736049476417350_5877855858040778307_n.jpg Mentorship 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327466-E4O432Q6ZAUWY771POP3/28168332_1736049683083996_5591437169059702983_n+%281%29.jpg Mentorship 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368327503-B2V3P6OH4JHEYE2UMTJH/28279704_1736048969750734_3684868987350078109_n.jpg Mentorship 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1548368326953-T6USMP2NUVWEV4QGIB7U/28058582_1736050983083866_4172639532529689177_n.jpg Mentorship 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635785100542-GW5VNLY7SJVATZSYPTB2/Arefeh+Taghi+Khani.jpg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Arefeh is an experienced Operational Excellence consultant with a demonstrated history of managing agile projects in the automotive and renewable industries. Currently she is working as a consultant for the London-based innovative telecom and cyber security solutions provider, Exponential-e and volunteering as the lead of the London chapter of Women of MENA in Technology. She has vast experience in Continuous Improvement practices, Lean Six-Sigma and Lean Startup, Digital Transformation and Business Management System development, helping businesses with improving their management systems and processes to achieve excellence. She has done her undergraduate studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Tehran, Iran and her post-grad and PhD in the same field with focus on electron microscopy of semiconductor materials and devices at University of Sheffield, UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634233177266-4LTAA3QAUTFV7Q3LJPIT/Fatemeh+Rezazadeh.JPG Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Fatemeh has more than 17 years of experience in Energy industry. Currently she is the Director of New & Low Carbon Business Development at Air Products where she works with a range of customers across the energy value chain on topics related to the Energy Transition. Prior to this role, she was the Venture Owner of Carbon Capture Technologies at Siemens Energy Incubator where she developed technology development and go-to-market strategies to build the CCS business for Siemens Energy, where she successfully pitched the business to potential investors to raise sufficient fund to take the venture to the next level up to the “Exit/Launch” phase. Fatemeh’s background is Mechanical Engineering, she has Masters in Energy from Heriot-Watt university and PhD in Low Carbon Energy Technologies from the University of Leeds in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634181142649-1GPKL3GD3PF3VX6OGZ9M/Dr.Maria+Mirzaei.jpg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out As a former rocket scientist who decided to change her career and life after a near death experience, Maria is a former Google consultant who is currently helping professionals accelerate their career transition. She is a transformative career coach and a powerful leadership consultant, who believes in valuing your expertise, growing your worth, daring for the best, and achieving true success while being yourself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635383974004-SLPHHP5112R6D6YCIGTU/Nader+Abdelrazik+.png Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Nader is the Co-founder and CEO of MoneyHash: an early stage fintech company aiming to aggregate and streamline the fragmented payment and fintech ecosystem in the Middle East, Africa, and emerging markets. Prior to MoneyHash, he spent most of his career in academia and consulting working on technology management, venture design, and product innovation. He later switched to the startup world working with various tech startups in MENA. Nader is a Fulbright alum, and holds master's degrees from UC Berkeley and Nile University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635392901154-CTRQOQNXIRRQ5YAEDR47/1593751901489.jfif Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Nasim Boustani is a “professional learner”, and after completing her BASc in Electronics Engineering in Shiraz University in 2000, her passion for a wide variety of new intellectual subjects and experiencing new cultures landed her in Canada. She pursued her love of science at UBC in Vancouver, completing her project at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC) and receiving her Masters degree in Experimental Particle Physics. Nasim then moved back to Iran to be an instructor in Shiraz Azad University, teaching Math, Physics and Electronics for a several of years. In 2007, she moved back to Vancouver, shifting her career focus into the Tech Industry and consequently completed her MBA in Management of Technology at SFU. Nasim has been working as an Operation Manager and Operations Director in various technology firms since 2009. Her responsibilities as a global Operation and Transformation leader have mandated her to excel at cross-functional and cross-cultural skills which are vital to implementing a sustainable change in the fast paced segments of the tech industry. In her free time, you may find her doing yoga, rock climbing, painting or singing. She is also an expert Yoga teacher who offers ad-hoc training sessions to friends in her