WAFFALoved this post about Wilglory Tanjong, G22 WG22 (photo on right). Wilglory is the 27-year-old Cameronian-American Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Anima Iris. It’s a fully bootstrapped luxury handbag company, stocked in stores like Nordstrom and Saks, that has been featured in the holy grail, Vogue Magazine!
Join us for a conversation with Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School on the power of the global alumni network and turning inspiration into action.
The fact is that we have over 100,000 alumni around the world. “Wharton isn’t just what happens in Philadelphia or in San Francisco. Wharton happens wherever we have alumni all over the world.” How might we help bring Wharton to the world?
Date: Thursday June 3, 2021
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PT
Cost: FREE
WAFFA is piloting a peer community of female founders, investors and industry leaders to share best practices, challenges and advice. This will be peer driven so please bring your questions and there will be facilitators present. These round tables will be kept intentionally small to foster community and we will cap participation at ~10. If there is overwhelming interest we will schedule more round tables in the future. The first 3 round tables will be this November and December:
This round table will be led by Early Stage VC Kahini Shah and Growth Stage VC Aneesha Raghunathan.
This round table targets founders and product leaders to discuss product strategy and staying competitive.
This round table targets founders who wish to discuss market strategies, pricing strategies and ways to get distribution. If you’re interested please fill out this quick form and we will send you an invite! Looking forward to it.
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Join WAFFA and Boss Women Collective for an exciting conversation with a panel of leaders in the Venture Capital industry. These inspirational womxn will share their stories on how they got to where they are today, key skills needed to be successful in a venture-focused role, how to break into a role focused on advising and working with startups, and the highs and lows of their respective fields. This event is open to everyone.
Date: November 16, 2020
Shilpa Kumar – Senior Product Marketing Manager, QuickBooks Money
Shilpa Kumar currently leads the Product Marketing team for QuickBooks Money, re-imaging banking and FinTech for small businesses. She has past experiences in management consulting, infrastructure, impact investing, and mergers & acquisitions. Outside of work, Shilpa serves on the founding board for Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association where she advises womxn founders on their startups and connects them with investors. Shilpa holds an MBA from Wharton and a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Minn Kim – Principal, Bloomberg Beta
Minn Kim is a Principal at Bloomberg Beta, where she invests in the future of work with a focus on machine intelligence tools for knowledge workers. Previously, Minn was on the Strategy and Corporate Development team at Bloomberg LP where she supported Bloomberg’s Financial Products and Enterprise Data businesses and helped research new technologies. She is an alumna of Villanova University and currently lives in San Francisco.
Gaby Goldberg – Investment Analyst, Bessember Venture Partners
Gaby is on leave from her senior year at Stanford University, where she studies Symbolic Systems. Her investment interests include consumer technology and future of work, with a particular focus on the creator economy. She’s currently based in Southern California and loves to hike and trail run in her free time.
Erica Van – Venture Capital, Charles River Ventures
Erica is an investor at CRV (Charles River Ventures), a coast to coast venture capital firm that has been investing in startups for over 50 years. At CRV, Erica focuses on early stage companies, and in particular B2B software. Prior to joining CRV, Erica was an investor at Presidio Partners focusing on AI/ML and Blockchain. Prior to that, Erica co-founded a Strategy team at JPMorgan, and worked as a rotational analyst across investment banking, asset management, and treasury securities at the firm.
Adina Davis – Investor, BoxGroup
Adina is an investor at BoxGroup, a pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund. At BoxGroup Adina focuses on B2B software, consumer internet, and fintech. Prior to joining BoxGroup Adina was on the Strategy & Operations team at Jet.com & Walmart e-commerce. She also spent several years at J.P. Morgan covering the tech sector as an investment banker. Adina holds an MBA from Wharton and a BS from Cornell University and currently lives in New York City.
Monique Woodard – Founder & Managing Director, Cake Ventures
Monique Woodard is an early stage investor at the intersection of technology and newly powerful consumer groups. As the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Cake Ventures, Monique invests in the future of technology being driven by major demographic trends. She invests in companies with global ambitions who are creating technology products that meet the needs of tomorrow’s internet users.
Boss Women Collective is a platform focused on empowering womxn in the early stages of their careers through personal development and professional growth. We aim to create spaces for womxn to connect and inspire each other along the way. We thrive off of our belief that empowered womxn, empower womxn. Welcome to the collective!
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.https://youtu.be/L3lh05hhVlQ
Join Venture Lab & WAFFA for a conversation with June Bower.
When the world is radically changing all around us, it can feel easier and safer to stay put. This may be true for both you and your customers. Change can feel risky, but if you know what levers to pull, you can use change to dramatically increase customer engagement during uncertain times.
