Inspiring Council Members: International Women's Day

Here at NationSwell we honor our council members who are contributing to gender equality for a sustainable tomorrow. These fearless leaders are setting an example for generations to come! In honor of International Women's Day, please show your support by sharing their work and congratulating them on making an impact!

Allison Wright: Founder & Executive Director, E-School for Girls

While women are active members of the workforce, few hold senior leadership positions. Allison Wright saw this as an opportunity to effect change and develop women at a younger age. Thus, in 2014, E-School for Girls was created. Its mission is to support leadership and entrepreneurship for women.

Adriana Guerrero: Executive Director, Brown Girl Surf 

A common thread that weaves Adriana’s professional aspirations and beliefs together is her pursuit of social justice with a youth development-lens and community-based approach. Brown Girl Surf works to build a more diverse, environmentally reverent, and joyful gender expansive surf culture by increasing access to surfing, cultivating community, amplifying the voices of surfers of color, and taking care of the earth.

Simone Marean: Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer, Girls Leadership

Simone Marean is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Girls Leadership, a national educational nonprofit that teaches girls to exercise the power of their voice. In Girls Leadership’s eleven years as a nonprofit, it has impacted over 300,000 girls, and is on track to reach one million girls by 2023. 

Shelly Omilâdè Bell - Founder & CEO - Black Girl Ventures

Shelly Omilâdè Bell is a system disruptor and business strategist who moves ideas to profit while empowering people to live more authentically. 

Her organization, Black Girl Ventures (BGV) is a social enterprise that creates access to social and financial capital for Black/Brown women founders. BGV travels the country with a disruptive pitch competition that shifts the power dynamics in funding by combining crowdfunding and pitching.

Sarah Haacke Byrd: Executive Director, Women Moving Millions

For more than two decades, Sarah has been building, guiding, and leading non-profit organizations in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York dedicated to expanding civil rights, promoting civic education, reforming the criminal justice system, and ending sexual violence. Sarah brings extensive experience in financial and operational management, strategy, fundraising, etc. and external affairs to WMM. 

Lelaine Bigelow: Vice President for Social Impact and Congressional Relations, The National Partnership for Women & Families

Lelaine Bigelow leads and implements the Economic Justice team issue campaigns and coordinates with policy and communications staff across teams to maximize the impact of The NPWF’s federal policy and advocacy work.

Carla Goldstein, JD: President of Omega Institute and Cofounder, Omega Women’s Leadership Center

Carla Goldstein, JD, is an attorney with 25 years of experience in public interest advocacy, and has contributed to more than 100 city, state, and federal laws, working extensively in city and state government on issues related to women’s rights, poverty, public health, and social justice. She is a commentator for WAMC’s show, 51%, writes a column and serves on the advisory board for Feminist.com, and serves as an advisor to Women Without Borders.

Rachel Hutchisson: Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy, Blackbaud, Inc.

Rachel Hutchisson built the company’s CSR program from the ground up, leveraging her deep experience working at the intersection of business and nonprofits, chairs the company’s Senior Women’s Leadership Council, and leads the employee affinity group initiative. A Riley Diversity Fellow. she is passionate about mentoring, sponsorship and, diversity and inclusion, partnering across the company and within the community to create more equitable systems. 

Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson - Founder & CEO, VC Include

Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson is a recognized innovator of new VC and Impact investment avenues. Her expertise in leading technology, investment, and social impact initiatives since the early 2000s culminated in creating VC Include platforms and programs for diverse emerging managers globally. With just 1% of the $70 trillion of assets in the U.S. managed by diverse asset managers, VC Include meets this market opportunity by building an ecosystem of women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ fund managers in alternative investments.

Sophia Yen, MD: CEO And Co-Founder, Pandia Health

Sophia Yen, MD is the CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health—the first and only birth control delivery company founded and led by women and led by a doctor—as well as the co-founder of SheHeroes, a nonprofit that empowers girls to dream big, explore their interests, and passionately pursue any career. Following her passion for making women’s lives better, Sophia pivoted from a physician to an entrepreneur and advocate, launching several corporate and non-profit initiatives focused on women’s reproductive health and empowerment. She is also a clinical associate professor in adolescent medicine, a mother of two future SheHeroes, and the wife of a feminist. 

Subira Gordon: Executive Director, ConnCAN

At the Capitol, Subira worked closely with grassroots advocates and legislators to create equitable solutions for communities of color. As the executive director of ConnCAN, Subira reimagines the public school system to recreate a better one that reflects the America of today—and tomorrow. Since joining ConnCAN, Subira has led numerous legislative victories focusing on educational equity.

Shalinee Sharma: CEO and Co-founder, Zearn

Shalinee Sharma is CEO and co-founder of Zearn, a nonprofit curriculum publisher. Zearn Math, a K-5 print and software-based math curriculum that supports daily differentiation and engagement so all children can love learning math. Realizing she saw the achievement gap widen in real-time, Sharma collaborated with Brown University Professor John Friedman, one of the economists overseeing a novel effort to track the pandemic’s impact. The child of refugees, Shalinee has always been passionate about universal access to an excellent education. 

Image provided by the Boston Foundation, Women of Color Leadership Circle