Penn Momentum

Beth Ricanati, MD's (C' 92) debut book, Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs chronicles her journey of a thousand challahs and one woman’s quest for wellness and peace. This physician-mother has built her career around bringing wellness into women’s everyday lives, especially busy moms juggling life and children.  She has practiced at the NY-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic, and now at the Venice Family Clinic in Los Angeles. In addition, her writings have appeared in peer-reviewed medical journals and many lifestyle blogs. 

Ellen Chang C88, WG98, is Principal of BMNT Partners. In this position, she is leading efforts around innovation within the Navy and energetically grows the San Diego ecosystem that supports national security innovation. Ellen is also co-founder/managing partner of Syndicate 708, a deep tech focused investment syndicate that looks to accelerate companies @ LightSpeed. She also founded LightSpeed Innovations, and board an aerospace-focused accelerator dedicated to investing in and fostering startups in the aerospace sector, many of which have become successful going concerns. She speaks often on investment trends and nurturing new starts in this domain.

Prior to BMNT, Ellen was VP Operations and VP Commercial Products for Cognitive Medical Systems, a Healthcare IT company that serviced the Veterans Administration. In this role, she led the finance, contracting and services delivery of this $15M company. She led the accounting function ensuring the company passed a GAAP audit on an annual basis and laid in operational processes to improve the development of market entry strategies for the clinical decision support system that Cognitive is developing.

Ellen’s career spans from the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer to JP Morgan where she focused on exploring and facilitating investing in start-ups. She later founded her own start-up in the aviation industry where the team focused on building a B2B aviation part sourcing and brokerage focused on business jets. During her 12 years at Northrop Grumman, she held positions as a systems engineer and program manager, working in design and development of autonomous systems ranging from the Global Hawk to the Unmanned Carrier-based unmanned aerial system and departed as Director of Advanced Systems where she and her team formulated and transitioned concepts targeted at a 5-10 year horizon.

Ellen holds a bachelors degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School. Ellen loves to run, taste wine, and travel. She is the chair of the Wharton Angel Network Southern California. She is also co-founder of Wharton Aerospace and runs the innovation-ventures focused Wharton Aerospace Ventures conference in San Francisco.

Bijal Choksi W95, is an organizational consultant, psychologist, and strength-based coach. Her superpowers include going meta on data points, identifying patterns and trends, and her ability to be non-judgmental. Bijal became a founding partner of HuWork after over 20 years of management consulting and HR experience.

During her undergraduate years at Wharton, Bijal was pre-med while majoring in health care management. She has always been motivated by being of service to those around her, including her clients.

To gain in-house human resource experience, she joined McKinsey & Co’s HR team. After earning her Masters from Columbia University in Organizational Psychology, she joined PwC’s organizational effectiveness group in NYC.

Since then, Bijal has consulted and coached with small and large organizations, always with a focus on how to improve the employee experience.

Bijal has been published in Forbes in the field of positive psychology. She started a non-profit, Minds Matter Colorado to continue to be of service to her community. Bijal lives in Denver with her husband and two sons. When she's not working, you can find her playing tennis with her family, socializing with friends, or meditating.

Up next on today’s podcast, Tricia Buenvenida talks to Jill Beraud WG86, CEO & Co-Founder Sh’nnong Beverage Company. Jill has over 30 years experience building and transforming iconic global brands as CEO/President and in senior marketing leadership roles across fashion & beauty, food & beverage, luxury and technology with both multi-billion dollar companies and VC/PE-backed start-ups. She has a consistent track record developing high-performing teams, commercializing white space innovation and accelerating profitable growth.

Most recently, Jill was CEO of IPPOLITA fine jewelry (2015-18) and Executive Vice President of Tiffany & Co (2014-15) where she oversaw the $4.2B global retail and e-commerce business.

From 2011-14, Jill was CEO of Living Proof, a biotech beauty company that utilized advanced technologies from MIT. Under Jill’s leadership, Living Proof more than tripled revenue, accelerated innovation in skin and hair care, as well as brought in Jennifer Aniston as co-owner and spokesperson.

