Every board and advisory role tells a story about who you are and where you’re headed. For Coco Brown, joining Glasswing Ventures’ Connect Advisory Council wasn’t about prestige — it was about expanding her Portfolio of Impact™.
By Coco Brown, Founder & CEO, Athena Alliance
Before I say yes to any board or advisory role, I ask myself one question: why? Not ‘is this prestigious?’ Not ‘will this look good?’ The ‘why’ has to go deeper than that. It can’t just be ‘I want to be on the board of a public company.’ That’s not a graduating path; it’s just a capital structure. And it may not be where you most shine as an advisor or fiduciary.
So when Glasswing Ventures reached out, I asked myself the same question I always ask: does this map to who I am, what I believe in, and where I’m going? The answer was an unambiguous yes.
I’m honored to join Glasswing’s Connect Advisory Council — and I want to share why this felt like a genuine alignment, not just a prestigious appointment.
At Athena Alliance, we use a framework we call the Portfolio of Impact™ Wheel. It captures the different ways senior leaders can create value — through roles, boards, advisory work, investing, creating, and more. I’ve always identified most strongly with CREATE. I’m an entrepreneur at my core. Building something from nothing, rallying a community around a mission, iterating until the thing works — that’s my native language.
But over time, I’ve felt a real pull toward INVEST. Not just writing checks, but being present at the earliest stages of company creation. Being a thought partner to founders who are still figuring out what they’re building, who they’re building it for, and how to make it matter. That kind of work energizes me in a way that I think is deeply connected to my entrepreneurial identity — I’m not leaving CREATE behind, I’m expanding the wheel.
Glasswing is a first-capital-in venture firm. They don’t wait for traction. They bet on founders before the rest of the market catches up. That’s the kind of early-stage environment where I feel most alive as an advisor — and it’s exactly where I wanted to plant my flag as I lean more into INVEST as a personal persona.
Let’s be honest: this is the moment. Not “a moment.” The moment.
According to Deloitte’s 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise, the number of companies with 40% or more of AI projects in production is on track to double within six months. That’s not incremental. That’s a market in transformation. Enterprises are no longer experimenting — they’re deploying. And the startups that will win are the ones that can demonstrate domain credibility, enterprise readiness, and clear ROI, right now.
Glasswing is focused on AI-native and Frontier Tech startups transforming B2B and cybersecurity markets. That intersection matters to me on a personal level. At Athena, we’ve been watching our members — senior women leaders and executives across every industry — navigate the AI wave in real time. Some are leading transformation. Some are playing catch-up. All of them are asking the same question: how do I lead through this effectively?
The answer starts at the startup level. The tools, platforms, and products being built today will define how enterprises adopt AI tomorrow. Getting close to that creation process — being a resource to the founders building those tools — is how I stay connected to the bleeding edge and bring that intelligence back to the leaders I serve.
Glasswing’s Advisory Councils are structured to provide real value, not window dressing. Advisors don’t just lend their names — they deliver market intelligence, facilitate enterprise introductions, support go-to-market, and weigh in on product strategy throughout the startup lifecycle. That’s the kind of advisory engagement I’m built for.
I’ve spent years at the intersection of executive leadership, board governance, and organizational transformation. I understand what it takes for a new product or platform to earn a seat at the table inside a large enterprise. I know how decisions actually get made, who the real buyers are, and what objections will come up before they surface. I’ve sat in enough boardrooms and C-suites to translate “startup vision” into “enterprise relevance” — and that translation is often where early-stage companies get stuck.
I’m also bringing my perspective on women’s leadership, because I think the diversity question in AI is urgent and underaddressed. The teams building the next generation of AI tools will shape who benefits from them. Having voices in the room who understand representation, equity, and inclusion in organizational design isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s a strategic advantage.
Honestly? Meeting the founders.
There’s nothing quite like being in a room with people who are building something they genuinely believe in. The conviction, the resourcefulness, the sheer willingness to take on hard problems — it reminds me of why I started Athena Alliance in the first place.
Glasswing has assembled a community of 70 world-class advisors. That’s not just a support network for founders — it’s a knowledge commons. I’m looking forward to learning from this group as much as contributing to it. That kind of cross-pollination, where leaders in cybersecurity, enterprise technology, finance, and operations are all in dialogue with each other and with early-stage founders, is rare and genuinely exciting.
I’ll be in Boston in June to meet everyone in person, and I can’t wait.
I believe this: the leaders who will shape the next decade of enterprise AI are being built right now, in small teams, in early-stage companies, with first checks from firms like Glasswing. Being close to that work — being useful to that work — is a privilege.
And for those of you navigating your own Portfolio of Impact™, I’d offer this: think carefully about where you show up as an advisor. Make sure the “why” is yours. Make sure it connects to your passions, your trajectory, and the future you’re building toward. When it does, it doesn’t feel like an obligation. It feels like momentum.
This one, for me, is momentum.
Explore the full Portfolio of Impact™ series: Introduction · Lead · Govern · Invest · Create · Inspire
Read the full press release here: https://glasswing.vc/blog/14-advisory-councils-additions/
