About this Event
We are bringing women together for MadaMind — a ‘mastermind’ mini-conference focused on development for a diverse group of women. The timefr ame + format makes the event accessible to many women who may not be able to invest the time, funds or travel associated with many other conferences, but still want to benefit from personal + professional development.
Our experienced + dynamic speakers will cover topic areas, ranging from wealth to partnerships to adventure. MadaMind will culminate in a final hour and a half of celebration + interaction in honour of Women's History Month. Lunch + refreshments are included. All of the proceeds from MadaMind will go towards the annual ERNA Grant. This year, we are commited to providing five grants, of which 60% will be awarded to women + women entrepreneurs.
Speakers include :
Kamille Glenn, Founder, dsgnrswrkshp
Kamille Glenn is an award-winning designer from Brooklyn, New York. Her design focuses include interior, architecture, and furniture design although her curiosity spans across all maker disciplines. During her seven-year tenure as an Associate at Rockwell Group, she designed for some of the top operators and developers in hospitality worldwide. Passionate about the industry and process, Kamille noticed the lack of representation early on in her career. As a response in 2019, she founded dsgnrswrkshp (pronounced designer’s workshop);a collective focused on creating accessibility, visibility, and education in design to empower Black makers and community. She currently works full time on the collective mission of creating intentional, safe, and equitable spaces.
Kathryn Thiele - Founder + CEO of Buildstock
Kathryn is CEO & Co Founder of Buildstock, a venture backed B2B construction marketplace + fintech software company, for buyers & suppliers of base building materials for the high rise + industrial markets. Offering materials cost savings, time efficiency + improved cashflows.
She comes with 10 years of experience as an architect and project manager in the construction industry building high rise development projects; across 20 projects, 8 of which were built at about $1Billion of development cost and 8 million sq ft of mixed use residential space. Early in her career, she also worked at Codeworks, a Code and Zoning consulting firm, for large developers.
Throughout the execution of these projects, I developed an amazing trusted network + strong relationship with General Contractors, Sub Contractors, Distributors & Manufacturers.
Kathryn is a Co-Chair of the American Institute of Architects - New York Chapter - Emerging NY Architects (ENYA). Is the creator of the Torch Mentorship Program & has teaching instructor at Cornell, on Architect Licensing.
She was honored to be inducted into the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundations Emerging Leaders Program.
Lauren LeBeaux - Certified Yogi + Healer
Lauren LeBeaux is a certified yoga healer, author, entrepreneur, marketing professional, content creator and the official Glambassador for the City of Newark, New Jersey. A cum laude graduate of Spelman College, Lauren received her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law-Newark, where she was the Notes Editor for Rutgers Law Review. After practicing law for ten years, Lauren pivoted to a creative career.Lauren has worked as a festival producer and curator of art exhibits, pop-ups, and public art projects in her role as Director of Marketing and Artistic Initiatives for Newark Arts and former Executive Director of Art in the Atrium, an African American arts organization founded in Morristown, NJ.
Lauren is the founder of Brown Girls Bar Crawl, a popular social club for professional women of color and the author of "100 Things Newark," a tourism guide to the City of Newark which was featured in the New York Times, AP Travel and The National Magazine.
As a holistic practitioner, Lauren assists others to embody their highest selves using trauma-conscious yoga, somatic alignment, energy healing and creative practices, for an integrative and transformative experience. She shares her journey to inspire others to transcend learned limitations and experience the extraordinary.
Two Girls & A Few Thoughts Podcast
Two Girls & A Few Thoughts is a biweekly (Wednesday) podcast hosted by best friends, Kiandra Morton and Tonya Nias. No conversation is off limits as they dig into random topics, life events, and explore like only best friends can!
Born and raised in the Eastern Caribbean... St. Kitts Nevis to be exact.Kiandra’s an island girl at heart who lives for sunny days and beautifulbeaches. She’s a lover of all things funny, vibrant, intellectual, and deep. Professionally, she works as a Team Manager at a Manhattan-based social-impact consulting firm. There, her days are spent doing a range of activities,e.g., project management, organizational strengthening, and fostering connections with clients and co-workers. In her free time, she’s somewhere indulging in explorative conversations,listening to Afro beats, brunching, or recording with her best friend Tonya on their podcast, Two Girls & A Few Thoughts.
