Candace Bushnell is a best-selling novelist, TV producer, and, most recently, the star of her own one-woman show, the critically acclaimed True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City. Originally performed off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theater, the New York Times declared it a “critic’s pick.” Bushnell is now performing an international version that has received standing ovations, most recently in Cape Town and Johannesburg, proclaiming that Bushnell left “the audience mesmerized by her brilliant performance.” Bushnell is famously the author of Sex and the City, published in 1996, the basis for the TV phenomenon Sex and the City, spawning six-seasons on HBO, two movies and the re-boot series And Just Like That, currently in production for its third season. An acclaimed novelist, Bushnell is the international best-selling author of Four Blondes, Trading Up, Lipstick Jungle, One Fifth Avenue, and The Carrie Diaries. Lipstick Jungle and The Carrie Diaries each became network TV series (NBC and The CW) for two seasons. She is also famously known as the “real life Carrie Bradshaw” or the O.G. Carrie Bradshaw. Bushnell created the character as her alter-ego while writing Sex and the City because she didn’t want her parents to know that she’d just been to a sex club. She often appears on TV, starting back in 1996, when she had her own reality show, Sex, Lives and Video Clips on VH1, where—sure enough—Bushnell and a co-host were required to go to sex clubs. She’s appeared on dozens and dozens of chat shows, including Oprah and Charlie Rose and is currently scheduled to tour True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City in England, Italy and Canada in 2024.

Yasmin Gagné is a writer and editor at Fast Company where she hosts the magazine's flagship weekly podcast, Most Innovative Companies. Gagné has written features on companies including Noom, Compass realty, and Rent The Runway. She has also written for publications including Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and The New York Times.

Morgan Brennan is co-anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” (M-F, 4PM-5PM ET), which broadcasts live from CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Previously, she was co-anchor of the 10AM ET hour on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” and co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” She joined the network in December 2013 as a general assignment reporter based at CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and continues to cover a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, and defense and space. She is also host of the CNBC podcast, Manifest Space.

Moira Forbes is the Executive Vice President of Forbes, one of the world’s largest media brands, where she is responsible for driving new business initiatives across the company’s diverse media platforms and branding Forbes events worldwide. Today, Forbes, which is synonymous with “success” in almost every country around the world, engages 140 million people across every platform every month – the most in its 104-year history. Moira also serves as the President and Publisher of ForbesWomen, a multi-media content channel dedicated to successful women in business and leadership which she founded in 2007. Moira oversees Forbes’ annual list of the World’s Most Powerful Women and the annual Power Women’s Summit which she launched in 2013. Across Forbes’ global editorial platforms, Moira convenes preeminent thought leaders for timely perspective and analysis around today’s most critical issues. She hosts "Success with Moira Forbes," a Forbes interview series spotlighting dynamic changemakers and industry innovators as well as“The Takeaway,” a new Forbes simulcast series featuring how top minds are navigating these defining times and explores what’s ahead within their respective arenas. Moira is a Governing Trustee of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and serves on the Board of Trustees for the St. Andrews School. She currently lives in New York City with her two sons.

Marina Larroudé is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of eponymous shoe brand Larroudé. Marina founded Larroudé alongside her husband Ricardo in December 2020. Marina is a fashion industry veteran with almost two decades of experience, having spent over twelve years as Fashion Director at various Condé Nast publications (Style.com, TeenVogue), which was followed by her role as VP, Fashion Director of Barneys New York. Obsessed with fashion from an early age, Marina continues to believe that fashion should bring beauty into people’s lives by being both accessible and joyful. Under her tenure at Larroudé as Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Marina has overseen the brand’s competitive growth from five people to over a hundred operating out of offices in New York, São Paulo and Sapiranga, Brazil, where Larroudé’s model factory is based. Now sold through Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Galleries Lafayette among other global retailers, this concept has led to a state-of-the art dedicated production complex that is swiftly supplying Larroudé with roughly 200,000 shoes on an annualized basis. Beyond sheer numbers, Larroudé's reputation is amplified by their illustrious collaborations with icons such as Oscar de la Renta and Barbie, and their footprint in Hollywood, including adornments on dignitaries like Taylor Swift, Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes, and First Lady Jill Biden.

Christie Horvath is a dog-obsessed insurance nerd originally from Colorado. After spending over 6 years working with insurance companies at BlackRock, Christie went to Harvard to earn her MBA. While in business school she learned the importance of having pet insurance after her dog at the time, Denver, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After months of costly diagnostic testing and vet visits, Christie realized that pet parents needed more help than the existing options offered. She founded Wagmo with the mission of making it easier and more affordable to be a great pet parent. Christie has a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, a masters in business from Harvard, and a rescue pup named Aspen.

