The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022,vol-3 February2022

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Door to Success

10

The Most Inspiring

W

Leaders

to Follow in 2022 Womanhood

Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD

Ethel J. Davis A Fearless Journey of Inspiration

VOL 02 | ISSUE 07 | 2022

Leaders that We Need Today

Editor’s Desk Leading with Courage

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or the past few years, we are seeing many organizations thrive that have women at the helm.

Such exceptional women leaders make gender equality look like the norm.

There are a lot of talks on many industries being maledominated. The problem doesn't seem to be with too many men; it is about less number of women in those industries.

However, the scenario is changing. The numbers of women in the business world are constantly improving, year by year, month by month, and even day by day. Although a lot needs to be changed, women are creating an environment for other women leaders to flourish.

It is true that whenever a woman had an opportunity, she rose to the occasion and led with talent, courage, and empathy. Today, many women have set an example of what exemplary leadership looks like.

There are many reasons that make women great leaders.

Whenever there is a need for some new perspectives, women bring the same to the table. They work closely with their team, provide employees with the support they need, and foster an environment that is productive, dynamic, and encourages employee engagement. They have a problemsolving mindset by nature and genuinely care about the customers' and organization's success. They consider it important to ask questions: What are your pain points, and how can they be helpful to address those issues? Moreover, they always believe in exploring new opportunities by connecting the dots, and bringing much-needed change.

In this edition, The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022, we have brought forward the stories of

some audacious women leaders who are leading by example and are the torchbearers for others in the industry On the cover, we have a fearless leader, Ethel J. Davis, the CEO of VZD Capital Management, LLC. Before opening her firm, the VZD Capital Management, LLC, Ethel worked at American Century, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Paragon Capital Management, LLC. She had tested her lucks in unfair waters regularly, which finally led to her termination. Despite her tremendous sacrifice, and inequitable treatment resulting in her termination, she takes the positives in her stride.

You will get to read more such stories of other businesswomen who are leading with courage.

Alongside, do not forget to read about the CxO articles by the industry experts and the ingenious articles written by the in-house editorial team.

Let's start reading!

Sourabh More sourabh@insightssuccess.com

ETHEL J. DAVIS

08

C O V E R S TO RY

A Fearless Journey of Inspiration

C X O

44

The Need for Compassionate Leadership During a Global Pandemic

Leader s Viewpoint

A RT I C L E S

28

Door to Success Leaders that We Need Today

Womanhood Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD

50

A Pioneering Trailblazer with a Unique Perspective

14 Bianca Rangecroft

Putting an End to "I have Nothing to Wear" Dilemma

20

Empowering Youth to Architect Their Own Future

24 Jennifer Bassett

Katy Barfield

32 Katerina Trajchevsk

Shifting Tides as the Food Waste Warrior

Guiding YOU through Commercial, Legal, and Digital Risk with Innovative Strategies

Sabrina Khan

Erna Grasz

Making YOUR Event an Unequivocal Experience

Shifting the Tides of Workplace Ideologies

36

46

Arungalai Anbarasu

An Epitome of Hardwork, Passion and Perseverance

40

May Winfield

52

Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor Sharad Chitalkar

Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

David King

Vishal Pawar

Shyam Sonawane

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Martin, Irfan

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Saurabh

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com February, 2022

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10

The Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Featured Person

Company Name

Description

Arungalai Anbarasu Chief Technology and Strategy Officer

Baker Hughes bakerhughes.com

Baker Hughes is an energy technology company that provides solutions for energy and industrial customers worldwide.

Bianca Rangecroft Founder & CEO

Whering whering.co.uk

Whering exists to radically shift the relationship with clothes.

Eileen (Wada) Willett Co Founder

Cucumber Clothing cucumberclothing.com

Cucumber Clothing makes luxurious clothing for everyday.

Erna Grasz CEO

Asante Africa Foundation asanteafrica.org

Asante Africa Foundation is a social impact organization educating children and transforming worlds in east Africa.

Ethel J. Davis CEO & Portfolio Manager

VZD Capital Management LLC vzdcap.com

VZD is a 100 percent African-American, female-owned registered investment advisory firm.

Jennifer Bassett Founder

Bassett Events Inc. bassetteventsinc.com

Specializing in the creation of exceptional events for private and corporate clients, Bassett Events designs, plans and manages every project from conception to execution.

Katerina Trajchevska Co-founder and CEO

Adeva adevait.com

Adeva is an award-winning global talent network that connects organizations with distributed tech talent across the world.

Katy Barfield Founder & CEO

Yume Food Australia yumefood.com.au

Yume is an online marketplace for quality surplus food.

May Winfield Global Director of Commercial Legal and Digital Risks

Buro Happold burohappold.com

Buro Happold is an international, integrated consultancy of engineers, consultants and advisers, with a presence in 31 locations worldwide, over 70 partners and 1,900 employees.

Sabrina Khan Chief Financial Officer

Aptorum Group Limited aptorumgroup.com

Aptorum Group Limited is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company.

Ethel J. Davis

CEO VZD Capital Management, LLC

Cover y

ETHEL J. DAVIS A Fearless Journey of Inspiration

We believe in helping people see themselves in the future. Sometimes our mirror gets distorted by other people's opinions, and therefore, we do not pursue the life that God has for us.

Cover y

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ear is the final nail in the coffin of most dreamers.

Many aspirants dream of a better life, a vision, and a path of integrity. The ability to break through clouds of fear and conquer uncertainty in life is – what separates inspiration from the rest. Ethel J. Davis, CEO of VZD Capital Management, LLC, learned how to break invisible handcuffs during college. As an African-American and a great woman of faith, she was always sure of her identity. Ethel was proud of her heritage, for her parents and extended family fueled her acceptance of her ethnicity.

However, she struggled to find her confidence throughout college, for the peer pressure and parental guidance weighed heavily on her shoulders. Her initial aspirations of becoming a journalist remained safe, cozy and narrowed her vision to remain loyal to the field of choice. She aspired to be a protégé between Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey. After becoming friends with many wealthy, trust fund babies, she realized she knew nothing about money.

She familiarized herself by reading "Money" and "Kiplinger's" magazine, to fuel her interest and thirst for the capital markets and the financial industry.

When Ethel started learning about various financial investments, including the stock market, she broke through the shackles of her past to become a leader within the finance community. In her passionate awakening, she left her education in journalism to transition into a stockbroker.

Her faith always helps Ethel find the proper steps to follow on her career path. When she sought to investigate truth as a journalist, she found inspiration in James Stowers, Jr. from Kansas City, Missouri, a pioneer in mutual funds, who went door-to-door to sell financial products. Today, he is best known as the founder of the Twentieth Century, aka the American Century.

A Rich Lessons of Struggles During her struggling years, Ethel learned several harsh truths about life. Despite being ambitious, hardworking, and encompassing great values – she did not receive an open invitation to become a respected expert by Corporate America. As her women colleagues told her, "women should be seen and not heard" similarly, her AfricanAmerican status always kept her at bay, far from the head tables. She applied for many promotions and different roles only to be overlooked by a white male cohort.

However, she never understood why Corporate America would not support her human rights. Ethel relied on her faith to carry her through the most challenging times she faced. She took her struggles in strides and climbed higher and higher despite relentless obstacles waiting in her path.

Her efforts led her to a series of life lessons she never

forgets, "Leadership is a journey. Not a destination.”

Before opening her firm, the VZD Capital Management, LLC, Ethel worked at American Century, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Paragon Capital Management, LLC. She had tested her lucks in unfair waters regularly, which finally led to her termination.

Despite her tremendous sacrifice, and inequitable treatment resulting in her termination, she takes the positives in her stride. She notes, "Every step of my career ladder enhanced my leadership skills and team building to become a business owner building a successful investment firm." She continues to walk a path led out by her parents to get the best out of education and experience.

She believes leaders must adapt to an ever-changing world and can build teams despite differences and obstacles. Ethel is a Kansas City Influential Women member, the Kansas City Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business Class of 2011, Five Star Wealth Manager for seven years, and appearing in many respected magazines. She admires trailblazing women who did not have a path to follow but cut one from their fabric of life.

