MARCH SPOTLIGHT: EMPOWERING PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE WOMEN LEADERS

With last Friday being International Women’s Day and March recognized as Women’s History month, we wanted to take this time to celebrate the achievements, contributions, and perseverance of women throughout our history. Women have played integral roles in breaking cultural barriers and shaping the world we live in today. In our commitment to support and lift women leaders globally, across all fields of expertise, the Round Rock Chamber attributed March’s Power Lunch featured topic to: Women Who Mean Business. This event is aimed to empower women by amplifying their voices, celebrating their accomplishments and inspiring tomorrow’s generation on the importance of continuing the work to promote gender equality for all.

The Women Who Mean Business Power Lunch will bring together a dynamic panel of trailblazers who will share their experiences and insights they obtained on their path to achieving success. We are thrilled to have this enlightening group of Women Who Mean Business at our Power Lunch event and encourage everyone to join us for a panel discussion you won’t want to miss!

MEET THE WOMEN WHO MEAN BUSINESS POWER LUNCH PANEL:

INGRID VANDERVELDT

CEO and Founder of Vanderveldt Global Investments, Empowering a Billion Women Worldwide & Partner Shield Manufacturing

Ingrid Vanderveldt (iV) is the Chairman and CEO of Empowering a Billion Women (EBW), EBW Distributors (a division of EBW2020) & Vanderveldt Global Investments. Previously, she was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence (“EIR”) for Dell Inc. where she oversaw entrepreneurial initiatives worldwide helping to build a $250 million business segment and founded the $125M Dell Innovators Credit Fund, Dell Founders Club, and the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs during her 3-year term.

iV is an Emeritus member of United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, is a Managing Partner of Vanderveldt Global Investments, and co-founder of The Billionaire Girls Club. She also created and hosted CNBC’s first original primetime series, “American Made,” reaching over 1M viewers around the globe and is a Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Member. She is a Global Ambassador and Advocate of Women & Diverse Leaders creating social and economic impact and job creation. She’s the Recipient of the Global Empowerment Award by the Global Business and Interfaith Peace Awards in partnership with the UN.

iV has been featured on outlets including NBC, CNBC, FOX, ABC, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNN Money, Fortune Magazine, Fast Company, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. She was named one of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 Global Leaders. She also was ranked #1 Super Connector by Fast Company, is the recipient of the Forbes and Northwestern Mutual Global “Entrepreneur in Excellence Award” and was just named the 100th Champion
Celebration for the HearStrong Foundation, recipient of The Global Voice Award, World Women Foundation and The Girl Scouts “Women of Distinction” Award. She holds a Masters in Architecture at the Savannah College of Art & Design and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from UT at Austin.

NINA MEANS

Director, ACC Fashion Incubator and Creative Director and Designer, Nina Means
Nina is the inaugural Director at Austin Community College Fashion Incubator — a fashion technology incubator for early-stage brands — and Founder at CADRE Innovation, a cross-industry consulting firm for product commercialization. Both endeavors lead tech-enabled solutions for product commercialization’s greatest challenge – sustainability. Nina’s background spans global health research and metrics, breast cancer program management, fashion product development and production, technology integration, and now education. As a designer, Nina’s work has sold millions in revenue in products created for publicly traded and privately held global brands.

Nina was recently featured in Austin Woman Magazine as a Change Maker for Fashion & Beauty and February Cover Woman. In 2021, she was named by Austin Monthly as one of 12 women shaping Austin’s future, and part of Tribeza and Texas Society Magazine’s People of the Year and a Texas Woman to Watch.

Nina is also mom to a rambunctious 5-year-old and a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin.

ALLISON ELLSWORTH

Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer, Poppi

Allison Ellsworth is the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Poppi: a delicious, better-for-you soda made with clean ingredients. Struggling with a variety of health issues, she created Poppi after discovering the health benefits of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and experimenting in her kitchen to make it taste great. From the farmers market to a shark tank deal and now in retailers nationwide, Poppi quickly became one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic beverages in the U.S.

Ellsworth leads the Austin-based beverage company’s overall brand strategy and innovation. She pioneered the brand’s cultural cache and digital-first approach, attracting a loyal community of over 400K followers and celebrity brand fans including Noah Beck, Russell Westbook and J.LO. Within 24 months, Poppi was awarded BevNet’s “campaign of the year”, went viral on Tiktok with 1B+ page views, and ranked #1 on Amazon search for “soda”.

Moderated by:

JESSICA SCANLON

Round Rock Chamber 2024 Board Chair, CEO & Top Dog, Hot Dog Marketing

Jessica Scanlon is the top dog and founder at Hot Dog Marketing. Hot Dog Marketing is a 12-year-old award-winning Round Rock-based marketing agency that has worked with numerous chamber businesses. Jessica is a University of Texas graduate, and huge Longhorn football fan. She’s lived in the area for 25 years. Since graduating from UT, Jessica has worked in various marketing roles before founding her agency. She was a 2019 winner of Austin Under 40, and was awarded the 2023 Communicator of the Year by the Women Communicators of Austin. Hot Dog Marketing has been named Round Rock Chamber Small Business of the Year, Fastest Growing Business by the Austin Business Journal, and was a finalist for Small Business of the Year for the Austin Chamber in 2023. She’s married to Neil Scanlon and proud mom to Madeline, her 10-year-old daughter.

Join us on March 26 from 11:30 AM – 1 PM at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions for the Women Who Mean Business Power Lunch to celebrate the creativity, resilience and determination of past pioneers, today’s trailblazers and future’s generation of women warriors to come.

MORE DETAILS AND REGISTER HERE.