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” - Marilyn Monroe
With over 15 years of leadership experience, Tonya is an accomplished District Leaderf or a Fortune 50 company. She credits her success to understanding and accepting imperfection as a starting point to healthy, challenging, deep, and vulnerable conversations. Personally, her curiosity drives her to explore the world through constant travel, numerous game nights (where Uno can be a death match), and reveling in frequent,deep, meandering conversations with her best friend Kiandra, which later developed into creating their own podcast, Two Girls & A Few Thoughts.
Janine Bell - Thanks Divorce
Janine Bell is a Jamaican-American writer, life coach and mother of two. She is an award-winning entrepreneur committed to empowering women. She hosts the podcast, Thanks Divorce, where she explores the positive transformation that can happen after divorce. Janine also offers divorce coaching and a bi-annual divorce women’s retreat
When she’s not making products and services for divorced women, Janine loves hiking, game nights and is an avid stand-up comedy fan. She is a TEDx Alum and holds a B.A in Communication from the University of Maryland, College Park. You can learn more about Janine at janinebell.com
Crosbie Theodora Roper - Screenwriter, director + actor Epinephrine
Crosbie Theodora Roper is an Los Angeles based, New York City trained actress, writer, filmmaker, architectural designer and artist. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, she graduated from the University of Arizona with degrees in Architecture and Art, and moved to New York City to pursue architecture. She transitioned to acting in 2017, in 2020 she began screenwriting, and in April of this year, will direct and star in her debut film Epinephrine.
Danielle Noriega, Moderator
With a 10-year career in tech, media, news, and academia, Professor Danielle Noriega is driven by her curiosity to understand what motivates individuals from all walks of life. Her passion for helping people unlock their full potential is rooted in the belief that everyone has the power to make a positive impact on the world. As a dedicated mentor, she is committed to supporting individuals on their journey to success, no matter their background. Prior to her academic career, Danielle worked for Univision, CNN, Us Weekly and most recently Meta on News Partnerships.
Irina Schneid - Impact Wrkshp Founder
Irina Schneid,, IIDA, AIA, is a licensed architect, educator, and participatory designer. She is the Principal of Scharc Studio and the Founder and Design Director of Impact Wrkshp, a social impact organization for women in design. Deeply committed to expanding community outreach through her teaching and practice, Irina founded Impact Wrkshp as a springboard for design advocacy to help emerging design professionals harness their training towards social good. Currently overseeing interdisciplinary co-design courses and projects in partnership with local organizations and K-12 schools, Irina is the recipient of the 2022 Center K-12 Faculty Fellowship, the 2021 CTL Pratt Faculty Fellowship, and the 2020 IIDA Impact Award. Her research explores methodologies for integrating design advocacy into design pedagogy and seeks to support community engagement within the School of Design. With over a decade of experience in the design industry, Irina has lectured and taught internationally. Teaching appointments include Barnard College, Columbia University, Temple University, Drexel University, CityTech, NYIT, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Australia.
Irina is licensed in New York and New Jersey.
Paulina Lopez - Author, Speaker and Business Strategist, CEO & Founder of The Business of WE
Paulina Lopez is an Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Business Consultant and Strategist. Her Corporate Background is in Finance, Operations, Strategy, Human Resources and Communications. Paulina is the CEO and Founder of The Business of WE (Women Entrepreneurs), a supportive networking community based in New York City. They bring together diverse professional women of color, through their highly interactive workshops, training groups, summit conferences and wellness retreats. They are dedicated to providing the necessary resources, essential strategies, innovative resources, support systems, and access to funding and capital. Their mission is to support, promote and elevate these women as they initiate more startups, join forces, drive innovation, generate wealth, lead industries, and advance communities worldwide.
