NYCwomen.connect

The Offices of Hodgson Russ LLP, 1540 Broadway, 24th Floor, New York, NY
(Entrance on 45th Street, East of Broadway)
5 - 9 p.m.

NYCwomen.connect is an intimate forum and networking series designed to showcase female entrepreneurs from an array of industries before an audience of 100 to 150 male and female investors, business leaders, and other service professionals committed to promoting and supporting women in business.

Our keynote speaker is Tereza Nemessanyi. Tereza leads Microsoft's presence with startups in the east, a newly created role to help high-growth startups go further and faster by leveraging the best of Microsoft. A seasoned media and technology executive and entrepreneur, Tereza's breadth and depth of experience across high-growth startups and the world's largest enterprises is truly unique. Companies she has worked with at senior levels include PwC, IBM, the Walt Disney Company, Unilever, Symphony IRI, Interpublic Group, and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB). As founder/CEO of web startup Honestly Now, she was named one of Forbes "Ten Female Entrepreneurs to Watch." She was also the first employee to launch the first commercial television network in post-Communist Europe, which was the most successful station launch of all time (IPO 1995: CETV). Tereza is a sought-after speaker (TED, SXSW, Lean Startup Conference, Harvard Club), and has blogged for Huffington Post and Reuters. She earned a dual MBA/MA at the Wharton School and Lauder Institute. Tereza is passionate about creating the future for girls in tech and forging new models for sustainable work and innovation. She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters, who love technology at least as much as she does.

Presenting Companies:

weeSpring - New and expecting parents spend more than $5,000 on baby products they know nothing about, and they are desperate for trusted advice from in-the-trenches parents. weeSpring is an online community, built off consumers' existing social networks, that allows parents to share advice with their friends about baby essentials. weeSpring provides invaluable consumer insights and analytics to brands that have little direct engagement with their consumer. Today, weeSpring has more reviews on many top products than Buy Buy Baby and Diapers.com combined, and the site is collecting new ratings at three times the velocity of Amazon.

Black MBA Women is a diversified media platform offering content, community, and career development events for current and aspiring black women in business leadership. The company's network consists of more than 700 established and emerging women business leaders, top-tier MBA candidates and alumnae, and organizational and corporate partners. Black MBA Women offers brand partners opportunities to leverage its expertise and insight to develop relevant branded content, ultimately deepening engagement with its target audience. Black MBA Women has earned features in US News & World Report, Black Enterprise, LUCKY magazine, and the Philadelphia Tribune, and is an official platform partner of Lean In.

Modalyst is an online, wholesale marketplace connecting designers and retail buyers. Modalyst aggregates the orders of the retailers, enabling them to collectively reach the minimums that a designer needs to go into production and for them to receive bulk order discounts as a group. Modalyst provides all the workflow tools that designers need to scale their wholesale business, while opening a selling channel to a global network of boutiques. Essentially, Modalyst levels the playing field for independents by providing boutiques with the same purchasing power as a department store, while building and scaling brands. The company is currently focused on accessories, but will be branching out to lifestyle, home, and apparel in the next few months.

Agenda
5 - 5:30 p.m. Registration

5:30 - 6:15 p.m. Cocktail and networking reception

6:15 - 6:25 p.m. Introduction by Cathy Fleming, Partner, Hodgson Russ LLP
Moderated by Stephanie O'Rourk, Senior Manager, CohnReznick, LLP

6:25 - 7 p.m. Keynote speaker: Tereza Nemessanyi, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Microsoft

7 - 7:45 p.m. Presentations by:

• Allyson Downey, Co-Founder & CEO, weeSpring
• Daria Burke, Founder & CEO, Black MBA Women
• Jill Sherman, Co-Founder & CEO, Modalyst

7:45 - 9 p.m. Networking