Women’s Life
& Career Stories

Eliza Kosoy – Founder of Eliza Dolls, Ph. D. student at Berkeley in Artificial Intelligence
Eliza Kosoy – Founder of E-Liza Dolls. Dolls to encourage girls to learn to code and love science.
Alyssa Phillips is Vice President in Wealth Management
Alyssa Phillips is Vice President, Operations at Centura Wealth Advisory an Executive-Level leader at a wealth management firm in Del Mar, CA. At 36, she’s had quite an unconventional career trajectory that started with an entrepreneurial spirit in her youth...
Amodhi Weeresinghe – CEO of HCL Designs Marketing Agency
It is an astounding feat not just to overcome great adversity but to use the life skills developed through surviving it to harness your goals and become everything you dared to dream. At the age of thirty, yeah that’s right, thirty (!), Amodhi is the...
Rachel Pereya – Fractional Business Systems Expertise
Rachel Pereya is Owner of Mastermind Business Services Rachel Pereyra is a wife, mother, business owner, queer human, underscoring each: a rebel with a cause. In 2020, she founded Mastermind Business Services, an operations consulting and execution support agency for...
Maribel Aburto – Founder in Branding and Web Design
Growing up in Santiago, Chile, in the 1980s, Maribel Aburto couldn’t imagine life beyond the confines of the country’s military dictatorship. “I lived most of my life in one of the poorest or most marginalized areas in Santiago. So I saw, and I heard as a child, a lot...
Ebony Holden – Lawyer and Entrepreneur
Ebony Holden is a Lawyer and Founder of Holden-Ellis & Associates LLC, which helps businesses startup and sets them up for success One of my favorite quotes from our conversation with her is, “If it’s not there, then someone needs to create it.” These words set...
Trinetta Powell – Licensed Professional Counselor, Personal Development Coach, Speaker, Best Selling Author
If the meaning of the word “resilience” had a namesake, it might just be Trinetta Powell. This impressive, perseverant human who personally is called mother, wife, Gigi, sister, and friend, and professionally is called best-selling author, motivational speaker,...
Hoda Toloui-Wallace – Project Manager, Digital Strategy & Innovation at lululemon
“Think about what excites you, fuels you, and lights you up. Focus on what you’re good at, what gives you purpose, and what aligns with your values. Reflect on your talents and gifts, what you’re passionate about and what unique perspective you bring to the table. Use this to make a positive contribution to society and ultimately look for ways to be of service to others.”
Chrysta Wilson – Founder & DEI Coach and Consultant
Chrysta Wilson – Founder & DEI Coach and ConsultantChrysta Wilson wants people to thrive. Chrysta is founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching and Consulting is a Black-owned, woman-led firm that partners with purpose-driven leaders to advance racial justice,...
Pam Kriangkum – Entrepreneur, Brand Photographer and Business Development Leader
Pam Kriangkum is a Branding Photographer in Edmonton, Al Canada. She also helps small businesses with business plans and marketing. Growing Up Pam Kriangkum’s career in photography began in a less-than-typical fashion: while competing as a member of the Canadian...
Amee Sheldon – Sr Manager of Learning & Development and Customer Experience at Vision Insurance Company, California
Amee Sheldon was born and raised in Mansfield, Texas, to a pair of Iranian immigrants. In Mansfield, Amee and her family found themselves in the minority amidst the white homogeneity of the city.
Nasim Mullen – Technical Program Manager, Supply Chain Sustainability, PhD
Nasim Mullen is many things, and first and foremost, she is powerful. She is a wife and mother of three young girls, ages 5, 3, and 1. She has her PhD, a robust career in building sustainability and environmental accountability within corporate America.
Felicitas Burgi – Head of Business and Sales Channels for Insurance – Switzerland
Felicitas was born in the US to a Swiss father and a German mother. They were in the country pursuing their higher education and met together at school. When they completed their degrees and had some work experience, the family knew they wanted to be in Europe.
Anna Nahashon – 3D Pattern Apparel Expert, Minnesota
Anna Nahashon is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mother is a professional musician and a violinist. She toured with various country bands, and Lorie Line was one of the more known Minnesota pianists that she toured with for many years.
Marion Ore – Solar Electrical Engineer, Peru to California
Marion Ore grew up in a small city in Peru, amidst the Andes Mountains, 11,000 feet \above sea level. She was the youngest of five children born to a pair of hard-working parents, her mother a payroll assistant for an educational ministry and her father an instructor at a school for blind persons.
Nava Kavelin – CEO and Producer at a Media Production Company, California
For Nava Kavelin, service to her faith and to wider society has been at the core of her life’s pursuits and her family’s foundation. She was born in California to a pair of dedicated Bahá’í parents who instilled the importance of service in her and her sister early on.
Christine Marie – Life Alignment and Menstrual Coach, Germany
My name is Christine Marie, I live in Freiburg im Breisgau, a small city in Germany. It’s a really beautiful place surrounded by mountains. I am thirty-nine years old, and I am the middle of five and the oldest of three.
Jamie Higgins – Graphic Artist & Photographer, California
From a young age, Jamie Higgins found her way on her own. As the only child to her mother, Linda, she found a community amongst the neighborhood children in San José, and solace in her art.
Sharon Yavrom – PhD, Sr. Director in Clinical Science, California
Sharon Yavrom was born to immigrant parents, her mother from Costa Rica, and her father from Iran. Growing up in a multicultural household, she developed a strong understanding of the Spanish language.
