2024 Forbes Power Women’s Summit

Issa Rae

Writer, Producer, Actress, and Founder

Hoorae

With her own unique flare and infectious sense of humor, Rae first received attention for her award-winning web series and the accompanying New York Times best-seller, "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl." She created and starred in the Peabody-award-winning HBO series, INSECURE, which garnered her multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominations. Rae has also made her mark on the big screen, co-starring in Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE, which dominated theaters as the biggest box-office hit of 2023, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, Sony’s highest-grossing animated release in history and the award-winning AMERICAN FICTION.

In 2020 Rae formed HOORAE, a multi-faceted media company that develops content across mediums in an effort to continue to break boundaries in storytelling and representation. HOORAE is comprised of HOORAE Media for film, tv and digital; Raedio, the music label, music supervision and "audio everywhere" company; ColorCreative, its management division; and FÊTE its marketing arm.

Rae's commitment to South LA is evident in both her personal and professional pursuits. After planting roots near her childhood home, Issa set up the HOORAE headquarters in the heart of South LA. Her participation in the non-profit organization Destination Crenshaw furthers her mission of celebrating Black Angelenos and her ownership in Hilltop Cafe + Kitchen provides much-needed jobs and opportunities for local residents as well as a space for creatives to unlock their potential. Additionally, as co-owner of the Black owned and operated vegan hair care line, Sienna Naturals, Rae intends to continue to reimagine Black wellness and beauty. Rae recently launched Viarae Prosecco, a sparkling wine that's perfect for any occasion and represents the freedom to let loose and be authentic.

Tory Burch

Executive Chairman & Chief Creative Officer

Tory Burch LLC

Tory Burch is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Tory Burch LLC, an American lifestyle brand. She launched the company in 2004 with a boutique in New York City and an ecommerce site. The brand has since grown into a global business with more than 300 stores from New York to Paris and Shanghai. In 2015, she launched Tory Sport, a performance activewear collection that balances cutting-edge functionality with classic design.

Social responsibility has been a part of the company from its inception. In 2009, she launched the Tory Burch Foundation to advance women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in the United States by providing access to capital, education and digital resources, as well as a Fellowship program.

Tory also serves on several boards including the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. In addition, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she lives in New York City with her husband and sons.

Kerry Washington

Actor, Producer, Director & Activist

Kerry Washington is an Emmy-winning, SAG, Golden Globe-nominated actor, NYT best-selling author, director, producer, and activist. Washington received widespread recognition for portraying Olivia Pope on ABC’s drama Scandal. In 2016, Washington launched her production company Simpson Street, whose projects include Netflix’s “American Son”, the Emmy award-winning ABC special, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience”, “The Fight”, and Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere”, “Reasonable Doubt”, and most recently, “UnPrisoned” which Kerry also stars in and will be reprising her role for season 2 which will be releasing this summer.
Washington can currently be seen on the third season of her YouTube series, Street You Grew Up On. She has wrapped production on upcoming action-thriller “Shadow Force”, and Tyler Perry’s upcoming WWII film “6888”, both of which she stars in and executive produces.

Washington is a lifelong activist and founder of Influence Change (IC21), an initiative that partners with nonprofits to increase voter turnout. For her efforts, Washington has been honored as one of TIME Magazine’s 2022 Women of The Year.

Emma Grede

Founder & Serial Entrepreneur

Dr. Joy Buolamwini

Artist-in-Chief & President

The Algorithmic Justice League

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, a groundbreaking MIT researcher, and an artist. She is the author of the national bestseller Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines. Dr. Joy advises world leaders on preventing AI harms. Her research on facial recognition technologies transformed the field of AI auditing and has been covered in over 40 countries. Her “Gender Shades” paper is one of the most cited peer-reviewed AI ethics publications to date. Her TED talk on algorithmic bias has been viewed over 1.7 million times.

Dr. Joy lends her expertise to congressional hearings and government agencies seeking to enact equitable and accountable AI policy. As the Poet of Code, she creates art to illuminate the impact of AI on society. Her art has been exhibited across four continents. Her writing and work have been featured in publications like TIME, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Rolling Stone and The Atlantic. She is the protagonist of the Emmy-nominated documentary Coded Bias which is available in 30 languages to over 100 million viewers.

She is a Rhodes Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, a recipient of the Technological Innovation Award from Martin Luther King Jr. Center as well as the 2024 winner of the NAACP-Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award. Fortune Magazine named her the "conscience of the AI.” Time magazine names her to the Inaugural list of 100 most influential people in AI. She holds two masters degrees from Oxford University and MIT; and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Joy earned her Ph.D. from MIT and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Knox College and Dartmouth.

Ali Truwit

Paralympian, Team USA

Defying the odds after a life-altering shark attack, Ali Truwit has emerged as a record-breaking Paralympic swimmer and advocate for adaptive athletes. In 2023, days after graduating from Yale University, Ali survived an attack that resulted in the amputation of her left leg below the knee. Demonstrating extraordinary resolve, she returned to swimming just one month later, swiftly transitioning from recovery to qualifying for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. At the Paralympic Trials, Ali won gold in multiple events and set an American record in the 100-meter backstroke. She also claimed silver at the 2024 European Open Championships.