These individuals, mainly from humble beginnings and backgrounds, deserve to enjoy a customized investment approach and close attention to the investment cycles.

An Inspiring Journey of Real Values Her experience led Ethel to take a significant leap in the world of investments. Today, Ethel caters to wealthy individuals and multigenerational families around the world. These individuals, mainly from multigenerational backgrounds, enjoy the customization approach and close attention to the

The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

We are invested in you and helping you build the legacy you've worked to create. investment cycles. Ethel notes that VZD does not believe in conforming to the cookie-cutter approach or predetermined models. Her goals concerning her clients are always transparent. She aims to understand the financial goals, wealth objectives, standard of living, and tax planning, to offer them the best solution. VZD also does not sell any commissioned-based products, contrary to the trend in the financial field. Her goal for her firm remains very clear.

Ethel says, "I do not wish to build the prominent firm, but a

firm that my clients trust and respect." VZD's name received its inspiration from Ethel's parents, Vergie and Zether Davis. She asserts, "Every client of the firm is a member of my extended family, and I wish to develop my legacy among them accordingly.”

Ethel came across many shocks and surprises during her challenging journey. However, nothing could have prepared for the unraveling secret that arose in her own home. At eighteen, Ethel discovered that her parents adopted her.

Despite the tremendous angst and stress that usually follows such revelation, Ethel, like her resilient nature, took the experience positively, and she realized what it truly meant.

After digesting that her parents made great sacrifices for her to have a bright future – what an honor to have two people (my mother and father) love her without knowing anything about her DNA. In essence, her primary consideration was to make her parents proud – which is a lifelong debt that she strives to repay. She expresses, "The only way for me to keep their legacy alive is by sticking to principles and values they cherished.”

Today, her firm VZD continues to lay the groundwork to offer the same safety, confidence, and peace of mind that an orphan values above all material treasures.

An Independent Expert Financial Advisory VZD has put in several excellent financial practices to achieve this goal. The company does not sell mutual funds, commission-based investment vehicles, or annuities, and these plans, as a rule of thumb, often embed conflict of interest. Hence, Ethel handpicks every vendor and independent contractor to ensure the most trustworthy experience for the clients. She is proud to have Ms. Nikisha L. Johnson as the first candidate in the Executive Mentoring Program. She also oversees the development of the company's strategic interests. This includes expanding VZD's vision to reach new parts of the country and increase clientele through personal referrals. Ethel shares her notable achievement as a financial advisory. She says, "We are honored to serve second and third-generation families due to becoming a partner with their families.

A Knowledge Approach to Conquer Fear The company has grown and has climbed to new heights of success. Mr. Chuck Schwab, the founder of Charles Schwab Corporation, is the primary custodian for VZD Capital Management, LLC. Ethel says she would like to begin an institutional relationship with Fidelity Investments in the foreseeable future, too.

Charles Schwab and Co., Inc. helps independent advisors to understand various personalized approaches and mitigate risks on the horizons to conquer the horizons. Ethel believes people like Mr. Ned Johnson and Mr. Charles Schwab are trailblazers and assets at VZD, which have helped millions of clients achieve their financial freedom and navigated treacherous waters of investments during an unprecedented crisis like the pandemic.

Enlightening Upcoming Entrepreneurs Ethel is a student for, life for she continues to foster a relationship with her mentors, including but not limited to Ms. Cleo Brager, Mrs. Karen Herman, Mr. Michael Dayton, and Mr. Patrick Callaway, to name a few. She would encourage budding entrepreneurs to remain in the presence of their mentors throughout their entrepreneurial journey.

Entrepreneurs should never graduate from learning, taking appropriate risks to grow, and building a faith-based community to help them along the way.

We help protect your assets by working with other professionals and finding the most appropriate advice to help you build wealth – brick by brick.

Ethel advises young entrepreneurs to develop a fearless mindset in their quest to achieve success. Sometimes, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more, for that is why some people never find the courage or strength to take a leap of faith or have been co-dependent on a paycheck and benefits. She has noticed that since the pandemic that more people are leaving their stable jobs and looking for a greater meaning in life by transitioning into self-employment. Life is short, and if you wake up dreading going to work, then that is the first sign that you are not growing, just going.

Arung

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We like to obsess over problems so that our customers and partners don't have to think about them.

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ven the hardest stones change their shapes when facing the continuous water flow. Similarly, women's leadership constantly soars, bending the inadequate difficulties of making balanced decisions, fostering a culture that benefits everyone. One of many attributes that make women leaders unique is that they might perceive business through an eye of a mother; the way they care, nurture & enable growth then is carried through with their business acumen. Akin to such distinct perceptions, Arungalai Anbarasu, a mother of a 7-year-old daughter (Ada), is passionately keen on promoting STEM women, making the world a better place.

Apart from being a mother, Arungalai leads as the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Waygate Technologies (WT), world leader market leader in industrial inspection solutions and a business that belongs to the Baker Hughes energy technology company. She acquired her master's degree in Electrical and Computer Science working on the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) thesis. Arungalai and her team spearhead Waygate Technologies' evolution into a Digital Inspection Solutions (DIS) space. She envisions playing a critical role in the

“

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

galai Anbarasu A Pioneering Trailblazer with a Unique Perspective

company's ambition to take energy forward - making it safer, cleaner, and more efficient for people and the planet.

Sculpting Herself Curiosity leads to questions, and questions lead to answers.

As a child, Arungalai's curiosity got her thinking about where we came from, how things are built, and how the earth was formed, keeping her awake at night. She aspired to become an astronaut, but unfortunately, her poor eyesight became an obstacle, never letting her pursue that path.

Thus, she embarked on a path closet to space sailing – Engineering.

A Visionary Forward-Looking Partner Waygate Technologies' purpose is to provide peace of mind for manufacturers in various major industries by ensuring safety, quality, and productivity.

Arungalai expresses that WT combines over 125 years of experience and the heritage of renowned industry names such as Krautkrämer, phoenix X-ray, Seifert, Everest, and Agfa NDT with a global DNA and the unmatched precision of German engineering. Its business offers a broad portfolio

After acquiring her master's degree, Arungalai joined the renowned conglomerate General Electric (GE) in their graduate program called Edison Engineering Development Program. She learned how technology builds and sells solutions that solve different world problems related to energy, healthcare, and transportation, Arungalai built on this experience in multiple roles at GE & Baker Hughes (BH).

Arungalai operated in finance, strategy, operations, technology, and business leadership, before landing on her current role of Chief Technology & Strategy Officer for Waygate Technologies. She looks at the overarching business strategy with her team, delivering breakthrough technology innovation, new business models and digital transformation. She also led the industrial X-ray and computed tomography (CT) business in the past few years at WT.

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Arungalai Anbarasu Chief Technology and Strategy Officer Waygate Technologies

of award-winning solutions in industrial radiography and computed tomography (CT), remote visual inspection (RVI), ultrasound (UT), eddy current, and robotic inspection. They help customers drive their digital transformation by applying state-of-the-art data and analytics to their assets and processes for best-in-class insights.

Arungalai notes, "Today, several brands in the automotive, aviation, space exploration, electronics, energy, battery, and additive industries trust our inspection and testing solutions. Yet as a consumer, you have probably never heard of us or of all the industrial inspection that goes into the car you drove this morning, the flight you took recently; the cell phone you carry in your pocket, or the computer you are seeing this article on – and that is the way we want it." The most successful inspections are the ones you don't hear about. She continues, "We like to obsess over problems so that our customers and partners don't have to think about them.”

Waygate Technologies' industry-leading digital inspection solution and software platform - InspectionWorks - can

collect data from borescope inspections, cell phone cameras and written logs, and correlate an asset's health. Further, building analytics that automatically detects defects while inspections are in process, saving the customers valuable time and energy in "reading" inspections.

The company's strong push to drive innovations and deliver data and insights provide exponential improvements in productivity and safety to its customers. Waygate Technologies aims to take the customers from detecting defects to avoiding them.

The Foundational Pillars Arungalai states that the parent company Baker Hughes shares four main values with its employees: Grow lets the company see the challenge as an opportunity and learn every day.

