Stories

Though she was a reader from an early age, fashion journalist Rebecca Suhrawardi wasn’t always interested in writing. Discovering her calling during a stint at Interview magazine, she went on to build an incredible career writing for other landmark publications such as Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Paper, and Vogue.

“Fashion school is a ridiculously female-driven environment,” she says. An alumna of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London, she was able to find a cadre of strong, career-oriented female mentors.

As a CEO, mother, blogger, and author, Hitha Palepu is a self-confessed multi-hyphenate. First and foremost, however, she is a mother to her three-year-old son, Rho. The CEO of her son’s namesake company, Rho Pharmaceuticals, she is in charge of ensuring that the company meets its objective to develop faster treatment for immediate heart attack and stroke, expecting to launch the product by 2021. Since 2009, she has also been running the blog Hitha On the Go where she shares packing and travel expertise. It’s even led her to a book deal — which she signed the day after giving birth to her first kid! She released How to Pack in 2017 which is now in its third printing.

We founded Malaika in 2007 as a grassroots nonprofit with a mission to empower girls and communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through education and health programs. Malaika, which means angel in Swahili, believes in the enormous potential of the Congolese people to bring about lasting, positive change on their own terms. The DRC has great potential wealth due to the minerals in the land, and through education we aim to help the people of DRC to take control of this wealth. We provide them with the tools and opportunities so they can move forward and live their lives with dignity and purpose.

Wendy is the Chief Marketing Officer for Roc Nation, the full service entertainment company founded by Jay Z in 2008. Roc Nation’s roster now includes some of the most recognizable names in music and beyond, including Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Shakira, J. Cole, Jaden Smith, and Kevin Durant.

As a woman, an immigrant, and a person of color, she definitely stands out in the largely male-dominated music industry. We talked to her to learn more about how she got to where she is today, navigating cultural differences in the workplace, and how to deal with failure.