Tiasia O’Brien, MA

Founder, Seam Social Labs

Tiasia O’Brien is a third-time social entrepreneur with a decade of professional experience in leading strategic communications, fundraising, business development, and public-private initiatives. She is the founder of Seam Social Labs, a mission-driven company working to empower the voice of communities.

Tiasia’s experience in working with community-based organizations and small businesses has given her deep insights into the complex nature of economic development. Academically, Tiasia is a Qualitative Research Scientist with an Advanced Diploma in Data Analytics from NYU and an M.A. in Sociology from The New School, where she researched civic and community innovations to resolve social inequalities.

Candace Mitchell Harris

Founder & CEO, MYAVANA

Candace Mitchell Harris is a computer scientist and visionary entrepreneur transforming the hair care industry through science & technology. She serves as Founder & CEO of MYAVANA, an innovative hair care technology company that uses artificial intelligence to recommend the perfect products for your hair.

Through a recently launched mobile application, you’re able to take a photo of your hair and receive an instant analysis of your hair type along with recommended products, consultations with an expert, and healthy hair guidance. For customers with specific hair challenges,

MYAVANA offers a hair kit to send strands of your hair for a detailed hair analysis and personalized hair care plan. MYAVANA has developed its own patent-pending proprietary technology to help women choose the best haircare products, ingredients, regimens, and professional salons to achieve desired styles and hair health.

Candace has been recognized for her work on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, WWD’s Top 50 Beauty Innovators, BET Honors STEM Award, Sephora Accelerate Fellow, and featured nationally on CNN’s Small Business Success segment, Marie Claire Magazine’s Next Big Thing in Beauty, ESSENCE Festival, Inc. Magazine, Black Enterprise, Business Insider, and more.

She graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2011 with a degree in Computer Science, where she was initiated into the ANAK Society, the highest honor at Georgia Tech, and recently named on their inaugural Top 40 Alumni list.

She currently serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Ascend Atlanta, a technology startup and small business support ecosystem for minority-led companies. She shares her knowledge and insight with other entrepreneurs as an author of The Shift, her first book that helps entrepreneurs gain the spiritual transformation needed to endure and excel on the entrepreneurial journey.

Trini Bensusan Mille

Founder & CEO, TeeRead

Trini Bensusan Mille is creating a freer future, equipping kids with tools to become their full selves. She is the founder and CEO of TeeRead, where she is using AI and speech recognition to solve the biggest problem in education – reading. Trini is an award-winning customer-focused strategist and product manager and holds an MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management.

Panel Moderator

Jenny Xu

Global Business Development Lead at Amazon Alexa Startups

Jenny is the global business development lead at Alexa Startups focusing on supporting underrepresented founders to create ground-breaking voice experiences for customers. She previously led product development across consumer and enterprise products that leveraging computer vision and AI/ML at Amazon. Prior to Amazon, Jenny was the CEO and COO of two venture-backed logistics startups growing from Seed to Series B. Before became a startup operator, she led digital innovation at Bridgestone and founded its Mobility Service group that is building connected hardware and digital solutions for consumer and enterprise customers. Jenny holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Western Michigan University.

Co-Moderator

Maddy Apple

CEO, Women in Voice

Maddy Apple is CEO of Women in Voice (WiV), the global nonprofit supporting women in voice AI. With 9+ years of experience in nonprofit strategy and execution for programming and community events, she was brought on in 2021 as Director of Global Events. Maddy launched and executed the Inaugural Summit and Awards, expanding WiV’s global stage to formally celebrate senior and rising Women+ in Voice and Conversational AI. As WiV’s COO, Maddy ran events, partnerships, and led engagement strategy growing the org by 150% YoY. Prior to WiV, she worked in the nonprofit sector, specializing in membership, marketing, and education while hosting virtual and in-person events for thousands of people. Maddy is a mission-oriented leader driven to engage and serve vibrant professional communities, and amplify underrepresented talent in tech.