Collaborate means inspiring, being inclusive, and bringing out the best in each other.

Lead implies making, inventing, and performing with impact.

Most importantly, Care strives to always do the right thing for its customers, people, and the environment.

A significant and growing feature of its work culture is diversity; it is committed to an inclusive work environment with opportunities for people to reach their full potential.

Arungalai wants its workforce to reflect its communities' global reach and diversity. The company aims to develop a culture based on merit where talent is nurtured, regardless of gender, background, age, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation.

February 2022 | 16 | insightssuccess.com

The Inevitable Future Arungalai understands that inspections are necessary to cost today, and the future demands more Accurate, Available, and Autonomous processes to be the desired value tomorrow. She envisions inspections to able to: • Harvest inspection data and turn it into a key enabler to optimize your asset lifecycle. Imagine bringing "Lab" technologies to "In-Line" operations… production plant of the future • Deliver deeper insights by interlacing siloed operations… continuous traceability • Add exponential value to asset fleet by connecting and optimizing all devices and workflows… data for planning • Create virtual loops from design to production to maintenance; from one generation to the next...

Nothing is wasted She states that when one thinks about industrial inspections today – on any market; and at any customer; the data from inspections today are: • Fragmented, siloed, and overlooked information.

• Isolated inspection tasks as suppliers not integrated.

• Multi-NDT technologies leading to disconnected

• • •

results.

Limited process feedback with no actionable insights from datasets.

Suboptimal approach to manage NDT costs.

Arungalai will be delighted if customers embrace NDT 4.0 to go from detecting defects to avoiding them altogether.

Soon, industrial inspection will enable customers to drive innovations.

A Diligent Guidance Arungalai advises fellow women leaders to create a vision, develop a plan and execute it with perseverance to achieve outcomes to benefit the industry and environment while pushing the boundaries of technology. As the Japanese proverb suggests, "Vision without action is a daydream.

Action without vision is a nightmare." Arungalai believes it's equally important to create a vision and execute it with perseverance. In her concluding thoughts, she says, "Push the boundaries of technology, commercial, outcomes within the boundaries of compliance, ethics, and safety to take the first steps that will create progress for the others and you.

First times are always tough, but they are the most fulfilling!”

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Bianca Rangecroft Founder and CEO Whering

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Bianca

Rangecroft Putting an End to "I have Nothing to Wear" Dilemma

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rom the way we work, communicate, shop, bank to the way how we relax and entertain ourselves, digitization has transformed everything. Imagine your wardrobe getting digitized! This is what exactly Bianca Rangecroft has brought to the world through her company Whering. Bianca founded Whering in June 2020 out of a profound desire to democratize the personal styling landscape and fundamentally change the way we interact with our clothes (i.e. upend the throwaway culture).

We at Insights Success got into conversation with Bianca to learn more about her journey and how she is shaping the future of the fashion industry.

Below are the highlights to the interview: Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position Whering. What challenges have you overcome to reach where you are today?

For me the system was broken; the vicious cycle of not being able to see what you own, impulse buying (never getting it quite right), and the lack of inspiration in the styling process meant only one thing, we had to take it digital and harness the power of machine learning to hyperpersonalize our fashion experience. The journey from there

has been mostly organic; Vogue covered our launch in 8 countries, helping us secure 35k users in less than six months. We now have 80k users, with downloads increasing monthly.

My background is totally unrelated to fashion – I studied History and Politics at SOAS & LSE, then moved into the business world after doing my Masters at Imperial (Economics & Management). I worked at Goldman Sachs from 2017 to 2019 in the firm's Consumer and Investment Management Division in London. I was lucky enough to work on the Stichfix IPO and began to delve deep into consumer buying patterns, how machine learning was being used to optimize shopping, and above all, the environmental cost of fashion. This kickstarted in me a whole introspective journey into my own contribution to this issue and how we could leverage the data found in our own closet to make the supply chain greener, but crucially to make the most of what we already have to get that newness fix and buy to fill wardrobe gaps (all optimized through AI). Before starting the company, we conducted over 350 focus groups to identify key commonalities in the user journey amongst our key demographic: women in their early twenties and thirties.

I absolutely loved working in the Consumer and Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs - and still manage

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“

We exist to radically shift our relationship with clothes (for ourselves and mama nature).

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my own portfolio (it's my downtime from startup life!). I covered a lot of retail stocks and worked on two big fashion tech IPOs (Stichfix and Farfetch) during my time at GS, and this taught me to deeply understand industry shifts and growing consumer/behavioral trends and how both these factors affected nascent technologies. Not only did this journey provide me with insights into how we could use AI to personalise our fashion experience but during our process to sell the equity story we'd often speak to customers to get a sense of WHY this company was so ground-breaking and that's what transformed by relationship to the end user (as the real source of information for product discovery and innovation). I felt we fundamentally had to change the way we interact with our clothes (i.e. upend the throwaway culture) and thought the timing (by the end of my tenure) was perfect to bring to life Cher Horrowitz' Clueless wardrobe app.

Tell us something more about Whering and its mission and vision.

Whering, the app designed by and created for the next generation of sustainability-minded and style-conscious women, paving the way to an ethical wardrobe and an end to the 'buy-use-dispose' model. The launch of the app allows users to quickly and easily digitize their entire wardrobe, resulting in a streamlined, personable, and accessible online styling tool.

Whering creates a digital wardrobe that allows users to see everything they own in one place, allowing them to maximize the potential of their wardrobe. Users will also receive styling suggestions and personalized product recommendations that complement the pieces they already own and love. In turn, this helps users to shop strategically to fill wardrobe gaps whilst helping to reduce the habit of unnecessary purchasing, ultimately leading to a more cohesive and sustainable wardrobe. Whering uses an intricate style matrix and personality test to create the ideal styling environment for each customer. The user can then use these images to create outfits themselves or use the 'Dress Me' function, and Whering's algorithm will provide outfit suggestions.

At the heart of everything Whering does is a desire to improve the fashion industry by tackling some of its most damaging facets. The app aims to revolutionize the way we shop, style, and dress, and in doing so reduce the carbon footprint left by fashion consumers globally. In the UK alone, clothing has the fourth largest environmental impact after housing, transport, and food. Shockingly, half of the fast-fashion items we buy as a nation are thrown away in less than a year. Whering helps users utilize their wardrobes 80% more effectively, meaning consumers are less likely to turn to fast-fashion options, as our app helps them maximize their wardrobe's potential. Ultimately, there is no place for fast fashion in a sustainable future, making Whering an essential app offering much-needed lifestyle guidance, allowing users to think more sustainably in this time of climate upheaval.

Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the industry through your expertise in the market.

The 'I have nothing to wear' dilemma is a universal sensation of being trapped in indecision. In our view, part of the problem isn't having nothing to wear, but having nothing new to wear and too many options of cheap clothes to choose from. We keep buying because we think that just one more item will unlock our ideal wardrobe – but how can it do so if we have no accessible inventory of what we own?

This is why having a digital inventory is so key - to aid our visual memory. Not only does it allow you to 'shop your own wardrobe' to get that newness fix, but having an organised digital wardrobe helps you identify what you really need and what pieces can unlock a myriad of combinations. You can also easily track your wears, most worn items, decide what's worth donating or selling, but

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mostly importantly, create different versions of your best looks from the comfort of your couch (i.e. unleashing your inner creative). We created Whering for recovering lifestyle hypocrites like us: millennial women who are excited to take back ownership of their fashion consumption and the way they dress. Whering is not just a wardrobe organizer, it's so much more. We're building a one-stop-shop for all your fashion needs.

Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?

Our tech is focused on two parts of the value chain that consumers own: purchasing and utilisation. For purchasing, I think a big part of the problem is that people don't understand their style so buy items and wear them just a couple of times before deciding they no longer like them.

The artificial intelligence we are building will be able to identify your style, help you maximize what you already have, and only then suggest sustainable items that we know you will love and, above all, love to repeat wearing. You can already use Whering to try before you buy - adding items into your wardrobe and creating outfits - ensuring you will get maximum usage out of an item before purchasing.

