Penn Momentum

Soyoung Kang is the Chief Marketing Officer at eos Products, the iconic brand and lipcare trailblazer that has sold over half a billion lip balms worldwide. In her role, Soyoung is responsible for driving the overall brand strategy, planning, and operations for all global and regional marketing initiatives. Since joining eos as CMO, Soyoung has led a total brand reboot, from resetting creative and strategic vision, to redesigning and expanding the product portfolio, to launching the global “Make It Awesome” campaign.  Prior to eos, Soyoung spent almost fifteen years at L Brands, most notably as SVP of brand development for Bath & Body Works’ beauty and fragrance business.  She also spent a decade in strategy and consulting, working for The Boston Consulting Group and AT Kearney.

Soyoung holds a degree in architecture from MIT and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, and was a Fulbright research scholar.

Sophie Beren (C’17, SPP’17), is an entrepreneur from Wichita, KS, who is on a mission to unify the world. Sophie was recently named "25 Under 25" by Social Entrepreneur's Magazine and has dedicated her professional career to empowering young people everywhere to have conversations that matter. Sophie founded her first venture, TableTalk, while at Penn, and has since launched The Conversationalist, the go-to destination to amplify Gen Z voices. Join the community today by texting “UNIFY” to +1 (877) 222 1119.  

Rooshy Roy WG19, is the Co-Founder & CEO of AAVRANI. As a first generation Indian-American, she would often make her own skincare with her mom, who showed Rooshy how to harness the power of raw ingredients—like turmeric and sweet almond oil—to maintain beautiful skin. As an adult searching for an easier way to access those Indian rituals, Rooshy was inspired to create her own brand. AAVRANI skincare unites India’s ancient, all-natural approach with clinically-proven, modern-day elegance. Prior to launching the company in 2018, she worked in Finance at Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus. Rooshy went to Indiana University and graduated with an MBA from Wharton in 2019. She is a 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in the Retail & E-Commerce category.

Caroline Waxler C93, programs summits and festivals for a variety of media companies and brands. She started her career as an investigative reporter at Forbes, where she covered hedge funds and Swiss billionaires. She went on to oversee teams and build content properties for Fortune, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, LearnVest,  Advertising Age, and Condé Nast. Additionally, Waxler has also written extensively for a variety of television, print, and digital outlets, including: ABC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Fortune. Barron’s and Amazon named her investing book a top business book of the year. She also hosted two seasons of the Writers Guild of America podcast “On Writing.” Most recently, Waxler wrote and produced the Disney+ show “The Big Fib.” 

Jennifer Simpson is the founding executive director of the Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship focused on improving public trust in the global finance industry. An entrepreneurial leader, Jennifer has made private equity and debt investments in industrial companies throughThe Gladstone Companies, where she served on a number of industrial company boards; served as the first CEO for Gladstone Securities; worked in leveraged lending and was chief credit officer for National City Bank's $4.7 billion small business loan portfolio; invested with PE firm Morgenthaler Partners; and served as EVP of Finance and Operations at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.  Jennifer began her career as a Lieutenant and platoon leader in the U.S. Army’s Medical Service Corps after studying economics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, financing it with a four-year Army ROTC scholarship. Her MBA is from Case Western Reserve University. Jennifer serves on the advisory board for Industrial Exchange, was on the executive board of a nonprofit supporting STEM education, and was co-Founder of the Washington, DC chapter of WAVE (Women in Venture Equity). She has also helped raise her 2 children, now out of the house and on a great path to being good citizens.

Kerhyl Gantt WG19, is the Digital Brand Director for Jordan Brand at Nike, with 10+ years of extensive experience orchestrating integrated brand and omni-channel marketing campaigns across Global, North America and Territory regions.  Notable highlights include leading North America digital for Nike's Top Selling Shoe in History, retail and digital marketing for major sport moments, launching the NFL x Nike partnership and building plans to sign Calvin Johnson, Alex Ovechkin and Rory Mcliroy to Nike.