Hayley Barna is a Partner based in New York. As a former founder, angel investor and operator, she’s had a direct hand in helping many startups get off the ground. At First Round since 2016, Hayley brings a customer-centric viewpoint to her investments and leads seed rounds in companies across a wide range of industries — from healthcare to climate. Some of her investments include Mirror (acquired by Lululemon), Thirty Madison, Squad (acquired by Twitter), Studs, SiteRx, Alma and Caper (acquired by Instacart). Hayley is passionate about working with first-time founders who are focused on business model innovation. As a founder turned VC, she loves to roll up her sleeves and help founders work through their challenges — whether they’re around team building, goal setting or planning for the next fundraise. Prior to joining First Round, Hayley co-founded Birchbox, a subscription ecommerce company that is widely credited for the rise of the subscription industry. She also spent time at Bain & Company, Christie’s and Amazon, where she cut her teeth on everything from strategy work to product management. Hayley is a founding member of All Raise, an organization committed to accelerating the success of female founders and funders. She has been recognized as Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and Fortune’s 40 Under 40, among other honors. She is a Trustee for the Society for Science, a non-profit dedicated to promoting scientific research, education and literacy. Hayley received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stephanie Horton is a leading c-suite executive of the global luxury and fashion industry. A 30-year veteran of the luxury fashion and marketing communities, Stephanie has developed and executed creative strategy and marketing solutions for both domestic and international brands. She is currently a Senior Director of Global Consumer Marketing and Strategy for Commerce at Google where she leads the Global B2C Marketing teams helping to shape and drive the vision and strategy for Google Shopping and Payments. Prior to Google, Stephanie held positions as Chief Executive Officer at Hemp Tailor, Chief Executive Officer at Alexander Wang, Chief Marketing Officer at Farfetch and senior level positions at Shopbop, American Vogue and The New York Times. Stephanie currently serves on The Advisory Boards of NYU Stern Fashion/Luxury MBA, The Black in Fashion Council and McMullen Boutique. She serves as a Senior Advisor for Three Hills Capital Partners and has a board seat on one of their core investments FaceGym, and The Board of Directors for NeueHouse. In her role on these boards, she has provided strategic guidance and oversight to help drive corporate strategy and ensure forward momentum. Stephanie is a passionate advocate for women in the workplace. She is Co-Founder of the organization Fashion Tech Connects, which connects female college students of color with Fashion and tech internships. She is also a frequent speaker on the topics of women in business, emerging technology and brand authenticity and e-commerce and retail trends. Stephanie has lived and worked in London and Shanghai and currently resides in New York.

Amanda E/J Morrison is the Co-Founder & CEO of Julie Products Inc. a modern women's pharmaceutical company focused on empathy and education to help change the face and narrative of healthcare. Previously the Chief Marketing Officer at Underlining a premium brand studio launching innovative brands across multiple beauty and wellness verticals. She is the Co-founder and served on the board of Mented Cosmetics, a pigment-first beauty brand celebrating women of all hues. A graduate of Howard University and Harvard Business School, Amanda is excited to be an entrepreneur focused on digital strategy and brand building. With a myriad of experiences in finance, and consumer marketing, Amanda is very involved in her community through involvement in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, The Junior League of New York, 25 Black Women in Beauty, and the Howard Alumni Association.

Lidiane Jones is Bumble. Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Company's Board of Directors. She joined the Company in January 2024. Lidiane has more than 25 years of deep product development experience and is passionate about leveraging technology and innovation to help people build connections, scale business operations and drive growth. She leads a diverse team of technologists, designers, marketers, communicators and customer success professionals who are deeply committed to Bumble's mission of creating a world where all relationships are healthy and equitable. Lidiane joined Bumble from Slack Technologies, where she served as CEO beginning in December 2022, following Salesforce's acquisition of the collaboration platform. Lidiane led the company's integration with Salesforce and advanced the company's mission to make people's working lives simpler and more productive. Before becoming CEO of Slack, Lidiane held various roles at Salesforce, including Executive Vice President & General Manager for Digital Experiences and Executive Vice President of Commerce Cloud. In both roles, she oversaw the company's product development teams with the goal of creating more personalized user experiences across Experience, Commerce, and Marketing clouds to scale transformative and sustainable growth. Earlier in her career, Lidiane was Vice President of Software Product Management at Sonos, Inc., where she was responsible for the delivery of the Sonos experience layer and platform. She also spent nearly 13 years at Microsoft Corporation, building her product development expertise across the company's diverse portfolio of tech platforms, including Microsoft Office Shared Experiences, Enterprise Management, and Azure Machine Learning. Lidiane serves as a trustee at the Shady Hill School, a non-profit independent, co-educational day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She previously served as a director of Compass Working Capital, a nonprofit financial services firm, and a board observer of Astound Commerce, an e-commerce agency. Lidiane holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

Kyle Leahy is Glossier’s Chief Executive Officer. Kyle previously served as Glossier’s Chief Commercial Officer before stepping into the CEO role in May 2022. She brings to Glossier both a deep appreciation of the power of timeless consumer brands and the proven experience of leading large, dynamic organizations through transformational moments. Kyle is passionate about building brands that connect deeply with consumers, and she has spent her career setting strategy and optimizing operational execution to build enterprise value and maximize brand potential. Prior to Glossier, she worked at Cole Haan, including several years as part of Nike Inc., in multiple Strategy, General Management, Digital and Retail leadership roles, most recently as the Executive Vice President & GM of North America. Kyle is based in Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and two young children.