The app uses an intricate style matrix and personality test to create the ideal styling environment for each customer. The user can then use these images to create outfits themselves or use the 'Dress Me' function, and Whering's algorithm will provide outfit suggestions.

For utilization, you can already track how many times an item has been worn in your wardrobe, and soon, Wherers will be able to get access to a custom dashboard - focused on useful stats for you to improve your wardrobe's carbon emissions. What could be better than knowing how much you wear an item to be able to properly evaluate the value that your clothes bring to your life?

Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for the company?

Our large-scale plans for the Whering app have the potential to minimize the impact of fast fashion and reduce clothing waste and pollution on a global scale. As a small company with big ambitions, we want to inspire others to aim high. Whering plans to work with partners to further tackle the fashion industry's waste issues and prevent the 350k tons of clothing that end up in landfills each year in the UK. Users will find recommendations of where to mend, repurpose or donate their items, or, as they are already digitized, sell or rent items through third-party API integrations. We want to work with big brands like Depop, Vinted, Selfridges, and other slow fashion figures to grow our brand and provide the best possible platform for all sustainable fashion needs.

Our mission is to extend the life cycle of the clothes we already own (and that are perhaps sitting idle in our closets). We are hoping to reduce the carbon and water footprint of consumers by focusing on the two parts of the value chain that they control: purchasing and utilization.

Through digitization and machine learning, Wherers can track what they wear and understand their style. We encourage outfit repeating!

What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?

My advice would be to trust your passion and go for it as soon as you get the urge. My mantra is carpe diem, which means no time like the present. I believe in seizing the moment and doing what makes you happy. This mantra carried me through my decision to leave my job in finance and focus on doing something I enjoy that has a positive impact on people and the planet. Life is too short to wait around for the right time to do something. When you have an idea and a passion, and you can get together a team of like-minded and motivated people, the world is your oyster.

It is amazing how far having a great concept and being open-minded can get you, even with little money to start off with. As a company, we are proudly ambitious, and this has favoured us throughout our journey, and we have so much more to come.

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Erna Grasz

CEO Asante Africa Foundation

Providing academic support, life skills training, livelihood skill development, and opportunity creation.

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Erna Grasz The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Empowering Youth to Architect Their Own Future

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n today’s world, the importance of education is unparalleled. The better education the younger generation receives, the more they will contribute to the development of communities that will assist in shaping a better tomorrow. However, not every child is fortunate enough to receive a quality education due to various circumstances; their potential and talent don’t flourish with lack of access. After witnessing the situation in rural East Africa, Erna Grasz co-founded Asante Africa Foundation to fill this gap.

Asante Africa is rooted in UN Sustainable Development Goals; it achieves results through interconnected programs designed to alleviate poverty by fostering the development of educated and resilient youth. As the CEO of Asante Africa Foundation, Erna is passionate about the power of quality education. She understands the challenges in managing the complex priorities of health, safety, security, and education, recognizing the fragility and linkage between education and food and economic stability. Apart from playing an essential role in assisting the younger generation with education, she is frequently on the global stage, promoting executive leadership, innovating education programs, and promoting sustainable philanthropy versus charity.

The Journey A single mother raised Erna in Texas, facing challenging conditions. Erna learned early in life that education was an excellent enabler and personal resilience was the key to thriving in difficult circumstances. Her focused drive led to her graduating at the top of her class in the man’s world of Electrical Engineering. Her professional career started at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, leading innovative teams developing system solutions for the nation’s greatest technical challenges.

As Erna transitioned to corporate leadership in Silicon Valley, these skills enabled her to lead diverse teams

through ambiguity and chaos by providing vision, structure, and purpose to their technical tasks. For Erna, forward progress is always driven by a greater purpose.

Erna co-founded Asante Africa Foundation after visiting rural communities lacking access to education in rural East Africa. She and her two African co-founders were inspired to pursue that greater purpose: Educating Children.

Mission & Vision Asante Africa Foundation, a global social impact organization, is focused on “Educating Children and Transforming Worlds” through academic support, skill development, and opportunity creation for youth in rural East Africa. Erna expresses that education is the first and most crucial step in emerging from poverty.

Asante Africa takes this a step further in all programs with locally-led, youth-led, and girl-led programs. Asante Africa’s young people have a saying: “If it’s about us, it can’t be without us.” It challenges and drives the motivation of the foundation’s work - simple, scalable interventions can provide young people with the tools they need to thrive.

Solutions must be locally led and embraced by the community. This is the best way to ensure sustainable impact and gender equity.

Leaving the Mark As sustainable progress in rural East Africa requires a nontraditional approach, a top-down solution is not likely to work in the private and education sectors. Asante Africa programs are designed to be locally led and implemented to ensure the solutions address local challenges and are embraced and sustained by the community. Erna pushes this even further with youth-led initiatives where students actively engage in Asante Africa’s “Learn-Do-Teach” academic programs and embrace Pay-it-Forward principles, ensuring their efforts have immediate impact on students,

February 2022 | 25 | insightssuccess.com

their families, and their community. Youth become empowered and confident, knowing their ideas can lead to local solutions to local challenges and ultimately, sustainable impact.

The efforts of Asante Africa’s programs were recognized when it received the USAID Young Women Transform Prize in 2018 for the girl-led Leadership and Entrepreneurship Program. In 2019, Asante Africa was recognized as a Top 10 finalist for the Drucker Innovation Prize for the “Learn-Do-Teach” model. The Obama Foundation invited Asante Africa to participate in the Global Summit. In the following year, Asante Africa received the Bronze Award for Sub-Saharan Education Innovation.

Shared Values are the Foundation for Change Having rooted values in an organization is essential as it plants the seeds from which it will grow from. A set of core values guides Asante Africa Foundation: Youth and Women Led, Inclusive Leadership, Pay-it-Forward, Innovation and Continuous Learning, Partnerships, and Accountability.

These drive all efforts toward sustainable impact while ensuring transparency and accountability to all stakeholders. Erna states that these efforts impact Asante Africa’s youth thriving by learning, doing, and teaching others. Their parents and communities are involved and embrace the values of education and Pay-it-Forward initiatives. The value of education, entrepreneurship training, and hard work is clear and is spreading to neighboring schools and communities.

Assistive Technology Technology is a great enabler, and Erna expresses that during the pandemic when schools were closed, Asante Africa sustained education for youth in the most rural communities by bringing digital content to small learning groups housed under trees or other community locations.

Modern quality education is increasingly available digitally, with or without the internet, and the interface engages students, unlike the memorization of conventional classroom settings. By embracing digital technology, African youth will be at the forefront of innovation, prepared to build peaceful, more vibrant communities and thrive in the global economy, Erna mentions.

connected, enabling the distribution of content and ideas in real-time. Erna continues that technology is a key ingredient in conquering the greatest challenges of our times: Climate change, health, gender equity, and ending poverty. In her opinion, technology-enabled youth will be more successful in business, providing for their families, building local economies, respectfully utilizing resources, and growing the middle class. Technology brings the world closer together, spreads ideas, enables local and global commerce, and enables positive action toward peaceful collaboration. Asante Africa Foundation is leading that change in rural East Africa.

Planning Ahead Asante Africa Foundation aims to impact an additional one million young people in East Africa by 2025. It plans for its students, staff, and alumni to be recognized for their community success and impact. Erna states that women and youth will lead the programs, and the funding will be more globally diversified, with almost half of the foundation’s resources coming from the countries where it operates with lean operations and strong governance. She says, “These are all key ingredients of a thriving, sustainable organization with deep impacts on tomorrow’s leaders.”

Empowering Guidance No one ever promised life would be easy. Erna’s mother used to say “If you are striving to be good, it will be hard. If you are striving to be great, it will be even harder”. Erna says “Expect difficult times and take it one step at a time, celebrating the small successes along the journey.

Eventually you will be achieving greatness.” Erna encourages budding women entrepreneurs to think big and take calculated risks with the simple philosophy of “Trust your instincts, intuition, and intellect. Feel the fear and do it anyway!”

Erna’s work is living proof that big challenges require bold leaders capable of listening, learning, and acting in the best interests of those they serve. “The future is being created by empowered, skilled, and passionate young people. Asante Africa will continue educating and creating opportunities for youth determined to architect that bold future for themselves and their world.” Erna concludes.

