Welcome
it’s our time to shine!
Our gathering is designed to create a space, where we are connected, authentic, and able to stand firmly in our collective truth as women. We’ve curated an experience we hope you will enjoy that will be with you until we meet again.
DebGrant
Program
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Dining With Deb Welcome
Welcome from Heather Seager, Martha’s Vineyard Museum Executive Director
Sponsor Remarks
Cheryl Stokes, CEO, CNEXT
Abigail Epane-Osuala, Chief Diversity Officer, GE Healthcare
~ Brunch ~
Sponsor Remarks
Denise L. Bennett, Vice President, Brand Strategy iHeartMedia
Rocky Dufauchard Director of National Accounts, New Orleans & Company
Panel Discussion: Black Women in the AI Revolution
Tarika Barrett, Girls Who Code
Ajaa Long, META
Kahina Van Dyke, Advent International
Sevetri Wilson, Prosperall
Retiring Superwoman with Aseante Renee
Door Prizes
GirlsWhoCode Dr.Tarika Bennett
Dr. Tarika Barrett is the CEO of Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology by inspiring, educating and equipping young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Prior to becoming CEO, Tarika served as Chief Operating Officer of the organization. She led the organization's free Summer Immersion Program and after-school Clubs Program, which has reached 500,000 girls around the world to date. Additionally, she managed the launch of international Programming, Alumni Programming, and managed the People & Culture team.
Tarika has served on the boards of CSforALL, Eskolta, AT&T’s Accelerator Advisory Board, and McGraw Hill. Currently, she serves as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), as chair of the New York University Steinhardt Dean's Alumni Advisory Board, the New Visions for Public Schools Board of Directors, and as a member of the Eniac Ventures network. Tarika is the recipient of the New York University Steinhardt School Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award and the New York City Bar Association Huntington Bank’s Her Hero Lifetime Achievement Award. She was named one of Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women in New York in 2021, to the PoliticsNY and amNewYork 2022 Power Women list, and to City and State New York’s “Power of Diversity: Women 100 List.”
Previously, Tarika worked as the Chief Program Officer at iMentor, leading the organization’s programmatic efforts to build mentoring relationships that support students from low-income communities in graduating high school and succeeding in college. Prior to iMentor, she worked in the Office of Postsecondary Readiness at the New York City Department of Education overseeing options for students significantly off-track academically, as well as developing new school models including the Academy for Software Engineering. Tarika’s previous experience includes serving as Deputy Network Leader of the Brooklyn-Staten Island Network of New Visions for Public Schools, designing and implementing research and program evaluations for New York University’s Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, teaching high school students, and working as a political organizer. A graduate of Brooklyn College, Tarika has an M.A. in Deaf Education from Columbia Teachers College and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from New York University.
Tarika lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Ajaa Long
META
Ajaa Long is Director of Global Client Partnership at Meta where she leads teams that empower Advertisers to leverage the full power of Meta’s platforms and products to advance and accelerate their business. Prior to Meta, Ajaa led Marketing in Global and Regional scopes at top companies in the Beauty Industry. With two decades of experience, Ajaa is known for driving innovation, brand building, and engaging consumer experiences that drive business impact. She has been featured in publications as an executive shaping the Beauty industry and as a thought leader on AI. Ajaa is dedicated to advancing DEI and has held conversations in Cannes and at AdColor that elevate the opportunity for business and diverse communities to collaborate. Ajaa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Spelman College. She and her husband are parents to three children.
Aseanté Renee TheAxonGroup
Aseanté Renee is the Founder & Chief Wellness Officer of The Axon Group, a transformative coaching firm specializing in Recovering Perfectionists, Corporate Wellness, and High Performing Creatives. In practice, Aseanté is an executive and performance coach with over two decades of experience in trauma informed care. Much of her expertise lives at the intersection of healing, wellness, leadership, and career advancement. Learn more at axongroupinc.com
She is also the Founder of the Susu House, a nonprofit that elevates healing equity and access while eliminating financial barriers to people of the global majority through sponsored retreats, workshops, trainings, and community events.Learn more at susuhouse.org
General experience: Communications strategist with over two decades of experience in social-cause marketing, strategic partnerships, and culturally inclusive community engagement work across the nation. Specializes in identifying and implementing initiatives/campaigns that yield sustainable progress. Director and Producer of Ever After: Stories of Violence, Accountability, and Healing at myeverafter.org
Kahina VanDyke AdventInternational
Kahina believes that we each have an opportunity every day to impact the world in meaningful ways. World class innovation and breakthrough emerges from leaders and teams who have the courage to step into uncertainty of the now with humility, integrity and purpose.
A transformational global leader has a track record of breakthrough and sustainable growth, building people-centered culture and promoting holistic wellbeing for the ecosystems she builds.
Kahina has spent 30 years as a global financial technology and payments executive at public and private companies. She is the founder of various organizations and enterprises. She serves as a public corporate board director of a Fortune 100 company (Progressive) and is currently serving on both their investment and technology committees
Her community leadership includes serving on the Martha’s Vineyard Museum board and organizing cultural and arts events to promote aspiring women and BIPOC creators.
A global financial services & technology leader who believes in the power of people to drive transformational outcomes in service to clients, communities and businesses in every corner of our world.
Kahina has lived in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America. Her career spans global banking (Citi and Standard Chartered), global payment networks (MasterCard), big technology companies (Facebook) and start-up blockchain companies (Ripple). Truly a citizen of the world, she has worked on the ground in more than 50+ countries.
In each of these roles she builds world-class talent clusters while blazing new paths to accelerate future forward solutions.
She is known for setting ambition vision, structuring organizations for world class execution and breakthrough growth. A leader seeks to achieve outsize results while helping others achieve their dreams and achieve their full potential along the way.
In addition to her professional endeavors she is the founder and driving force behind a leading culture and community focused hospitality business in Martha’s Vineyard
Sevetri WilsonTaylor Prosperall
Sevetri Wilson Taylor is the Co-Founder and CEO of Prosperall, an Enterprise AI platform transforming U.S. cities by harnessing big data for real-time analysis, enhancing decision-making, and optimizing service delivery. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of technology, business, and societal impact, Sevetri has dedicated herself to addressing critical challenges facing under-resourced communities nationwide. She successfully secured $50 million in venture capital funding to scale her SaaS enterprise, Resilia, following her earlier success bootstrapping Solid Ground Innovations into a multi-million dollar enterprise serving both public and private sectors.
Sevetri’s achievements have garnered recognition, including being named among Inc. Magazine’s 100 Female Founders building transformative companies. She was also featured in PitchBook’s list of 27 leading Black founders and investors. In 2022, Entrepreneur recognized her on their 100 Most Influential Women’s list, while Black Enterprise Magazine honored her in their 40 under 40.
Under her leadership, Resilia achieved a milestone $35 million Series B funding round in 2022, setting a record for the largest funding round secured by a solo Black female founder. Her book, Resilient: How to Overcome Anything and Build a Million-Dollar Business With or Without Capital debuted as a Wall Street Journal bestseller in 2021.
Sevetri is a Henry Crown Fellow and contributes her expertise to various boards, including the National Urban League, the NOCCA Foundation, and the LSU Foundation National Board. She is also an active angel investor in over two dozen companies, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.
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SPONSORS
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