Suhani Mohan

Co-founder and CEO of Saral Designs

Suhani is the co-founder of Saral Designs, a National Entrepreneurship Award-winning Company and a leading machine manufacturer of hygiene products in India. Saral Designs has enabled 100+ entrepreneurs in Asia and Africa to solve the health & hygiene needs of their community. She has been recognized as the top 25 trailblazing women in business by Forbes India and 25 most powerful women in Impact by Business Today. She is an Acumen India Fellow, ‘Young Alumni Achiever, IIT Bombay’, recipient of India Africa Young Visionary award from Ministry of External Affairs, India, ‘Top woman entrepreneur’ at Empower, by Department of Science and Technology and winner of the National Entrepreneurship Award by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Suhani has led the Environment Fund at ACT Grants, a venture philanthropy fund providing catalytic funding to high impact climate-tech companies. She has also worked as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank. Suhani holds a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay and is a CFA (Level I). Suhani is a member of IIT Bombay’s Strategic Advisory Committee. She has been a guest lecturer at Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Management Studies And Research and KJ Somaiya StartUp School. She has also been a speaker at forum’s like TEDx IIT Bombay, UBS philanthropy forum – Switzerland, plus Acumen San Francisco chapter, Kerala Start-up Mission, Jagriti Yatra on topics of social entrepreneurship, women in entrepreneurship and social impact.

Giselle Fernandez

Television journalist, producer, anchor

Since the start of her career, 8-time Emmy award winning journalist Giselle
Fernandez has been known for her cutting- edge reporting in hot spots throughout the world and interviewing prominent global and local leaders. Today, this veteran anchor, two- time winner of the LA Press Club’s Journalist of the Year, showcases her talent each morning on “Your Morning” on Spectrum News 1, helping Southern Californians get all the information they need to start their day, and on the Emmy Award-winning weekly series “L.A. Stories with Giselle Fernandez” and Podcast “LA Stories Unfiltered,” highlighting people who shape lives and create an impact throughout the community.

Fernandez is best known for her award-winning journalism with leading U.S. broadcast news organizations, CBS and NBC News, where she covered major international news stories and events. Among her numerous posts, Fernandez hosted NBC’s weekend edition of the “Today Show” and was the first Latina to anchor her own Sunday edition of the “NBC Nightly News.” She also handled special and foreign assignments for the NBC network. Her on-the-ground coverage of international news stories from the Gulf War, US Invasions of Haiti and Panama, Somalia and Bosnian Wars, Hurricane Andrew and the 1993 World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings. She garnered much attention for her insightful interviews with global leaders like Fidel Castro, Henry Kissinger, Presidents William Clinton and George H.W. Bush, Vice-President Albert Gore and U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, earning this news veteran seven Emmy Awards.

Giselle has held many titles throughout her career. Aside from anchor and journalist for NBC, CBS, the History Channel and History Channel International, she is also an author and philanthropist as well as president, director and producer of her own production and strategic messaging companies. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards in the fields of journalism and philanthropy. Out of Giselle’s portfolio as a reporter, a

notable moment was the rare interview she did with Fidel Castro. She is also incredibly proud of her documentary film titled, “Our Story,” which raised awareness of the healthcare crisis facing low income children in the Latin community.

When Giselle is not at the anchor desk you can catch her spending time with her daughter, hiking with her dogs, enjoying music and the power of the arts. She has been actively engaged in philanthropic pursuits with City Year Los Angeles and The Grammy Museum and is a passionate collector of Latin art.