Heidi Messer has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the digital economy since the commercialization of the Internet. She currently serves as co-Founder and Chairperson of Collective[i]™. Collective[i] (short for Collective Intelligence) hosts a global network and application that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to dramatically improve the way B2B companies predict, manage and grow revenue through their sales organizations.

Prior to Collective[i], Ms. Messer and her brother, Stephen Messer, co-founded LinkShare Corporation, host to one of the world’s largest online affiliate networks representing the world’s premier publishers and merchants on the web. The company is widely considered to be a pioneer in the world of SaaS, digital advertising and the sharing economy.

Under Ms. Messer’s leadership, LinkShare was recognized by Deloitte and Touche for two consecutive years as the fastest growing technology company in the New York Region. Ms. Messer served as a board member, President and Chief Operating Officer of LinkShare until its sale to Rakuten (4755:JASDAQ) for $425 million.

Ms. Messer is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world and universities on artificial intelligence, machine learning, enterprise technology, entrepreneurship, modern sales and marketing and the future of work. She has been cited in various publications including, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Vogue, the NY Post, The Nikkei, Women’s Wear Daily and Chief Executive Magazine. Ms. Messer has also appeared on national television and radio programs including the Today Show, Rock Center with Brian Williams, Business Talk Radio, CNBC, Fox News, CBS Morning News and the Fox Morning Show.

Ms. Messer has received several honors including being selected as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs (2012) and the Technology Pioneer Award during Women’s Entrepreneurship Day hosted at the United Nations (2015). Ms. Messer serves on the board of Aperture Investors, the Partnership for NYC, the Partnership Fund for NYC and the Brown Entrepreneurship Program as well as advisory boards for the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins, Dell Computers and American Express OPEN.

Ms. Messer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. She received her juris doctorate from Harvard Law School graduating cum laude.

Attia is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Womanly Magazine. Womanly is a digital and print publication that circulates preventive health information to women of color and non-binary people all over the world. Attia currently leads and manages a team of 40 volunteers in building a magazine that has reached over 20,000 women in its first two years.
Attia's background is in women's health advocacy with a focus on technology and research to create sustainable health solutions for women. She has spent over ten years volunteering in the non-profit sector for the betterment of girls and women.

Krystal Persaud is a product designer & the founder of Grouphug. She loves sustainability almost as much as she loves donuts. At Grouphug, she is creating a line of solar panels for apartment windows that empower city dwellers to go off the grid. She has a B.S. in industrial design from Georgia Tech & is previously the Senior Director of Product Design at littleBits. She currently teaches courses in product design, sustainability, and interaction design at the School of Visual Arts & New Jersey Institute of Technology. Krystal is not only passionate about sustainability, but also a fierce advocate for women in STEM & technology. She's spoken at numerous events including the annual AIGA Design Conference, IDSA’s International Design Conference, FIT's Women & Technology Symposium, MIT’s Sandbox Conference, & Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival.

Adina has been designing and manufacturing products and experiential installations for more than 16 years.

In 1999, she formed Company Boutique, an agency established to manufacture branded merchandise and interactive experiences for clients such as Hearst Corporation, L’Oreal, Viacom, Time Inc. and Conde Nast. With offices in New York and Hong Kong, the combined design and manufacturing capabilities gave her company a competitive advantage, allowing it to create the merchandise and branding for Kids' Choice Awards, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, and design, develop and engineer the first online branded stores for Fox Interactive Media.

Having designed, created, manufactured and produced countless projects and merchandise throughout the years, Adina and her husband Marc began discussing the possibility of a physical space built to house and nourish unique individuals with unusual talents into a community.

Their discussions became continuous and in 2009, Adina and Marc concretized the idea by creating a Fabrication Lab, Do Tank and Innovation Studio in New York City called Collab.

Collab is an inspiring composition of artists and scientists, sharing a 14,000 square foot space in Brooklyn housed with rapid prototyping and advanced manufacturing equipment, wood shop, metal shop, sewing studio, creative technology lab, private studios, and infinite possibilities.

As CEO and Chief Design Officer at Collab, Adina continues to innovate, design, produce and collaborate daily, leading teams in building large scale endeavors, demonstrating that when inventive people share space, resources, their ideas, imaginations and talent, the possibilities are limitless.

In 2016, Adina was honored by FortyOver40 as one of 40 women over 40 reinventing, disrupting and making a positive impact in our world. This year, she was named one of New York's Top Ten Start-up Founders Over 40.

As Executive Director of women.nyc, Faye is dedicated to helping NYC women succeed in their careers and businesses through an array of innovative programs and partnerships. In previous lives, Faye was a Brooklyn small business owner, founder of the webmag Brokelyn, an editor for titles including New York Magazine, The New York Post, The New York Observer and InStyle and an executive at Lifetime Television. On weekends, she drums with Batalá New York, an all women’s Afro-Brazilian Samba-Reggae percussion band.

Vidula is a Senior Project Manager at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) where she leads programming related to the advanced manufacturing and industrial sectors. NYCEDC created Futureworks, a key component of the Mayor’s Industrial Action Plan to help emerging and existing manufacturers adopt advanced technologies and increase local production. Prior to joining NYCEDC, Vidula spent a few years in management consulting helping Fortune 500 companies with organizational transformation and growth strategy. Vidula received her Bachelor of Science in Business and Political Economy from New York University. She is passionate about promoting sustainable practices, supporting local manufacturing, and advocating for marginalized communities.

Christina Vuleta runs Break The Future, a firm focused on brand and product strategy that positions companies for growth. As part of this, she also runs Venture Salons, a conversation series designed to help women founders move their ventures forward. Previously she was the VP, Women’s Digital Network at Forbes Media, where she relaunched the women's channel as a digital brand for entrepreneurial women. She oversaw all editorial and strategic direction for the channel and achieved strong year over year growth while building a thriving community. Christina has 20+ years of demonstrated success driving growth from product development to brand activation. Prior to Forbes, she ran her own consultancy for five years while running 40:20 Vision, a resource for women to facilitate wisdom exchange and the 40 Women to Watch Over 40 list. She began her career at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and went on to work at Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve, KBP+S, Fahrenheit 212 and The Futures Company. She is an advisor to fine jewelry e-commerce platform, MEMO, and messy.fm, a full-stack podcast production platform and is a mentor for Backstage Capital.