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A talk with Michele Romanow, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Clearblanc, is a part of a monthly series of discussions with prominent CEOs. This series is meant to inspire others to see how the path to the CEO can be varied, how CEOs come from a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences, and that CEOs carry a range of leadership styles and personalities. There will be a balance of CEOs highlighted from a variety of backgrounds, both in terms of career and societal demographics.
The secondary purpose of this series is to reinforce the trust society is putting in business leaders over all others realms of leadership. Beyond discussing their stories to the top, we’ll touch on how these CEOs lead, and what they are thinking about at a broad societal level.
Ferociously committed to empowering entrepreneurs worldwide, Michele is a firm believer that the world's most daunting challenges can be tackled by entrepreneurs. With a steadfast dedication to supporting founders who may not have had access to traditional routes of success, Michele champions the idea that hustle should always outweigh pedigree.
As the co-founder and leader of Clearco (formerly Clearbanc), Michele has spearheaded its transformation into the world’s largest e-commerce investor. Under Michele's guidance, Clearco has invested over $3.2 billion in more than 7,000 companies spanning 10 countries. Notably, Clearco has significantly surpassed industry standards by backing 25 times more women than the VC industry average and supporting founders from diverse backgrounds across all 50 states in America. Utilizing AI-driven investment decisions rather than human biases, Clearco has pioneered the revenue share capital structure for ad spend and inventory, a model that has been widely adopted to the benefit of countless entrepreneurs. This innovative approach attracted attention globally, culminating in Clearco becoming Softbank’s inaugural Canadian investment at a valuation nearing $2 billion, thus cementing its unicorn status.
Beyond Clearco, Michele has showcased a keen eye for investment opportunities as an investor on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Canada's equivalent of Shark Tank, for over six seasons. Michele has made numerous angel investments in companies such as Endy (acquired by Sleep Country for $89 million), TruLocal (acquired by Emerge for $17 million), RVezy, Thras.io, Haus, Cart.com, Sheetex, Signos, Mastermind, Inkbox, TruFan, Lillia, Lucky Iron Fish, Accompany.io, Swyft, and Tokens.com. Her contributions to the entrepreneurial ecosystem have been recognized with her designation as Angel Investor of the Year in Canada.
Coco Brown is founder and CEO of Athena Alliance. Prior to her current roles, Coco served as President, COO, and Board Director of Taos, a market leader in IT Services serving hundreds of F1000 companies, including Apple, Cisco, ebay, Facebook, and Silicon Valley Bank. Coco brings rich experience across F1000 companies, start-ups, and nonprofits in the roles of CEO, COO, advisor, and Board member to Athena. She possesses a unique understanding of the breadth of challenges and opportunities of leadership. She empowers leaders to execute successfully, working with them to develop the relationship between a company’s strategy and its organizational design and environment. Coco’s expertise in developing and strengthening these important linkages makes her a powerful C-level advisor and Board member. In addition to serving on the Board of Taos from 2004 to 2014, Coco served as a Board Director for MentorNet during its rebranding, product transformation, and subsequent acquisition by Great Minds in STEM. Coco was on the finance committee supporting the Board of Directors of Samasource and established the Operating Committee for the Silicon Valley arm of Golden Seeds, a New York-based early-stage investment firm. She also currently serves as Chair of the Nominating Committee for the Anita Borg Technology Leadership Award, one of the most prestigious awards honoring women in technology.
Join us for a Salon or Meetup to get a peek inside our community! Peer Groups and Learning Circles are exclusively for members - log in here
A Look Inside Athena is held monthly for prospect members to come and understand how Athena works. They will learn more about the backstory of Athena, see a tour of our platform, and have the opportunity to discuss more of what they are interested in and ask questions about joining our community.
Learn about the most pressing topics facing executives today in an intimate, yet casual, virtual setting. Hosted by board directors and leaders from the world's top brands.
Gather with Athena members in your area for a casual, in-person Meetup. These are planned by request and hosted by Athena members in various cities. If you're interested in hosting and/or joining a meetup in the future, reach out to the Member Success Team and let them know.
We have an incredible community of female leaders at Athena and we want to bring you closer together! Join a Peer Group and build a network of peers you can engage with for guidance, lessons learned and insights around a shared interest. Choose a topic that most interests you or drop in and out of multiple peer groups as it suits you best. You’ll find at least one peer group available to join every week. Each live session goes for one hour, no preparation is needed, just show up as you are. We look forward to seeing you there!
A Learning Circle is an opportunity to connect with a small group of other Athena members in a focused yet casual setting, creating accountability around targeted learning to assist you in achieving your goals. Over the course of 6 sessions, club members will meet every 2 weeks to participate in an organic, peer-led discussion of the session's "chapters" consisting of 1-2 Athena salons which are to be reviewed on your own prior to the group session. When joining, members are committing to completing all 6 sessions.
Typically led by one of Athena's coaches, networking events provide members an opportunity to meet one another in a smaller intimate and virtual setting.
These are typically in-person events led by Coco and our partnering companies on topics that are relevant to the industry and audience of our business partners.
A workshop is an interactive session for members to actively practice something, such as their pitch. These sessions typically involve breakout rooms, member to member feedback and are not recorded.
For members new to Athena looking for ways to engage, these bi-weekly orientations led by an Athena Member Success Manager, provide a live tour of Athena, member success insights, and a chance to get questions answered.
Athena customizes virtual learning events with expert business leaders tailored to a unique company’s needs. These events cultivate cross-functional community, development, and learning across the partner organization.
Athena listens and we're always adding new event types and opportunities for members to engage. See what new events we are currently offering members.
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Athena Alliance is the premier executive development platform for senior-level women, offering a powerful networking community, resources, executive education, and coaching to help women advance and excel in their careers.
Invest in your senior leadership career and join our global, virtual community of the most influential women in business.
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