free time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1591556529203-82KUFQ76CDMWB04VZ0J6/Original+Photo+-+Croped.jpg Mentorship 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/9d38dbab-270a-4c1a-af75-34117580388b/Ishara-Kotagama.jpeg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Ishara Kotagama is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder and CEO of Allerkids, a platform dedicated to creating an inclusive culture for children with food allergies. Ishara studied and worked in Australia, Europe, and Asia, with global marketing experience in industries including technology, healthcare, and CPG. She is an avid supporter of the arts and has served on the board of San Francisco Ballet, and currently serves on the board of TEDxMarin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635384101614-2IO4QUFDAIY2JIUO93AB/Sally+Nowroozi.jpg Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Sally is a Customer Experience Evangelist at Salesforce, consulting with companies across EMEA on the future of their customer experience and has driven the development of digital transformation strategies and design of customer centric experiences across multiple industries. Having spoken at many global conferences such as Dreamforce, Sally advocates revolutionising organisational culture with the vision to use technology more innovatively. As an ambassador for women in STEM, she’s passionate about creating a change and is a Women of MENA in Tech Ambassador, enthusing young people and inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals. Sally has over 15 years experience in marketing, digital, ecommerce, branding, CRM and customer centric design and graduated from University of Arts London in Marketing + Advertising. In her spare time she aspires to connect people around the world with the culture of the Middle Eastern with her food blog and hosting Persian Supper Nights. (@cookingwithsaloomeh) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635392688405-OJFY8DDLPA74YPTTF9M3/1517514583397.jfif Mentorship 2021 - Make it stand out Arefeh is passionate about solving complex problems that require a multi-disciplinary and innovative approach. She is a life-long learner and enthusiast of the intersection between tech, culture and human behavior. Arefeh is currently working as a Senior Product Manager for Amazon Prime, based in Tokyo. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/ambassador-2021 daily 0.75 2022-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633716573450-42JOCG0EIZ4RXXC6Y40V/000_6956.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714703222-32H1CW9OZGFIJ7J5MKEV/Copy+of+Besma+Al-Qassar%2C+WMF.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Besma Al Qassar, Kuwait (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714704127-610V4ZMLZHBDU47KU23V/Copy+of+nouha+ben+messaoud+.JPG Ambassador 2021 - Nouha Ben Messaoud, Tunisia (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714702274-UYS12C7WWNI36CQHOA7V/Copy+of+Aryon+Billings+%282%29.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Aryon Billings, Canada (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635193936493-H8N26VZ47B2X497866HM/Copy+of+Negar+Dashti.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Negar Dashti, Turkey (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714703186-WHURX09MLFMQ61QWBERT/Copy+of+Florina_Dumitrache.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Florina Dumitrache, Romania (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714707320-EM0HO1GB8T03NL8AMYC6/Copy+of+Rama+Headshot.jpeg Ambassador 2021 - Rama El Safty, Egypt (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634178476302-NJVSW1ZWHFND0BUYLFGX/Reine+Halaby+.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Reine Halaby, Lebanon (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635194020666-LBKYVUUJW8E1SISAAJ9P/Copy+of+Hoda_Hashemi.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Hoda Hashemi, USA (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634780761485-77UJPH3L68P3U2IFH9S4/Parna+Kazerani.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Parna Kazerani, Canada (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1635194105016-MXMAN7J6COSOTL29L335/Copy+of++Dr.+Saadat+Majeed.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Saadat Majeed, Pakistan (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714702647-8OAPEI3ILDL67NWGDCUE/Copy+of+Bahar+Motlagh.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Bahar Motlagh, USA (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633714705160-QXD97EFSE793GZW89Q8V/Copy+of+Samira+Roshany.jpg Ambassador 2021 - Samira Roshany Yamchi, USA (Copy) https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/workshop-2021 daily 0.75 2022-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1603393173911-LCVY6O84PVB4GMRFNAXB/image-asset.jpeg Workshop 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634695868484-LF9AV7QKMBQ2PIEJSX55/MKouzeh_Photo.jpg Workshop 2021 - Make it stand out Misha Kouzeh is a TEDx speaker, consultant and lecturer at UCLAx with expertise in digital marketing, social impact and sustainability across three continents. Born and raised in the Netherlands, she took a leap of faith to pursue her Californian dream and found her true purpose. For the past decade, she has worked with organizations such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, the United Nations' World Health Organization as well as Cal State Universities and various nutrition technology companies to leverage the power of marketing, social impact and education to drive positive change. