9 Purposeful Women Who Are Rocking Our World

If we tried to make a list of all the fabulous women who are leading lives and businesses infused with purpose, you’d be scrolling endlessly. So instead, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of amazing female founders and thought leaders each month — women who’ve gotten so clear on their personal purpose and their worthy cause that it’s served as the foundation for entire new enterprises and movements. Here we bring you the first of many lists of purposeful women rocking our world. May you leave inspired and ignited to meaningful action.

1. Komal Ahmad
Founder & CEO of Copia

PURPOSE CRED: Komal Ahmad is passionate about solving two problems at once — hunger and food waste — and her for-profit tech company, Copia, does just that. A recipient of the Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award, Komal has led Copia in recovering more than 2.3 million pounds of food, providing over $14 million in savings to feed more than 2 million people this year. Copia is recognized as one of the top three startups run by women in the US.

2. Zahra Kassam
Founder & CEO of Monti Kids

PURPOSE CRED: Zahra Kassam’s mission to close the education gap from birth to preschool, the most critical years of development when 85 percent of the brain is formed. An internationally certified Montessori teacher herself, Zahra founded Monti Kids, the only Montessori program delivered to the home for babies from birth to age 3. In 2016 Zahra was nominated for the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Heroes of Compassion Awards for her work with children.

3. Vanessa Roanhorse
Founder & CEO of Roanhorse Consulting, LLC
Co-founder of Native Women Lead

PURPOSE CRED: Vanessa Roanhorse is committed to effecting meaningful social, environmental, and economic change. She is the founder of Roanhorse Consulting, an Indigenous women-led think tank, and is one of eight co-founders of Native Women Lead, an organization dedicated to supporting Native women into positions of leadership and business. Vanessa is a 2020 Boston Impact Initiative Fund-Building Cohort fellow and sits on the boards of Native Community Capital, Zebras Unite, Delta Institute, and the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers. 

4. Minda Harts
Founder & CEO of The Memo

PURPOSE CRED: Minda Harts is a thought leader when it comes to leadership, equity, and entrepreneurship — especially as they relate to advancing women of color. She is an assistant professor of public service of NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, the founder of The Memo, a career development company for women of color, and the best-selling author of “The Memo: What Women of Color Need To Know To Secure A Seat At The Table” — one of the first business books about women of color in the workplace to be printed by a major publisher. In 2015 Minda was named one of 25 Emerging Innovators by American Express.

5. Cheryl Contee
Co-founder & CEO of Do Big Things

PURPOSE CRED: Chery Contee is all about amplifying authentic voices to create a better world. In addition to being the force behind Do Big Things, a digital agency that creates “new narrative and new tech for a new era focused on causes and campaigns,” Cheryl is the co-founder of social marketing software Attentive.ly at Blackbaud, the first tech startup with a Black female founder on board in history to be acquired by a NASDAQ-traded company, co-founder of Jack and Jill Politics, writing as “Jill Tubman” during the 2008 and 2012 election cycles, and author of the Amazon bestseller “Mechanical Bull: How You Can Achieve Startup Success.” Campaigns and Elections magazine listed Cheryl among The Influencers 50 and Fast Company named her one of their 2010 Most Influential Women in Tech.

6. Susan McPherson
Founder & CEO of McPherson Strategies

PURPOSE CRED: Susan McPherson is dedicated to helping organizations develop effective programs and communications frameworks, forge partnerships, increase visibility, and inspire meaningful action. She founded McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. Susan invests in and advises women-led technology start-ups and serves on the boards of USA for UNHCR, Girl Rising, The PVBLIC Foundation, and the Lower Eastside Girls Club. She is a member of the MIT Solve Women and Technology Leadership Group and serves as an adviser to several nonprofits, including Girls Who Code, Ocean Collective, She’s The First, The Adventure Project, and The OpEd Project. Susan is a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador and has received numerous accolades for her voice on social media platforms from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company and Elle Magazine. 

7. Aniyia Williams
Founder & Executive Director of Black & Brown Founders
Co-founder of Zebras Unite

PURPOSE CRED: Aniyia Williams’s mission is to invent and create systems that effect meaningful change. She serves as Executive Director of Black & Brown Founders, which provides vital resources to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs building tech companies with limited capital. She is also co-founder of Zebras Unite, an entrepreneur-led movement focused on creating a more ethical and sustainable startup ecosystem. Aniyia previously founded and led the fashion tech company, Tinsel, which created the world’s first audio necklace — earphones that double as a beautiful piece of jewelry — designed in response to the lack of electronics developed with women in mind.

8. Stephanie Nadi Olson
Founder of We Are Rosie

PURPOSE CRED: Stephanie Nadi Olson is passionate about revolutionizing the advertising industry, solving its diversity problem, and bettering the lives of freelancers. She is the founder of We Are Rosie, a marketing and advertising firm and a certified women-owned business, which assembles mission-focused teams from its community of 4,500 independent marketers and small business owners, supporting extraordinary people while providing a workplace that treats everyone with dignity and access to opportunity. In 2020 Stephanie was named Ad Age Visionary of the Year and was featured in AdWeek Creative 100s List.

9. Mara Zepeda
Co-founder and former CEO of Switchboard
Co-founder of Zebras Unite

PURPOSE CRED: Mara Zepeda is dedicated to empowering communities to help each other meet their needs, circulate social capital, and increase economic mobility. She is the co-founder of Switchboard, a membership organization and engagement platform used by leaders in higher education and independent schools—focusing on serving communities underserved and overlooked by technology (education, government, communities of faith, grassroots organizations, etc.). Along with fellow rocking-my-world woman Aniyia Williams, Mara is a co-founder of Zebras Unite and now serves as Senior Consultant and Board Member at Hearken, Inc., a company (created and led by Zebra co-founder Jennifer Brandel) that helps organizations “embed listing into their growth and operations to build more resilient companies and communities.”