A femininomenon is in the air of the New England Startup scene! The inspiring, confident, creative, intelligent women in this startup community never cease to amaze us. We’re thrilled to have such a deep bench of diverse female speakers joining us for Startup Boston Week 2024!
Here’s a list of thirteen inspiring female founders, functional leaders and investors who will be sharing their knowledge and meeting with the startup community. But this list is only scratching the surface - there are plenty more inspiring female leaders joining us for the week-long conference.
To get your free ticket to Startup Boston Week, happening September 9th-13th in Boston and virtually, click here.
Thirteen Inspiring Female Leaders Speaking at Startup Boston Week 2024
Kim Riedell, VP of Customer Success at Growth Molecules
About Kim: Kim Riedell is a seasoned executive with a proven track record in driving revenue growth and fostering customer success within the technology sector. Kim has held leadership roles including Senior Vice President, Vice President, and Chief Customer Officer, contributing to the scaling of companies from $7M to $100M and beyond. She’s currently the Vice President of Customer Success at Growth Molecules. Kim is also an accomplished industry speaker, having been featured at events such as Etail West and PILive Miami, and recognized with awards including the 2022 Appealie SaaS Customer Success Leader Award. See Kim at SBW2024: Kim is presenting “We’re Going Global: Navigating Culture Challenges” on Tuesday, September 10th.
Nika Ouellette, Head of Marketing at Perch
About Nika: Nika Ouellette is a professional javelin thrower turned startup growth specialist focusing on marketing and education at Perch. Perch is a sports technology startup that quantifies the weight room experience with objective data to keep athletes safe, healthy, and motivated while saving coach time and validating decisions. As the first employee at Perch in 2019, Nika has been an integral part of a massive growth trajectory from 0 customers to over 300. And she’s responsible for over $1.2 million in earned revenue.
See Nika at SBW2024: Nika is speaking on a panel “Transforming Customers into Advocates: The Power of Community Led Growth” on September 11th.
Vanita Sood, SVP & Head of Drug Discovery Research at Fable Therapeutics
About Vanita: Vanita Sood is currently the Senior Vice President and Head of Drug Discovery Research at Fable Therapeutics, a Versant Ventures NewCo. With over 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Vanita has consistently worked at the intersection of computational and experimental drug discovery. She has focused her leadership on the many aspects of drug design, including using biophysical methods and cryo-EM to better understand the mechanisms of multi-specific biologics; using modeling and simulation in conjunction with innovative cell culture to better predict and optimize PK; and using generative modeling and machine learning to design and optimize therapeutics.
See Vanita at SBW2024: Vanita is speaking about “Creating your Future: Safe and Sound or Destination Unknown” on September 10th.
Secretary Yvonne Hao, Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development
About Yvonne: Yvonne Hao is the Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development. She has had more than 25 years of executive business experience as a senior executive, including as Co-founder, Advisor, and Managing Director at investment firm Cove Hill Partners and as an Operating Partner at Pillar Ventures. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of PillPack, an online pharmacy that was acquired by Amazon in 2018. She is also a former Operating Partner at Bain Capital. In addition, Hao has been a Board Director of companies such as CarGurus, Flywire, Gentherm, ZipRecruiter, and Bose.
See Secretary Hao at SBW2024: Secretary Hao is featured at Startup Boston Week 2024 in “Beantown Brilliance: The State of Innovation” on September 10th.
Keisha Greaves, Founder & CEO of Girls Chronically Rock
About Keisha: After a life-changing diagnosis in her twenties, Keisha Greaves channeled her energy into celebrating those with Muscular Dystrophy and other chronic illnesses. Thus began Girls Chronically Rock her other nonprofits: The GCR Adaptive Project and the Trust Your Abilities Nonprofit for People of Color. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Girls Chronically Rock supports individuals in the disability community through inspiring and adaptive tees, hoodies, accessories, and swimwear.
See Keisha at SBW2024: Keisha is speaking on Friday September 13th about “Breaking Barriers: Overcoming Challenges as Underrepresented Founders”.
Zara Perumal, CTO and Founder at Overwatch Data
About Zara: Zara Perumal studied Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity from MIT LIDS/CSAIL, specializing in active learning for malware detection and risk-limiting post-election audits. After school, she worked at Google’s Threat Analysis Group, building on machine learning and software systems to counter state-sponsored hacking and disinformation. In 2022, she co-founded Overwatch Data, a threat intelligence company that leverages AI to surface dark web and social threats with context to enable cyber and fraud teams to take action earlier.
See Zara at SBW 2024: Zara is presenting “Under Lock and Key: Safeguarding Your Customers’ Privacy” on September 9th.
Genna Weinstein, Head of People Operations at Fullstory, Inc.
