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She grew to become the largest importer of Black owned wines in the world alongside Nelson Mandela and Magic Johnson, and now she shares her wisdom on #BOOSTXL. Join us on October 21st at 12pm PT.
Wine not? The multilingual, multinational, multitalented, multimillion dollar business creator, Selena S. Cuffe Joins #BOOSTXL on Thursday, Oct 12 at 12PM
Selena Cuffe is Founder of vintner, Heritage Link Brands. In this position, she empowers critical, strategic initiatives that accelerate business outcomes and empower diversity and equity within the global wine industry. Her authority includes business transformation, digitization (AI & IoT), strategy, agile operations, change management, marketing and corporate social responsibility. Ms. Cuf…
Selena Cuffe is Founder of vintner, Heritage Link Brands. In this position, she empowers critical, strategic initiatives that accelerate business outcomes and empower diversity and equity within the global wine industry. Her authority includes business transformation, digitization (AI & IoT), strategy, agile operations, change management, marketing and corporate social responsibility. Ms. Cuffe is also President of SodexoMAGIC, a joint venture between U.S. based Magic Johnson Enterprises and French food and facilities management company, Sodexo, Inc. Ms. Cuffe leads the executive team of SodexoMAGIC, an industry leader in community-centric, Quality-of-Life services, serving 1.3 million consumers each day through facilities management, food, benefits, and rewards services. With $600M in annual revenues in the U.S. and Canada, SodexoMAGIC’s 5,000 employees in North America provide more than 100 unique services that improve performance at 1,400 client sites. Prior to her current position, Ms. Cuffe was a Y-Combinator Top 100 leader, CEO of Heritage Link Brands, from 2007 to 2018, and instrumental in the commercialization of the South African Black Vintners Alliance, the House of Mandela, founded by Makaziwe and Tukwini Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s daughter and granddaughter, and the acquisition of the Seven Sisters Vineyards, the only black, women-owned wine estate in South Africa. Ms. Cuffe led venture conceptualization, launch and production of 70M liters of wine annually. Ms. Cuffe is a passionate activist for local and global community. She is a Los Angeles County certified mediator, appointed by the Culver City Council to resolve landlord-tenant disputes. Selena sits on the Overseas Studies Advisory Council at Stanford University and is Vice President Emerita of the Global Alumni Board of Harvard Business School. Selena is a Director and serves on the audit committee for the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee for the Harvard Business School Women Student Alumnae Board, and an incoming member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s 12th District Economic Advisory Council (01/22).Ms. Cuffe was recognized as Black Enterprise Magazine’s 2010 “Entrepreneur of the Year” and has been recognized by the Restaurant Association, Beverage Media, CNN, Crain’s New York, ELLE, Essence, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, PBS, Time Magazine, and Wine Spectator.Ms. Cuffe holds an AB in International Relations from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, with honors. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, fluent in Spanish, and conversant in Portuguese. TOP 5 INSPIRATIONS:1) Family 2) Community 3) Nelson Mandela 4) Roy Ayers 5) The African Continent
Lauren Maillian is a change agent committed to diversity, innovation and inclusion. She brings her unparalleled energy, creativity and problem-solving skills to her role as CEO of digitalundivided, the social startup that leverages data and advocacy to catalyze economic growth and create pathways for Black and Latinx women entrepreneurs.Lauren is a consumer brand strategist, an award-winning marketer, a chief operating officer, and a technology startup investor and advisor. Lauren was invited by Walmart’s CEO to join the Board of Disruptors, their first-ever Innovation Council. A pioneer in the tech space, Lauren was the first Black woman to start an early-stage venture capital fund, as a founding partner and managing director at Gen Y Capital Partners. She has advised and invested in over 40 startups, which have generated over $700 million in revenue. Lauren has long been committed to empowering and advocating for women, lending her expertise and sharing her own experience. She serves as an advisor to Pipeline Angels, a social enterprise that trains executive women to become angel investors. She is the founder of Straight Up and Successful, a community and personal and professional development company, and is the Founder and Creator of The Collab, an arts and culture club committed to championing artists of color and diversifying the face of future collectors. She has distilled what she’s learned about entrepreneurship in her best-selling memoir, The Path Redefined: Getting To the Top On Your Own Terms, and she’s shared her passion for innovation as the Master Marketer and co-star of the Oxygen startup-focused docu-series Quit Your Day Job.Lauren began her entrepreneurial journey at age 19, co-founding a boutique winery, Sugarleaf Vineyards, which quickly became an internationally recognized, award-winning brand. Lauren was the youngest self-made winery owner in the country; she served as Chief Operating Officer from inception through the brand’s acquisition in 2011.Lauren serves on the Board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Engagement. She is Vice-Chair of The Apollo Theater Foundation Young Patrons Steering Committee, a member of New York Urban League’s Development Committee, a founding member of the Young Entrepreneur Council, and a Lifetime Member of the Children’s Aid Society. Lauren is the creator and co-founder of the exclusive art series The Collab, which brings together artists and their supporters to uplift the work of artists of color. In 2014, the New York Urban League’s Young Professionals named Lauren Philanthropist of the Year.Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science, Magna Cum Laude, in International Trade and Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She lives in New York City with her two children and her husband.