Date: November 12, 2020
Time: 12:00-1:oo PM PST
Location: Online
Cost: Free
June started her career in the early days of Apple where she worked with Steve Jobs and the rest of the 300 person company. From Apple she assumed VP and CMO roles at companies such as Adobe, Alcatel, Cisco, Webex and others, and has worked at Lightspeed Ventures where she was the marketing partner, helping portfolio companies with their marketing efforts. Today, June is the Talker-in-Chief at TalkShop, although she considers herself more of a listener. At TalkShop, June works with start-ups at all stages and enables teams to use marketing to effectively grow their business.
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Join us to explore ways that Government and emerging and small businesses can work together and benefit each other.
Think of government and innovation, government and small businesses as diametrically opposite? Think it again!
Join me to explore ways that Government and emerging and small businesses can work together and benefit each other, by a fireside chat with two leading experts who have worked in the conjunction of government and small and emerging businesses: Stan Soloway and Katie Bilek.
During the chat we’ll try to address the topics below:
Gov space where emerging and small businesses can have a sweet spot: e.g. digital services; business processes
Gov contracting 101: difference between a startup and an emerging business
Gov financing 101: SBIR, STTR and other alternative financing vehicles
Date: Thu, October 8, 2020
Time: 12-1PM PST
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Stan Soloway is President & CEO of Celero Strategies, LLC, a full-service strategic consultancy focused on the federal market.
Prior to founding Celero Strategies in January, 2016, Stan served for 15 years as the President & CEO of the Professional Services Council, the largest and most influential national association of government technology and professional services firms. While at PSC, Soloway was the industry’s leading voice, policy strategist and resource for both government and the private sector. He regularly testified before Congress, was a prolific writer, appeared often on radio and television; and was routinely sought out by both corporate and government organizations to discuss current market trends, dynamics and strategies. Stan was the recipient of the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Government Technology Leadership Award and, in 2015, was inducted into the Greater Washington Government Contractor Hall of Fame. He also was named the IT Industry Executive of the Year in 2013 by Government Computer News; has regularly been named one of the 100 most influential business leaders in Washington (Washington Business Journal) and one of the 100 most influential figures in national defense (Defense News and Gannett). He is a three-time winner of the Federal 100 Award for his leadership in federal information technology and is a Fellow of both the National Academy of Public Administration and the National Contract Management Association, where he also serves on the Executive Advisory Board. He is a principal at the Partnership for Public Service where he serves as a Senior Advisor to Government Executives (SAGE) and in 2016 was appointed to the Community Advisory Board of WAMU Radio, Washington, DC’s National Public Radio outlet.
During the second half of the Clinton Administration, Stan served as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and was responsible for wide-ranging reforms to defense acquisition and technology policy and practices, and broader department-wide re-engineering. In recognition of his leadership in the department, Stan was awarded both the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
As passionate believer in the importance and value of public service, Stan also served from 2007 to 2013 as a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps and other national service programs, and is a major source of funding and leadership for community service organizations across the nation. Earlier in his career he was a public policy and public affairs consultant for nearly 20 years. He also co-produced the acclaimed PBS series “Great Confrontations at the Oxford Union.”
Katie Bilek is the Co-Founder, govmates Consortium, and SVP, Republic Capital Access.
Govmates serves as the bridge between Government and Industry – maintain deep industry ties with thousands of non-traditional contractors.
Republic Capital Access, LLC is a leading provider of financing to companies doing business with the U.S. Government. They offer a unique approach to providing capital to businesses that provide goods and services to the U.S. Government, either directly or through contractual arrangements with U.S. Government contractors. They work with start-ups, companies in growth modes, companies going through mergers and acquisitions, or facing financial challenges, to structure unique funding solutions based on the company’s specific financing needs.
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Please join us to have a dialogue with Elaine Pofeldt, the author of “The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business,” to explore how existing and aspiring entrepreneurs, esp. women, can find and create a business that you love, is profitable, and offers the freedom and flexibility to take care of other aspects of your life!
The talk will try to address the topics below:
+ Elaine’s personal journey & her life philosophy
+ What this book is about
+ The entrepreneurs’ side of the story if possible, by Elaine’s guest(s)
We will also want to make sure to leave plenty of time for audience Q and A.
Date: Thu, September 24, 2020
Time: 12-1 PM PST
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist and speaker who specializes in careers and entrepreneurship. She is author of the book The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business (Random House, January 2018), where she looks at how entrepreneurs are scaling to $1 million in revenue prior to hiring employees.
As a senior editor at Fortune Small Business magazine, she was twice nominated for the National Magazine Award for her feature stories. Her work has appeared in FORTUNE, Money, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, Crain’s New York Business and many other business publications and she is a contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Human and climate health are deemed the great equalizers, but Ita Ekpoudom and Davida Herzl highlight the racial disparities in both.
After the devastating murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, Ita Ekpoudom, #WhartonWoman and Partner at GingerBread Capital, wrote a deeply personal and moving essay about what happens when systematic racial inequalities in justice and healthcare collide. On Wednesday, September 23, join us for a conversation on how she channels this frustration into her work at GingerBread, a firm that invests exclusively in unstoppable female founders.
