Penn Momentum

Mona Bijoor C98, WG05, is a partner at King Circle Capital LLC, an investment and advisory firm, where she has holdings in real estate, franchises, start-ups, and online businesses. Mona is also the founder of JOOR, the premier online global B2B marketplace for wholesale buying that directly connects brands and retailers.

Mona’s experience as a brand consultant for the fashion industry and within buying departments for global retailers inspired her to create JOOR in 2010 to solve some of the incredible challenges and time constraints she encountered during her career. By 2016, she had grown the company to process over $10 billion in gross merchandise value. Based in New York City, Mona expanded to offices in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Milan, Sydney, and Melbourne, increasing the team to one hundred employees worldwide. Clients include Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Michael Kors, and Kate Spade. While at JOOR, Mona was recognized by Crain’s 40 under 40 and Wharton’s 40 under 40, as well as receiving the Big Apple Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She is the author of Startups and Downs, The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs and a frequent contributor to TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global.

Mona earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

Tricia Buenvenida is a Wharton grad from the class of 1999. She started her career in advertising, working on Procter & Gamble’s fragrance business, Cover Girl, and Victoria’s Secret in New York City. She then went to Wharton to get her MBA and upon graduation, worked for L’Oreal USA and helped manage color cosmetics and exponentially grow the mascara business before moving to Southern California to launch the Revlon artificial nail business, Revlon false lash business, and Bio-Oil, a South-African skincare product, to the US market. She started her own marketing consultancy in 2010.

A journalism major and creative writer, Tricia’s favorite marketing task is to craft the brand story and tell it with a voice of authenticity. 

Tricia was featured in Lucky magazine as a “Marketing Guru” in the Beauty Spy section, quoted in The New York Times, The Orange County Register front page Life section, and Marie Claire magazine as a top cosmetics consultant. Tricia received her B.S. Journalism Magna Cum Laude and B.A. International Relations Magna Cum Laude from Boston University and is an MBA Graduate of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, under full academic scholarship as a Kraft Foods Fellow.

Brooke Wurst, C94, is a social entrepreneur and longtime HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Heath and Rights advocate and educator. She's the Founder/Executive Director of The TRIAD Trust, Founder/CEO of Remote Harbor, Inc, and Founder/CEO of Harbor Biometrics, Inc.  Brooke is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, did advanced graduate work at Harvard University, and holds a specialization certificate in Business Strategy from faculty at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

But Brooke has learned the most from local leaders with whom she has worked around the world. Informed by what she learned from community health workers in rural sub-Saharan Africa, Brooke invented RemoteID™, the award-winning, patented biometric identification technology. After documenting RemoteID’s secure information management capabilities as both a tool for monitoring & evaluation and interventions, she worked to bring this technology to scale. Brooke is the founder and CEO of Remote Harbor, which has increased secure access to health and social services to more than 25 million vulnerable individuals around the world using RemoteID and integrated mobile health platforms. 

And naturally, there are outtakes in this episode!

Ali Cudby wrote the book on customer retention – literally. A bestselling author, Ali brings her engaging approach to business advisory, workshops and speaking to companies around the globe.

Ali honed her approach to customer retention at her company, Fab Foundations, where she created the world’s leading training and certification program for the art and science of bra fitting.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Ali worked at The New York Times Company, Golf Digest Magazine Group and Animal Planet TV Network. She attended University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and received her MBA from The Wharton School.

These days, Ali is a Tri-Chair for the Momentum 2020: The Power of Penn Women Conference, and serves on the board of overseers for Penn’s Library Systems, and as a member of the Trustees Council of Penn Women. Ali teaches Entrepreneurship at Purdue University and works with clients worldwide to incorporate her innovative customer retention strategies through her company, Your Iconic Brand.

Angela Duckworth is the Founder and CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development. She is also the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change For Good Initiative, and faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics.

A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the White House, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs.

Prior to her career in research, Angela founded a summer school for low-income children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study and, in 2018, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. She has also been a McKinsey management consultant and a math and science teacher in the public schools of New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

Angela completed her undergraduate degree in Advanced Studies Neurobiology at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude. With the support of a Marshall Scholarship, she completed an MSc with Distinction in Neuroscience from Oxford University. She completed her PhD in Psychology as a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Angela has received numerous awards for her contributions to K-12 education, including a Beyond Z Award from the KIPP Foundation. Angela’s TED talk is among the most-viewed of all time. Her first book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, is a #1 New York Times best seller.

Karis Stephen, C18, is a Fulbright Award Recipient working as an English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia. In addition to pursuing her dream of becoming a legal advocate for underrepresented children, she always finds ways to create music. Her song "All Mine"-- a collaboration between Sense and her former moniker, Eleven-- has over 5 million streams on Spotify to date. Tune in to hear about Karis's impactful adventures abroad and its influence on her future.

Meesh Pierce, W93, WG98 is a double Wharton alumna from Southern California. She's recently left a dynamic and challenging career in tech and entertainment to serve on boards and spend more time with her family. She shares insights learned about work/life balance and the importance of having grace for oneself.

Dr. Bita Bagheri C93, Med '98, is currently practicing dermatology in Newport Beach, CA. Bita shares her insights about Penn's innovative medical program, her continued involvement at Penn and life as a busy working mother of two daughters. 

Gianna Puerini, C95 lives in Seattle. She recently retired from a successful career at Amazon where she was responsible for developing the Amazon Go! business. She's passionate about poker and is pursuing that interest full force. Tune in as she shares lessons learned in the board room and around the poker table.