In an increasingly complex investment world impacted by tariffs, technology, global pandemics, and wars, it has become important to ground our processes in fundamentals, developed through an understanding of how the world works and rigorous stress-testing. Erin Miles, Partner and Member of the Operating Committee at Bridgewater Associates, is guiding her team to do exactly that! As Head of Alpha Engine, Erin shares responsibility for the strategy and oversight of the investment team behind Bridg...
Mar 06, 2025•44 min
Very rarely you come across people who define their jobs as building a "movement." We have been lucky to call Loretta McCarthy, Co-CEO and Managing Partner, Golden Seeds, a guest at Women Who Build, as she is exactly that person. Golden Seeds is one of the largest and most active angel investment organizations in the US with ~300 angel investors and invests in early-stage women-led businesses. Loretta was previously Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer at OppenheimerFunds and a marke...
Feb 18, 2025•48 min
How we dress defines our personality in the eyes of others, but most importantly, in our own eyes! Our Women Who Build guest today, Elizabeth von der Goltz, has been at the forefront of building global fashion companies that dress us. Known for her sharp ability to spot the brands we wear and identify lasting trends, Elizabeth has also leveraged her Sixth sense and her business acumen to drive strategy and manage the P&L of major fashion enterprises. Most recently serving as the Chief Fashio...
Dec 22, 2024•57 min
TikTok’s U.S. usage has surged dramatically, with over 21% of Americans now tuning in weekly. But what does it actually take to grow a brand into a TikTok sensation? We sit down with Neha Jogani Narang, former CMO of Roblox. Under her guidance, Roblox became one of TikTok’s largest brand presences in just two years! Before Roblox, Neha made her mark at Facebook (now Meta), where she transformed its F8 (now Connect) conference into a globally renowned tech event. In this episode, Neha dives deep ...
Dec 12, 2024•36 min
Starting and scaling a business is one thing, but leading it through an acquisition is a whole new journey. 💡 Mariah Chase, who led the sale of ELOQUII to Walmart and her first company, Send the Trend to QVC, joins us on Women Who Build to share her insights. Beyond the big outcomes, she dives into the personal growth that comes with integrating a team into a larger company. In this episode, we discuss: When and how to think about exits The rise in bankruptcies among US consumer/retail companie...
Dec 02, 2024•53 min
Hedge funds are known to be one of the most sophisticated capital allocators. They operate multiple strategies. For example, Bridgewater Associates follows "macro" strategy and Citadel follows "global quantitative" strategy, in addition to others. To finance these hedge funds requires an understanding of these sophisticated strategies and the ability to match them with the largest institutions in the world. Join us on Women Who Build as we chat with BNP Paribas' Lindsay Costigan, Head of Prime S...
Nov 23, 2024•39 min
From Goldman Sachs to Gender-Lens Investing: Courtney Leimkuhler's JourneyJoin us on Women Who Build as we sit down with Courtney Leimkuhler, a trailblazer in high finance! With experience at Goldman Sachs, NYSE, and Marsh, Courtney is currently revolutionizing "gender-lens investing" at Springbank Collective, investing in companies building infrastructure that supports working families/women.Key topics of discussion: Learnings from NYSE restructuring events. Resource allocation in large compani...
Oct 24, 2024•42 min
Many of us live in cities for the convenient infrastructure that they give us access to: Buildings, energy, water, transportation, Citi Bikes. ;) Success and innovation in these areas require multiple stakeholders coming together. Sonam Velani and Laura Fox have dedicated their careers to doing exactly this in the urban climate infrastructure space, and now they are organizing their efforts to building Streetlife Ventures. Streetlife is a venture capital firm that helps founders building in clim...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 5 min
A technology startup, just like any other company, needs financial solutions. The nature of these solutions may vary for it but that is exactly why a startup may need the sophistication and stability of a platform like JP Morgan to help navigate its financial needs. While JP Morgan is traditionally known to work with large corporate clients, it has made its presence felt in the startup world as well, engaging early on in a founder's journey through its initiatives like startup banking for Innova...
Oct 07, 2024•34 min
Be it a startup or a large company, the most important element of any company is its team. In the increasingly productive, multicultural, and rapidly evolving world, it is important to have robust agreements in place, follow regulations of different countries, integrate the workforce effectively during mergers and acquisitions, have protocols for employee communication, and so much more! However, founders or company executives are not trained on the legal granularities surrounding them. And hone...
