Women's Innovation Council - UNC Chapel Hill

Members of the 2019-20 Women's Innovation Council. Some members not pictured here.

Mission:

The WIC exists to empower and accelerate women in their entrepreneurial and professional efforts while encouraging collaboration among other groups. Members of WIC identify barriers to female innovation on campus, gather community perspectives and foster barriers such solutions. (We meet once a month in the 1789 venture space for meetings, as well as assisting in entrepreneurial events throughout the year.)

HOW TO APPLY

If accepted you are agreeing to meet on Feb. 11, March 17 and April 14 at 7pm as well as February 28 for an event.

Send any questions or comments to Sheryl Waddell at carlyann@live.unc.edu 

KEY DATES

> Feb. 11th, March 17th and April 14th: Monthly meetings at 1789 Venture Hub
> Feb. 28th: Event WIC will be volunteering at the Women’s Leadership Conference with Honors Carolina
 

past Events

> Winnovation 
> Design thinking workshop at 1789
 
 

Current council members

Susanna Choi Headshot
Susanna Choi

Susanna is a 2nd year MPH Nutrition student at UNC-Chapel Hill. She received a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley before working as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte in the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. During her career at Deloitte, she worked with Warner Brothers, Activision Blizzard, Apple iTunes, Disney, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment, and many Fortune 500 companies before going on to work at a couple tech startups in the Bay Area. Susanna plans on leveraging her background in tech and her nutrition education to start a social enterprise to provide affordable dietetic services in low-income communities. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband and almost 2 year old daughter

Denali Dahl

Denali is a PhD student in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the UNC Chapel Hill & NC State University and the CEO/Founder of MoyoMedical Technologies. Her doctorate research and startup work are focused on developing women’s healthcare technologies for use in low-resource settings. Denali received her M.S. in Global Health from Duke University and B.S. in Nanoengineering from UC San Diego. She is passionate about using engineering and entrepreneurship to translate innovations to impact and address global health challenges.

carlyann
Carlyann Edwards

Carlyann Edwards is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill studying Business Journalism with minors in Music and Sustainability Studies. She is a founder of Carolina Thrift, and has held internships at Bloomberg and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Carly’s primary interests reside in green finance, but she’s an avid runner and lover of the outdoors. On campus, she sings in a jazz combo, interns at Innovate Carolina and serves as a Leadership Associate at The Keenan Institute’s Center for Sustainable Enterprise. She will be returning to Pricewaterhouse Coopers full-time after graduation as a Sustainability Strategy Associate.

Evely Forte

Evely is a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she is working toward attaining a major in economics and political science as well as a minor in entrepreneurship. She is a Shuford Innovation Scholar and a member of Honors Carolina. After her first semester, Evely realized she is most interested in studying the intersection of economic and political systems and understanding the effect such choices have on a group of people. In high school, Evely co-founded a non-profit organization, Communities in Bloom; as Co-Director, she helped coordinate thirteen gardening events in a variety of South Florida community centers. From this experience, she learned the difference that innovation, especially social entrepreneurship, could have in impacting the lives of others. Beyond the classroom at Carolina, Evely serves as an assistant editor at The Daily Tar Heel, contributes to the Carolina Political Review and is an active member of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law fraternity. After graduation, she hopes to work in a social venture before attending law school and pursuing a career in legal advocacy. Born and raised in Miami, FL to two Cuban immigrants, Evely spent her childhood cooking with her grandparents, snorkeling in the Florida Keys and playing with her miniature schnauzer, Charlie. She is a fanatic of chai lattes, an avid watcher of investigative documentaries and an advocate of the Oxford comma.

Taylor riga
Taylor Riga

Taylor Riga is a sophomore at UNC from Sunset Beach, NC. She is currently studying “Communications in Media and Technology” and “Economics”. She is minoring in “Writing for the Screen and Stage” as well. Taylor is a co-founder of “Mind Over Matter”, an organization that helps to compile mental health resources. In her free time, Taylor is a part of the UNC club gymnastics team and enjoys staying active.

Angel Patel

Angel Patel, a junior computer science major, has a venture focused on making the study of computer science accessible to children in low-income communities and under-resourced schools. Patel started the venture when she was a high school sophomore in Savannah, Ga., after she discovered how few resources she could access to practice computer science. “I think it’s something that has always been traditionally taught at the college level and hasn’t been engaged at a younger level, but I think there’s so much value in engaging students with it early,” Patel said. In her first year, Kids Code was accepted as one of 10 teams by the CUBE program, which facilitated her connections to people in the area and was able to establish a partnership with the Durham County Library System. This summer, Angel finished a 10 week internship with Microsoft Office in Seattle. 

Isabel Whelchel

A junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Isabel Whelchel is majoring in Business Administration and Global Studies with a minor in Sustainability. Isabel is interested in the intersection of profit and purpose. She is convinced that investing capital for social and environmental good will allow her generation to solve the most pressing issues facing the world. Isabel is a founding member and current Director of Operations at Carolina Thrift, a student-led non-profit that extends the life of student items typically disposed of during move out. Isabel also works closely with Carolina Creates, Community Empowerment Fund, and Carolina Kickoff. Isabel completed the 2019 Girls Who Invest Summer Intensive Program training at the Wharton School of Business and interned with Goldman Sachs Wealth Management. After graduation, Isabel will pursue work in asset management in order to influence investment decisions for positive change. Isabel is from Asheville, North Carolina. She is a certified yoga instructor and hiking enthusiast.