Ms. Sistani has served as a director and Chief Executive Officer of WeightWatchers since March 2022. Until February 2022, she worked at Epic Games, Inc., a video game and software developer and publisher, where she served as Chief Executive Officer of Houseparty, a face-to-face synchronous social network, and also was the senior executive leading social gameplay and feature development for Epic’s gaming products, including Fortnite. Prior to Epic’s acquisition of Houseparty in June 2019, Ms. Sistani was the Chief Executive Officer at Houseparty and served on its Board of Directors, having been one of its original co-founders prior to its February 2016 launch. She previously led mobile growth operations at Yahoo! Inc., a technology company, from November 2011 to May 2015, and from the time Yahoo! acquired Tumblr she served as Tumblr’s first Head of Media. Prior to that time, Ms. Sistani held positions at Goldman Sachs and Creative Artists Agency. Ms. Sistani received a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Ms. Sistani is a director of Best Buy Co., Inc.

Patty McCord is the author of the best-selling book "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility," which was published in 2018 and translated into 12 languages. She served as chief talent officer of Netflix for fourteen years and helped create the Netflix Culture Deck. Since it was first posted on the web, the Culture Deck has been viewed more than 15 million times, and Sheryl Sandberg has said that it "may be the most important document ever to come out of Silicon Valley.” Currently, Patty coaches and advises a small group of companies and entrepreneurs on culture and leadership. She also speaks to groups around the world and cohosts a podcast TruthWorks.

Ingrid Fetell Lee is a designer and author whose groundbreaking work reveals the hidden influence of our surroundings on our emotions and wellbeing. As a former design director at IDEO, author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, and the founder of the website The Aesthetics of Joy, she empowers people to find more joy in life and work through design. Her immensely popular TED talk “Where Joy Hides and How to Find it” has been viewed more than 17 million times. Lee has been featured as an expert on design and joy by outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, Real Simple, The Atlantic, the Today Show, HGTV Magazine, and Fast Company. She has over fifteen years of experience in design and branding, having led design programs for Target, Condé Nast, Eileen Fisher, American Express, Kate Spade, Diageo, Pepsico, and the US government, among others. She was a founding faculty member in the Products of Design program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her design work has been exhibited at imm Cologne, Germany. Lee holds a Master’s in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor’s in English and Creative Writing from Princeton University. She loves pancakes, polka dots, and rainbow sprinkles, and has an extensive repertoire of happy dances for any occasion.

Poppy Harlow is an award-winning journalist who most recently co-anchored CNN This Morning weekday mornings from 6-9am ET. She is also the creator and host of the CNN podcast “BossFiles with Poppy Harlow.” She is the co-author of “The Color of Love” and the author of “The Biggest Little Boy.” Harlow imparts her deep economic knowledge by interviewing the world’s top business leaders and CEOs including Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, Sundar Pichai, Melinda French Gates, Susan Wojcicki, Indra Nooyi, Jay-Z, Mark Zuckerberg, Howard Schultz, among others. She has also interviewed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and moderated two CNN Presidential Town Halls. She is the proud mother of daughter Sienna and son Luca with her husband Sinisa. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a Henry Crown Fellow within the Aspen Institute. Harlow was the 2020 recipient of the Columbia University John Jay Award. She holds a Masters in Studies of Law from Yale Law School and an undergraduate degree from Columbia University. She also studied at Kings College in London.

Lydia Fenet is the founder and CEO of the Lydia Fenet Agency, a boutique agency representing best in class charity auctioneers. Over her two-decade long career, Lydia served as the Global Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships for Christie’s and reshaped the fundraising landscape as the world’s leading charity auctioneer. She has single handedly raised over one billion dollars for more than 800 organizations and broken-down countless barriers for women in the auction industry. Widely recognized for her poise and power onstage, she has stood alongside celebrities including Bruce Springsteen, Hugh Jackman, Elton John, Matt Damon and Jerry Seinfeld to raise record-breaking donations for the most notable charities across the globe. Lydia is the author of two best-selling books, The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You & Claim Your Confidence as well as the podcast host of Claim Your Confidence in collaboration with Rockefeller Center. Her first book was optioned by Netflix in 2022 for a series that will be produced by Chernin Entertainment starring Kiernan Shipka as the lead. Lydia is represented by CAA and travels internationally to speak to companies about unlocking their sales potential, empowering people in the workplace and the art of public speaking. You can follow her auctions, antics, and anecdotes on Instagram @LydiaFenet.