About Us 

Rochelle is an Afro-Latin, trilingual, serial entrepreneur, and digital strategist with over 30 years of experience in business, marketing, finance, tech, and education. She has worked with several women’s organizations, been nominated as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women, awarded Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40, and named one of Vancouver's Top 10 Women in Technology.

Geoff has over 30 years of experience in software development and technical leadership. He is a creative problem-solver with a passion for developing innovative solutions that drive business value and enhance user experiences. Geoff is committed to staying up-to-date with emerging technologies and is always looking for ways to leverage them to create the next generation of businesses.

Angie Hirata brings more than 15 years of experience in marketing, PR, sales and business development. Angie's successful career has included start-ups and large organizations. She is an Executive-in-Residence with Foresight Canada, a Fractional Marketing and Sales Growth consultant, and was on the Canadian Board of One Girl Can.

Zahra Baghdadi, CPA, is the founder of Crunch Timez and has over 18 years of financial, accounting, and strategic experience. She has worked for large finance corporations as a CPA before starting her own entrepreneurial journey. Zahra specializes in helping start-ups and entrepreneurs by offering strategic planning, financial planning, and fractional CFO services.

Humaira Ahmed is the Founder and CEO of Locelle, a talent development platform to advance women and leaders at work. Through mentor-matching, educational content, and community, Locelle delivers personal and professional growth to working women and leaders. As a Pakistani-born Canadian entrepreneur, Humaira is passionate about diversity in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Co-Founder of Renovo Creative, and Innovation Lead for Flash Forest, Philippines-born Marc grew up in Canada identifying as queer, POC, & Newcomer. He's taken concepts-to-commercialization from $0 to $10M in environmental, social, and technological initiatives like vertical farming, drone reforestation, and food redistribution. Marc makes a difference by connecting solutions to pain points. 

Born in downtown Vancouver, Vanessa has worked in the Vancouver Financial District for most of her career. She is an Innovative Funding Partner and Business Development Manager at Leyton Inc., an international and privately held financial consulting firm. Vanessa identifies fundable companies at all stages, and helps them with their funding strategies to increase growth & profitability long-term. 

Ana Gupta is a passionate marketing instructor with 6+ years teaching at UBC and Langara. She is especially skilled at student engagement, modernizing curriculum and application-based assessment design. Ana has experience creating a safe learning environment by respecting and encouraging diversity of various types such as learning styles, culture, and gender expression.

Principal of Angela Chan Design, Angela offers 20+ years of experience in connecting brands to people through creative marketing communications. From logos to websites to print to products to environments, Angela has helped solopreneurs, small businesses, large corporations and institutions get their message across to achieve business goals, with both style and substance. 

With 13+ years of experience working with startups and enterprises, Jessica Turner is passionate about helping early-stage founders make informed strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Jessica brings a strong focus on understanding, positioning, and developing a product for the jobs, goals, and pain points of target customers.

Hadi Nili, a Business Development Strategist at ShipUp.net, has 17+ years of experience in import and export mgmt., entrepreneurship, and international market development for both products & services. Hadi has mentored startups and SMBs in the Middle East and Central Asia with their export business strategies and now assists Canadian startups and companies with global market expansion.

Denise Williams is passionate about Indigenous sovereignty and technological advancement, real change and the advancement of Truth and Reconciliation, and Indigenous competitiveness in Canada's tech sector. Denise has received multiple recognitions, including being awarded Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40 and selected as a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Mentor.

Lorraine Wong founded Cue North, a digital advisory company and product studio. With a diverse background in accounting and management consulting for large enterprises, and technology operations in small businesses, Lorraine is passionate about no/low-code technology and the potential for empowering anyone non-technical to bring their ideas to life.

Ardy Naghshineh, founded Browse.ai to give all people and small businesses an equal opportunity to benefit from information on the internet. Every business needs more data to make better decisions and grow. Ardy and his team are committed to creating a more inclusive and equitable online world where everyone can access data and the information necessary to grow and thrive. 

Puerto Rican soprano, Awilda Verdejo, did her operatic musical studies at the Juilliard School. In leading roles, Awilda
has performed in major opera houses in the US and Europe. She is the Founder of The Compleat Voice, where she teaches corporate leaders, TEDx speakers, and singers how to connect to their authentic voice and communicate with more passion, impact, and ease.

John is an accomplished Professor from Mount Holyoke College, a prestigious all-women's college, and is devoted to intellectual acuity, global engagement, and personal empowerment. John has focused on the intersection of society, human freedom, ethics, and media. He is an ardent advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration and dedicated to inspiring and mentoring the leaders of tomorrow.