The Next Big Change Erna expresses that the pandemic taught several valuable lessons, including why classroom walls do not limit learning and education. Technology is changing how knowledge is delivered, and the world is increasingly

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Door to Success

Leaders that We Need

Today

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ife is a struggle that revolves around personal and professional challenges. And, when you are struggling, seeking advice from genuine friends always helps you. But instead of following people and their advice, create your own opportunities that help you find your own path. Because fate is by far the greatest mystery of all, and you can never know where it will take you. But the real question is there an alternative to all of this? While everyone speaks about these complicated things, let’s discuss the solution through this article.

Our lives are connected to technology and social media, as they play a key role in today’s modern world. As business leaders, we have to accept the fact that the vision to bring change in the lives of the people and transform the world is possible with technology. But, promoting compassion and wellbeing among the people is also equally important.

Understandably, everyone wants to create their identity and influence the world. But developing leaders just for the sake of business output and profits will degrade the quality of the leadership. And, we don’t want such leaders, especially in tough times like today.

We want leaders who can get the best out of their team, which is possible only without the fear of judgment. It is a great way to lead, discuss, guide, and help each other in crucial times. A ray of hope is all people need, and leaders can bring that hope through these sources. For example, if any employee knows that he/she does not have to face the issues alone and there is someone to talk about it, it gives hope to that person.

Yes, that’s the alternative for a leader – to connect - to help those who feel down and try to bring the best out of them. That’s what the leader should be recognized for, and this is the shift leaders need to bring currently.

As an organization and as people, we should develop compassion and ethics that reflect our outlook on the world.

and well-being among the people. Now that we have got the alternative solution for the leaders. The next question is, how do you recognize that you need help?

Most of us today are too busy making a living. We exist only within our daily routine, as we are preoccupied with massive responsibilities in many aspects of our lives, like academic, financial, career, household chores, etc. And due to this, it becomes too late to realize that you are already struggling – emotionally and mentally. We no longer listen to our body & mind, and finally, we do not appreciate our actual/real life.

There appears an absence of self-care. Taking care of yourself can be overlooked against all the professional pressures of our life. But it is important to take time to care about your physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health.

Before you extend your compassion and authentic care for people, you must first practice self-care.

Why? Because you can never give what you do not have.

Below are things that can help you in practicing selfcare: Ÿ Start your day doing things you love the most and boost your mood. Ÿ Be grateful for things you have, no matter how small or big it might be. Ÿ Have sufficient sleep, healthy food, and exercise regularly Ÿ Do activities and interactions add value to your life There are much more things that you can discover yourself to practice self-care. After following all the things, you will appreciate your life, even more, resulting in a healthy work-life balance. With peace of mind, you will achieve your life goals. You will know yourself better – see a better version of yourself and attract positivity in your life.

It is only with this approach we can make it possible to sustain and impact lives for longer, creating a better world for all. This is a much-needed alternative in today’s pandemic situation – promoting compassion

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Jennifer Bassett CEO Bassett Events Inc.

The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Jennifer Basse

Making YOUR Event an Unequivocal Experience

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he soaring demand to have personalized events that differentiate from the conventional has led to seeking event managers who deliver a genuine high-touch experience. To go above and beyond to curate an extravagant and memorable event, ensuring a seamless flow becomes essential. Thus, to make every corporate and luxury event a truly extraordinary experience, Jennifer Bassett implies her proficiency in creating sparkling initiatives for her clients.

As the CEO, Jennifer has dedicated two decades to running incredible successful event management, primarily working with premium brands and companies, creating unique and memorable events. Her expertise in the event management niche has inspired the upcoming leaders to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of achieving excellence.

working for a company as an event producer, and six months into my job, they decided to close their doors. At that time, I decided that I had enough contacts to be able to go out on my own, so one month after leaving that company, I started Bassett Events, and the rest, as they say, is history. Over the course of owning a business, there have been many challenges. Most recently, the global pandemic.

Our company, like many others in the live entertainment business, had to pivot and remarket to a smaller event demographic. We started bare by Bassett, which offers full event planning for more intimate gatherings. As challenging as the past two years have been, they have also been rewarding in that we now have another branch of our business that we likely never would have had.

Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the industry through your expertise in the market.

Insights Success caught up with Jennifer and talked about her journey, understanding the perception behind her approach that makes her one of the inspiring women leaders worldwide.

Below are the highlights of the interview: Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Bassett Events Inc. What challenges you had to overcome to reach where you are today?

I grew up in a very social environment with my parents often hosting parties and events, so naturally, my love for entertaining developed at a very early age. In 1999, I was

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“

The art of luxury event management.

“

We are a boutique company which means when you hire Bassett Events; you have our attention to every aspect of the event. Our team is always 100% invested in each event, and that level of commitment is what sets us apart from the rest. We don’t view ourselves as a hired vendor. We are an extension of the organization that has hired us.

Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.

We always strive to provide the best experience for our clients. Our team is incredibly creative and hands-on, and we are always looking for unique ways to make our events memorable. We select ‘best in class partners to work with to ensure that every aspect is managed by the very best and flawlessly executed.

Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?

We use a lot of event planning software to help keep us organized, whether it’s for registration or mass mailouts to guests. There have been some amazing advancements in event planning software over the last two years to help with the virtual side of event planning as well.

If given a chance, what change would you like to bring to the industry?

We’ve done it all! Small gatherings with upwards of 3000 attendees. We’ve had the honor the work with first-class,

award-winning entertainment and clients. We’ve tackled both virtual and in-person. We hope to continue to bring back “fun” into our events. People are ready to party and entertain; we are all craving human contact. Bassett will be ready to make it happen!

What, according to you, could be the next big change in the industry? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change?

We have just seen a massive shift in how events are being executed due to the pandemic. Most of our business comes from working with non-for-profits and charitable organizations, producing high-end Galas. Because virtual and hybrid events are becoming more the norm, those organizations are able to tap into a much broader audience, which they normally wouldn’t have been able to reach. I believe we will be seeing more and more organizations incorporating virtual components into their events.

Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for the company?

We hope to continue to grow and expand our international database. We are already looking ahead to a very promising 2022!

What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?

Go for it! It’s an incredibly rewarding profession, and if you have a passion for it, you will love it. And when you love what you do, you will be successful.

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Katerina Trajchevska

Shifting the Tides of Workplace Ideologies

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he modern business world requires an innovative approach in workplaces; we have witnessed the change from cubicles to open workplaces; however, work culture demands another change. With a perception to bring the following desired change to workspaces, Katerina Trajchevska co-founded Adeva, enabling companies to work remotely by creating various solutions based on years of experience in the field.

As the CEO, Katerina strongly advocates that the future of work is not about where you work from but what you deliver. Adeva's efforts hit the nail on the head in the unprecedented pandemic that allowed businesses to operate remotely, expand their roots globally, break traditional methodologies' barriers, implying Adeva's concept of Work Without Boundaries.

Enabling work without

boundaries by connecting organizations with tech talent across the world.

Below are the highlights of the interview.

Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at the company. What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today?

Back when I was starting my career, my country didn't offer too many opportunities to work on exciting projects. The outsourcing industry was on the rise, and most of what we saw were legacy projects and unexciting work. The startup world was out of reach, together with all the fun challenges that came with it.

I started freelancing in search of more interesting work and instantly loved the flexibility it offered. The challenge was, though, to keep the work supply steady - it was too risky and unpredictable. That's how Adeva was born. Searching for ways to improve our own freelancing experience together with my business partner, we realized that we could do the same for everyone who wanted the flexibility of remote work without compromising on the stability of regular employment.

There were plenty of challenges on the way, especially because the companies that could provide a more stable workload were the ones that were more inclined toward the traditional way of work. Educating enterprises about the benefits of remote work is a major task. Now with the pandemic, we faced a massive shift in the industry, which accelerated the adaptation for many companies and enabled us to grow much faster.

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Tell us something more about the company and its mission and vision.

Adeva is a remote tech professionals' network driven by the purpose of enabling work without boundaries for tech professionals worldwide. We're passionate advocates for remote work, and our network is distributed in over 30 countries across the globe.