Bridget O’Neill- The Sober Sallies Podcast Co-host
Bridget (formerly known as Belige Bridge) is a theatre educator, professor, writer, world traverser who loves a surfer and is a reformed binge drinker. She attended Boston University for Acting... allegedly, it's all a bit fuzzy now. Bridget currently lives in Brooklyn and is a professor and copywriter by day, actor/artist extraordinaire during the in-between bits. Bridget has a passion for making sobriety accessible to all with her personal brand of comedy and penchant for oversharing about her wild times with Tito's pumping through her veins. Check out her travel blog, Bridget's On A Budget for people that don't have a lot of money but want to see the world in a safe, ethical, and fun as Hell manner.
Tina Iasonidis, So Good Founder & Editor in Chief
Tina Iasonidis is the Editor in Chief and Creative Director of So Good Magazine, an independently-published zine showcasing vintage furniture sellers, concept stores, and designers to know from around the world. She hopes to facilitate new conversations about more mindful consumption in interior decoration and help readers on their journey’s of design discovery. Prior to this, she was a marketing and business development strategist at renowned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in New York. She studied Urban Design and Architecture Studies at NYU and currently resides in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Alex Highsmith - The Sober Sallies Podcast Co-host
Alex (Ahigh) is a conservatory trained actor with over a decade of experience in the service industry and 5+ years in pet food sales. Alex learned to love running back and front of house in high-volume sport stadiums, townie bars, hipster coffee shops and everything in between, but always felt there was something missing I couldn’t put my finger on…
When a regular at a cafe gig offered her a sales position in the pet food space (who doesn’t love dogs?) she jumped at the opportunity and never looked back.
Fast forward 6 yrs and she’s territory manager with a $1MM book of business, traveling the country to sling dog food and covertly hunt for the best NA options offered around the US. She didn’t quite realize it, but Alex was refining her love of the service industry, small businesses, social media, and alcohol free living all this time.
Alex now balances a diverse calendar full of things like NA parties with group Sober Sallies, hosting a weekly podcast by the same name, producing cool theatre with my LLC (Don, Pat, Tom), and dog stuff.
Crystal R. Smith - Loc’d In Style
Crystal R. Smith has been diligently working her way to make a name for herself in the competitive beauty and fashion world for over a decade. She began her career as a freelance self-taught makeup artist and became a licensed esthetician before she landed at MAC Cosmetics in the early 2000’s.
She worked her way through fashion shows, indie television and bridal whilst familiarizing herself with other major beauty houses and artist to sharpen her skills as an artist and get a better understanding of the industry as a whole.
Crystal’s work has been published as both a makeup artist and wardrobe stylist whilst also maintaining a lifestyle presence for Afro-Caribbean Women via social media. Crystal resides in New Jersey with her two daughters, Amya and Madison.
Ebonie Simpson, Co-Executive Director of the Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York
Ebonie V. Simpson currently serves as Co-Executive Director of the Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York. In previous roles overseeing special project and government relations, Ebonie created New Girl City, Girls Club’s signature citywide civic leadership training initiative funded by the NYC Council, spearheaded Girls Club’s expansion initiative to open the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness, and spearheads the replication of LES Girls Club in Brownsville, Brooklyn. She earned a BA in public policy studies at Duke University, where she received the University Distinguished Leadership and Service Award in 2012. Prior to her time at Girls Club, she served as a 2012-13 NYC Urban Fellow and Associate Director at NYC Mayor’s Office.
Ebonie’s background and passion lies at the intersection of equity, social justice and public policy. In her spare time, she sings with the Resistance Revival Chorus, works on equity and policy efforts in New York City and State and sits on numerous boards and councils in policy and community-based advocacy. She has been featured in campaigns, panels and articles from Essence.com, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy journal, Kate Spade New York, Ellevate, Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, She’s the First and others and has received distinguished honors from NYS Assembly, New York Knicks, and others. A military brat from Dallas, Texas, Ebonie is a ten-year resident of Harlem, NYC.
Sponsors:
Studio For
PJA Architects
LOEM
COOKFOX Architects
JAMB
By Poche Designs
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
COOKFOX Architects, DPC, 250 West 57th Street, New York, United States
USD 133.00