Challenging Gender Bias in Entrepreneurship
Speakers & Panelists
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Guest speakers

Adri Aguilar
FOUNDER LADDER PROGRAM – GUATEMALA
Adriana Aguilar has over 20 years of experience in business management, data programming and education for teenagers, adults and people with special needs. Founder of Yuxtem in 2015.
2018 Fellow of Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI). Current member of the Alumni Advisory Board and head of their Alumni Mentoring Committee.
Found Ladder Program in 2017, a program focused to increase women’s income, especially for those vulnerable to violence.
More recently, she participated as speaker in entrepreneurship, women and technology events in Guatemala, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, Texas (USA) and Malaysia. In 2020 she became a mentor and advisory board member for wiseHer.
Challenging gender bias in entrepreneurship: Wednesday March 24, @ 10:30am CST

Kathryn Rose
FOUNDER OF WISEHER – US
Kathryn Rose is an innovator, serial entrepreneur and the founding CEO of wiseHer, a global knowledge marketplace that helps women, business owners and professionals overcome unique challenges on-demand through 1:1 access to thousands of executives, coaches/mentors, education and resources that accelerate business or career growth. She is a former Wall Street executive sales leader and an author of 9 books. She has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, CBS Marketwatch, Fox News and more.
Kathryn is a highly sought after speaker at leading global industry events with technology powerhouses– Google, IBM, Dell Technologies and women focused events– Women in Tech Summit and the Grace Hopper Celebration focused on helping technology professionals, women and small business leaders achieve a higher level of success. Kathryn is on the faculty for the IT leading association COMPTIA and a member of the Executive Council of Advancing Women in Technology and a sales coach for MBA candidates at Harvard Business School.
The value of your work: Wednesday March 24, @ 10:10am CST

Jennifer Schell
YLAI ALUMNI BOARD CHAIR – FOUNDER OF TRABAJA MAMA – VENEZUELA
Women & Mother; Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Fermin Toro University and is a specialist in gender and African studies. Jennifer has more 10 years of domestic (Venezuela) and international (Ethiopia, Kenya, India and United States) work experience, Current Chair of the Young Leaders of the Americas Alumni Board.
Opening remarks: Wednesday March 24, @ 10:00am CST

Erin Willet
FOUNDER THE TAP IN TEAM – CANADA
Erin Willett is a Leadership & Culture Strategist and Founder of The Tap In Team based on Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Erin is a hippie, a lover of individuality and a change advocate. She is driven by the belief that the most strategic companies have soulful approaches. Using her proprietary brand and culture building methodology, she has spent the last decade shaping strategies for authentic communication and strong business connections. Specialized in leadership development, creative facilitation and vision articulation, Erin coaches companies in building magnetic cultures that lean courageously into change.
Erin has supported leadership, brand and culture development across growth phases and company-sizes working with fast-growth startups the likes of Goalcast, established organizations like Air Canada & Sun Life and e-commerce leaders like Shopify.
https://Erinwillett.ca
Courage, Self-Love & Change: Wednesday March 24, @ 10:45am CST

Mira Vasic
SENIOR PARTNER CO-OWNER OF IN TOUCH – THE NETHERLANDS
Dr. ing. Mira Vasic is a Senior Partner, co-owner of ‘In Touch Female Leadership & Career Academy’ and Senior Lecturer at MBA programs of Politecnico di Milano Business School. She is an expert on topics of female leadership and gender-diversity and she is a career advisor for people living all around the world. In the past ten years, she has been working as a researcher and consultant for both commercial and governmental sectors in Serbia, Spain, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. Mira has a tremendous passion for leadership development and empowering women. She also holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (2015) and fluently speaks 4 languages. Mira is a frequently asked international speaker. Her value is her enthusiastic approach and her great sense of humour.
The unwritten rules: Wednesday March 24, @ 11:05am CST

Ricardo Valencia
FOUNDER PARTNER AT ADDEREXMX – YLAI FELLOW 2018
Networking, together we do more: Wednesday March 24, @ 11:25am CST

Abbigale Loncke
FOUNDER & CEO OF THE LONCKE GROUP – YLAI ALUMNI BOARD MEMBER
Based in Georgetown, Guyana, Abbigale is a widely known and celebrated business leader in the country. She is the founder and CEO of the Loncke Group, a business enterprise consisting of three companies. Her fastest-growing firm is MBW Energy Support Services, a comprehensive oil and gas service advisory that advises companies entering the Guyanese energy market. In 2017, she launched WeLead Caribbean, a not-for-profit dedicated to the economic and social advancement of Guyanese women. Through its partnership with ExxonMobil, the Nico Consulting Group, and U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, WeLead has trained over 300 Guyanese women and hosted five regional women entrepreneur and empowerment conferences.
Abbigale is a frequent traveler throughout North America and Europe, promoting entrepreneurism and economic growth in the Caribbean and South America. She holds degrees from the London School of International Business and the Open University.
Closing remarks: Wednesday March 24, @ 11:45am CST
Panel: Women’s entrepreneurship in Latin America & The Caribbean