At Pepsico (2008-2011) Jill served as President, Starbucks & Lipton Joint Ventures and Global Chief Marketing Officer where she oversaw the $60B food & beverage marketing function and innovation agenda. There, she launched the Pepsi Refresh Project, pledging $40 million to social entrepreneurship, and oversaw the creation of Starbuck’s ready-to-drink Refreshers and Lipton’s Pure Leaf tea reinvention.

Before PepsiCo, Jill spent 13 years at Limited Brands in senior marketing leadership roles, including Chief Marketing Officer of Victoria’s Secret where she played a key strategic role in building the brand into $6 billion global powerhouse. She also served as Executive Vice President of Marketing for its broader portfolio of specialty brands, including Bath & Body Works, C.O. Bigelow, Express, Henri Bendel’s, and Limited Stores.

Jill began her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble in 1986.

Jill received her MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (1986) and BSBA from Boston University (1982). In 2013, Jill was recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. She was also awarded the coveted McAlroy Award for Lifetime Achievement by Procter & Gamble alumni association in 2008.

Jill is currently on the board of governors for the World of Children and is director of Levi Strauss and Co.

https://drinkmyma.com/

Amna Nawaz C01, serves as senior national correspondent and primary substitute anchor for the PBS NewsHour.

Prior to joining the NewsHour in April 2018, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News, anchoring breaking news coverage and leading the network’s livestream coverage of the 2016 presidential election. Before that, she served as a foreign correspondent at NBC News, reporting from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, and the broader region. She is also the founder and former managing editor of NBC’s Asian America platform, built to elevate the voices of America’s fastest-growing population.

At the NewsHour, Nawaz reports on politics, education, climate change, health care, national security, culture, and sports. She’s interviewed heads of state, senior Administration officials, and entertainment icons. Her reporting has taken her to border communities along the US-Mexico border and into Central America, to remote parts of the Brazilian Amazon, and to big cities and small towns in every corner of America.

In 2019, her reporting as part of a NewsHour series on global plastic pollution was the recipient of a Peabody Award, and was turned into an hour-long, primetime special, The Plastic Problem, for PBS. In 2019, Nawaz also co-hosted the Broken Justice criminal justice podcast, examining the role of public defenders and the story of one man wrongfully imprisoned for decades.

While at ABC News, Nawaz reported the documentary, “Roberts County: A Year in the Most Pro-Trump Town,” following four families’ lives over President Trump’s first year in office, and hosted the podcast series, “Uncomfortable,” featuring in-depth, one-on-one conversations with thought leaders on the issues dividing America.

Nawaz has also been honored with an Emmy Award for the NBC News Special “Inside the Obama White House,” a Society for Features Journalism Award, and was a recipient of the International Reporting Project fellowship in 2009. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she captained the varsity field hockey team, and later earned her master's degree from the London School of Economics.

She lives with her husband and two daughters in the Washington, D.C. area.

Lisa Ellen Niver, M.A. Education, is a science teacher and an award-winning travel expert who has explored 101 countries and six continents. She is an award-nominated television host, travel journalist and passionate artist who sailed the seven seas by cruise ship for seven years and backpacked for three years in Asia. She is the founder of We Said Go Travel which is read in 212 countries and named #3 on the top 1000 Travel Blog and the top female travel blogger 3 times in 2019.

Find her talking travel at KTLA TV and in her We Said Go Travel videos with over one million views on her YouTube channel. She has hosted Facebook Live for USA Today 10best, is verified on both Twitter and Facebook, has over 160,000 followers across social media and ran fifteen travel competitions publishing over 2500 writers and photographers from 75 countries.

She has been a finalist for six Southern California Journalism Awards in the past three years for broadcast television as well as print and digital articles. She won an award for her print Jewish Journal article. Niver has written for AARP, American Airways, Delta Sky, En Route (Air Canada), Hemispheres (United Airlines), Jewish Journal, Luxury Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Myanmar Times, National Geographic, POPSUGAR, Robb Report, Saturday Evening Post, Scuba Diver Life, Sierra Club, Ski Utah, Smithsonian, TODAY.com, Trivago, USA Today 10best, Wharton Magazine and Yahoo. She is writing a book, “Brave Rebel: 50 Scary Challenges Before 50,” about her most recent travels and challenges. Look for her underwater SCUBA diving, in her art studio making ceramics or helping people find their next dream trip.