Beyond her athletic achievements, Ali is passionate about mental health, emotional intelligence, and empowering women in sports. She founded strongerthanyouthink.org, a non-profit supporting individuals with limb loss and promoting water safety. Ali is also an entrepreneur, having launched her own baking business, Truwit's Treats.

A Yale graduate with a degree in Cognitive Science, Ali's story of survival and triumph has been featured on major media outlets including ABC News, NBC Sports, and The Kelly Clarkson Show. Her journey is the subject of an upcoming documentary slated for release in 2025.

Aija Mayrock

Author & Poet

Aija Mayrock is a bestselling author and poet. Her first book The Survival Guide to Bullying was published by Scholastic in 2015, translated into eighteen languages and incorporated into school curriculums. Her second book Dear Girl was published by Andrews Mcmeel in 2020.

Aija has performed her poetry at venues like Madison Square Garden, The Microsoft Theater, the United Nations, SXSW, amongst others and her poetry videos have been viewed over twenty million times online.

Aija is also a current MBA student at Columbia Business School.

Asima Ahmad

Cofounder & Chief Medical Officer

Carrot Fertility

Asima Ahmad, MD, MPH, FACOG, is the Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Carrot Fertility, the leading global fertility and family-building platform providing care for everyone, everywhere. As Carrot’s CMO, Dr. Ahmad leads clinical strategy, overseeing the company’s expansive network and telehealth program, which offers access to more than 10,000 reproductive endocrinologists, urologists, adoption experts, mental health experts, OB/GYNs, doulas, and midwives.
In addition to her role at Carrot, Dr. Ahmad is a practicing reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist. Dr. Ahmad is double board-certified in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and obstetrics and gynecology. She earned a combined medical and public health degree from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed her residency in OB/GYN at Yale-New Haven Hospital and her fellowship training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of California, San Francisco. She has worked alongside and received mentorship from former ASRM presidents, Dr. Hugh Taylor and Dr. Marcelle Cedars. Dr. Ahmad’s work has been published extensively in academic literature and internationally on a wide range of topics related to infertility, reproductive and hormonal health, gynecologic malignancies, and patient safety.
Dr. Ahmad has held leadership roles on the Access to Care Special Interest Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), most recently as the Chair and previously as the Vice-Chair. She also founded Umeed Foundation, a nonprofit organization that enabled students and professionals to volunteer and engage at local hospitals, schools, and NGOs in South Asia. She has also helped in healthcare delivery and optimization in outcomes in Pakistan, India, and Kashmir (Dr. Ahmad is fluent in Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi) and worked on a global health project to address maternal mortality with the World Health Organization.
Under Dr. Ahmad’s leadership, Carrot has been honored by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies; recognized by the Anthem Awards for its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and named to Fierce Healthcare’s Fierce 15 list highlighting the most promising healthcare companies. Dr. Ahmad has also been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine and Fierce Healthcare on their Women of Influence lists, and named to Business Insider’s 30 under 40 in Healthcare list. Additionally, she’s been awarded University of Chicago’s Humanitarian Award, recognized as one of the Top 100 University of Chicago Alumni in Technology, and selected as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor. Dr. Ahmad has spoken at The World Economic Forum, Forbes 30/50 Summit and Power Women’s Summit, Fast Company Innovation Festival, and HLTH, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Today Show, Good Morning America, NPR, CNN, USA Today, Women’s Health, and more.
In addition to her extensive work in reproductive & women’s health, Dr. Ahmad and her husband live in Chicago with their four children.

Moira Forbes

President and Publisher, ForbesWomen & Executive Vice President

Forbes

Moira Forbes is the Executive Vice President of Forbes, one of the world’s largest media brands, where she is responsible for driving new business initiatives across the company’s diverse media platforms and branding Forbes events worldwide. Today, Forbes, which is synonymous with “success” in almost every country around the world, engages 140 million people across every platform every month – the most in its 104-year history.

Moira also serves as the President and Publisher of ForbesWomen, a multi-media content channel dedicated to successful women in business and leadership which she founded in 2007. Moira oversees Forbes’ annual list of the World’s Most Powerful Women and the annual Power Women’s Summit which she launched in 2013.

Across Forbes’ global editorial platforms, Moira convenes preeminent thought leaders for timely perspective and analysis around today’s most critical issues. She hosts "Success with Moira Forbes," a Forbes interview series spotlighting dynamic changemakers and industry innovators as well as “The Takeaway,” a new Forbes simulcast series featuring how top minds are navigating these defining times and explores what’s ahead within their respective arenas.

Moira is a Governing Trustee of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and serves on the Board of Trustees for the St. Andrews School. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.

Jen Roberts

CEO

Chase Consumer Banking

Jennifer Roberts is the Chief Executive Officer of Chase Consumer Banking, which serves more than 42 million customers nationwide through 4,900 branches, 16,000 ATMs and 59,000 employees.

