top of page

Athena Speaker Directory
FIND TOP STEM SPEAKERS

Explore Athena's diverse talent roster to find the right STEM Speaker for your next event, conference, or board retreat. Securing a diverse conference speaker lineup requires lots of intentional work and this one-stop directory offers decades of experience among these female thought leaders in STEM. Directly contact any of these dynamic speakers to capture the unique perspectives from these leaders.

To become a Featured Speaker, email staff@athenaSTEMwomen.org.

HollySmithson

Cheryl Aranha

Principal Engineer

Intuit

Software Architecture, Mobile, Building a career as an Individual Contributor, Mentorship and Accessibility

Linkedin Logo Silver

HollySmithson

Sarah Bacerra

Founder

Trailblazing in Color

EXPERTISE: People Innovator | Human Lover | Inclusion Pusher | Learning & Performance Leader | Certified High Performance Coach | Certified DISC Facilitator

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Startup San Diego - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Panel | The Center for Respectful Leadership - Changemaker Spotlight

HollySmithson

Kimbra Brookstein

Staff Program Manager - Tech Women @ Intuit

Intuit

EXPERTISE: Women In Tech | Diversity In Tech | Building Inclusive Environments | ERGs | Allyship | Building Communities | Brand Building | Networking | Corporate Culture

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Blueprint for Success - Athena Pinnacle Award Winners | Male Allyship: Supporting Women in Tech - Women of Rady | Women Tech Leaders - GA & Yelp Panel | Moderator - San Diego Tech Women's Summit - IWD Panel | Surviving COVID: How to pivot during crisis - SD Women’s Venture Summit | Moderator, SD Resources To Level up Your Career - SDTWS | Moderator, Girls In Tech - SD: The different type of dev roles you can have in tech | Women In Tech Panel - Startup San Diego Convergence/Girls In Tech SD | Creating Tech Opportunities For Community Change - Western Regional Diversity Conference | How I Started Working In Tech - GeekGirl TechCon | Women In Tech: The Resources You Need To Level Up In SD - SDSW

HollySmithson

Noushin Dunkelman

Founder & CEO

MaxSynergy

EXPERTISE: Organizational Development in Biotech Spaces | Communication Strategy | Operation Structure | Culture Development | Team and Talent Development

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: SDEE | AWIS Conference Speaker | Lunchbio | SDBSA | EvoNexus | NCHR

HollySmithson

Neha Giri

Software Architect

Intuit

EXPERTISE: Software Architecture | Open Source Software & How Women Can Get Involved | Building a Career in Software Architecture | Mentoring Framework and Best Practices to Support Women in Tech

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Grace Hopper Conference 2021 & 2020 "How to Make Your First Open Source Contribution" | Intuit Panel "Diversity and Inclusion"

HollySmithson

Kristin "KG" Gustafson

CEO and Founder

Skapa Bio

EXPERTISE: CHRO Leadership in Biotech | Talent Management | HR System Optimization | Culture, Learning and Organizational Development in Biotech Space | Communication Strategy | Team Development

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Equilar Annual Conference | Women in Bio | Biocom | Radford Reward Annual Meeting | LeapHR | SHRM

HollySmithson

Kerstin Kirchsteiger, Ph. D.

Founder, CEO, Executive Coach

Kerstin K Leadership Consulting

Making your organization irresistible - Talent attraction & retention made easy | Brain Science for High Performance | Driving innovation through DEI&B for parents and neurodiverse employees | Motherhood as a leadership position. How to translate new skills to propel your career forward | Other topics upon request

Linkedin Logo Silver

Stable Mama Podcast - Motherhood has prepared you to be a great leader | Love Your Life Show Podcast - Emotional Intelligence with Kerstin Kirchsteiger

HollySmithson

Sheryl Kline

Founder & CEO

The Zone Lab, LLC

Defuse Emotionally Charged Conversations and Remain Highly Influential
Expertise: Mental Toughness and High Performance for Women in the Workplace via the 1:1 Fearless Female Leadership Coaching Proven Process | Speaking I Enterprise Digital Journey I Gain Olympic-Level Clarity on What's Next I Build Confidence to See it Through I Learn FBI-like Strategic Influence to Gain Buy-In From Leadership
Fearless Female Leadership Podcast Host

Linkedin Logo Silver

United Nations Global Leadership Summit I Women of Silicon Valley Conference (opened both days) I Women in Technology Network | CREW National Convention | Women of the Channel Conference NYC/Palm Springs | Oracle | VM Ware | Microsoft | Insight Enterprises I Bank of America I Autodesk I State Street Global Advisors I UC Berkeley Haas School of Business I CaptialOne I Hewlett Packard Enterprises I Pixar I SHRM

HollySmithson

Cynthia Long, LSSMBB, PMP

Senior Manager and Change Leader BPR Continuous Improvement

Intuit

EXPERTISE: Revolutionary Leader for Continuous Improvement | Business Transformation Strategist | Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt | Public Speaker | Philanthropist | Mentor