Allyson Sonenshine C93, has over 25 years of nonprofit, legal and volunteer experience in women’s health. Some would say she is a “tireless advocate” but lately her neck and back have been protesting. Nevertheless, she persists … since 2011, Allyson has served as the Founding Director of the Orange County Women’s Health Project, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing local women’s health through education, collaboration, and advocacy. Before launching the OCWHP, Allyson worked with the Merage Foundations, where she helped establish a nationally recognized Wellness Center at El Sol Academy, a Title I charter school in Santa Ana, and prior to that, she practiced employment and business litigation with Bingham McCutchen (now Morgan Lewis) in Los Angeles. On the volunteer side, Allyson has performed pro bono legal work for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and The Rape Treatment Center, served as the Board Chair for both Essential Access Health and Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties, and presently serves on the Orange County Health Improvement Partnership. What seems like a lifetime ago, Allyson graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her JD at USC School of Law.

Allyson and her Penn sweetheart Coby CW92 have enjoyed raising two sons in Newport Beach, California. Over the years Allyson has volunteered with her older son’s hockey team, her younger son’s surf team, and their high school boosters association. To let loose, Allyson sings lead vocals with The New Originals, an 80’s cover band, and follows with envy the professional music careers of her friends from Off the Beat.

Women's health startup founder Julia Rose is on a mission to elevate and empower the voice of women and those who support them by amplifying and normalizing the conversation around women's health issues. She is also creating the VaGenie, an innovative solution to pelvic health, which lets women play Kegel controlled video games on their smart phone.

Veronica Woods, WG99, is an entrepreneur and real estate investor. After spending 20 years working in Corporate America in Finance and Product Management roles for companies like Dun & Bradstreet, Merck, and Merrill Lynch, she began her journey into entrepreneurship.

Her first venture was an online hair salon review site to help connect consumers with quality hair salons across the country. She published the book "The A-List Salon: Insider Secrets of How Profitable Salons Wow Their Clients."

She pivoted from the beauty business into small business consulting, where she advised clients, including a non-profit affordable housing developer in New York City, on how to evaluate strategic opportunities.

In 2017, she joined the family real estate business – which was her very first job. Through Daniel Woods Real Estate, founded by her father in 1987, Veronica works with individuals and organizations to buy, sell, rent, and develop residential and small commercial real estate in the Philadelphia metro area. She is passionate about helping her clients create wealth, build a legacy, and design a dream lifestyle through real estate.

In her spare time, she volunteers where she can impact change that empowers communities, such as Making the Change Group, Summer Search, and the Community Design Collaborative.

Veronica earned her B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and her M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School.

Jordi Rivera Prince C16, is a PhD student in Bioarchaeology at the University of Florida, where she is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Predoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on skeletal studies of ancient maritime communities (ca. 400 BC - 0) and sociopolitical development on the North Coast of Peru. She is a a project bioarchaeologist for the Huanchaco Archaeology Program (PAHUAN), led by Dr. Gabriel Prieto, and mentors Peruvian archaeology students in skeletal recovery methods during excavation.

Rivera Prince graduated from the College in 2016 with a BA in Anthropology with Honors. During her time at Penn, she worked in the Penn Museum Physical Anthropology section, training in human skeletal analysis and active in community educational outreach programming. Rivera Prince’s independent research was supported by her tenure as a College House Research Fellow, and as a member of the University Scholars Program. Furthermore, Rivera Prince was an active in MEChA and La Casa Latina, and was a First-Generation, Low-Income (FGLI) Penn graduate. Since graduation, Rivera Prince has also worked as a Researcher at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), and completed a Fulbright Open Research Award to Peru (2017-2018).