One of these founders is Davida Herzl, CEO of Aclima, a company that maps global air quality by measuring and analyzing air pollution and greenhouse gases, block by block. Human health and climate health are undeniably intertwined, and right now 92% of the population breathes unhealthy air. In this conversation, we will dig into the economic and health inequities caused by air pollution in communities of color—inequities that make the coronavirus so much deadlier, especially for Black, Latinx and Indigenous people, as health statisticsclearly show. Public health is an essential foundation of a functioning economy and balanced existence, but pollution exposure and access to healthcare are not uniform—who you are and where you live matters.
We recommend reading Ita’s essay and taking 10 minutes to watch Davida’s address from Collision earlier this year.
Date: Wed, September 23. 2020
Time: 12-1PM PST
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Ita is a Partner at venture capital firm GingerBread Capital, which backs high growth female founded companies. Her mission is to engage, educate, and elevate the next generation of successful women business leaders and investors. In 2014, Ita founded Tigress Ventures, an advisory and consulting firm that tapped her considerable network to bring together visionary entrepreneurs with seasoned professionals to help women scale their businesses and hone their leadership skills.
Ita also served as Venture Partner at Plum Alley Investments, where she oversaw investment opportunities and pipeline for high-growth female-founded and gender-diverse startups. Previously, Ita held product management roles at TravelClick and American Express. She began her career at Goldman Sachs as an analyst in Credit Capital Markets and an institutional trader of preferred stock.
Ita holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; and earned a Bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in Psychology, with a certificate in Finance, from Princeton University.
Davida Herzl is co-founder and CEO of Aclima. Herzl leads a diverse team meeting the urgent need for a new class of tools to accelerate bold climate action. Aclima’s platform translates its block-by-block scientific measurements of air pollution and greenhouse gases into climate intelligence that helps governments, communities, and industry reduce emissions and protect public health. Herzl holds a Juris Doctorate, as well as a BA in Economics, Political Science, and Communications. She was named one of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company (2019), one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2018 by Goldman Sachs, and a Grist 50 Fixer (2017).
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Join WAFFA for a discussion with Shellye Archambeau, a #WhartonWoman and one of tech’s first Black female CEOs, on her new book Unapologetically Ambitious. Growing up, Shellye faced more hurdles than most as she managed her personal and professional responsibilities while climbing the ranks at IBM and in her subsequent roles as President of Blockbuster.com, CEO of MetricSystem, and a board member at Verizon, Nordstrom, Roper Technologies and Okta.
In her book, Unapologetically Ambitious, that comes out this October, Shellye discovers that ambition alone is not enough to achieve success as she shares practical tools and approaches to employ right now, including concrete steps to: capitalize on the power of planning, developing financial literacy, building your network and integrating work, marriage, parenthood and self-care. Order your copy of Unapologetically Ambitious here.
“In a world that too often tells women, especially Black women, to stay small, keep quiet, and know their limits, this book says otherwise.” – Sheryl Sandburg, COO at Facebook
Join the #UnapologeticallyShellye movement on Twitter and Instagram @ShelArchambeau
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Ms. Archambeau is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a track record of accomplishments building brands, high performance teams, and organizations. Ms. Archambeau currently serves on the boards of Verizon, Nordstrom, Roper Technologies, and Okta. She is also a strategic advisor to the Royal Bank of Canada, Capital Markets Group.
Ms. Archambeau has over 30 years of experience in technology. She is the former CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based, governance, risk, and compliance software company. During her tenure MetricStream grew from a fledgling startup into a global market leader.
She is the author of Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms. A book that will inspire you and provide the tools to enable you to fight the battles, make the tradeoffs and create the life you want.Ms. Archambeau enjoys the performing arts, traveling, cooking and writing a blog that provides career advice, insights and other musings (https://shellye.com).
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.
Join WAFFA and the greater Penn/Wharton community to support and buy from Wharton female-founded brands.
Want to support Wharton alumni-founded businesses but don’t know how?
Tune in with WAFFA and the broader Penn/Wharton community for an exciting livestream shopping event featuring some of our favorite Wharton female-founded brands. See the latest products, hear from the founders themselves, and show your support during this experiential event that’s more QVC than webinar.
Date: Thursday 20, 2020
Time: 3-4PM PST
Location: Online
Cost: Free
MELISSA MASH – Dagne Dover
GAYATRI KARANDIKAR – Nomm Cookies
PHOEBE KUNITOMI – Okko
TOMIDE AWE – Olori
MELINA FLABIANO – Keaton
Get your wallets ready and let’s go shopping!
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Today, 13% of Penn founders are women but they raise just 6% of venture capital. WAFFA harnesses the power of the Penn Wharton network to educate, support, and foster connections for female founders and funders.