Using a community-driven approach, we engage some of the brightest talents in the industry, enabling organizations to scale their engineering teams fast. By cutting out unnecessary expenses and minimizing fees, Adeva helps companies reduce their hiring costs while providing longterm, remote opportunities for tech talent worldwide.

Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the industry through your expertise in the market?

We've been fully remote for five years, and over the years, we dealt with most of the challenges companies are faced with now, having to adapt to the new normal quickly. Our approach has always been to work out our problems, find a solution and once we're certain it works, offer it to our customers to facilitate their work with distributed teams.

Whether it's by educating companies on implementing strong processes for remote working or providing infrastructure for easier management of their remote contractors, we've always used our expertise to enable companies to work remotely without limiting themselves to a certain geographic location.

Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.

We stand behind the premise that it's never about how much you work but what you deliver. What value do you create.

That's the main thing we want to pass on to every member of our community and each one of our clients.

Being a people-driven company, we measure success in the opportunities we create for people to enjoy life more, to live the lifestyle they always wanted. For some of our colleagues, that means to live and work from a different location every couple of months; for others, to surf or climb mountain peaks because all they need to do to afford it is pack their laptop and hit the road. For most of them, though, it's the flexibility to balance their personal and professional lives, to spend more time with their families, or move to a more peaceful location without worrying about the commute or lack of work opportunities.

you helped someone make a living, but that you helped them live the life they want.

Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?

Technology is imperative to our ability to grow and serve our talent and customers. We completely rely on our platform for achieving that. On one side, we have people interested in remote jobs who can apply to join regardless of if they're actively looking for a job or not. On the other side, clients can easily sign up and post their job requirements to start the hiring process.

The magic happens in the back office, where we have a smart search and matching process to find the best fit for a given position and make an introduction. We're increasingly automating the repetitive steps of our manual processes to be able to focus more on creating value for our clients and our network.

Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for the company?

Our mission is to enable work without boundaries for 1 million people by 2030. To support companies and individuals untap their full potential and remove borders from work by creating an infrastructure for everyone who wants to work remotely.

With more and more companies opening up to working with distributed talent, a completely new set of challenges will arise dealing with fake identities, the inability to stay compliant with local laws, the overhead of managing and paying people across borders. Utilizing our experience and the obstacles we've overcome to get where we are today, we aim to solve each of these challenges for companies across the world and enable more individuals to access opportunities that never existed before.

What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?

The glass can be half full or half empty, depending on how you look at it. We're far from having a favorable environment for women entrepreneurs, but just because of that, there are so many communities and networks that support women and create opportunities that would be hard to get otherwise. Make it your strength to use them.

Those are the experiences that drive us. Knowing not that

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Katy Barfield Shifting Tides as the Food Waste Warrior

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educing food waste can significantly lessen stress on the environment, and several significant initiatives can assist the food industry by implementing better procurement. Several organizations and individuals operate at different levels to find an alternative way to deal with surplus food. Finding an innovative solution to deal with the food wastage crisis, Katy Barfield founded Yume Food Australia, allowing food manufacturers and primary producers to sell their quality surplus products to commercial buyers at a discount.

As the CEO, Katy has dedicated her life to this cause, designing and implementing award-winning solutions to fix the market imbalances that generate food waste and loss.

Her venture is the first Australian tech platform that allows the food industry to sell, donate and buy clearance and excess food.

thing of the past. Currently, the commercial sector in Australia wastes 3.2 million tons of food every year. This is happening before food even reaches supermarket shelves, let alone our homes. Yume's vision is to see all good food getting to where it belongs by connecting clearance and excess food to other businesses in the food industry and to those who need it most via food rescue organizations.

Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the industry through your expertise in the market?

Yume has only been able to make an impact on the food industry by listening to the industry's needs and collaborating to create technology that is actually of value.

One of the reasons food waste occurs is because of inefficient processes along the supply chain. By listening to Yume users, we've been able to find solutions to these problems. So far, this has seen Yume technology prevent 3.1 million kilograms of food from going to waste.

Insights Success caught up with Katy to understand how her efforts have disrupted the food industry for good making her one of the most inspiring women leaders.

Below are the highlights of the interview: Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Yume. What challenges did you have to overcome to reach where you are today?

The biggest challenge you face as a startup founder is money and time or lack of it. You have a plan, but more often than not, when dealing with innovation, nothing goes according to that plan. It's a constant interactive process to find that elusive product-market fit, and when it's technology-based, it's an expensive process. I've found it always takes three times the money and four times the time you thought it would, and you have to dodge mister left field on a daily basis!

Food waste is an unfortunate reality of supply chains. Yume is here to do something about it.

Tell us something more about Yume and its mission and vision.

Our mission at Yume is to make commercial food waste a

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Katy Barfield Founder & CEO Yume Food Australia

February 2022 | 41 | insightssuccess.com

If given a chance, what change would you like to bring to the industry?

Ultimately, we believe in the creation of a circular economy, where nothing produced is wasted. Yume has already started to facilitate repurposing projects, for example, the creation of a beer brewed with upcycled cereal byproducts.

What, according to you, could be the next big change in the industry? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change?

The big change happening right now in the food and beverage industry is that companies are waking up to their food waste problems. Writing off stock has been an ingrained and accepted process for a long time, and leaders are stopping and asking, "why?". They want to do something about it. Yume technology is here to support this shift.

Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for the company?

Eliminating food waste is one of the most actionable levers in reducing CO2 emissions. Our planet is at a critical juncture, and we need to do everything we can to change how we think about food. Yume's goal is to show all food manufacturers in Australia how valuable their food is and why it is so important that it is eaten and not wasted.

Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.

The Yume team is a passionate group of food waste fighters who are driven by the power of technology in creating a more sustainable future. We value integrity, grit, boldness, adaptability, curiosity, and lively foodie discussion!

What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?

The most important thing about doing business for good is to be surrounded by people who get the vision. They need to have the passion, integrity, and resilience to disrupt industries that don't really want to change. You can't do it alone.

Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?

Innovative technology is who we are here at Yume. The Yume platform is an ever-changing solution to the issues we uncover in food manufacturing that are causing food to be wasted. Our most recent advancement within the platform was building technology that streamlines how food manufacturers donate excess food to food rescue organizations.

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The Need for Compassionate Leadership During a Global Pandemic - By Eileen Willet Co-founder Cucumber Clothing February 2022 | 44 | insightssuccess.com

Leader’s Viewpoint

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wo years ago, when Nancy and I decided to dip our toes into the world of start-ups, we had absolutely no idea where it would take us. We were both mums in mid-life. Between us, we had two dogs, six children, a strong friendship and what we thought was a damn good idea. At the time Nancy was involved in the charitable sector (formerly at Saatchi and Saatchi), and I was running my own successful accessory brand (having helped start up Nicole Farhi Menswear). Hindsight is a great thing, at the time, we thought Cucumber Clothing would fit into our lives. Instead, it soon became a nineheaded hydra disguised as a start-up, swallowing up as much time, energy and passion as we could muster. We can honestly say we’ve enjoyed the challenges, the highs and lows and the wonderful people we have met every step of the way.

Then Covid arrived. Which company can say honestly that they were prepared for a global pandemic? I would venture, absolutely none. The past two years have brought us more intense, demanding, and tough hurdles than we could have imagined. The flip side is that we have been stretched, stimulated and forced to be both exacting and flexible all at the same time.

What has this taught us about leadership? Mainly that leadership, in particular compassionate leadership, becomes even more essential in times of deep stress, both professional and personal, as well as in times of conflicting demand. The ability to invite opinions and truly listen to them; the ability to retain high standards, and yet remain flexible; the ability to sometimes accept that something cannot be achieved. The ability to be compassionate. These are all lessons we have learned and taken to heart in these tumultuous past months.

Broadly speaking, compassionate leadership can be broken down into four pillars with the consistency of application and open communication throughout being key (all definitions taken from merriam-webster.com) : Listening – to hear something with thoughtful intention Understanding – to have sympathetic awareness or tolerance Empathising – to understand and share the feelings of another Helping - the act or an instance of doing or supplying something to make it easier for another to complete a task, deal with a problem, etc.