About Genna: For the last decade, Genna Weinstein has led people operations in venture-backed software start-ups. At Boston-based Panorama Education, Genna launched the people function and shepherded through the initial growth phase from 35 to 150 FTEs. She then joined Fullstory, a Series D SaaS company, as one of the first remote employees in 2019. Over the last five years, she's run the HR function, navigating through COVID, 3x headcount growth, international expansion, and now towards profitability and thriving as a multi-product company. Genna started her talent career in the public K-12 education sector, helping to start a new small high school in New York City.
See Genna at SBW 2024: Genna is presenting “To PIP or not to PIP: That is the Question” on September 12th.
Stacy Swider, VP of Investments at Mass Ventures
About Stacy: Stacy Swider is currently the Vice President of Investments at Mass Ventures. An MIT graduate, she has a background in commercializing novel materials and the equipment to make them. After over 25 years in industry and startups, Stacy transitioned to coaching startups. She helped stand up the UMass Lowell Research Institute, where she was Director of its SBIR Center. Now at MassVentures, she leverages her technical and business experience to source, mentor, and fund promising new deep-tech startups in Massachusetts.
See Stacy at SBW 2024: Stacy is presenting “Solving Puzzles or Chasing Shadows: Unraveling the Right Problem to Crack!” on September 11th.
Christina Luconi, Chief People Officer at Rapid7
About Christina: Christina Luconi leads Rapid7's strategic people initiatives, focusing on the entire employee lifecycle. She has a leading approach to human resources and a strong commitment to recruiting stellar talent, corporate culture, and acquisition integration. Prior to joining Rapid7, Christina was the founder of People Innovations, a consulting firm focused on the creation of innovative people strategies. Her other previous positions include chief people officer at @stake and VP of People strategy at Sapient Corporation. She holds a B.A. in psychology from George Washington University and a M.S. in organizational administration from Boston University.
See Christina at SBW 2024: Christina is presenting “Location, Location, Location! How Much Facetime is Needed?” on September 12th.
Julia Rodgers - CEO and Founder of HelloPrenup
About Julia: Julia Rodgers is an attorney, entrepreneur and CEO of HelloPrenup, an online platform for prenuptial agreements. Julia is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, Boston Business Journal Leadership Trust, Boston Bar Association, Hellenic Bar Association and the American Academy for Certified Financial Litigators. Julia founded HelloPrenup with the aim of making prenuptial agreements more accessible and affordable for everyone. The company has grown rapidly since it’s launch in 2021 and is the leading informational source and online platform for prenuptial agreements in the United States.
See Julia at SBW2024: Julia is presenting The Future is Now: The Legal Startup Scene” on September 11th.
Pariss Chandler, Founder & CEO of Black Tech Pipeline
About Pariss: Pariss Chandler is the Founder and CEO of Black Tech Pipeline, a platform that connects hiring companies with Black tech talent through its job board, newsletter, and talent directory. Formerly a software engineer, Pariss launched Black Tech Pipeline in 2020 after mobilizing the industry-changing #BlackTechTwitter movement in 2018, a global community of Black technologists that helped disprove the infamous “pipeline problem.” Pariss also sits on the board at the Museum of Science, serving as Chair of the Innovators Society, a group of young professionals dedicated to making science accessible to all.
See Pariss at SBW 2024: Pariss is speaking at “You Got It! Fostering Collaboration and Efficiency in DevOps” on September 10.
Tasneem Dohadwala, Founding Partner of Excelstar Ventures
About Tasneem: Tasneem Dohadwala is the Founding Partner of Excelestar Ventures, where she and her team are active investors in founders that exhibit compelling medical technology, deep technology and beyond. Previously, her experience included working in financial services on the sell-side at Lehman Brothers and Matrix Partners. Notable investments during her time at Excelestar Ventures include Augmenix (acq. by Boston Scientific), nVision (acq. by Boston Scientific), Conformal Medical, Diesel Labs, Instylla, and Altiostar Networks.
Tasneem was recently named Startup Boston’s 2024 Investor of the Year.
See Tasneem at SBW 2024: Tasneem is speaking at “Data Disco: Designing Your Business Model for Success” on September 11.
Yawa Degboe - Director of Demand Generation at Vimeo
About Yawa: Yawa Degboe is the Director of Demand Generation at Vimeo where she develops, plans, and rolls out marketing and demand generation campaigns globally. Prior to her role at Vimeo, she has led marketing initiatives at Avid Technology turning the Emmy-winning video software company into a B2B marketing engine powering creators. Yawa has more than a decade of experience in B2B SaaS. She is a poet and award-winning writer. You can find her in local writing and poetry circles in Boston. She is an art activist, advocate, and founder of Kids.Think.Art, a local organization that provides art experiences to kids lifting artworks by and with people of color. See Yawa at SBW 2024: Yawa is presenting “AI Demystified: Real World Marketing Wins for Startup Humans” on September 11.
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