Female VC Lab Barbara Bickham

Alice Pomponio is Vice President of Innovation and Impact Investing at American Cancer Society and Managing Director of BrightEdge —ACS’s mission-driven venture capital and impact investment arm. She’s an impact investor, social innovation entrepreneur, and patient advocate with extensive experience in life sciences and business and passion for health equity.

Seasoned entrepreneur and resource mobilizer for positive social and environmental change.

As CEO of the Investor Leadership Network Secretariat since 2020, Amy Hepburn is charged with designing and delivering the long-term strategy of the ILN and representing the Network in collaboration with global stakeholders. Amy is a recognized impact investing expert and social entrepreneur with deep expertise on gender lens social investments and the care of children in crises. In this capacity, she has spent 20 years driving social change globally in the private, non-profit, and public sectors through the creation of unique public/private partnerships and investing for high impact social returns.

Genia Xasis is the CEO & Co-founder of Berkana.VC, a global community aimed at enhancing gender diversity in VC and tech. She assists seed and Series A companies with raising capital in MENA and is an angel investor focusing on pre-seed, female-led companies with an emphasis on impact and AI. Holds a PhD in Biochemistry.

Jess Mah built her first 6-figure business while still in middle school and has since created three companies that are each valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Among the companies she’s founded are inDinero, a fintech company that helps businesses manage their accounting and taxes; Astonishing Labs, is a biotech firm focused on revolutionizing human health with groundbreaking innovations; and a litigation tech company that has empowered over a thousand individuals to pursue justice, offering resources they may otherwise have been unable to access.
Jess studied computer science at U.C. Berkeley and has been featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine, as well as on the Forbes 30 Under 30, Inc. 30 Under 30, and Fast Magazine Most Creative Business Leaders lists. She’s also a Y Combinator alumna and a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO).

Jess Hunichen and Emily Ward are the Co-Founders of the global Talent Management Agency, Shine Talent Group, founded in 2015 with offices in Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Built on the premise of collaboration over competition, Shine has grown a reputation for being an ally to both talent and brands bringing impactful campaigns and creative solutions. In 2023 Jess and Emily launched Shine Ventures as a vehicle to share their experience and invest in bold founders with potential for global reach and market disruption.