What Leaders are Made of: An Inspiration Conversation with President Carol L. Folt

Carol L. Folt
President, University of Southern California

Dr. Carol L. Folt is a highly experienced leader, internationally recognized life scientist and award-winning teacher. In leading USC, Dr. Folt brings broad executive and leadership experience across the academy, including arts and sciences, professional schools and academic medicine. Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation for always placing students at the center, advancing academic excellence and innovation, setting ambitious goals, prioritizing shared governance and focusing on the future.

Willow Bay
Dean, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Willow Bay was appointed dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and holder of the Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication in July 2017. A veteran broadcast journalist and a leader in digital communication, Bay previously served as the director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism from 2014 to 2017. As dean, she has launched the USC Annenberg’s Media Center in Wallis Annenberg Hall; introduced the school’s new bachelor of arts in journalism degree program; welcomed the first cohort of the school’s nine-month master of science of journalism program; forged partnerships with key media industry partners; and created new curriculum and fellowships for master’s students. In 2016,

Bay received the PEN Center USA’s Award of Honor in recognition of her work ensuring that current and future communicators are fluent writers across many digital platforms.

Sheroic Tales of Activism

Panel Discussion with Moderated Q&A

Sheryl Evans Davis EdD ’20
Executive Director, San Francisco Human Rights Commission

Sheryl Evans Davis is a changemaker who leads relationship-driven, community-centered initiatives. For nearly three decades, Davis has made contributions as an educator and leader with expertise in community outreach and engagement, workforce development, youth development and violence prevention. Since 2016, Davis has served as executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, where she is driven to amplify community voices. She is frequently asked to speak on issues of community wellness, equity and strategic change. She holds a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University, an MPA from the University of San Francisco and an EdD from the USC Rossier School of Education.

Joanna Joyce Weiss JD ’97
Founder/President, WAVE (Women for American Values and Ethics)

Joanna Joyce Weiss is founder and president of Women for American Values and Ethics (WAVE). Prior to forming WAVE, Weiss was a business litigator with Paul Hastings LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP. She is the recipient of several awards for her work, including the ACLU-Southern California’s First Amendment Award, the Women’s Journey Foundation Legacy Award, and the Anti-Defamation League’s Marcus M. Kaufman Jurisprudence Award. A former adjunct professor at Chapman University School of Law, Weiss earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a law degree from USC Gould School of Law.

Christopher Manning (Moderator)
Vice President, Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer
University of Southern California

Christopher Manning joined the University of Southern California in 2021 as its first chief inclusion and diversity officer, after serving as both an assistant and associate provost for academic diversity at Loyola University Chicago. In addition to his administrative experience, Manning served as an associate professor of history at Loyola since 2008, teaching subjects such as Black history, the civil rights movement, Black politics and 20th-century American history. His research has focused on the ability of ordinary people to strive for social change. As USC’s first CIDO, Manning is responsible for building strategies, programs and initiatives that reinforce USC’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and belonging as well as to address ongoing challenges of discrimination and bias.

MEDIA: Making Entertainment Diverse, Inclusive & All-Embracing

Panel Discussion with Moderated Q&A

Poppy Hanks ’95
Executive Vice President of Production and Development, MACRO

Poppy Hanks serves the executive vice president of development and production at MACRO, where she manages the company’s film projects. Hanks executive produced Warner Bros. Pictures’ Judas and the Black Messiah. In addition, she has produced such films as Alan Yang’s Tigertail, Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou, Esteban Arango’s Blast Beat, and Angel Kristi Williams’ Really Love. She also served as executive producer of Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You and Dee Rees’ Mudbound, and as co-executive producer of Denzel Washington’s Academy Award-winning film version of August Wilson’s Fences. For television, she serves as an executive producer on the Netflix series Raising Dion. Hanks is a USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna.

Leslie Lehr ’82
Author 

Leslie Lehr is a prize-winning author who was called a “trailblazing woman changing the world” by Entertainment Tonight. Her memoir, A Boob’s Life: How America’s Obsession Shaped Me… and You, was featured in People, Glamourand on Good Morning America; it is currently in development with Salma Hayek for HBOMax. Lehr’s other work includes the books What A Mother Knows, Wife Goes On, 66 Laps and Welcome to Club Mom, as well as essays in the New York Times’s Modern Love column, narrated by Katie Couric on NPR. She has written scripts, including Heartless,and has contributed to such anthologies as Mommy Wars. Lehr is a USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna.