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: Strategic Conversations - Mentoring and Beyond (Women in Technology Festival) | Data - Driving from the Customer Seat (Intuit) | Cost of Complexity (Intuit) | Surviving Domestic Violence (Compass Center For Women and Families)

HollySmithson

Cynthia Lopez

Team Lead

San Diego Gas & Electric

EXPERTISE: Operations | Speaking Up | Mentoring Females In STEM | Leadership | Team Development and Independence

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Alumni Speaker | San Diego State University Electrical Engineering Panel | SDG&E City Council Meeting | D&I Speaker | SDG&E Virtual Career Fair for Women In Construction

HollySmithson

Susan Poser

Vice President, Culture and Engagement

Oracle

EXPERTISE: Managing Your Career as a JOB (Joy, Opportunity, Brand) | Attracting & Engaging Employees for Success | Being an Ally to Drive D&I

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Ascend Inspiring Across Generations | San Diego State University Aztec Mentor Program Talks | Oracle Women Leaders | Oracle Professional Asian Leadership | Out & Equal Summit | San Diego Women's Week

HollySmithson

Lauren Ross

Senior Associate

Fragomen

EXPERTISE: Options for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals to Work in the United States | Pathways to Permanent Residence for Non-Citizen STEM Professionals | Immigration as a Recruiting Tool for STEM Employers | Naturalization & Citizenship Law

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: 2022 AILA Border Issues Virtual Conference | Tech San Diego Presents | AILA California Chapters Conference | AILA Annual Conference on Immigration Law | AILA Agora | MBL Benefits | ILW Audio Seminar | New York Law Journal

HollySmithson

Manna Semby

Founder & CEO

Aruna Personalized Medicine and Center for Cognitive Resilience

Navigating Midlife Health Changes with Naturopathic & Functional Medicine, Navigating Perimenopause & Menopause, Hormone Optimization, Preventing & Reversing Early Stages of Dementia

Linkedin Logo Silver

In-person Talks to specialized groups on
§ The Perimenopause “Broken Rung” Hypothesis: Bridging Health and Career Gaps for Women in Corporate America. I expand on my theory that under-optimized levels of hormones in women’s bodies may be an under-acknowledged factor in causing women to downshift their careers as they climb the rungs of promotion in corporations and business.
§ The Value of Being Proactive About Midlife Health: Perimenopause, menopause, brain health, osteoporosis, sexual health, body composition changes, mood changes, genitourinary changes… how addressing all these changes in a timely fashion could move women up the corporate ladder by a big margin.
o Workshops and Webinars: How to Prevent Dementia, The Importance of Heart Health for Women, Heart Health = Brain Health
o Expert Panel: How ReCODE 2.0 Can Help Prevent Dementia
o Podcasts: Numerous

HollySmithson

Holly Smithson

CEO

Athena

EXPERTISE: Women’s Leadership Advocate & Keynote Speaker | Diversity & Inclusion for Corporate Culture | Data-driven Strategies on DE&I & Profits | Why Male Allyship is Key to DE&I

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: United Nations 74th General Assembly | The Atlantic Magazine - Innovators Lab | DeviceTalks West Conference | BD’s International Women Day Conference | Illumina's Destination for Diversity - Advancing Women in a Global STEM Hub | 2023 VMUG UserCon

HollySmithson

Hitomi Taguchi

Certified Life and Career Coach

EXPERTISE: Leadership and Coaching Skills for Scientists and Engineers | Confidence | Renaissance Soul | Creativity

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: American Chemical Society | Electrochemical Society | Pittcon | TEDx | US Department of Energy - Energy Frontier Research Centers | Universities

HollySmithson

Dr. Alessandra Wall

Founder

Noteworthy

EXPERTISE: Psychologist | Leadership | Women in Tech | Executive Coaching | Career Planning | Building Social Capital | Speaking Up | Finding Allies

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena Leadership Academy | Opting In: Becoming a Male Ally in the Workplace | Women's Week San Diego | European Women's Network | Marine Corps | Cisco | Northrup| HP | Bank of America

HollySmithson

Anne Welsh, PhD, ACC

Clinical Psychologist & Executive Coach

Dr. Anne Welsh

EXPERTISE: Supporting working parents, Navigating parental leave for employees and managers, Emotional Intelligence, Workplace wellness, Mental health, Perinatal mental health, Women in STEM leadership, Mindfulness as a leadership tool, Fair Play (sharing the mental load) as a leadership tool

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: Technology Networks, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, University of New Hampshire, Harvard University, Women In ETFs, Cambridge Preschool of the Arts, Podcast guest on over 15 podcasts including Wisecast: Women In STEM, Brave Women at Work, and Mission First, People Always.

HollySmithson

Shirley Yager

Director, Product Management

Qualcomm

EXPERTISE: Business Strategy | New Business Opportunity Analysis | Market Research | Business and Product Development | Startup Consulting | Mentorship | Career Coaching

Linkedin Logo Silver

SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena Racing Podcast | Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance | San Diego State University Aztec Mentorship Program | Various Qualcomm women's groups

bottom of page