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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@athenasd.org.

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Lola Adeyemo

Founder & CEO

EQI Mindset

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: ATHENA, Gritty Leadership Conference (GrittyMovement), AWIS Conference Speaker (AWIS San Diego), RACE Stories (Boulder Storyslam ), Speaker (Power to Fly Network), Project Management Institute, Healthcare Business Women Association (HBA), Podcast Guest Speaker (Inclusion 1st ), Women Venture Summit Speaker (Women Ventures)

EXPERTISE: Building Winning TEAMs, Employee Resource Groups, Career Transitions, Mentoring, Working Parent

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Shirin Alipanah

Principal

Avasant

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: SIM San Diego - Women in Technology Leadership, Society of Communications Technology Consultants International - Technology Trends and Cloud Migration Strategies for 2022, Avasant / HCL - Driving Business Agility Through End-to-End Digital Transformation, Avasant - Enabling Business Transformation Through Digital Customer Journeys, ISSA - Blockchain Implementation Journey

EXPERTISE: Technology Evangelist, Manufacturing, Retail, CPG, QSR

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Sarah Bacerra

Founder

Trailblazing in Color

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

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

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Carolina Bravo-Karimi

Partner

Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP

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SPEAKING APPERANCES: Athena, Association of Corporate Counsel, University of San Diego School of Law, ChIPs Orange County Chapter, SunLaw, Federal Bar Association, California State Bar, San Diego Employer Association

EXPERTISE: Employment Law, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Workplace Investigations, Workplace Culture, Trainings on Inclusive Communication, Unconscious Bias, and Microaggressions

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Kimbra Brookstein

Staff Program Manager - Tech Women @ Intuit

Intuit

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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

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

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Noushin Dunkelman

Founder & CEO

MaxSynergy

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SPEAKING APPEARANCE/AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: SDEE, AWIS Conference speaker, Lunchbio, SDBSA, EvoNexus & NCHR

EXPERTISE: Organizational Development in biotech space. Communication strategy, Operation structure, Culture Development, Team and Talent Development

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Neha Giri

Software Architect

Intuit

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

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

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Kristin "KG" Gustafson

CEO and Founder

Skapa Bio

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

EXPERTISE: CHRO Leadership in Biotech, Talent Management, HR System Optimization, Culture, Learning and Organizational Development in biotech space. Communication strategy, Team Development

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Christina Hepburn

Staff Talent Acquisition Specialist

Illumina

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena - Negotiating Your Success

EXPERTISE: Negotiation, Talent Acquisition

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Cynthia Long, LSSMBB, PMP

Senior Manager and Change Leader BPR Continuous Improvement

Intuit

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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)

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

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Cynthia Lopez

Team Lead

San Diego Gas & Electric

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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

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

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Molly McElwee Malloy, RN, CDCES

Senior Medical Science Liaison

Tandem Diabetes Care

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: ADCES (American Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists) past spokesperson, ADA (American Diabetes Association), and various Grand Rounds in the United States and Canada

EXPERTISE: Insulin Algorithms and Data Interpretation, Diabetes Technology, Patient Advocacy and Engagement, Medical Device Clinical Trials and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access in Healthcare

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Shawnnah Monterrey

CEO

BeanStock Ventures

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Software as a Medical Device with the FDA; SLAS Women in Computer Science; MDSD The benefits and challenges with developing a software platform; SDSU Business Panel Discussion; PMWC FDA Regulation, A Peek into AI Proposed Regulatory Framework

EXPERTISE: Leadership, Product Development, Medical Device, Software, Regulatory

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Susan Poser

Vice President, Customer & Employee Experience

Oracle

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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

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

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Tiffany Rosik

Founder & CEO

TGR Management Consulting

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Financial Executives International (FEI) San Diego Chapter, American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) San Diego Chapter, Athena Women on Boards Panel Discussion, SharpHeels Conferences, PMI San Diego, BioPharma Project Management Conference, and Podcast guest speaking on Cybersecurity, Technology, and Leadership.

EXPERTISE: Technology Strategy, Strategic Planning Processes, Program Management, Operational Efficiency

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Lauren Ross

Senior Associate

Fragomen

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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

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

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Leslie Schulze

President & CEO (Fractional CFO)

Cornerstone Business Solutions, Inc.

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: CFO Fireside Chat, - Finance and Accounting for Bioscience Companies East Conference

EXPERTISE: Finance, Accounting, Operations & administration; Financing activities, including (venture capital (VC) financing, non-dilutive funding (including government contracts and grants), corporate collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and asset acquisitions/sales)

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Holly Smithson

CEO

Athena

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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

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

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Irina Telyukova

Senior VP of Analytics

Mulligan Funding

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SPEAKING EXPERIENCE | Visiting Research Scholar/Economist - International Monetary Fund: Assistant Professor, Economics - University of California San Diego

EXPERTISE: Analytics/Data, Economics, Mindfulness, and Meditation

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Dr. Alessandra Wall

Founder

Noteworthy

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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

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

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Shirley Yager

Director, Product Management

Qualcomm

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SPEAKING APPEARANCES: Athena Racing podcast, Sales & Marketing Leadership Alliance, San Diego State University Aztec Mentorship Program, various Qualcomm women's groups

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

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