Diamond Stylz

"I got married and moved to Houston for my husband's job. Little did I know that he was married to someone else. When I found out, I left him and his other wife found me and we shared stories with each other. Even though it didn't work out with him he forced me to grow-me-up and  give me, the self love and security of being a trans woman that I needed to become self sufficient. Trying to live the perfect homemaker life led to a betrayal which then led to something beautiful." - Diamond Stylz is a blogger and produces the podcast Marsha'sPlate.

Lori Heino-Royer

"When I was 22 I was told by my employer that I had the highest paying job that I'd ever have as a woman at that company. That pushed me to go back to school and earn a degree which led me to where I am today."- Lori Heino-Royer is the Director of Business Development at Daimler Trucks North America.

Jumoke Dada

"Since my father's passing I've noticed that I have so much of his strength. On March 9th, 1975 my father, Francis Dada, first stepped on U.S. soil. He was fearless and selfless and determined to make another life for himself when he left Nigeria. He came here and was a janitor at McDonald's and became a microbiologist and raised 6 kids. I feel like he was my celebrity. Everything he has ever said to me, I hear so loudly still. He said I was a pioneer in technology and he wanted me to reach my fullest potential. He was my biggest champion." -  Jumoke Dada is a tech consultant and strategist for women at Dadaverse.org.

Cam Kashani

“I got fired from my own company when I filed for divorce. Although I was the one who put in the capitol, I didn't realize my name wasn’t on the business. Part of it was that I was asleep at the wheel. I think a man wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. They would have made sure their name was on the papers.” - Cam Kashani is the Co-Founder and CEO of COACCEL, the human accelerator.

Danielle Cohn

"When I was a young girl I was encouraged to be a performer, to be an actress and singer. My grandmother would take me around as a cute little girl to sing at different community places. That enabled me to be a storyteller, to be able to walk into a room and be comfortable. I was one of the first women in tech in Philly and that has given me good access and opportunity because people were looking for diversity.  I don't see being a woman as a challenge I see it as a benefit." - Danielle Cohn is the Director of Entrepreneurial Engagement at Comcast and leads the Lift Lab for entrepreneurs.

Temiloluwa Adeniyi

"When I was in 6th grade the Howard Hughes Foundation funded a Saturday science program that was targeting diversity and girls.  That summer I was one of five students chosen to go to an extension research program at Duke University. I did research on phage, viruses found in the soil. I discovered a new phage that is still being researched at the Pittsburgh Phage Institute. I knew from the 6th grade that I wanted to become a biochemical engineer.  I want to find the woman who ran the Saturday science program, her name is Rebecca and I'd like to thank her because  there are a lot of federally funded programs but there needs to be a bridge, a person who is dedicated to making a program happen and to making it diverse, she was that bridge.  Innovation only happens when you have diverse perspectives brought together in an integrative way to create a new strategy.  I want to use my STEM background for good, it's the social impact of my work that I am most interested in." -  Temiloluwa Adeniyi is a graduate student at Georgia Tech and she is the CEO/Founder of Nopneu, LLC which has developed Nopneu, a low cost- diagnostic tool for diagnosing pneumonia in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods. Temiloluwa was awarded $10,000 from Backstage Capital this week for winning the Pitch Black Competition at SXSW2018

Kelly D. Shapiro

"It's because I am a woman of color and graduated from an Ivy League school that Dolly Singh hired me to be general counsel for her company Thesis Couture Inc. My peers are the demographic for her brand."  - Kelly D. Shapiro is an attorney who provides legal representation and business counseling to clients in the entertainment, tech and start-up industry.

Jen Lee Reeves & Jordan Reeves

"The entire adventure Jordan and I are on started the day she born. I knew I would get her all the resources she needed. What I didn't know is that she would be bringing the resources to me." Jen Lee Reeves is the Founder of Born Just Right and is the mother of two children. "The boys won't pass the basketball to the girls at all unless the teacher tells them to. It's so annoying. But unless I am on an all girls team I don't ever get the ball.  And even then I don't get the ball that much." - Jordan Reeves is the Co-Founder and Innovator at Born Just Right. She is 12 years old and designed her own prosthetic arm that she is pictured with, which is a purple unicorn horn that shoots biodegradable glitter. She is currently designing another prosthetic arm for herself that has various tools on it, similar to a Swiss Army Knife.

Rakia Reynolds

"I used to think procrastinating was a good thing. But when I was pregnant with my third child, I was at a photo shoot when the contractions started.  I kept working, I said, just one more photo and then I'll go. But I waited until the contractions were four minutes apart to go to the hospital and I never made it to a room, he was born in the hallway. The hospital staff called him "hallway baby". Now I don't procrastinate." - Rakia Reynolds is the founder and CEO of SkaiBlueMedia and the mother of three children.

Emily Chang

"Listening to the stories that women shared with me inspired me to write my book, "Brotopia: Breaking up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley". If I weren't a woman I wouldn't have had the understanding about their experience in Silicon Valley.  I hope my contribution starts a conversation that makes the world a better place for all of us."  - Emily Chang is a journalist/author and the host of Bloomberg Technology.