Tereza Nemessanyi is a global strategic alliance manager at Microsoft. A seasoned media and technology entrepreneur and executive, Tereza’s breadth and depth of experience spans high-growth startups and the world's largest enterprises. Companies she has worked with, at senior levels, include PWC, IBM, The Walt Disney Company, Unilever, Symphony IRI, Interpublic Group, and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB). She was a ground-floor member of a startup team which IPO’d (CETV). She’s been named a Forbes "Ten Female Entrepreneurs to Watch" (2011) and a “Top 40 over 40” (2015). Tereza is a sought-after speaker (TED, SXSW) and blogger (Reuters, Huffington Post). She holds an MBA from The Wharton School. She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters.

On this week’s Momentum 2020 podcast, Erica Firpo speaks with Dr. Aly Cohen C95. Aly is a rheumatologist, integrative medicine, and environmental health specialist practicing in Princeton, NJ.  Her medical practice, that she founded in 2011, Integrative Rheumatology Associates P.C., focuses on both traditional  western medical management of rheumatologic and other ailments, as well as integrative options for total “wellness”, such as biofeedback, acupuncture, cognitive therapy, diet and exercise counseling, environmental toxin counseling, smoking cessation, stress management and sleep evaluations.

Dr. Cohen is active in educating the next generation, writing curriculum on environmental health topics to be made available by high schools nationally. Her recent text, "Integrative Environmental Medicine" was published through Oxford University Press, and her consumer book, "Non-Toxic: Guide to Living Healthy in a Chemical World", also published by Oxford University Press will be out in 2020. She will be presenting at TEDxCapeMay in October 2020 on "Reimagining High School Health & Science Education".

Dr. Cohen is a regular health contributor to print, radio, and news broadcasts, and lectures nationally on various health topics including integrative medicine, autoimmune disease/inflammation, health effects of everyday chemicals, and cell phone safety. She shares practical vetted health and prevention tips regularly on her award winning, educational platform, The SmartHuman.com  and on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds for The Smart Human!

#powerofpennwomen #momentum2020

Christyl L. Murray is a Vice President with Firm-wide Talent Development at JPMorgan Chase & Co. She has expertise Leveraging “Human Capital” to facilitate change management and strategically improve business results, with distinguished accomplishments in diversity and inclusion, talent development, communication, coaching and management consulting. Christyl leads the Firmwide roll out of the VP Academy - a leadership development program for high performers. The VP Academy workflow is directly aligned with JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Human Capital objectives of Talent Development, Diversity and Inclusion.

Christyl is also an adjunct professor in Leadership and Human Capital Management at NYU. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California Berkeley, and a combined M.A. in International Studies from the Lauder Institute and an M.B.A. from The Wharton Business School, both at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kimberly Esterkin C06, is a Managing Director at ADDO Investor Relations, a strategic investor relations and financial communications firm in Los Angeles. Kimberly rejoined ADDO in 2019 having previously worked at the Company from 2011 to 2015. With over 14 years of experience in investor relations, finance and corporate communications, Kimberly has managed investor and public relations campaigns for pre- and post-IPO companies across the technology, financial services, internet, consumer, engineering & construction, energy and agriculture industries. Kimberly’s clients rely on her for quarterly earnings support, media training, proxy outreach, M&A support, buy-side and sell-side targeting, analyst days, and investor website design.  

Before rejoining ADDO, Kimberly helped guide the rapid expansion of Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK),  a leading provider of consulting and engineering services in Pasadena, California, as its in-house Manager of Investor Relations during a period that saw the company triple its market capitalization. Before entering the field of investor relations, Kimberly conducted fixed income market research for a boutique financial consulting firm in New York and supported a private wealth investment team at Goldman Sachs’ Los Angeles office managing more than $9 billion in assets.  

Kimberly graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and holds certificates in fixed income and accounting from New York University and the New York Institute of Finance. She has been an active volunteer for the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Secondary School Committee for the past 11 years. Kimberly is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), serves on the NIRI Los Angeles Board of Directors and the NIRI National Annual Conference Planning Committee. Most recently, she was recognized as part of the inaugural class of NIRI’s top “40 under 40” in investor relations in the country and was featured in the Nasdaq Series Intro to an IRO. You can learn more about Kimberly’s investor relations best practices here. Kimberly lives in Los Angeles with her husband Jeremy, her two sons Elias and Connor and her amazing golden retriever Daisy. 

Here's Kimberly's thesis:  https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/31/