Raise Your Vibration

Dr Joannie Marlene BEWA, MD, MPH is a physician, researcher, global advocate for girls, women and reproductive health. She has ten years of combined experience in global health, policy, clinical care, research, international development and non-profits management. She has been appointed in 2018 by the United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy on Youth as a United Nations Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support the UN system, governments and CSO efforts in implementing the SDGs.

In 2016, she was featured on Melinda Gates’ list of six influential women on the topic of global access to contraception and was invited in 2017 by Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a panel during which, he announced a 650 million dollars for women’s health globally. She is a member of the Global Advisory Board for Merck for Mothers, Merck's 10-year, $500 million initiative focused on improving the health and well-being of mothers before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth. She co-led the creation of the UNFPA Youth Panel in Benin in 2014 and joined in 2015 the advocacy for the creation of the Adolescent and Youth Constituency in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, Children’s Health (PMNCH). She is the current observer, representing the Adolescent and Youth Constituency in the PMNCH Academic and Research Institutions Constituency.

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She founded the Young Beninese Leaders Association (YBLA) in order to help solve some of the issues she was witnessing in Benin. Since 2010, YBLA is actively working in 3 focus areas: Health, Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality. In 2011, YBLA collected over 2000 signatures which led to the adoption of the anti-gender-based violence law in Benin. YBLA reached more than 10 000 youth on reproductive health and HIV, and 3000 girls on leadership with the support of the First Lady Michelle Obama Young African Women Leaders Grant Program. 

As part of Benin Government official delegation, Joannie attended to various negotiations at the United Nations Headquarters on Population, International Development and Health. Joannie is a Women Deliver Young Leader Alumni, a state department IVLP / YAL alumna and Secretary Clinton Women in Public Service Project Fellow. She collaborated with governments such as Benin, Canada, US, served as a technical consultant for the United Nations Fund for Population UNFPA Benin, One World UK, OXFAM, HIV Young Leaders Fund, and as an expert with the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN NGLS), Merck for Mothers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the "Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Workshop" led by the Harvard School of Public Health Maternal Health Task Force and the Barcelona ISG School of Global Health.

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Joannie is a U.S Senator William J. Fulbright Scholar, who holds a doctorate degree in Medicine from Faculte des Sciences de la Sante, Universite d'Abomey Calavi (Benin Republic), a master degree in public health, specialized in Maternal and Child Health at the University of South Florida (U.S), where she is currently pursuing a PhD in public health, in order to solve health issues through an activist and scholar lens. She is a research assistant at the Florida Prevention Research Center (FPRC), a CDC supported research center and at the Lawton Rhea Chiles Center for Mothers and Babies (LRC), at the College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Meet Margaux Pages and Gaia Amatteis who are former Tech Stars personnel in Italy who have joined the Nickelytics Team. 

Nickelytics’ process is simple, they put ads on vehicles that drive through busy city streets. Additionally, they screen these drivers and ensure they hit at least 30 miles a day so your brand is broadcasted everywhere.

Once seen, their tracking technology logs each impression. They then use the data gathered to digitally retarget consumers. Creating familiarity, trust, and bringing the best of two advertisement worlds into one.

Both Margaux Pages and Gaia Amatteis share their journey from working in corporations to now leading a startup. 

Wadi Ben-Hirki is an education advocate from Nigeria, founder of the Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation which she created to impact the lives of the less privileged, marginalized and disadvantaged through humanitarianism and activism.

She is a ONE Campaign Champion, focusing on the #GirlsCount campaign, which advocates for the education of the 130 million out-of-school girls around the world.

She was the selected Nigerian leader who led the Canadian High Commissioner in Nigeria, H.E. Christopher Thornley, in the #SheCANLead campaign to show the abilities of an educated and empowered young girl and the need for every girl to have access to quality education.

As a result of her advocacy, she was selected to serve on the African Leadership Institute Youth Advisory Board and several other conferences and programs.

By day Sandra is the Chief Content Director of SAP Next-Gen - A Purpose Driven Innovation Community based on the UN Global Goals, as well as heading up SAP Next-Gen's Global Gender Agenda. Sandra has always been a feminist at heart, advocating for women's rights in many places, from being a member of the Stanford WiDS (Women in Data Science) Committee, to sitting on the UN Women Silicon Valley Board, and driving programs to bring balance to the force of gender equality. The Feminist Portfolio brings together Sandra's passion for art and feminist documentation into a beautiful and meaningful collection of feminist thought leadership.