Odile Cortes
FOUNDER OF INTEGRARSE – YLAI FELLOW 2018 – MEXICO
COO and co-founder of IntegraRSE, a social responsibility consultancy. She is an internationalist political scientist with a degree in social responsibility.
She is a Mentor of the Climate Reality Project, of the Global Compact in the Young Innovators program and Fellow of the Young Leaders of America Initiative. She has experience in the development of productive projects and generation of sustainable corporate strategies. She created Dando y Dando in 2019, a project that sells products with a cause to help civil associations with their profits.
She constantly collaborates in media such as Newsweek enEspañol, CNN México, Forbes and Animal Político with opinion columns around sustainable and social issues. She believes in a sustainable future and that is why she is a professor of responsibility and social innovation at the Tecnológico de Monterrey and Universidad Anáhuac.
Panel moderator: Wednesday March 24, @ 12:10pm CST

Andrea Mazariegos
ECOSYSTEM FACILITATOR AT SWISSCONTACT & START UP GUATEMALA – GUATEMALA
Engineer by profession and entrepreneur by passion, Andrea has founded and led startups and worked in the corporate world. Certified in New Business Leadership by MIT, she is currently leading the Action Research project for Swisscontact, co-creating tools and interventions to improve the local entrepreneurial ecosystem in Guatemala.
Guest panelist

Cecile Ney
IMPACT & KNOWLEDGE MANAGER AT AGORA PARTNERSHIPS – NICARAGUA
Cecile has +10 years of experience in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe and Latin America, focusing on acceleration processes and impact strategy. She is passionate about promoting and supporting people who make a difference in the world. She is currently the Impact & Knowledge Manager at Agora Partnerships.
She is part of Global Shapers and was a Curator of the Hub of Managua (Nicaragua) in 2019. Cecile is also a Multiplicator B of the Sistema B network and a Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Thomas More University in Managua.
Guest panelist

Tamara Isch
YLAI FELLOW 2018 – TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR – ECUADOR
Tamara is the co-founder and operations manager of ecx-labs, an Ecuadorian innovation laboratory. Ecx-labs focuses on the development of cost-effective advanced technologies, including sensors, industrial systems, and educational systems. She is a Chemical Engineer from the National Polytechnic School, and has more than seven years of experience with organizations for and with the rights of children and adolescents, which is largely expressed in some ecx-labs projects that seek to solve current problems of boys, girls and adolescents in Ecuador.
Guest panelist

Daniela Ancira
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR – MEXICO
Daniela has a degree in Law from the Universidad Anáhuac México Norte and a Master in Human Rights and Democracy from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (“FLACSO – Mexico”). She is co-founder and General Director of La Cana, a social company dedicated to training and providing employment to women in prison as well as to creating social reintegration programs within prison, through the implementation of workshops and activities aimed at the integral development of the person, in order to help reduce recidivism and crime rates in Mexico.
In the professional field, he has worked as a litigant in matters of Human Rights and protection of victims at the national and international level, and collaborated with various organizations in the litigation of cases of Human Rights violations before the United Nations Committee Against Torture and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She has worked in renowned firms on issues of Civil and Commercial Law, Corporate and Intellectual Property. She is a Fellow of international organizations such as Ashoka, Vital Voices, Women Leaders for the World, Global GoodFund, and FutureLeadersConnect of the British Council, and in 2018 she was named Citizen of the Year.
Guest panelist

Jackeline Salas
NATURAL PRODUCTS ENTREPRENEUR – PERU
Jackie is a green influencer, she believes and creates a better world. She is also the mother of two children and a Peruvian businesswoman.
Since 2014 she began to develop in artisan cosmetics. Improving and optimizing the manufacture her line of organic, ecological and eco-conscious cosmetic products.
She is a feminist activist for women’s rights, human rights and the environment. Jackie, studied business administration with focus on Human Resources.
One of her objectives is for children to learn good environmental practices from home, so she teaches children to create and practices ecological habits.
Guest panelist

Evie Kanhai-Gurchuran
SERIAL ENTREPENEUR – GUYANA
Evie Kanhai-Gurchuran is the Volunteer Managing Director of Girls in Tech – Guyana chapter, Girls in Tech is one of the largest non-profits for the support of women in STEM, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence worldwide.
She is also the founder of Girls+ Technology, an initiative formed in collaboration with her company Sites Builders (a web, ecommerce, and mobile design firm), Chaski Global (a global visual analytics firm), the International Development Bank and the US State Department. Through the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Program, she was ableto collect data and produce findings on the opportunity gaps for women in ICT and Technology, especially in education and employment.
As a multi-award winning social and innovation conscious woman, she uses her platform to mentor and encourage other young women in career goals and growth through various programs, many of which she has created.
Evie is a mother of three girls andis married to Miguel Gurchuran. She resides in Georgetown, Guyana.
Guest panelist