Liza Pano ’90
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Distribution Services, Paramount Pictures

Liz Pano serves as the senior vice president, worldwide distribution services, at Paramount Pictures. In this position, she oversees global localization and distribution for theatrical and non-theatrical product. Outside of the entertainment industry, Pano serves on the Covenant House of California Board of Directors. In 2014, the Imagen Foundation named Pano one of the “Most Influential and Powerful Latinas in Entertainment.” The following year, she was honored as “Executive of the Year” by the Latino Global Executive Leadership Institute. Pano is USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna.

Tiffany Everett ’02 (Moderator)
Senior Marketing and PR Professional

Tiffany Everett has worked in marketing and public relations for such companies as Nike and Warner Bros., as well as on the agency side for Nintendo. She has led social influencer, public relations and social media campaigns—in addition to live and virtual events—for key product launches, while staying on top of and sharing trends with her network on LinkedIn. Everett currently serves on the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Alumni Advisory Board and the board of WIMMIES, a nonprofit that connects women in digital marketing to expand their network. Everett is a USC Annenberg School alumna.

Get Personal: Empowering Women’s Health

Trojan Talk with Q&A

Kathleen Alanna Page ’94, MD ’02
Associate Professor at Medicine and Co-Director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Kathleen Alanna Page is an associate professor of medicine and the director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. In her research, Page seeks to understand the causes of obesity and diabetes so that more effective strategies can be developed to reduce the number of people affected by these health conditions. Her work has been published in prominent journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, and featured in New York Times, Forbes, Reuters and USA Today. Page is a double USC alumna who earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Keck School, respectively. After completing her residency and a fellowship at the Yale School of Medicine, Page joined the Keck School faculty in 2009.

Buenos Dias Estrella

Trojan Talk

Eshaya “Shay” Murphy ’07
WNBA Champion, 2x USC Women’s Basketball All-American, Eurocup Women’s Champion, Euroleague Women’s Basketball Champion

Eshaya “Shay” Murphy is  one of the all-time great women’s basketball players. A standout at USC, she was selected 15th overall in the 2007 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx. Her pro career spanned more than a decade overseas and in the WNBA, including a WNBA championship season with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014. In 2021, Murphy joined the Los Angeles Lakers as a coaching associate.

Turning Pain Into Purpose

Trojan Talk

Diane Shader Smith
Speaker, Writer and Health Advocate

Diane Shader Smith has been a writer, speaker, publicist and fundraiser for 30 years, and has raised more than 5.5 million dollars for medical research. For the past three years, Shader Smith has been traveling the country speaking on behalf of her late daughter Mallory, whose memoir was published posthumously by Random House. Shader Smith also speaks about narrative medicine and the role of memoir in healthcare. She started her career in television after graduating from UCLA and has been interviewed by many major media outlets. She has given more than 200 talks at prestigious conferences and venues, including a TEDx talk.

Andrea Sonnenberg ’83
Podcast Host, Mental Health Advocate, Speaker and Attorney

Andrea Sonnenberg is an attorney and philanthropist, who, inspired by her son’s untimely death, has become a mental health advocate, working to educate, increase awareness, and influence policy and decision makers through public speaking and community engagement. She created the Bradley Sonnenberg Wellness Initiative at USC which offers individual and group therapy, peer support, wellness programming and a mental health curriculum being replicated on college campuses across the country. Sonnenberg has produced a podcast entitled Getting Thru, which shares stories of resilience in young people facing mental health challenges, to bring hope and inspiration to those who are struggling, and to demonstrate pathways to success.

Health & Wellness: Body, Mind & Soul: An Exploratory Look at Well-Being

Ailis Garcia ’12
Positive Psychology, Well-Being & Resilience Program Developer, Consultant & Speaker, Founder, The Strong Movement®

Ailis Garcia is a positive psychology professional and the founder of The Strong Movement®, which offers trainings, workshops, keynotes and custom science-based programs and assessments to help people thrive. Over the course of her career, Garcia has led confidence workshops and fitness workouts for more than 7,000 college-age women nationwide. In addition, she helps organizations create cultures of well-being, resilience and belonging through research-based tools, strategies and applications. Garcia is a USC Marshall School of Business alumna.

