Early on, Kim Chanel first got her first start in music by interning for record labels such as, Def Jam in the Digital Marketing department, Atlantic Records, in the Video production department and lastly, Epic Records in the Urban Promotions department. Along with that, Kim Chanel has made an effort to build an organic social media platform, which connects with her growing audience through the continuous engagement. Kim Chanel’s eclectic taste in music and her authentic take on the art form brought her a following that has allowed her multiple opportunities. With her platform, she has been able to connect with music aficionados of all kinds from many parts of the world and organize events in various cites that appeal to her audience’s interests with her partner Junae Brown.

Kim Chanel holds B.A in Communications from Pace University New York City

Laura is an executive with extensive sales management and legal experience in the information technology industry. Her most recent prior position was Senior Vice President, North America Sales at Aspect Software. Prior to that role, she was Vice President of Strategic Services at IBM and closed the first $200M+, 5-year long-term services transformational deal with a leading insurer/healthcare provider in Spanish South America.

She also was Vice President, Public Sector, West IMT, North America Group leading a $2.2B sales organization which supported the State and Local Government, Education, Healthcare and Life Sciences industries. In that capacity, she generated 11 out of 13 quarters of positive growth, holding or taking market share in all quarters except one. She also led the Smarter Cities/Smarter Planet and the North America Healthcare Growth Initiatives.

Laura’s prior IBM positions included Vice President, Services Business Development, S&D Communications Sector, Director & Senior Client Solutions Executive for Global Technology Services, and Director of Contracts & Negotiations for Global Business Development. Before joining IBM, she was Vice President of Business Development at Rational Software. Prior to Rational, Laura was at Sun Microsystems, Inc. where she held a variety of executive-level positions including Senior Director of Market Development and Strategic Planning, and General Counsel of the Consumer and Embedded Software Division. Prior to joining Sun, she was Managing Attorney for North American Sales at Cisco Systems, Inc. and a Senior Counsel at Apple Computer, Inc. Prior to Apple, Laura was in private corporate and securities law practice at a law firm in San Francisco.

Laura received her Bachelor of Science degree “with distinction” in International Business Administration at San Jose State University, her Masters in Business Administration degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley in Finance and International Business Administration, and her Juris Doctorate from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. At Boalt, she was awarded “Best Oral Argument” for First Year Moot Court, and served as Articles Editor for the International Tax and Business Lawyer Journal. She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of California.

Laura has held leadership positions in community and business professional organizations. She has served as President of the Barristers Section of the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. Laura has been a member of the Development Council for the Haas School of Business, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Boalt Hall School of Law Alumni Association. She is a recipient of the 2008 YWCA of Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award (TWIN). Laura is a member of the Women’s Forum of New York, an Advisory Committee Member of the 92Y’s Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact, a member of the Board of Directors of the Metro NY Chapter of the USNC for United Nations Women, a member of the Women’s Leadership Council for the United Way of New York, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Intrepid Museum

Beyond her work at Geenie, Chana founded littlebigGirl + CO, a NYC-based impact branding/marketing studio servicing non-profit, entertainment/media and technology clients. As a marketer committed to racial and social justice, she has worked with clients such as The Andrew Goodman Foundation, Netflix, Firelight Media and Discovery on new program piloting, documentary film releases and digital design and social media campaigns.

Chana’s interests lie at the intersection of innovation, women’s leadership and changemaking. She and her projects have been featured in blogs and online media properties including Forbes, MadameNoire, HerAgenda, Black Enterprise and UPTOWN. She frequently speaks on entrepreneurship, digital marketing and empowering women leaders and has participated on panels/talks at Social Media Week, Civic Hall, High School for Tourism and Hospitality (Bronx, NY), Pipeline Fellowship Conference, and 3 Day Startup.

Chana serves on the Millennial Advisory Committee of The Andrew Goodman Foundation and the Young Professionals Committee of 651 ARTS. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Currently, the Lead Technology Transfer Specialist contractor for NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (NASA AFRC) Janeya focuses on licensing and management of the intellectual property portfolio in the Technology Transfer Office (TTO). Over the last 4 years, she has successfully aided in vetting over 100 technologies for both patentability and commercialization potential. She manages and coordinates the New Technology Review Committee (NTRC) which evaluates the potential to commercialize technology created at NASA. This process heavily involves interaction with a diverse set of NASA Inventors, PI’s, and Senior leadership. She also leads multiple outreach initiatives engaging and vetting potential licensees or key decision makers on behalf of NASA AFRC.

Prior to supporting NASA AFRC’s TTO, Ms. Griffin provided her commercialization expertise as an Integrated Technology Transfer (ITTN) Fellow/business consultant for the Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane Division’s Director of Technology Transfer, where she conducted technology assessments and recommended strategies serving as roadmaps to commercialization for several technologies within their Intellectual Property portfolio. During her time as an ITTN Fellow she also provided consulting expertise as a business analyst to Emerging Growth Enterprise, LLC and Innovation Economy Connect, where she advanced the commercialization of government born technologies. More specifically the National Institute of Health and the Federal Drug Administration.