Regular and open communication allows these pillars to be fully used. Each member of a company then feels able to safely raise issues that may otherwise remain buried, only to arise at a later in possibly a much more inconvenient shape, size and time.

It is no surprise that matters can take a negative turn when employees feel that compassionate leadership is lacking.

When leadership is reactive, not proactive and issues are dealt with only after something has gone wrong a cycle of negativity is created, particularly when issues are raised and even then, there is no change.

Compassionate leadership ensures a greater likelihood of creating a productive and harmonious workplace whatever the external pressures – for example, a global pandemic! may be.

Properly using and integrating the above four pillars of compassionate leadership into a company’s functioning allows for a collective focus and corresponding collective responsibility on issues arising in the workplace in achieving and maintaining goals and targets – a huge win for any company. This in turn, leads to a workplace where the collective good is prioritised over individual needs and reduces friction between both individuals and groups regardless of status, again an enormous positive when, especially in times of increased pressures.

Whether an SME or micro business, I believe compassionate leadership is key to keeping a company functioning well at any time, and absolutely critical in times of huge stress. Investing in and ensuring that the simple pillars of listen, understand, empathise and help are in place, can make the difference between the survival and failure of businesses in a bruising world of change.

Two years in and no business can have any real clarity about what 2022 will bring. The best way to prepare is to commit to ensuring that your own business is emotionally robust and prepared for the worst while very much hoping for the best. With compassionate leadership baked in, it will have every chance.

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

May Winfield

Guiding YOU through Commercial, Legal, and Digital Risk with Innovative Strategies

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any inspiring stories start small but significantly impact the world when heard. Similarly, women leaders that make their presence themselves from the ground up are the ones who inspire an enormous number of people. Growing up on a small tropical island of Penang, Malaysia, May Winfield was the only one who had access to old school computers due to her father's interest in them. Brought up in a relatively traditional household, she was strongly encouraged to choose a professional career.

Later, May studied law in Sheffield, England, and then a post-graduate barrister. She worked as an advocate and solicitor for two years in Malaysia. Following she managed to become a lawyer in the South West of England.

Today, May leads as the Global Director of Commercial, Legal and Digital Risks at Buro Happold. She works closely with the business worldwide, identifying legal and digital risks and opportunities. She assists in developing new technology and digital data products, services, and offerings across the industry.

Buro Happold is an international, integrated consultancy of engineers, consultants, and advisers, with a presence in 31 locations worldwide, over 70 partners, and 1,900 employees. Founded in 1976, Buro Happold has built a world-class reputation for delivering creative, value-led solutions for an ever-challenging world. As a truly interconnected community of experts, it values human wellbeing curiosity, embraces mutual responsibility, and genuinely cares about its work's impact and legacy.

“

Be bold in your belief.

A Steady Rise In 2011, May specialized working in construction insurance law in London, where the UK Government mandated the use of 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM), which by 2016 was applied to all government procured construction projects. This mandate allowed May to combine her interests with her work; however, she was frequently advised to drop the interest to focus on money-making specialisms or endeavors.

May didn't give up and read anything that she could find on the topic and attended a digital technology conference in the construction industry, where she would be the only lawyer in the room and only one of a handful of women.

She learned that the new processes led to new risks and was eager to help the industry avoid the ticking time bomb. An opportunity struck in the form of the major contractor, Carillion, that led May to move in-house to work there, where her boss encouraged her to research BIM. She ended up leading on the legal and contractual matters for digital and technology issues at Carillion, then a £4b company.

After Carillion failed, May was told repeatedly in interviews and by heads of legal that the digital and technology aspects of construction were not of any real assistance to them or her career and was rejected from several jobs. In the meantime, May wrote one of the first detailed legal analyses of a contractual framework for this area of law (cited worldwide). Eventually, Dr. Marzia Bolpagni, a supportive friend, introduced May to the now CTO of Buro Happold, Alain Waha.

Leaving a Mark Buro Happold is in a position to effect real change as it can work collectively towards an equitable and green recovery, adapting its business to mitigate climate change and the biodiversity crisis. It recognizes that the industry must make substantial, sustained changes to design and create environments from the building to a regional scale that are

“

February 2022 | 46 | insightssuccess.com

May Win eld

Global Director of Commercial, Legal and Digital Risks Buro Happold

sustainable and fair. As engineers and consultants, it is committed to working with clients and partners to better the industry, cities, and communities.

The Foundational Pillars Buro Happold is a values-based practice with an inclusive culture driven by mutual respect and passion for creating: • Value human wellbeing and are discontented with limitations, committing to taking this as seriously for its people as its projects.

• It is a diverse, one-firm culture. When it gets right, it sings. Internal barriers are always to be overcome through inclusivity and equity above all else.

• It embraces mutual responsibility. It is easy to default to individual success. Teams need to share success and failure in the same way.

• It is more than a business. It cares about the legacy of our work. It has a responsibility of care as an employer and influencer in shaping the world.

• Sustainability is intrinsic to the economic and social impact of its work. Going beyond compliance requires challenging preconceptions taking extra steps.

• It takes courage to create. Its culture fosters a dynamic between technology and empathy to gain deeper insight, unleash imagination, and manage risk.

May mentions that the organization is actively involved with its local communities wherever it can and makes its skills, experience, and time available to those in society most in need, wherever they are located in the world. Its main program for community involvement is Share Our Skills (SOS), established in 2014; it enables its employees to carry out non-fee-paying work during regular work time.

The Technological Leverage May expresses that technology shouldn't be used purely for technology's sake; it can enable parties to remove repetitive tasks or make things much faster and more efficient, generating more accurate results.

Buro Happold's climate toolkit or dashboard shortens the time to generate a climate report from one day to ten minutes; removing barriers and speeds up processes to run the complex analysis involved – all at the click of a button, making the data more accessible.

liability control provided by the legal team. There is no single tool that accounts for all those variables, and we correctly use technological advances to supplement and enhance our services – rather than replace them."

The Long Haul May states that while known for its forward-thinking, technologically advanced ethos and ways of working, Buro Happold is, in some ways, at the beginning of its whole digital journey. May feels blessed that the belief and support of various people have led her to the role she has today, enabling her to lead the legal risks side of the digital journey.

May envisions to support Buro Happold to continue to be thought leaders and recognized talents in the digital and construction technology space while progressing its strong vision of sustainability and more equality and diversity within the industry.

Be Fearless May advises budding women entrepreneurs not to listen to the detractors who want you to pursue something more accessible, more mainstream, or more suited to you. She says, "Be bold in your belief. However, understand that the road can be long and is hard; nothing good comes easy, and it will take personal time – though the balance is important to make it all worthwhile. It is possible – I have my career, my side 'hobby' of digital-based conferences, papers and activities, a 6-year-old child, a patient husband, and loving friends."

Concluding her thoughts, May asserts, "Research and consider sensibly what precise direction you should take to succeed in the way you envision – where is the gap in the market, where is the knowledge gap, what organizations are vital to be involved with? Be prepared, in the long journey, to pivot when needed while keeping your eye on the goal.

My journey as a legal specialist in digital and technology matters started in 2011, and I build on it every day."

May notes, "Automation is a great tool when applied sensibly, leading to more time being made available for designers to make better decisions and produce higher quality, sustainable designs. Though it can't replace the years of experience, local knowledge, and precedent in the areas we work in – as well as the risk mitigation and

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Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD

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Womanhood

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here is a tremendous amount of potential in every living entity. Untapped potential should be trapped for the welfare of the world. Where women are empowered that place flourishes in abundance. Empowered women leads to the prosperity of families, societies, nations and the world. Deep down, every person likes to live with dignity by contributing something to the world according to one’s capabilities and potential. Therefore, that potential should be nurtured in everyone and especially in the girls and women. Nothing can dim the light in every person that shines from within. All girls and women has to do is to be aware of their own inner potential and they can contribute to any field of their choice.