Sep 27, 2024•38 min
In today's world, you may be building the best product or business, but you cannot go far without the right branding. And this is true for both consumer and B2B offerings. There is a reason Salesforce and Shopify are top-of-mind for global businesses. There is a reason why Apple and Lululemon are top-of-mind for American consumers. Therefore, today's CMO is shaping marketing strategies, driving an organization's mission and vision forward, identifying the right business opportunities, and so muc...
Sep 03, 2024•51 min
31% Americans say that they are constantly online. Media is an industry that we interact with at least once a day. It provides us with daily news & insights, and largely informs our ideologies and sometimes, our personal identities. Yet we know so little about the media business. On the latest episode of Women Who Build, listen to Megha Garibaldi, Chief Growth Officer, The Atlantic, as she covers: - Business models of media companies and metrics to track.- How The Atlantic grew by ~500k in 4...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr
Almost every day, we have at least 4-5 interactions with AI or about AI. In a world full of AI solutions, funding, companies, and use cases, it takes a master of technology to separate the wheat from the chaff. We spoke to one such master, Urvashi Tyagi, on the most recent episode of Women Who Build. Urvashi is a Former CTO of multi-billion dollar listed companies, ResMed and ADP, and is currently advising ResMed and several other technology companies. She has been at the forefront of AI and sev...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 26 min
It is only the most fortunate of us who are both able to use their skills to benefit their home country. Luisa Sucre, Principal of Collaborative Fund is doing exactly that - she identified the growth potential in Latin America and launched the investment operations in the region at her fund. She is also one of the most active climate investors in the US and has invested in the likes of Artyc and Verne. Luisa found her love for investing very early on in her career and has been investing for almo...
Aug 06, 2024•49 min
Losing a loved one is painful. But making something impactful using the learning from your journey of caregiving is beautiful. Alyse Dunn is the Founder of CareCopilot, a platform that takes care of all administrative tasks related to caregiving. She started the company after caregiving for both her parents. Alyse funded her early days by quitting her job at Venmo and cashing out her stock options, and the company has also been accepted by the AWS Impact Accelerator Program. Alyse sat with us fo...
Aug 01, 2024•34 min
Everyone wants to achieve their highest potential. To achieve it, we often scramble for a new idea or a new set of people to help. However, sometimes best ideas come from helping those around us. Jen Berry and Ryden Brittany of The Mycelorium are doing exactly that. The Mycelorium is a community that connects Bridgewater Associates alumni founders with a network of experts who can help them grow their big ideas. They also operate a syndicate that invests in companies raising pre-seed funding. Be...
Jul 22, 2024•52 min
Healthy food is essential to nourishing us. And it does not need to be necessarily expensive, it just needs to be right. With this thesis, Emily Hochman started Wellory when she decided to NOT embark on a lifetime of medication that her doctors suggested when she was diagnosed with PCOS and hypothyroidism. Wellory, now part of Season Health, offers one-on-one nutrition coaching that shuns calorie counting and dieting. In addition to her day-to-day as the CEO of the company, Emily oversaw Wellory...
Jul 18, 2024•49 min
We are so excited to launch the most recent episode of Women Who Build with Vanessa Larco. While Vanessa is many things to many people, we particularly remember her as someone who doesn’t give up too soon. She got her first pony as a kid. Despite her mother convincing her to take swimming lessons, she had the pony for 22 years - she even took it to college (Georgia Tech). Vanessa is a Partner at New Enterprise Associates and is focused on Seed to Series B investing at the fund (her sweet spot is...
Jul 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
With the world’s population likely to increase by nearly another billion people over the next two decades and incomes rising, total food consumption will likely rise by 50-70% by 2050. However, the percentage of people who work in agriculture around the world has decreased by 18% in the last three decades. Therefore, technological intervention is required. Greenhouse farming refers to the practice of growing crops in controlled environments, such as using transparent material to admit natural li...
Jun 17, 2024•37 min
Few of us are lucky enough to recognize very early on what we want to become. Shellye Archambeau decided as a teenager that she wanted to be a Tech CEO and went on to become the CEO of MetricStream, a recognized global leader in governance, risk, and compliance software solutions. She currently serves as a Fortune 500 board member and holds board seats at Verizon, Roper Technologies, Okta and Lineage. Her Mantra? DON’T OPTIMIZE THE JOB, OPTIMIZE YOUR CAREER! Key takeaways from the episode includ...
