Dec 2019 // TEDWomen // Bold Career Choices

In December 2019, we teamed up with TED to host a breakfast at TEDWomen 2019 in Palm Springs, California!

This year's TEDWomen theme was Bold + Brilliant and TEDWomen shined an unapologetic spotlight on dazzling ideas from some of the world's most extraordinary risk-takers and innovators, celebrating pioneers making power moves, brilliant people who are just getting started, and those who tirelessly show up as allies and advocates.

Inspired by this theme, we teamed up with TED to host a breakfast for TEDWomen attendees. Bright and early on the final day of programming, 50 TEDWomen attendees gathered for an intimate conversation about making bold career choices. Guests enjoyed a menu prepared by local chef Triby Tatro, a menu designed to highlight the work she has done to advance La Quinta’s sustainability efforts.

Future of Women founder, Hallie Applebaum, welcomed guests to a breakfast panel with adventurous women who made significant career turns, allowing them to pursue their passion and make an impact on the world.

We spoke with Ada Osakwe and April Tam Smith about the bold and daring choices they have made and continue to make to realize their visions.

Ada Osakwe, Founder & Chief Executive, Agrolay Ventures and Nuli. Ada is an award-winning food entrepreneur, investor and passionate African development advocate. She is Founder of Agrolay Ventures, an investment firm focusing on early-stage innovative food companies in Africa. She’s also the founder of Nuli, Nigeria’s fastest-growing farm-to-table beverage brand and restaurant chain that utilizes only locally grown agriculture produce. She is a world-renowned authority on private sector investing in Africa’s agribusiness sector, and serves on the Board of the One Acre Fund, is a member of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Presidential Youth Advisory Group, and a mentor on the Future Global Leaders Fellowship Program, amongst others. She is the interim Chief Operating Officer of the World Hunger Fighter’s Foundation (WHFF), a non-profit, founded by World Food Prize Laureate Akin Adesina, to invest in young innovators for a hunger-free world. She also serves on the Advisory Group of Generation Africa, an initiative to invest in young African agripreneurs co-catalysed by Econet and Yara International. For three years Ada was the Senior Adviser to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture where she launched novel initiatives that attracted millions of investments to Nigeria’s agribusiness sector. Prior to her public service she was VP at Kuramo Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, and was a Senior Investment Officer at the AfDB. She began her career as an Analyst at BNP Paribas investment bank, London. She is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Desmond Tutu Fellow. She was Entrepreneur of the Year and featured on Choiseul 100 Africa list consistently from 2016 to 2019 profiling the Top Africans leading economic and social  change. She has also been a recipient of the ‘Achiever in Agriculture’ Award and was on the Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa list in 2014. Ada has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, MSc in Economics and Finance from University of Warwick, U.K. and BSc in Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Hull, U.K. 

April Tam Smith is devoted philanthropist, finance professional, and socially-conscious entrepreneur living in New York City. She is currently a Managing Director in a top tier investment bank’s equity derivatives team, covering hedge funds. At age 30, April founded P.S. Kitchen, a social enterprise vegan restaurant in Times Square that donates 100% of its net profits to philanthropic endeavors, while providing gainful employment to those who need a second chance in the local community, including the formerly incarcerated, victims of domestic violence, and those struggled with homelessness. April was the recipient of the 2018 Columbia Tamer Center Social Enterprise Award, the 2018 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business Award, and the 2015 John Mack Leadership Award. Her experiences from serving at orphanages and social businesses overseas have planted a deep seed in her to be a voice for the poor and fight for justice while leveraging her 14 year career on Wall Street. She currently serves as the chair of the board for Sharehope, a charitable organization that serves garment workers in Haiti, and also serves on the board for Justice Rising, Defy Ventures, Movement Day and Generosity NY. She received her Bachelor's of Science in Engineering from MIT in 2005 and her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2009.

FUTURE OF WOMEN is a unifying platform that creates original multimedia content and programming by, for, and about women around the world to openly look at the pursuit of being a modern woman. In 2018, we began collaborating with award-winning female chefs worldwide, from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Tel Aviv to Tokyo, to host a monthly women's breakfast series featuring game-changing women such as Olympic athletes, Emmy-winning producers, top Billboard musicians, and New York Times journalists on topics including architecture, sports, art, music, journalism, and human rights.

Join the conversation at @futureofwomen