The world is currently going through the unprecedented times due to the ongoing pandemic. This is certainly challenging time for many people but some exceptional women leaders see the positive opportunity even in such unprecedented time and actually that is the hallmark of good women leadership. Exceptional women leaders are always aware and they understand that the unprecedented times always call for unprecedented actions, innovative, thoughtful, and win-win solutions. The world may be filled with lot of negativity due to inevitable challenges and causes, but exceptional women leaders call upon their inner light and they use such unprecedented time to develop and nourish their skillsets so that they can be an instrument of positive contribution to the world in the coming times. Now more than ever, women and girls need to call on their inner light to utilize the toughest times to tune into their conscience, learn new things by using virtual platforms and make themselves competent.

In the difficult times of pandemic it is essential for women leaders to be detached from the negativity around themselves. Unless and until one is detached from the negativity, it is very difficult to focus on the positive and to make the most out of that positive. Exceptional women leaders prefer to be courageous to confront issues more diligently and deal with people with empathy and due consideration. Exceptional women leaders choose to think deliberately and act on the conclusion of logical, rational, analytical, systematic, and cognitive-intensive thought process. That is really the most important part of exceptional women leadership. Leaders are supposed to think deliberately and act on the basis of logical conclusion for delivering the efficient results.

Educating and empowering a girl child creates a ripple effect and it creates a positive influence in the community.

Empowered women invest time and energy in creating the stronger next generations. The future leaders of tomorrow can be more talented, dynamic, and competent to deliver maximum contribution for the welfare of the world if they are raised by the empowered women. Empowering women is beneficial in so many ways and their contribution play a

very important role in creating the genuinely exemplary future leaders.

Gender equality is beneficial for the whole world.

Promoting gender equality is not just responsibility of women leaders or women issue but it is a societal issue and everyone should support in promoting the purpose of gender equality. United nations is again and again promoting the empowerment of women. That’s very crucial.

The greater number of women in every field is a sign of growth and evolved culture. The empowered women are boon to the world. That is the reason ‘Gender Equality’ is one of the most important sustainable development goals.

Empowering women is essential for the sustainable development of the world. Empowered women become great asset for businesses, families, societies, communities, nations, and that is ultimately beneficial for whole world.

There are plenty of fields where women have opportunities and they can contribute immensely. The world is in desperate need of genuinely exemplary women leaders to make a difference through businesses, science, research, technology etc. Women can become the leaders in the field of businesses, science, research, technology and in any choice of their field if they are willing to be bold and courageous enough to pursue their career in such fields relentlessly. They have the potential to make a difference in the choice of field they go and therefore women should not shy away from utilizing their best capabilities and they should deny the world of their valuable contribution.

Empowered women are the secret weapon of creating a positive change in the society and the world at large.

Empowering and enhancing women and investing in them unlocks a tremendous potential for the world. Empowered women are the most important weapon and resource in the fight against the global poverty. The untapped resource of women has the tremendous potential and that should be recognized by the people in the world especially by the people who have the opportunity to create awareness related to this.

The empowered women have the potential to significantly improve livelihoods, productivity, economic outputs, and the overall human life itself. The basic longing to live with dignity, the fundamental desire to have control of one’s lives and one’s future and to be part of determining the course of our communities and our nations are very much universal in the empowered women. These longings burn in the women and girls, and with these longings they can be a great dynamic force in the world to be an agent of change and make a significant contribution for the welfare of the world with their talents, skills, and abilities and that will lead to the ultimate welfare of the world.

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The 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Follow in 2022

Sabrina Khan

An Epitome of Hardwork, Passion and Perseverance

chieving excellence in any field requires consistent efforts, diligence, and patience. It is a mark of great leaders that they stick to the process and eventually embark on the journey of success. They fight through challenges with hard work and persistence. They attain expertise in their field by learning and developing themselves and help the companies to reach new heights.

One such persistent leader is Sabrina Khan.

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accounting professional focusing on daily financial operations, IPO, and M&A projects which further helped in building her technical skills and knowledge. She then joined Aptorum Group Limited as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2017 and helped Aptorum Group to successfully get listed on Nasdaq in December 2018 and as the first biopharmaceutical company to dual list on Euronext.

Let’s shed some light on her journey and how she is spearheading Aptorum’s financial objectives.

Throughout all these days in her career, Sabrina failed countless times, but her personality and attitude helped her a lot in going through all these challenges. She likes to learn new things and take up challenging tasks as she enjoys the process and the satisfaction it brings. She believes that challenges are not beyond our control, and there is always a solution.

Sabrina started her career as an auditor, where she was trained and obtained her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Title. After that, she worked for a few companies as their

Tackling Unmet Medical Needs with Life-Science Innovations Aptorum Group is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company with a focus on the discovery and development of therapeutic assets for the treatment of a variety of unmet medical needs, including orphan diseases, infection diseases, and metabolic diseases. The group focuses on diseases that are currently largely unmet or do not have effective treatment available. It believes that patients in these disease areas often suffer from the lack of choices of (effective) drugs and are faced with limited therapeutic options available. On this basis, the company’s product objective is simple – ‘to bring effective drugs to these patients and tackle these diseases’.

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Sabrina Khan

Chief Financial Officer Aptorum Group Limited

Aptorum Group has a strong pipeline of candidates under development with 4 core assets showing significant progress: 1) The Rapid Pathogen Identification and Detection Diagnostics (“RPIDD”) technology, a rapid, accurate, costeffective, and untargeted method to identify and detect existing or emerging unknown pathogens through liquid biopsy. Such unknown pathogens include DNA/RNA-based viruses such as coronavirus, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, fungi, etc.

2) SACT-1, a repurposed drug candidate for treating neuroblastoma discovered through its Smart-ACT® drug discovery Platform.

3) ALS-4, a small drug molecule candidate for the treatment of infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Making Use of Expertise to Contribute and Save Lives Sabrina expresses that many people find accounting tedious, and accountants are only to help companies do bookkeeping, prepare financial reports, and tax filings. She asserts, “Companies need an accountant to meet certain regulatory requirements, but no one would ever think accountants can help to build their business or even the society.”

After Sabrina left Big 4, she worked for a few healthcare and biopharmaceutical companies and started building her network in the industry. She realized accountants can also make good use of their knowledge and network to help raising capital and connecting companies for joint ventures and other collaboration. This can help provide scientists with sufficient resources to continue their clinical trials and speed up the drug development process. She is happy to be part of the team and make use of her expertise to contribute and save lives.

4) NLS-2, a dietary supplement for the relief of menopausal symptoms.

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“Aptorum aims to become a worldclass player in the biopharmaceutical industry with emphasis in science, collaboration, and entrepreneurship.”

Strengthening Team to Meet Evolving Needs Sabrina states that because of COVID, many people are now more health-conscious and have put more emphasis on the study of infectious diseases. One of Aptorum Group’s key development focuses is on infectious disease with the support of the team from the University of Hong Kong, which is very famous in the area globally.

Aptorum Group would like to further strengthen the team as COVID proves that the current pace of medical development is far too slow and cannot meet the current needs.

Contributing to Advancement in Global Medical Development Talking about the culture, Sabrina mentions that Aptorum is determined to continue developing therapeutic treatments with a novel approach in targeting unmet medical needs and contributing to global medical development. She believes that there is a need to think quickly and cope with the everchanging environment. She always encourages open discussion and asks her team members to share their views and suggestions. When encountering any difficulties, Sabrina usually guides them to get their answers than providing them a quick solution. She puts, “Getting their answer is the best way to inspire them to think and build

their commitment to the team and what they do. I want them to seriously understand why they are doing it that way and what they are doing instead of blindly taking instruction from above.”

Developing Different Innovative Approach We asked Sabrina about the change she would like to bring to the pharmaceutical industry, to which she says, “I would like to use Aptorum as an example and inspire the industry to work together and develop different innovative and novel approaches in tackling medical needs and stop using antibiotics because abuse use of antibiotics would cause drug resistance and even the manufacturing process would cause environmental pollution.”

Contributing Expertise in Finance Sabrina would continue to seek different breakthroughs in her life through Aptorum. She wishes to contribute her finance expertise to global medical development.

Sabrina advises budding entrepreneurs in the most concise words, “Everyone, no matter what you do, your background, it’s the attitude that counts. You can do if you believe you can.”

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