Cat Moore ’05
Director of Belonging, USC Office of Spiritual and Religious Life

Cat Moore is the director of belonging for USC’s Office of Spiritual and Religious Life. In this position, she teaches two classes, CLICK and SPARK, which help students learn how to form meaningful relationships. Moore also works as a relationship-enhancement consultant with such large organizations as the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is passionate about empowering people to connect and create interdependent lives at home, work, school and play. A USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences alumna, Moore also studied at the University of Edinburgh.

Entrepreneurship: What’s Next? For Women and Startups

Karen Carr-Crawford MPA ’83
Start-Up Specialist, Growth Strategist and Marketer & Business Planning Guru

Karen Carr-Crawford is an entrepreneurial professional with 20+ years of experience in small business consulting, with a focus on business launch, entrepreneurship and strategic planning. Her additional areas of expertise include marketing management, branding strategy, marketing planning and campaign execution. A successful hands-on consultant, Carr-Crawford has generated revenues in the B2B and B2C space by working directly with owners and senior staff on growth strategies. She also works with businesses through local economic development programs, business incubators and accelerators, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Carr-Crawford is a USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumna.

Catarah Coleman & Shoneji Robinson
Owners of Southern Girls Desserts (Trojan Shop Local Business)

Catarah Coleman and Shoneji Robinson are the founders and owners of Southern Girl Desserts, which makes Southern-style desserts and delectables from fresh ingredients. Known as the “Dessert Divas,” Coleman and Robinson have built a successful business that brings a dash of Southern hospitality and home-style baking to Los Angeles. Their business took off after they won the top prize on the Food Network’s series Cupcake Wars. They recently opened a second location in the heart of historic Watts and have begun shipping their desserts nationwide through Goldbelly.  In addition, their celebrity clientele includes Denzel Washington, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Lizzo, Mariah Carey, Samuel L. Jackson, Issa Rae, Stevie Wonder and many more.

Effie Turnbull Sanders
USC Vice President of Civic Engagement and Economic Partnerships

Effie Turnbull Sanders is an attorney with 20+ years of experience advancing opportunities for underserved communities. At USC, she leads university civic stewardship programs and directs economic inclusion and environmental sustainability initiatives to support communities surrounding both campuses. Currently a governor’s appointee and environmental justice commissioner for the California Coastal Commission, Turnbull Sanders is also a co-chair of the California 30X30 Advisory Committee tasked with developing a plan to conserve 30% of California’s open space by 2030. She previously served as a presidential appointee with the United States Commission on Civil Rights, as special assistant to California Associate Justice Cruz Reynoso, and as a board member for the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Deysi Serrano
Owner, Milpa Grille (Trojan Shop Local Business)

Deysi Serrano is the owner of the Mesoamerican-inspired restaurant, Milpa Grille in Boyle Heights. A native Angeleno born to immigrant parents from Guatemala, she had a dream of preserving the Mesoamerican tradition while also creating space for other budding Latinx businesses to grow together. The restaurant’s concept and menu celebrates the Mesoamerican milpa, the ancient farming system best known for the symbiotic triad of corn, beans, and squash. Today, Milpa Grille is a “shared three-sister concept kitchen” featuring two other Latinx-owned businesses: Cafe Cafe Mobile Coffee, the popular coffee and tea bar operated by brothers Juan and Joel Espinozo, and Macheen, Jonathan Perez’s pop-up taqueria, known for its intricately crafted breakfast burritos and tacos.

Cassandra Truswell
Founder & Owner, KITSCH

Cassandra Truswell, formerly a small-town girl from Wisconsin, started Kitsch in Los Angeles at the age of 25. Believing that everyone should be able to afford little indulgences, she bootstrapped her business slowly over the next decade, building a global beauty empire. Now a prominent entrepreneur featured in Forbes and Inc., with product on the shelves at Ulta, Sephora and Target, Truswell continues to create elevated, sustainable beauty solutions for every moment of the day.