Ester Athanásio
MEDIA ENTREPENEUR – BRAZIL
Ester Athanásio is a Journalist, Master in Communication and PhD in Public Policy. Founder of DePropósito Causes Communication, a social business. She is a fellow of the Young Leader of Americas Initiative (YLAI) 2018, a professional exchange program of the US State Department, a member of Global Shapers Brazil, a hub linked to the World Economic Forum, a fellow of the Academia Amazônia Ensina and 2nd place in the Curitibana Entrepreneur Award, from the City Hall from Curitiba. She acts as a press officer specialized in socio-environmental causes and conducts communication training and media education projects. University professor, in the academy researches political journalism.
Guest panelist
Workshops facilitators

Monique Lemos
FOUNDER OF MONIQUE LEMOS CONSULTANCY – BRAZIL
Business strategist, graduated in administration and law, having worked as a new business consultant and innovation at Consulting, Consultores Associados and as an impact consultancy at SER. Monique is also YLAI and Global Shapers Alumni. Due to her experience in the corporate world, he faced sexist situations early on, which led her to approach feminist issues since 2016, through lectures, workshops and participation in groups, conversation circles and projects related to the topic such as @motoradesign and @mulhersouta.
50 ways to fight bias (Portuguese): Thrusday March 25, @ 9:00am CST

Melissa Romero
CO-FOUNDER & CEO AT BAUBO – CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIR OF LEAN IN NETHERLANDS – COLOMBIA
Meet Melissa Romero Colombian by birth, Dutch by coincidence, citizen of the world. At the age of 17, Melissa’s family was forced out of Colombia, which taught her the meaning of taking responsibility for her own destiny: After graduating as Industrial Engineer at the age of 20, she set on an adventure that took her to live in 7 countries, learning 5 languages fluently on the way. Melissa has 10+ years of experience at Procter & Gamble, building billion-dollar brands and leading complex businesses and teams. She worked in most categories including leading the €250M Gillette business for global top 7 market: France / Benelux. She is also the founder of the Lean In Netherlands, advocating for a more equal society. Since she left P&G, Melissa is combining her purpose to help improve women’s lives and her skills, by co-founding Femtech startup Baubo, which aims at empowering women through the menopausal transition. She’s building her company, proudly pregnant with twin girls.
#IamRemarkable (Spanish): Thursday March 25, @ 10:00am CST

Adri Aguilar
FOUNDER LADDER PROGRAM – GUATEMALA
Adriana Aguilar has over 20 years of experience in business management, data programming and education for teenagers, adults and people with special needs. Founder of Yuxtem in 2015.
2018 Fellow of Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI). Current member of the Alumni Advisory Board and head of their Alumni Mentoring Committee.
Found Ladder Program in 2017, a program focused to increase women’s income, especially for those vulnerable to violence.
More recently, she participated as speaker in entrepreneurship, women and technology events in Guatemala, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, Texas (USA) and Malaysia. In 2020 she became a mentor and advisory board member for wiseHer.
50 ways to fight bias (English): Thrusday March 25, @ 11:00am CST

Sandra Mendez Santana
FOUNDER PROFESIONALES AQUI – VENEZUELA
Degree in Industrial Relations UCAB (Caracas), Graduate in Psychology applied to Management and Communication (CEATE – UC). Teaching experience with children and adults in languages and areas of human management. Founder of Serfolg Consultores y ProfesionalesAQUI.com
50 ways to fight bias (Spanish): Thrusday March 25, @ 11:00am CST

Colin Banning
CO-FOUNDER TGB CONSULTING – GUATEMALA-USA
Co-funder and Chief Executive Officer for TGB Consulting. Colin has over 19 years of experience working innovation, business development and sustainability in Latinamerica.
Colin is graduated in Business Management from Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala. Certified in New Ventures Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Data Science Management from Johns Hopkins University. University Professor for the Science, Technology and Industry faculty from Galileo University and mentor for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamps from Franciso Marroquin University in Guatemala.
Consultant for the Investment and Enterprise Division from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Guatemala working on Sustainability / ESG reporting improvements in the country. He is also a board member of the Integrated Services for Exports Commission from the Guatemalan Exporters Association.
Shaping a future for all (English): Thursday March 25, @ 12:00am CST
All schedule is in US – CST | For other timezones or countries check here: