Mrinalini Venkatachalam

Mrinalini Venkatachalam is the Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Oceania at WEConnect International, a global nonprofit network that works with multinational corporations and multilateral organizations to generate market-access opportunities for women’s business enterprises in over 125 countries through supplier diversity. The organization identifies, educates, registers, and certifies women’s business enterprises based outside the U.S. that are at least 51% owned, as well as managed and controlled, by one or more women, and then connects them to qualified buyers across the globe. WEConnect International’s network of corporate members, primarily Fortune 500 companies, represent over $1 Trillion in annual purchasing power. Over the last twelve years, Mrinalini has engaged with large corporations, government agencies, SMEs, and community organizations to provide them with a platform to create measurable social impact. She speaks regularly at community events, corporate events, and conferences about the role that gender equality plays in achieving a more sustainable world for everyone. Mrinalini has been awarded the Singapore Women’s Weekly’s Great Women of Our Time award in the Public Service and Education category and has been nominated as one of Cleo Singapore’s 2016 top ten Changemakers.

Gail Gibson, Accredited Master Coach and Founder of Gaisha Consultancy Ltd. drives culture transformation and nurtures leaders with growth mindsets for personal and career advancement. Partnering with businesses globally, she designs personalized coaching programs, inspiring leaders to perform at their peak in times of change. Creator of The Can Do Way®, Gail fosters conscious, compassionate leadership. Author, podcast host, and advocate for women’s mental wealth, she thrives in nature, embodying her principles of growth and well-being.

Empowerment

Growth Mindset

Personal Development

Anjali Sharma

Anjali is one of the leading business storytelling consultants, author, global keynote speaker, and founder of Narrative: The Business of Stories. Anjali has spoken on the topic of Storytelling in New York, Russia, India, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and many other southeast Asian countries. She helps business leaders, data analysts, sales professionals, and TEDx speakers find and tell stories. Anjali has worked in corporate roles for over 18 years in Australia, Singapore, and India. Her background constantly informs her work, so that it is not just theoretical, but based on extensive experience, knowledge, and understanding of strategic issues companies face as well as issues that employees face in delivering their best work. Anjali partners with Global 1000 companies LinkedIn, Airbnb, Microsoft, Shell, SAP, Microsoft & Danone. She regularly publishes her ideas on business storytelling on her Storytelling blog. Find out more about her speaking engagements here.

Storytelling

Melanie Voskamp

Melanie works as a Revenue Controller in Singapore and has over 12 years of experience from a Magic Circle law firm as well as a premier international law firm. She chairs the Women in Business Community at ADB-Dutch Cham which has been an active partner with KeyNote on various events covering bold, food-for-thought content. Melanie is passionate about making people aware of their ability to evolve and grow. She is originally from the Netherlands and has lived and worked in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She speaks 4 languages and describes herself as honest with a hint of Dutch directness, balanced by a respectful and serviceable attitude. She has a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administration from the Hotel school “The Hague”. This has engrained in her a “getting things done with a smile” approach that serves her well in the industry she now works in.

Empowerment

Health/Well-being

Self-development

Mette Johansson

Mette Johansson (MBA, CSP, PCC) is a highly awarded author, speaker, and consultant. She worked in leadership roles for multinational corporations for 15 years before founding MetaMind, a training consultancy providing consulting and learning programmes on the people’s side of leadership skills. Mette has spoken internationally on Authentic, Inspirational, and Inclusive Leadership at a wide variety of global conferences, corporations, and business schools. Her clients include Citibank, Airbnb, Microsoft, UPS, Pfizer, Capitaland, and many more. Awards for her activities include the AmCham HERo award, the Asia Women Icon Award, the Golden Door – REX Karmaveer Medal, and APAC insider’s “Best Leadership Development Company 2020”. Mette is also the founder and relentless driver of the non-profit KeyNote – Women Speakers’ directory, with a mission to bring diversity to speaking stages around the world. She is regularly featured in media in Singapore, from Harper’s Bazaar to Straits Times. Having lived in 11 countries outside her birthplace, Denmark, Mette is a global citizen who speaks fluently in four languages and currently calls Singapore home.

Communication

Culture

Leadership

Christine Amour-Levar

Christine Amour-Levar is a French-Swiss-Filipina, Philanthropist, Record-Breaking Adventurer, Best-Selling Author, Human Rights & Sustainability Advisor, and Co-Founder of Investors for Climate. She began her career working for Nike globally and went on to build an international career as a marketing and communications expert and social entrepreneur, focused on addressing some of the world’s most urgent issues. A passionate advocate for female empowerment and environmental conservation, she founded two award-winning non-profit organizations, Women on a Mission (WOAM) and HER Planet Earth, which combine these two passions. Both organizations lead all-female teams on groundbreaking expeditions—WOAM supporting women who have been victims of violence and abuse, and HER Planet Earth raising funds for underprivileged women affected by climate change. Christine authored Wild Wisdom – Life Lessons from Leading Teams to Some of the Most Inhospitable Places in the World, published by Penguin Random House in 2022, and has contributed to international publications such as Forbes, the HuffPost, the Straits Times of Singapore, Thrive Global, and the Manila Bulletin. Her speaking engagements include INSEAD, Nike, TBWA, Microsoft, Unilever, Credit Suisse, TEDx, and more. She has been featured on Tatler Asia’s Most Influential Impact List 2020 and has received multiple international awards, including the GGEF Woman Eco Gamechanger Award 2022, the United Women Singapore Gender Equality Impact Award 2020, Woman of the Future Kindness & Leadership Southeast Asia Leading Lights 2020, and the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World Award™.

Diversity

Inclusion and Climate.

Sustainability

Amutha Meyyappan

Amutha Meyyappan is a dynamic lecturer, TED speaker, and researcher specialising in Neuroscience, Psychology, and Education. She brings vitality to higher education through thought-provoking lectures spanning diverse disciplines. With an engaging teaching approach, Amutha breathes life into seemingly mundane subjects. With eight years of leadership in an education services business, she applied neuroeducation pedagogy to impact 300 entities across varied age groups. In 2019, Amutha orchestrated the groundbreaking Neuroeducation Symposium at the National University of Singapore, drawing international speakers and recognition from the Finnish Ambassador to Singapore. Beyond her academic pursuits, she is proficient in Japanese. Currently, her research delves into the pandemic’s impact on mental health, exploring dimensions of life, love, work, and learning for both children and adults. Amutha’s diverse achievements showcase her commitment to innovative education and understanding the psychological effects of the new normal.

Diversity

Inclusion

Neuroscience

Mahal Rajan

Mahal is the founder and voice behind MetaDestiny, through which she advocates Well-Being, specializing in Resilience, Change Management and Self-Care. As a Speaker, Trainer and Author, she is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations in spreading awareness and need to cultivate well-being. After surviving a critical medical condition, she emerged from it stronger and with a renewed perspective of life and purpose. She is a firm believer in the simple philosophy that, by taking care of ourselves, we can better care for those around us and create a more positive future for ourselves and our communities. She is the Amazon Best-Selling Author of ‘Repurposed – Finding the New You’ and co-author of ‘Shaken, Stirred but not Deterred.’ A highly experienced educator, Mahal holds a Masters in Education and has served in the Ministry of Education in Singapore for more than 20 years. Mahal is currently an Associate Lecturer.

Change Management

Resilience

Self-Care

Valerie Chow

360 marketer – Valerie’s moniker and branding with her versatile integrated marketing experience in both digital and offline. Her strong marketing experience in Retail was honed through exposure to global brands from Nike, Marks, and Spencer to Harvey Norman. She started her career in merchandising, evolving to branding and marketing – inherent in her ability to upskill. Pivoting her career to the Insurance industry to deepen her digital skills was the biggest change in her career – thrown into agile working needing a continuous growth mindset.

Change, she did, and keep on developing is her motto! With a love to learn since young, she was awarded a scholarship by the Japanese government to study MBA in Tokyo, an eye-opening cultural and immersive knowledge experience. Her nature to keep on evolving in both career and life fosters a strong self-development for success. She mentors and coaches to help others to flourish onwards.

Marketing

Self-development

Success

Nimisha Tailor

Nimisha is a competition and regulation specialist with 20 years of international experience. She is the founder of E-nomics, a boutique economics consultancy, helping organisations navigate policies and regulations to innovate and internationalise in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Nimisha has experience advising large tech companies, central banks, think tanks, and international organisations (World Bank, OECD) in the areas of the digital economy, digital finance, and digital trade in Asia Pacific, United States, and Latin America. Previously, she worked at competition authorities in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia. She has written articles in industry and academic publications and has presented to industry associations, business schools, universities, workshops for ASEAN government agencies, as well as at the International Competition Network Conference. Having spoken at both academic and Tech Industry conferences, her expertise connects public-private sector perspectives. Nimisha is passionate about developing the next generation of leaders and in her spare time, she volunteers as a mentor to university students planning their careers. Nimisha is a former member of the UK Government Economic Service and has a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Competition

Digital Economy

Regulation

Country & Region: Asia

Mrinalini Venkatachalam

Gail Gibson