Yao Huang is a community builder, bringing entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders together to help innovation thrive. She founded The Hatchery, a New York technology ecosystem fostering innovation in artificial intelligence and machine learning. She also created Wonder Women, a network to foster relationships among women of various professions to encourage each other’s success. Yao has helped over 350 emerging companies through different phases of growth, and she advises Fortune 100 companies on innovation and diversity programs. Among many other accolades, she was named to TechWeek’s list of the 100 most influential people in technology. She is also a U.S. State Department delegate for entrepreneurship and initiatives to strategic countries.

Laura is the founder of StoryCode, which is a strategic communications agency and content studio in London. She started out as a Staff News Reporter at The Times and Daily Mail. She covered breaking news, investigations, and personal interest stories, reporting on the U.S., Egypt, Greece, and Iraq. She then worked as Head of Group Media Relations at a FTSE 100 technology business, and Director of Media Strategy in the London office of a Silicon Valley PR agency. Laura specializes in corporate communications, critical issue and crisis management, and content strategy and production. She also teaches on leadership and influence programs at Ashridge Business School.

Jerome Grant is a celebrated chef who has received multiple James Beard nominations. He is currently Executive Chef of Dacha Restaurant Group in Washington, D.C., overseeing two Beer Gardens and the restaurant Jackie, located next to the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium. Chef Jerome was Executive Chef of the critically acclaimed Mitsitam Cafe, at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, and then developed and opened the award-winning Sweet Home Café at the Museum of African American History and Culture, which earned him national acclaim, including guest appearances on ABC’s The Chew and NBC’s The Today Show. He is an active mentor of high school and culinary students both in his restaurants and through programs across the country, which we talk about on our show today.