5 Women to Watch in Venture - Winter Edition
The rise of female empowerment has never been stronger, but there’s still a long way to go for gender equality – especially in the world of technology and venture capital. What better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than to highlight inspiring women we know leading the way in venture?
I’m proud to not only know these incredibly talented and amazing women but am humbled to be able to turn to them for their mentorship, guidance and friendship. Each powerful woman has been impacting their communities in unique ways and I’m excited to see what they’ll achieve next!
Phyllis Lee
Phyllis Lee is a leader in the tech space with deep expertise in scaling businesses, from early stage startups to iconic brands. She’s passionate about modern marketing, creating revenue-generating business models for hypergrowth, and is a product and customer experience nerd. She's obsessed with the evolution of marketing with blockchain and web3 and is an evangelist for ideas that change the world. As a community builder, she champions, hypes and loves to partner alongside the builders making it happen. She leads the entire marketing & growth ecosystem at Manifold, a Venture holding company that creates and captures value at the early stage with a venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm all under one roof.
Taylor Thornton
Taylor Thornton is a driven leader serving as Chief Administrative Officer at KB Partners, championing early-stage sports tech venture capital. Prior to KB, she worked at Morgan Stanley on their Alternative Investment Sales desk, where she sold various deals across Private Equity, Private Credit, Private Real Estate and Hedge Funds to the firm's wealth management clients. She had a tremendous lacrosse career at Northwestern University, where she won 2 Division I National Championships, was a 4 x All American, 2012 Player of the Year, and 2018 Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame inductee (First Ballot).
Ale Breuer
Alexandra Breuer was an operator and founder of Ezza Nails before joining Network Ventures as their COO. Network Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in bold founders to positively change the world, focusing on seed stage companies that leverage powerful network effects to create the next big marketplaces, networks, and software platforms. Ale is also a coach at the University of Chicago, advising entrepreneurs on their business plans, pitch decks, and growth strategy in the College New Venture Challenge course, recognized as one of the top university accelerators in the US.
Amanda Joseph
Amanda Joseph is a leader and expert in insurtech venture capital, currently serving as Principal at American Family Ventures (AFV). AFV is a multi-limited partner VC investing in early-stage companies driving insurance innovation from inside the industry as well as from adjacent sectors. Limited partners span most major lines of insurance and represent over $100 billion in assets and over $35 billion in annual premiums. Amanda's focus is at the intersection of insurance and healthcare, leveraging her experiences working with a large Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and startups to help founders navigate the complex healthcare ecosystem. She is particularly passionate about value-based care, the future of retirement, and the intersection of health and wealth.
Wen Zhang
Wen Zhang is a General Partner at FV Ventures, an emerging capital group redefining the approach to early-stage startup investing. She is passionate about supporting Asian & international founders who have the American dream to grow and scale their businesses. She is also a TEDX Speaker and Founder & Host of the popular If Not Now Wen Podcast, sharing entrepreneurial stories, the ups, the downs, and everything in between. Wen is also a mentor at Mass Challenge, Capital Factory, Techstars Austin Ventures and is a Startup Qualifying Committee & Pitch Performance Coach at SXSW.
If you enjoyed learning about these inspiring women, check out the first 5 Women to Watch in Venture we curated in Q4 2022.
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