Women’s Life

& Career Stories

writing women's career stories for Madam Ambition
Tejal Shah – Global Investment Banker & Venture Builder

Tejal Shah – Global Investment Banker & Venture Builder

Meet Tejal Shah, Mechanical Engineer, finance, sales, and operations master. She is an International Investment Banker at US Capital out of San Francisco. Recently expanding their West Coast operations with her expertise, she has hit the ground running, expanding...

Rochelle Gorey – FinTech Founder of SpringFour

Rochelle Gorey – FinTech Founder of SpringFour

Introducing Rochelle Gorey, the mastermind behind SpringFour, a fintech company with a social impact committed to empowering individuals and families facing financial difficulties. With a background in the financial services industry and an unwavering determination to...

Amy Schultz – Co-Founder of Bolder Money

Amy Schultz – Co-Founder of Bolder Money

Financial guidance is important for everyone,  but not always accessible. Millions of Americans are disqualified from working with financial advisors because they lack investable assets, and they are left not knowing where to turn for wealth-building guidance that...

Sibby Thomsen – Maker of Cupcake Magic

Sibby Thomsen – Maker of Cupcake Magic

Sibby Thomsen – Maker of Cupcake MagicAuthor’s Note: I live in San Mateo, California, a couple of miles away from Sibby’s Cupcakery. Whenever I am at an event, or even when I host my own special gatherings, I know that Sibby’s will be part of the event. This is such a...

Kelsi Taylor – Medical Editor

Kelsi Taylor – Medical Editor

Kelsi Taylor – Medical EditorMeet Kelsi Taylor Kelsi Taylor is a Medical Editor and business owner from Nashville, Tennessee, specializing in scientific publications and communications. She accidentally found her way to the industry: through a series of major life...

Yue (Lulu) Liu

Yue (Lulu) Liu

Yue (Lulu) LiuCurrent Work Yue Liu is the Assistant Vice President of Program Management, Asian Services and CARE Services at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She has spent her entire career at the hospital, climbing her way to the top from her beginnings as an...

Sofia Yuen, M.D., M.B.A.

Sofia Yuen, M.D., M.B.A.

Sofia Yuen, M.D., M.B.A.Sofia Yuen is a motivated generator of information and an unbelievably hard worker. She holds an MD and MBA and works within New York University’s hospital system as an Assistant Director, Clinical Quality & Effectiveness. Her work focuses...

Kimberly Kwon – Writer, Pastor, HR Expert, Career Coach

Kimberly Kwon – Writer, Pastor, HR Expert, Career Coach

Kimberly Kwon – Writer, Pastor, HR Expert, Career CoachKimberly Kwon is determined to uplift the beauty and worth of those most hidden. Kimberly was born under 3 pounds with Cerebral Palsy, a group of disorders that can impact mobility, muscle tone, and posture. The...

Alyssa Phillips is  Vice President in Wealth Management

Alyssa Phillips is  Vice President in Wealth Management

Alyssa Phillips is  Vice President in Wealth ManagementAlyssa 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...

Amodhi Weeresinghe – CEO of HCL Designs Marketing Agency

Amodhi Weeresinghe – CEO of HCL Designs Marketing Agency

Amodhi Weeresinghe – CEO of HCL Designs Marketing AgencyIt 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...

Rachel Pereya – Fractional Business Systems Expertise

Rachel Pereya – Fractional Business Systems Expertise

Rachel Pereya – Fractional Business Systems ExpertiseRachel 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...

Maribel Aburto – Founder in Branding  and Web Design

Maribel Aburto – Founder in Branding and Web Design

Maribel Aburto – Founder in Branding and Web DesignGrowing 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...

Ebony Holden – Lawyer and Entrepreneur

Ebony Holden – Lawyer and Entrepreneur

Ebony Holden – Lawyer and EntrepreneurEbony 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...

Hoda Toloui-Wallace – Project Manager, Digital Strategy & Innovation at lululemon

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 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,...

Anna Nahashon – 3D Pattern Apparel Expert, Minnesota

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 – 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.

Adwoa Ulzen Setrakian -Social Worker, Full Time Mother, Indiana

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 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.

Shirley Anne Pruitt – Communication Systems Manager at AT&T

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

Lianne Zhang – Finance Data and Systems Architect at Google

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

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.

Vicki Tam – Middle School Band Teacher

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.

Cindy Fei – Internal Medicine Physician

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 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 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, and volunteered at a crisis hotline.