Dr. Daisy Rosas Vargas identifies as first generation indigenous (Mexica) and Latine born in what is called the United States. She is a chemist, science communicator, and educator who enjoys sharing the wonders of chemistry and science with the future generation. She used her voice to represent and advocate for the underrepresented students in the college classroom, as a former professor at a small liberal arts college. Her current focus, since making a career change, is making science accessible and relatable through projects like ‘Chemists in the Kitchen’ with the National Academy of Sciences, ‘Drawing with Dr. Daisy’ with the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY, and ‘REAL Chem’ with Arizona State University and Carnegie Mellon University. Daisy wants to open doors to those behind her so their career journey is more attainable and welcoming.

Daryl is a seasoned product lead dedicated to simplifying complex systems and creating seamless online-to-offline experiences. Her career across 3 countries is rooted in banking and spanned sustainable energy and tech at Tesla and Twitter. She is now in healthcare after co-founding a chat-based health consultation service, which won a global award for its impact and creativity on healthcare accessibility.

With a multidisciplinary background, curiosity, and drive to improve lives, Daryl brings a unique blend of technical and social science skills with empathy to her work. She holds an MSc in Environmental Management from the National University of Singapore-Yale program and honors degrees in Psychology and Marketing from De La Salle University - Manila. Prior to these, she was a 16-year old aspiring doctor studying Physical Therapy at University of Santo Tomas, where she overcame her fear of dead bodies and separately realized a different path.

Beyond work, she makes time for life, traveling, and volunteering. Daryl also mentors aspiring women from developing countries like her, including the Department of State's TechWomen initiative.

Talis has spent the last 20 years co-founding and growing social enterprises focused in entrepreneurship education, youth leadership, and tech: FeelGood, Latiendo por Mexico, and Crew for All. She currently serves as an Associate Director at the ideaHUB in Dalhousie University, a deep-tech incubator committed to supporting founders to build physical products for a healthier world while becoming mindful leaders. Talis holds an MS in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico and lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with her husband, Dylan and two kids, Sam and Annie.

Danielle Cantrell-Sikstrom is the global gaming content strategist at Intel. In this role, she develops and executes the strategy for video and retail gaming content for Intel Core processors and Intel Arc graphics. Previously, she was an account manager at Sony Electronics in Los Angeles covering all audio, video, and camera sales and training. Prior to that, she worked at Sony Playstation doing marketing and merchandising. In her free time, she builds PCs, plays and streams video games, and enjoys live music.

Kayla Bassett (she/her/hers) is the Head of Product at Ensis, a company developing AI-powered proposal software for responding to government RFPs, RFIs, and more. Prior to Ensis, she was a Director of Product Management by way of their acquisition of Limbix. At Big Health she directed the modernization of the key platform services and tooling supporting apps for insomnia, anxiety, and depression. And at Limbix, Kayla was the Director of Product Management and led a team of Product Managers building digital therapeutics for adolescent depression and anxiety. Previously, she built data products to accelerate clinical research at Truveta, improved COVID response with machine learning at DataRobot, and tackled scam advertisements at Facebook. Prior to her career in tech, Kayla was a Marine Corps intelligence officer and served in a variety of posts around the world. She co-founded a non-profit dedicated to improving mental health among veterans through peer support. She received her BE from Vanderbilt University in Biomedical Engineering and her MS from Carnegie Mellon University in Information Technology. Kayla is married with two kids. In her spare time, she can be found cycling, trying new donut and coffee shops in Portland, and engendering in her kids a love of the outdoors through hiking and skiing.

Sohnee Ahmed is a board-certified genetic counselor and variant analyst involved in genetic analysis and report writing for whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing, and panel tests. She graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science, specializing in Genetics & Biotechnology with a minor in Anthropology. She then attended Wayne State University to achieve a Master of Science degree in Genetic Counseling. Following graduation, Sohnee was recruited to the University of Rochester in New York State, where she was a joint faculty member in the Departments of Neurology and Medicine and provided in-person genetic counselling to adults, parents, and families regarding cancer genetics alongside adult and pediatric neurology. While there, she established the first regional Adult Neurogenetics clinic, a Child Neurology Neurogenetics Consultation service, the first multidisciplinary Hereditary Ataxia program in upstate New York, and she also helped develop Lynch syndrome (HNPCC) universal screening within the hospital system and community. She then returned home to Toronto and joined the Division of Clinical & Metabolic Genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children, specializing in Pediatric Neurogenetics and teaching and supervising Masters students through the Genetic Counselling MSc program at the University of Toronto. She joined GeneDx in 2016 and began working remotely, providing variant interpretations to healthcare providers that order genetic testing through GeneDx. Most recently, Sohnee shifted her focus to be between report writing on the Neurology and Clinical Genomics teams and performing variant analysis for whole exome and whole genome sequencing cases.

Sohnee was previously the President of the Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors (CAGC-ACCG) and currently is an active member of the CAGC and its American counterpart, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC). She also spends her time mentoring prospective and current genetic counseling students who identify as minorities in medicine.

Lainie Mataras is the Senior Director of the Consultant Architecture and Design Group at Planar, a global leader in visualization technology. In this role, Mataras leverages her extensive professional network to foster relationships with industry partners and further develop the company’s consultant and architecture and design programs. With 30 years of experience in the audio-visual and digital signage industry, Mataras worked as a regional sales manager for the consultant industry at Sapphire Marketing, where she worked for 14 years. Prior to that, she held a technical sales role at Crestron, where she worked for a decade.

Mataras is a board member of WAVIT, an organization created by and for woman in the AV/IT industries and the AVIXA Women’s Council.

Jason Garbarino is an experienced nurse educator, clinician, and leader whose 16-year career in nursing spans across various speciality areas. Jason remains clinically active within primary care nursing, overseeing patient Annual Wellness Visits while teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing students. He taught nursing full-time for 11 years as a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Vermont (UVM). He served as the Vice Chair/Director of the Undergraduate Nursing Program. In 2022, he was the recipient of the UVM Kreps-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award for his innovation, creativity, and community-building endeavors. Throughout his career, Jason has demonstrated a commitment to advancing nursing through research and scholarship. His areas of focus include nursing education, professional workforce development in nursing, and health promotion among older adults. He has shared his expertise at numerous national and international conferences and has contributed to peer-reviewed publications, including book chapters on innovations in nursing pedagogy. Jason currently serves as a faculty liaison for the Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging and served as chair of the ANCC Gerontological Nursing Board Certification Content Expert Panel. He serves in advisory roles on both the Forbes Education Advisory Board and the Forbes Medical Advisory Board. Jason Garbarino assumed the role of Talent Director for Healthcare at inSpring in 2023. At inSpring, Dr. Garbarino's primary objective is to contribute to the growth, diversification, and global advancement of professional nursing practice. He resides in Vermont with his wife and two children.