Patricia Lawman, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Morphogenesis, Inc. since 2003, received her graduate education in molecular biology and immunology from the College of Medicine at the University of Florida where she also served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. Prior to founding Morphogenesis, Dr. Lawman was Division Director of Cancer Molecular Biology at the Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute. She has held adjunct faculty positions at the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida and has served on numerous committees at local/state/federal levels. Dr. Lawman holds over 30 patents and as many publications and has received multiple business and scientific honors. Morphogenesis is an emerging clinical stage cell and gene therapy company. The company is testing its off-the-shelf, personalized cancer immunotherapy in two ongoing human clinical trials with a Phase II skin cancer basket trial planned for 2020.

Mary Helda Akongo is the fundi Girls lead at Fundi Bots an organization that is accelerating science learning in Africa. She is also the former operations and programs manager at Zimba Women: a Ugandan Organization that finds technological solutions to create sustainable future for African Women. Being a survivor of gender-based violence, she hopes to inspire other young women (and men) to speak out and break the silence against GBV.

Mary Helda has been awarded the Facebook Social Entrepreneurship Award and the 25 under 25 award by the Internet Society for her exceptional work with Zimba Women. She recently won the World Bank #Blog4Dev writing competition for penning a brilliant story on her experience as a victim of gender-based violence and her work with Roaring Doves.

Qualified lawyer at The Brazilian Bar Association. Paula holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Diploma on Internet Governance. Passionate about technology with global experience in Internet-related issues and Public Policy, is currently working on defending Digital Rights. Researcher at IP.rec - Law and Technology Research Institute of Recife. Former Vice President of the Commission on Information and Technology Law of the Brazilian Bar Association in Pernambuco. Former Policy Fellow at the Internet Society (ISOC). Recognized by ISOC as a 25 under 25 awardee, one of the 25 people under the age of 25 who are making positive changes using the Internet as a tool for good. Alumna of the Brazilian School on Internet Governance of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee and Youth Fellow at the UN Internet Governance Forum. Paula is native in Portuguese and speaks English, Spanish and French.

Kieran is the Director of Strategic Growth at BeniComp Health Solutions. She leverages 12+ years in professional selling, communications, and operations with her expertise in health insurance to deliver strategic solutions to self-funded employers. Kieran is leading the movement toward the future of health insurance with an unprecedented approach that brings prevention, health data, transparency, and innovative technology to the industry. Her approach empowers entire populations to improve their health while lowering the cost of group healthcare, freeing up cash flow and reducing profit leak for companies. She has collaborated with over 1,000 advisers and 3,000 employer groups in addition to vetting over 250 of the nation's top cost-containment vendors to build BeniComp's self-funded health insurance model, IncentiCare. Her mission is to offer a best-in-class health insurance solution that exposes hidden fees and aligns population health with organizational goals. Many say that Kieran holds the best-kept secret in health insurance.

Dr. Carey Latimore is an associate professor of history at Trinity University who has a passion and love for God’s word. An ordained minister, Carey is excited about connecting his faith to his scholarly interests and community concerns. Among his many projects, he has worked with Urban Ministries (UMI) on their Vacation Bible School curriculum and wrote their Building a City on a Hill adult student book. His current project, “Stories of Faith and Inspiration: African Americans’ Journey to Canaan” will be published by Discovery House. Carey and his wife Almie reside in San Antonio, Texas and enjoy traveling and visiting his family in Virginia and her family in Samar, Philippines.

Lauren Wright is the CEO and founder of the Biotech breastfeeding startup. Lauren Wright integrates her immunology researcher & Nurse Practitioner experience to design breakthrough Biome & Breastfeeding innovations. She is the founder of a biotech company and Patented infant feeding system called The Natural Nipple. Her passion is providing families with bio-feedback solutions to confidently build immunity and lifelong development.

Lauren and her team are working on a new initiative during the pandemic by providing PPE to NYC hospitals.