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1632284244042-VOUEFLQ4EBJOWFLFTGVL/Dr+Sara+Safari.png Workshop 2021 - Make it stand out Dr. Sara Safari is an author, speaker, mountain climber, college professor, Electrical Engineer and advocate for women empowerment. She has received the award for The Global Citizen from the United Nations Association in 2015. She is a board member and director of development in Empower Nepali Girls foundation. She also has received the award for Outstanding Practice with Broad Impact in the area of women and leadership from International Leadership Association in 2017. Sara will be the first Iranian in history to climb the Seven Summits, the seven highest peaks in each continent. She is climbing to raise funds for seven organizations who are empowering women. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634859138783-YH7GG0P3DQXS51GS82WX/_Diana+Fusekova.jpeg Workshop 2021 - Make it stand out Diana is a data driven tech marketer that is passionate about achieving transformational business results through data-driven creative marketing strategies and automation. In addition to her primary job function, Diana has been recognized by organizations for her extraordinary commitment to driving diversity and inclusion programs and running #IamRemarkbale workshops. She is passionate about technology, women empowerment, diversity & inclusion. She strongly believes that by celebrating success we can spark a sense of joy and belonging. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634608300211-08L6PRYYNX89JWKE0OY1/Yonah_Welker_blue.jpg Workshop 2021 - Make it stand out Yonah Welker has been working at the intersection of tech and society since 2005 - when he became a tech explorer and launched a hardware think tank. In his career journey, he worked with tech startups and labs, helped to facilitate tech ecosystems through North America to APAC, MENA, Africa, screened over a few thousand teams, contributed to policies, frameworks, ethics, public and multilateral initiatives. In 2020/21 Yonah spent over 60 world appearances to bring awareness to the neurodiversity/ability exclusion crisis, ethics and the role of social AI, robotics and tech. https://pwit-womenofmenaintech.com/about-2 daily 0.75 2022-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619727395429-6TOJV4B2C0XOPB4DAYPY/_Hopin+conference+flyer+1500600+%281%29.png About Womena in Tech 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633575084128-NV6SVOSE6HCTKJLG86EJ/IMG_5696.JPG About Womena in Tech 2021 - NEGAR AJAYEBI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655529946-Z58Z71PKQUOWA7EL82FZ/Aida%2BAnsari.png About Womena in Tech 2021 - AIDA ANSARI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619656025734-FX05IH9BELZFEFJRM4YS/WhatsApp%2BImage%2B2020-10-25%2Bat%2B12.13_edited.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - AFROUZ AZADI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1626918423237-VGBHZQE2OWYDD98148YH/IMG_0657m.jpeg About Womena in Tech 2021 - MAHTAB DANESHNIA (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619662405957-ZIXERFR8M20ZFJDB2N84/Maryam%252BFasihy.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - MARYAM FASIHY (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619656025358-XKQAMG3ASS00TPZUAC9B/1610675128724+%283%29.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - AZARM HAJI SALIMI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655529233-K4VWPXTLR4WEEP7EBZ73/Unknown%2B1%2B%282%29.png About Womena in Tech 2021 - MAHYA KARDANI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655529151-GA5H2PPCZ0RZ4L56F00D/Sepideh.Nasiri.Headshot3_400_400.png About Womena in Tech 2021 - SEPIDEH NASIRI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619728491959-LWEI07OTUGXDIV0PZ7OE/shima%252Bnejadbahram-2.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - SHIMA NEJADBAHRAM (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1634692000017-ACOKI3R9B53SF6CI1YU9/Parisa+Profile+Photo.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - PARISA MANSOURIAN (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619656025174-8HK0KWPYNT0IIRASUUGL/IMG_5183.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - SEPIDEH SALIMI (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1619655528693-XN38LUT3220LSCQ7ARYO/Carol-Simoes.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - CAROL SIMON (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633574891940-9I01C05KFJZ617CV5UDY/DSC_48252.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - REYHANEH ZAREZADEH (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a3b0433b1ffb616b4013f18/1633575301950-8I18LPJECAENGNUMOS5G/IMG_8189.jpg About Womena in Tech 2021 - MARJAN HOOMAN (Copy)