From 2019 to 2021, Roberts was CEO of Chase Business Banking. In 2020, it ranked #1 among the nation’s six biggest banks in J.D. Power’s annual Small Business Banking study, and #1 in primary bank market share nationally by Barlow Research Associates. The firm was also the #1 lender in the Paycheck Protection Program in both 2020 and 2021, providing more than $32 Billion to small businesses in need.

Roberts serves on the board of WHYY, a public radio station in Philadelphia. She is also the Executive Sponsor of Chase’s Hispanic Leadership Forum, a key resource for senior leaders and essential to the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

She has been a leader in Chase’s consumer businesses since joining the firm in 1996, including leading Digital Products and Chase Pay. She also served in a number of executive roles in Card Services including Ultimate Rewards, the Sapphire portfolio, loyalty and acquisitions. Before joining Chase, Roberts worked in marketing and portfolio management for other card issuers.

Roberts earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Towson State University and an M.B.A. from the University of North Texas. She and her husband have three children and live in Pennsylvania.

Luani Alvarado

Chief People Officer

Kenvue

Luani Alvarado is the Chief People Officer for Kenvue. In this role, Luani leads the evolution of the company’s talent, diversity, equity and inclusion strategy to fulfill its ambition of being “the place to be” for talent and enhance its innovation and growth agenda. She oversees People Experience, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Talent Development, Compensation, Health & Well-Being, HR Business Partners and Operations.

Luani previously served as Global Leader, Human Resources, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health and was a member of the Consumer Health Leadership Team and the Human Resources Executive Committee.

Luani drives the talent and diversity, equity and inclusion agenda for associates around the world who deliver science-backed, professionally endorsed products that help more than 1.2 billion people lead healthier lives every day. She is driven by purpose, learning and impact, and is known for her collaborative and inclusive leadership style, commitment to attracting and retaining the best and most diverse talent, and for creating an environment that fosters a strong sense of belonging and bringing out the best in everyone. Her passion for fostering an inclusive culture is evidenced by high-performing and highly engaged teams that are driven to make a meaningful difference. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of everything she does, as she believes that capitalizing on our differences and unique perspectives are what drives innovation and success.

Luani is a trusted advisor with a proven track record in leading global large-scale business transformations to enable higher levels of performance and engagement. She played a pivotal role in creating and implementing a new operating model for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, while integrating new companies and ensuring a seamless, ONE TEAM operation. She also built organizational capabilities in digital, data sciences and e-commerce, and has strengthened the talent pipeline.

Luani is a thought leader in Human Capital with a global and diverse background and experience in the Chemical, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Technology and Consumer industries. In her more than 15 years at Johnson & Johnson she held various leadership positions including, Global Head of HR for Ethicon, Enterprise Chief Talent Officer, Head of HR for Global Orthopaedics, Global Head of HR for Medical Devices, and Global Head of HR for External Innovation.

Prior to her roles at Johnson & Johnson, Luani spent eight years at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Human Resources working in the U.S. and internationally across Pharmaceuticals, Consumer and Devices. Luani began her career at Dow Chemical as a Trainee and member of their General Management Leadership Development Program and then transitioned to Human Resources.

Luani earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil as well as a Graduate Degree in Human Resources & Strategic Management focused on Organizational Development and Change Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Catholic University of Santos in Brazil.

Pilar Savone

Executive Vice President, Production and Development

Simpson Street

Academy Award and Emmy-winning producer Pilar Savone is the Executive Vice President of Production and Development at Simpson Street, a production company formed by Kerry Washington. Since joining the Simpson Street team in 2018, Savone produced AMERICAN SON, the filmed adaptation of 2018’s Broadway production, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival and later premiered on Netflix. In the documentary space, credits include THE FIGHT and DAUGHTERS. In Spring 2020, Savone executive produced “Little Fires Everywhere” for Hulu. The series received 5 Emmy nominations. Savone and Simpson Street produced the ABC special, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” in Fall 2019, and again in 2021. The 2019 special won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). In 2022, Simpson Street premiered legal drama series “Reasonable Doubt,” executive produced by Savone, for Onyx/Hulu. In 2023, Simpson Street released comedy “Unprisoned” for Onyx/Hulu. Both series were picked up for a second season. Last year, Simpson Street wrapped shooting action-thriller SHADOW FORCE for Lionsgate. Prior to Simpson Street, Savone began her career as an assistant director. She later went on to produce several films for director Quentin Tarantino, garnering an Academy Award nomination for DJANGO UNCHAINED. In 2007, she served as associate producer on Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF. DEATH PROOF was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, she was an associate producer on Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

Maggie McGrath

Editor, ForbesWomen; Senior Editor, Forbes Media

Maggie McGrath is the editor of ForbesWomen, the Forbes vertical dedicated to covering all angles of female entrepreneurship. She loves a good Forbes list: she is the editor of the 50 Over 50 and the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, and previously edited the 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list and the Just 100. She's worked at Forbes since 2013 and in that time has written on everything from the student debt crisis to Triple Crown-contending (and winning) horses. Before coming to Forbes, Maggie worked with TODAY show financial editor Jean Chatzky.