Adrika “Adri” Lazarus

Director of Marketing & Outreach for Dancing Lotus Yoga + Arts, ONE Fest NC, and is the founder of @culturallyvibrantcharlotte on Instagram

Adrika Lazarus (pronounced “Audrey-kuh Laz-uh-rus”) (she/hers) is a first-generation Bangladeshi-American, Third Culture Individual with global experience in Kenya, India and Indonesia, LGBTQ+ community member and cisgender woman of color who has resided in Charlotte, NC for 12 years. Adrika’s intersectional identities inform her lived and work experience. Academically, Adrika holds a Bachelors’ from UNC Wilmington in communication studies with a focus on diversity & inclusion training and organizational development, minor in international affairs; she received her master’s degree from American University’s School of International Service in social entrepreneurship (business for social good) with a focus on diversity, equity & inclusion training and program design. Adrika’s 7+ year professional career includes communications, marketing, talent management, program and project management, DEI and event planning. She has facilitated over 3,000 hours of training and workshop sessions. Adrika holds several roles. Most recently, Adrika worked for Meta (formerly Facebook, Inc) on the global talent management & intelligence team, managing and creating programs for 1000+ employees globally. She is a senior consultant on DEI and talent management for organizations (clients include Fortune 500 companies and Global Top 100 brands). In Charlotte, Adrika is a resource and connector who is passionate about bringing people together to form meaningful relationships and encourage one another to achieve their goals. She is connected to Carolina Women+ in Tech, CLT is Creative, and formerly served on the board for the Charlotte Gaymers Network. Adrika also works as the Director of Marketing & Outreach for Dancing Lotus Yoga + Arts, ONE Fest NC, and is the founder of @culturallyvibrantcharlotte on Instagram highlighting local Charlotte businesses with an emphasis on food, culture and community.

Sandra Byrd

Technology Director of Automation Engineering at Ally Financial

Sandra Byrd is the Technology Director of Automation Engineering at Ally Financial. She leads a team of engineers within the Enterprise Technology Operations organization that assists teams increase automation awareness and opportunities. She is a Co-Lead for the Community & GivingBack pillar within Ally’s Black + Brown in Technology’s focus group and a member of Women in Technology. Prior to joining Ally, Sandra was a developer for Delta Vacations, had an internship at Ameriprise, worked as a Children’s Advocate at a Domestic Violence Shelter and was a Teacher for Preschool/Kindergarten. She has a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Minnesota. In her spare time, she loves traveling, singing, playing her flute and spending time with family and friends.

Sandra Wilkins

Head of Marketing Operations & Strategy at Vectra AI

Sandra Wilkins is an innovative and thoughtful Marketing Operations leader who has spent the last ten years enabling teams that drive, grow, and retain revenue. Her professional passion is creating transformative data, process, and technology solutions that help companies scale and amplify their marketing, sales, and customer success efforts. When Sandra isn’t working, she enjoys reading, traveling, floral design, creating (and drinking) craft cocktails, and spending time with close friends.

Paula Guilfoyle

President & Founder at Claim Leadership

Paula is an expert in leadership and personal development, which she has studied and practiced for over 30 years.  She aligns this knowledge with her focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion to influence and accelerate positive change. As a transformational Keynote Speaker and Trainer, Paula helps people manage through constant change and stress to experience more success and happiness at work and home. Her scientifically based GAP Formula has been shown to improve productivity, engagement, and turnover while lowering stress, and building a more positive, diverse, and inclusive culture. Paula’s speaking and training with industry leaders such as Coca- Cola Bottling Company of Charlotte, Lowe’s, Microsoft, KPMG, and Collins Aerospace quickly yields measurable outcomes.

Teams report achieving better results at work, feeling less stress, and enjoying more quality time with their families. Leaders say their people are happier and more productive because they have simple tools to handle any challenge or change.  At Coca-Cola Charlotte for example, over 93% of their IT team voted to continue Claim Leadership after the initial workshops. Their reason: they performed better and felt happier at work and home when involved in the workshops. Like physical training, mental and emotional training must be repeated to reprogram the mind to be more effective under stress.

Before founding Claim Leadership Paula spent 15 years at Fortune 500 companies GE and Aventis, in leadership roles in Human Resources and Sales. She was honored for her exceptional leadership, winning GE’s Managerial Award and Aventis’s highest sales award, The President’s Club. Paula earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and Human Resources from The University of New York at Albany. She is in a committed relationship with the love of her life, Jeff, and has one daughter, Melia.

Nandini Krishnan

Product Manager at AvidXchange, CWIT-AvidXchange Liaison

After moving to Charlotte, Nandini started at customer service for Bank of America. After leaving Bank of America started at Maersk, Danish Shipping line where her IT career started. For the 15 years at Maersk, Nandini was an analyst and Product Owner/Manager working across the business and within IT to bring several strategic platforms forward.

After 2020, she left Maersk and moved to financial tech company AvidXchange. She began as a Product Manager working on payments working with new technology supporting and leading in building new cloud-based platform.

Her passion from tech has driven her demystify tech for young girls and women to give them confidence to be in tech.  As community chair for Avid Women in Tech and Board member of Carolina Women+ In Tech it have driven to bring more confidence to drive more women to want to join the tech space and inspire the next generation of young women to possibilities of being in tech space.