Ms. Griffin was elected to the National Executive Board of the Federal Laboratory Consortium as a member at large in 2015. She holds a certification in Entrepreneurial Technology Commercialization from California State University- San Bernardino and two Bachelor of Science degrees in Criminal Justice and Chemistry with a concentration in Forensic Science from Grambling State University.

In 2013, the U.S. State Department, as part of its program in Economic Statecraft, sponsored Kim for an eight-day speaking tour of Belgium and The Netherlands, addressing entrepreneurs, women, and business. Before joining Inc., Kim was a senior editor at BusinessWeek, where she directed all coverage of small business and entrepreneurship and was the founding editor of a spin-off publication devoted to small business.

Denise is also the co-founder of my.harveyneeds.org which is platform she created to support the relief effort after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston. My.harveyneeds.org connects donors interested in donating directly to families in need.

Denise is a problem solver who lends her creativity to many non-profit organizations and initiatives in Houston and throughout the United States most recently contributing to the HeForShe campaign of the United Nations, the Rise School of Houston, Dress for Success, the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce and many others. Denise cares deeply about the community and serves as a board member and community leader in numerous charitable and quasi-governmental organizations.

Denise is a gifted speaker and presents often on a number of topics including executive female leadership, professional growth and empowerment, education, and diversity.

You can find out more about her work with female leadership and empowerment at WatchHerWork.com.

In 2010, Ms. Jacques founded BLACK STREET. BLACK STREET was originally created as a digital platform to change the narrative of the Black community and its representation. The platform further aided in the destruction of stereotypes while educating within and outside communities that the Black community has more to offer to the world than sports and entertainment. We always have and will continue to do so in momentous ways. Soon after, the umbrella organization birthed the following subsidiaries:

BLACK CELEBRATION AWARDS Black tie awards ceremony honoring elite and celebrity individuals in 20 different industries. Also, within each industry a “People’s Choice” winner will be chosen. Totaling 40 honorees each ceremony. This ceremony is to be held every February during Black History Month.
BLACK WOMEN IN MEDIA BWIM is a platform created to recognize women of color who are innovators within the media realm. This initiative was also created as a platform for other Black women currently in the media industry to receive a wealth of information from those who have attained renowned success in their respective fields. BWIM will host an awards ceremony every March during Women’s History Month
BLACK CULINARY EXPO An expo for Black Culinarians to showcase their work along with reintroducing our culture within and outside our communities. This celebration will entail demos, competitions, panels, tastings, company features, and of course entertainment!
Ms. Jacques is known to make the impossible happen. She has honored and recognized hundreds of phenomenal and elite individuals such as:(but not limited): Isaiah Washington- Actor, Sheryl Lee Ralph- Actress & Singer, Beverly Bond- Founder of Black Girls Rock, Mikki Taylor- Author & Editor At Large of ESSENCE Magazine, Lauren Lake- Lawyer & TV Personality, Cheryl Wills- News Anchor & Talk Show Host, Michaela Angela Davis- Image Activist & Cultural Commentator, Demetria Lucas- Author & Journalist, Bevy Smith- TV & Radio Personality, Valeisha Butterfield-Jones- Head of Black Community Engagement at GOOGLE, Miko Branch- Co-Founder of Miss Jessie’s, Nicole Johnson- Emmy Winning Journalist.

Chrissa exudes creativity and is a high-performing strategic thinker and excellent team-builder. She’s an entrepreneur with a passion for creating cutting-edge healthcare products that transform the face of healthcare delivery in the US and abroad. She brings over 10 years in the healthcare industry conducting research and managing teams. She holds notable international published research in healthcare and has helped create breakthrough digital health companies that have provided services to companies such as Tumblr, Blue Apron, Casper and Meetup.

Her passion for health care began as early as high school, where she conducted microbiology research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and won top honors at the Otto Burgdorf Research Competition. Later at Cornell University, Chrissa worked with organizations such as the United States Department of Agriculture-Robert Holey Center for Agriculture and Health and Cayuga Medical Center. After teaching Math and Science for a year in an underserved community inside the Atlanta Public School system, Chrissa decided to pursue business school. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude from Cornell, and a Masters in Management from the Wake Forest University School of Business.

Chrissa resides in Atlanta and Tweets at @ChrissaTanelia.

Edmonds was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy as the first full-time Technology Transfer Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in April 2010. In that role, Edmonds was responsible for working with the DOE’s national laboratories to accelerate the advancement of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace. She has also held positions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and TRW, Inc. (now Northrop Grumman). Edmonds has co-authored two patent applications in the area of noise reduction for the automotive environment.

Edmonds has been a long-standing advocate for the promotion of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, especially for underrepresented students and women. She has served as a member of the White House Speaker Bureau that promotes STEM careers to women and girls. Her advocacy for STEM spans several decades, including her role as a founding member and volunteer for Science is Fun Inc. while still an undergraduate at the University of Rhode Island (URI). She currently serves on the boards of the URI Foundation, ConnectEd California, and the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at University of California, Los Angeles.

She received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from URI, where she was inducted into its Engineering Hall of Fame in 2011 and was named a Distinguished Alumna in 2013. She holds an MS and PhD in Aeronautics with a minor in Materials Science from Caltech.