----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Founder & CEO, CauseEDU
Co-Founder, Cupcake Therapy
Founder & CEO
Growth Founder
Shironda White is Founder & CEO of CauseEDU, a platform working to democratize the college financial planning process, and Co-Founder of Cupcake Therapy, a premium nut-free, allergy-friendly cupcake company. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, investor, and business instructor, her 20-year career spanned higher education philanthropy, financial services, and executive education, leading initiatives for organizations such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the HBCU National Resource Center, and Harvard University. Through her work with CauseEDU she has been featured in Forbes Magazine, WCVB CityLine, and the Boston Globe, among other media outlets.
An alumna of Spelman College, Shironda received her MBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and a graduate citation in Nonprofit Management from Harvard University. In her spare time she coaches case competition teams at Questrom.
Top 5 Inspirations:
1) Family
2) The Grand Canyon/The Painted Desert
3) Ben & Jerry's
4) What Got You Here Won't Get You There (by Marshall Goldsmith)
5) Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole and Mellody Hobson
Dominique is the CEO of Growth Founder, a company created to support the founder journey.
Growth Founder supports pre-accelerator companies, VC-backed startups, and growth-oriented companies with go-to-market and development services. Growth Founder helps Founder Support Organizations (FSO’s) - think accelerators, venture funds, innovation labs, government, and nonprofits with program development, curriculum creation, original research, and data collection. As a technology company Growth Founder has their own software products made to support accelerators and investors track the founder journey.
Dominique had a 15+ year career across government, non-profit, corporate, and social enterprise and has experience in managing P&L’s, overseeing teams, hiring and developing staff, setting strategy, and building external partnerships. Currently, Dominique is a mentor for Techstars, Harvard Ilab, MassChallenge, StartEd, the Majira Project, and Global Passport.
Top 5 Inspirations:
Ask and it is Given, Esther Hicks
The 4 hour work week, Tim Ferris
Nathalie Molina Nino, Co-Founder of Known Holdings
Nature
All the founders I get to work with every day!
Host, Author, Innovation Advocate
Chris Denson, innovation expert, Innovation Crush podcast host, and author of the #1 bestseller, Crushing the Box: 10 Essential Rules for Breaking Essential Rules, delivers keynotes that are informative, engaging and entertaining. He merges his experience advertising and marketing expertise, POV as an innovation expert, and his comedic talent to deliver memorable messages to audiences across industries, at home and abroad. He is also skilled at leading insightful conversations, moderating panels and providing continuity as the MC/host for conferences and workshops.