Adwoa Ulzen Setrakian -Social Worker, Full Time Mother, Indiana
Adwoa was born in the Greater Toronto Area but her parents immigrated to Canada from Ghana in the early 80s so she’s Canadian but of Ghanaian heritage. Her family moved to the US when she started high school and for one year when she was in the fourth grade.
Leslie Stewart – Executive Director, FUNDAEC, Colombia
Leslie was born in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, in 1976, 2,850 feet above sea level. Her parents, born worlds apart–her father in Ontario, Canada, and her mother in Bogota, Colombia–had met at a Baha’i youth conference and, after they were married.
Leila Gates – Elementary School Teacher in the US from Argentina
Leila Gates was born and brought up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was the third daughter of four sisters. Her father is from California, while her mother is from the Argentine province of Salta and is part of the Indigenous Wichí tribe.
Shirley Anne Pruitt – Communication Systems Manager at AT&T
I was born Shirley Anne Pruitt. I was the fourth child of my mother and father. I have three big brothers and three little brothers as well. I have one sister so there was a total of eight of us. Growing up together, we had a marvelous childhood.
Nicola Stewart – Genetic Consultant at UCSF
anything you want to tell me about your early life. Growing up in my childhood, my family was always surrounded by people who were from other parts of the world so I think that sparked real curiosity in my siblings and me. I have four siblings.
Felicia Widjaja – Clinical Research Supervisor at UCSF
Born in Indonesia on the island of Java, Felicia Widjaja is the elder child amongst two younger sisters and one younger brother. Her grandparents, both maternal and paternal, immigrated to Indonesia and settled in Jakarta from China.
Karina Wilhems – Research Practice Director at The Wiseman Group
After more than a decade working high-power jobs in publishing and event management, Karina Wilhems has a great deal of impressive experience under her belt. However, over the years, the UC Berkeley graduate has never lost sight of her humanitarian values.
Mariam Shams Goldberg – Physician, Family Doctor, South Africa
My parents are originally Iranian and Baha’i. Because of the persecution, they had to leave Iran in the 70s. My mom grew up in Spain, my dad grew up in the Philippines and they randomly met in Nigeria, got married in Equatorial Guinea and had me in Canada.
Ana Pirnia Arbitration Lawyer, JD
Ana Pirnia, now working as a high-powered international arbitration lawyer in Washington, D.C., had this to say when reflecting upon the law school application process and her path to success.
Karina Vela – Dance Teacher at SFUSD
“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted kids to have someone like them. I had always wanted a teacher that looked like me, that understood me more.” – Karina Vela
Elizabeth Herth – National Statistics Officer, MBA
“Listen to your inner voice, explore, try things, do your best — always do your best because you deserve the learning that comes from that and they deserve the outcome,” said Liz Herth.
Claire Harding – Global Marketing and Brand Executive | Education and Learning Technology Leader
Not many artists, musical or otherwise, can claim that this day job became their true calling later on in life. Claire Harding, however, was able to combine her musical talents with her experience in marketing and technology to create the unique niche that she currently resides in.
Connie Yu – Associate Chair of Administration and Finance at UCSF
Connie Yu is the Associate Chair for Administration & Finance of the Department for the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences. She is the boss of OBGYN, in other terms.
Lianne Zhang – Finance Data and Systems Architect at Google
Lianne Zhang was born in Berkeley and raised in Palo Alto, California. She spent most of her formative years in Palo Alto, living through the dotcom burst. A product of two Chinese immigrant parents, they mined the importance of hardwork, a quality education and stronger math skills.
Leah Straley – Director of Law School Admissions
“I was on the journey to figure out what I loved for quite some time.” And what a journey it has been. In many ways, Leah Straley’s story exemplifies the value of never being afraid to reinvent yourself to achieve personal growth.
Shahla Bolbolan – Anesthesiologist & Medical Consultant
Shahla worked with organizations and visited Uganda, Kenya,Rwanda, South Africa, Honduras, Burkina Faso and The Philipines.
Vicki Tam – Middle School Band Teacher
Vicki grew up in a musical household. Her early memories involved listening to Chinese music on tapes or her father teaching her scales on a small piano. Her parents were immigrants from Vietnam and China.
Tamara Bard – Stay at home mom, homeschooler parent and Tech Support
Tamara was born in Croatia and moved to Minnesota for her father’s work when she was just seven years old. Though it took her time to learn English, her brilliant nature, and the fact that she was so young, she learned English quickly.
Cindy Fei – Internal Medicine Physician
When I first met Cindy during our freshman year of high school, I admired her from afar. Her cool and quiet demeanor, so different from other girls our age, captivated me. She exuded an intelligence devoid of arrogance.
Anna Roussanova Senior technical architect at Zendesk
Anna Roussanova is a calm, kind and engaging person who enjoys playing group games, cooking, hiking, and her job. She lives in Madison, WI where she regularly enjoys walks around lakes. Anna works at ZenDesk in IT support on client-facing issues.
Sutina Li – Stay at Home Mother and Dental Hygienist
Sutina did well academically in high school, especially because she excelled at standardized testing, but she never had a clear career path in mind. In college, she majored in Sociology, studied abroad in South Korea, took courses ranging from accounting to French literature, volunteered at a crisis hotline, and joined a sorority.