Jun 03, 2024•41 min
Everyone wants to achieve their highest potential. And resilience is one of the most important ingredients to achieve that. Many of us know Sylvia Acevedo as the CEO of The Girl Scouts of the USA, a Board Member of Qualcomm, and the Presidential Commissioner who drove President Obama’s initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics in early childhood leadership. However, what makes her special is her trait of never taking NO for an answer! At every point in her career, she did not see many ...
May 23, 2024•49 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In a world where we are bombarded by stories of wars and recessions, if we practice an abundance mindset, we can still grow! This practice helps us to focus on the future rather than the past. Kate Henningsen is one of the few leaders I have met who swear by this practice, and I am excited to share the latest episode of Women Who Build with her. Kate is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Arcadia and has seen the company grow from a start-up that sold renewable energy certificates to a...
Jun 12, 2023•52 min
It is often said that the most successful businesspeople follow their curiosity. Blending that with personal experience or association with the problem is a bonus! What is even better is to fight through every logistical hurdle to build towards your dream. I am so inspired by Natalie Rens ’ life and her vision to build human settlements on Mars through Astrea ! Astrea is currently building self-sufficient smart homes for human peak performance on Earth first, and will later ship them to Mars. Wh...
Apr 01, 2023•50 min
As investors, we are constantly looking for how we can add value to portfolio companies. While focus is important in company building, thinking systemically about your company can unlock opportunities like never before. And this practice has become increasingly relevant in today's world where different stakeholder types have the potential to influence your company's trajectory. Joanna Lichter at Emerson Collective helps founders with systemic thinking!Joanna is an Associate Director on Emerson C...
Mar 21, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Companies are made of teams, and these teams not only comprise founders and investors, but also operators, policy makers, and so many other stakeholders. And it is in hard problems like climate change and education that all have to come together to make a difference. Yin Lu loves mobilizing people with the community that she has built over the course of her career. Yin is a Partner at MCJ Collective, which is an early-stage fund that invests in climate tech companies around the world, with a str...
Feb 23, 2023•46 min
The global health and wellness foods market is poised to grow at 6.1% to $1,495bn by 2032. However, purchasing healthy food is complex - sometimes we buy new food types and find it hard to incorporate them into our daily diets and sometimes the food we buy is just not tasty. Monica is solving exactly these two problems through Equii, where her first product is sliced bread that gives 10gm of protein per slice. Equii has developed a proprietary approach to discovering highly nutritious sources of...
Jan 09, 2023•51 min
Companies are built by people, and when investing in companies, it is vital to bring out the human in you to be the best partner to their people. Sarah Hinkfuss brings humanness and trust to her investments at Bain Capital Ventures. Sarah is a Partner at the fund and works with growth-stage founders across application software and fintech. She started her career at Applied Predictive Technologies, where within a few years, she was a Senior Vice President in Client Services helping lead business ...
Nov 22, 2022•49 min
When people think about building, startups come to mind. We often forget that building a new investment firm takes a similar amount of blood and sweat, and most importantly, commitment! In this episode of Women who Build, Emma Silverman shares her journey of building TMV along with her most amazing partners, Soraya Dorabi and Marina Hadjipateras. From creative writing in school to now communicating with LPs, founders, and the entire tech ecosystem in the US, Emma has so much to offer for anybody...
Nov 10, 2022•1 hr 5 min
There is a nuance to building companies and products for low-income communities. In this episode of Women who Build, Amie Patel covers how she is helping entrepreneurs build for exactly these communities at Elevar Equity. Amie describes herself as a “Motel Patel”, which until now I thought was a made-up term from Bollywood! Growing up in Florida as part of a traditional Gujarati family, Amie was fiercely independent. She carved her path from working at premier financial institutions in the world...
Oct 09, 2022•45 min
This episode is really close to my heart as I speak with Ashley Aydin who is working to bring more diversity to the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital through her work at Vamos. Ashley represents the true spirit of Women who Build and is one of the most helpful people I know in the New York startup ecosystem. She is also the go-to person for everything consumer and healthcare for founders in New York! Ashley started her career at Morgan Stanley in Capital Markets and moved into strate...
Aug 14, 2022•47 min