Professional Development: Escalating Your Career to New Heights

Asia Bribiesca-Hedin MPA ’95, MBA ’98
Founder and CEO, Bridgewell LLC

Asia Bribiesca-Hedin is the founder and CEO of Bridgewell LLC, a leadership development and strategy execution firm. She helps clients gain the clarity, confidence and certainty they need to successfully accomplish their goals, even in the most uncertain environments. Bribiesca-Hedin began her career as a senior consultant with Ernst & Young, and she spent nine years at a comprehensive cancer center in the Los Angeles area, helping hospital leaders deliver on the enterprise’s multi-year strategic plan. She has recently welcomed engagements helping organizations gain traction with their anti-racism efforts, and she is currently writing a career leadership book for professionals struggling with bad bosses.  Bribiesca-Hedin is a double USC alumna who earned graduate degrees from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the USC Marshall School of Business.

Madeline Mann ’14
Founder and CEO, Self-Made Millennial

Madeline Mann is a human resources and recruiting leader who has built an audience of more than a half a million people through her award-winning job search YouTube and TikTok channel, Self-Made Millennial. She is featured as the LinkedIn and Job Search expert correspondent for Bloomberg and Harvard Business Review and is also part of the exclusive group of LinkedIn Learning instructors. Mann’s career coaching programs have led to thousands of success stories, and her work has been featured on ABC, as well as in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She is a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences alumna.

Finance: Strategies for Financial Empowerment

Nadia Allaudin ’98
Managing Director and Wealth Management Advisor, Merrill Lynch

Nadia Allaudin is a managing director and wealth management advisor with Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. With more than 22 years of experience in the financial services industry, she focuses on empowering women and members of the LGBTQ+ community to better understand their wealth management needs. Allaudin is also the founder of the annual Women, Wealth & Wisdom Conference, which brings together professional women with renowned speakers on health and wellness, leadership and spiritual best practices. A USC Marshall School of Business alumna, Allaudin was named one of “America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors” by Forbes in 2021 and this year.

Sandra Gonzalez
Vice President of Retail Experience, USC Credit Union

Sandra Gonzalez is an experienced finance professional with executive oversight of the USC Credit Union’s retail strategy and operations. She is passionate about providing financial solutions that empower the financial goals of individuals and being an inspiring and empathetic leader. The proud daughter of a Mexican immigrant family, Gonzalez is raising three children with her husband.

Networking with LinkedIn

Virtual Only

Cory Welsh ‘11
Senior Global Program Manager, Go-to-Market Enablement, LinkedIn

Cory Welsh is a connector at heart who loves to inspire those around her to maximize their potential. As a member of LinkedIn’s global sales enablement team, she seeks to  make the company’s B2B Talent advisors the best consultants they can be to LinkedIn’s customers. A USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumna, Welsh is a champion of gender equality, a member and group leader of Women@LinkedIn, and a new board member of the USC Trojan Women’s Network.

Co-Chairs

Karen Carr-Crawford MPA ’83
Start-up Specialist, Growth Strategist, Marketer & Business Planning Guru, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Advisor

Karen Carr-Crawford is an entrepreneurial-driven professional with 20+ years of experience in small business consulting, with a focus on business launch, entrepreneurship and strategic planning. Her additional areas of expertise include marketing management, branding strategy, marketing planning and campaign execution. A successful hands-on consultant, Carr-Crawford has generated revenues in the B2B and B2C space by working directly with owners and senior staff on growth strategies. She also works with businesses through local economic development programs, business incubators and accelerators, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Carr-Crawford is a USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumna.

Eva Iino
Executive Operations Administrator, FedEx

Eva Iino is the executive operations administrator for FedEx’s Pacific West region, which encompasses California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Alaska and Hawaii.  Iino has 37 years of management experience in industrial engineering, and is a three-time winner of the FedEx Five Star Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership and contributions to support the company’s mission.  A featured author of the book Diversity Matters – Top Asian Leaders Views on Equality and Inclusion, she frequently speaks on women in leadership and careers in industrial engineering.  She is married to John Iino JD ’87, the president of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors, and the proud mother of 16 year-old twins, CJ and Syd.

Committee