Founders Pledge is a program of Full Circle Fund, a network of 200 Bay Area professionals that leverage their funds, time, expertise, and connections to accelerate positive social change. Founders Pledge helps early stage companies do good from the start, providing educational programing and meaningful engagements with Bay Area nonprofits to a community of founders and their companies that have made a commitment to positive social change.
The Hive Women's Institute is an organization dedicated to helping women come alive. Through our retreats and workshops, we help purpose-driven female leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers from all over the globe uncover their authentic path and deepen their impact on the world. Hive is a global network of leaders and entrepreneurs who are working to create a better world. Since January 2014, they have brought together 290 innovators from 50 countries around the globe.
Runway is an incubator with 280+ startups (80 current, 200 alumni), several partnerships with Fortune 500 brands, and an international network of innovators and thought leaders. This year, we have plans to launch a series of funds, accelerators, and events that will greatly expand our impact domestically and internationally with a particular lens towards education, financial, AI, and hardware technologies.
Zanoon Nissar
CSR Manager, Google
Moderator
Zanoon’s experience spans the worlds of digital advertising and corporate social responsibility. In her current role at Google, she helps clients get the most out of social, mobile and search technologies. Zanoon is passionate about increasing giving, by making the process easy, social and rewarding. As co-lead of Google’s G-Give campaign, Zanoon developed a strategy to engage employees in scaling a grassroots effort into a multi-million dollar global giving initiative. Previously, Zanoon held various roles at Microsoft where she was responsible for the development of the Partners in Learning Network, a social network for educators which now connects over 11M educators to resources. Zanoon is involved with various organizations that empower women & girls – notably as a mentor for the Technovation Girls Challenge, fundraiser for the GirlRising movement and as a blogger for Women 2.0. Zanoon is a 2013 One Young World Ambassador. She holds a B.A.Sc in Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Melinda Briana Epler
Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst
Panelist
Melinda Briana Epler has more than 20 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for social entrepreneurs, mature social enterprises, Fortune 500 companies and global NGOs. As Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda empowers diverse leaders in social and environmental change - through events, workshops, and a new online education platform for women social entrepreneurs and angel investors. She is also Co-Founder of Tech Inclusion; Head of Bay Area Women's Initiatives at the National Diversity Council; Diversity & Inclusion Advisor to Galvanize; and Board Director of TisBest Philanthropy.
Victoria Moore
CEO at The Hive Women's Institute
Panelist
Victoria is an author, educator, and explorer with a passion for helping women come alive. Her adventurous spirit has led her to circumnavigate the globe three times, shoot a documentary film series on international aid effectiveness in eight countries, and embark on multiple expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica as a polar photographer. She has spent time on every continent and in more than eighty-five countries. Victoria is best known for her work as a pioneering advocate to improve the field of international aid. She founded her own social enterprise at age twenty-four and later authored a best selling book on the subject of aid effectiveness called Beyond Good Intentions: A Journey Into the Realities of International Aid. Her work has been featured in O! The Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR. Victoria received her B.A. from Duke University, served as a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt, and obtained an M.Ed degree from Harvard University. These days her greatest joy comes from working with young women and helping them uncover what truly lights them up.
Ruksana Azhu Vallappil
Founder & CEO of NEEV
Panelist
Ruksana recently rebranded her company as NEEV, which means "foundation" in Hindi, and she was one of the first to make the Founders Pledge. NEEV products are hand dyed and woven by skilled Indian artisans in cooperatives owned and operated by them, and NEEV’s entire supply chain is ethical and eco-friendly. An inspiring example of integrating business and social responsibility, NEEV provides livable wages and steady jobs to artisans while keeping the exquisite handloom weaving artistry and traditions alive.
Sepideh Nasiri
Chief Buisness Officer at GlobeIn
Panelist
Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience in entrepreneurship, expansion and growth. Sepi started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. The former Vice President at Women 2.0, Founder of Persian Women In Tech and Chief Business Officer at GlobeIn, is passionate about empowering women. Honored by San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40 2014 and by Diversity Journal as the 2014 Woman Worth Watching", Sepi continues her work by advising early stage startups and mentoring globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology. She launched her first app The Date Saver Platinum in 2010, a clean tech mobile application.