There are women who enter rooms - and women who change what happens inside them. Shqipe Neziri Vela is firmly in the second category. With over two decades of experience spanning energy governance, anti-corruption, and international development acrossĀ various countries worldwide, Shqipe has built a career defined not by proximity
For Brooklyn-based hairstylist Shana, hair has always been personal. What began as a childhood act of self-reclamation - taking control of her own look after years of feeling overlooked - grew into something far bigger: a calling rooted in confidence, creativity, and care. Long before she became officially licensed in
Lucy Brazier OBE is the worldās leading authority on the assistant profession and CEO of Executive Support Media, home to Executive Support Magazine. With a database of over 140,000 assistants across 100+ countries and author of The Modern-Day Assistant (Kogan Page, 2023), Lucy is the go-to expert for
WCorp is a global certification platform founded by award-winning entrepreneur Geeta Sidhu-Robb, helping companies create workplaces where women feel genuinely safe, supported and able to thrive. Through its rigorous certification framework, WCorp holds organisations accountable across culture, leadership, equity and everyday women's experiences ā from periods and menopause to
Rakita Lillard-Brown is the founder of Holistree LLC, built on a simple truth: sweetness is your birthright. With over 10 years in luxury wellness, retreat curation, and community building, she creates intentional space for Black women and women of color to rest, restore, and return to themselves - through intimate
This is the second in our ongoing Women's History Month series spotlighting women founders building businesses that matter. Some started after a layoff. Some walked away from careers most people would kill for. Some spotted a gap so obvious they couldn't look away. Every one of
Jordyn Palos launched Persona PR in 2010 from her Los Angeles apartment at 25 - no investors, no financial safety net, and significant consumer debt. What she had was four years of agency experience, a handful of clients who believed in her, and a clear priority: make the transition completely
Michelle Blue is a TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, and trained psychoanalytical coach with over 12years of experience transforming how individuals approach work and life. As the Founder of Next YE Development, an education consultancy focused on future-ready entrepreneurial andcareer development programs, she equips early talent and educators with the mindset, skills,
Ashley White spent 15 years at Atlantic Records - 11 in New York City and four working remotely from Austin, Texas, where she had moved to give her kids a different way of life. That remote chapter, which predated COVID by years, taught her something important: she could do this
Mara Cracaleanu founded her first company while still at university - in her room, in a country where she knew no one. By 24, she had built two companies from the ground up and was developing internationally oriented film and television projects with collaborators across London, Milan, New York, and
This is the first in our ongoing Women's History Month series spotlighting women founders building businesses that matter. Each week throughout March, we're featuring a new group of mission-driven founders from across industries and continents. These are their stories. Some founders are chasing market share. Others
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Women Who Lead
Lacy Talton is Partner and Co-Founder of Evergreen & Oak, a global PR and marketing agency headquartered in North Carolina's Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill). The agency specializes in B2B tech, including adtech, healthtech, and martech, and has secured coverage for clients in major publications like
Women Who Lead
Margaret Watts Romney's first students of the day walked into her studio at 6:15am for cello lessons - teenagers in pajama pants, barely able to function. Despite their shared battle with circadian rhythms, they had a job to do. The parents were paying her to somehow get
PR
Charlie Le Rougetel founded Big Top in 2014 after two decades creating campaigns for major consumer and B2B brands. With more than 30 years of experience in communications, she has worked across consumer and B2B sectors helping brands, organisations, and events grow their reach and reputation. Today, Big Top is
Wellbeing
At 16, standing on a rooftop in Iran during revolution and war, Dorna Djenab fell in love with Life. Not with her life. With Life itself. With creation. With beauty. One spring afternoon while standing by a balcony with her best friend, everything became clear. She saw a cat walking
Leadership isn't a choice between heart and hustle. It's the powerful fusion of both. AnnouncingĀ Soul + Strategy, a new book series that takes you inside the unfiltered stories of the female executives who are rewriting the playbook on modern leadership. SOUL + STRATEGY Unfiltered Wisdom from Women
PR
When George Blizzard and Nicky Regazzoni launched The PR Network in 2005, they didn't set out to become pioneers. They just wanted to solve a problem they saw everywhere: brilliant, senior PR professionals leaving the industry because traditional agencies couldn't accommodate working parents or anyone who
Women Who Lead
Jane Hales has spent over 30 years building and exiting businesses, serving as a board director, business accelerator coach and mentoring founders. She co-founded Sapio Research, an award winning market research agency inspired by social enterprise principles, and stepped back from day-to-day operations to become an active shareholder and board
Women Who Lead
Mary Axelsen knows what it means to choose courage over comfort, and she's done it more than once. In her twenties, as a single mother and sole provider, she left corporate America to attend college full-time. She worked three part-time jobs, raised her daughter, volunteered, and graduated debt-free.
Women Who Lead
Before her health collapsed, Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell wore productivity like a badge of honor. She was chronically exhausted but called it "being driven." She ignored pain, inflammation, brain fog, and a nervous system that never powered down. She normalized operating at 120% and spiritualized overworking by calling it purpose.
Law
Juliet Peters spent a decade as a television journalist before law school, working in Ohio, Corpus Christi, and Milwaukee. She always wanted to be a lawyer, but her love for journalism put that dream on pause. After graduating from Arizona State University College of Law, she worked as a civil
Wellbeing
Suzanne Haynes didnāt leave her structured career because it failed. She left because, quietly and persistently, her life no longer fit the person she was becoming. For years, she built a successful path in the pharmaceutical industry while coaching fitness on the side. From the outside, everything looked right
Wellbeing
Natalie Pryde spent over 25 years in executive-level Environment, Health, Safety, and Sustainability roles, leading diverse teams globally across automotive, commercial real estate, oil and gas, and life sciences. She held leadership positions at major corporations, served on the MDEQ Green Chemistry and Engineering Steering Committee, and was a member