Meet The Architects: 10 Groundbreakers Writing New Blueprints

The Architects honors women who build the companies and institutions that others will stand on. They create and reinvent systems, and they write new frameworks and blueprints for their industries.

The work in this category is often the least visible. A bank or a city office can take years to build, and most people only see it once it is running.

We created this category because lasting change needs structure. These ten women designed that structure, and the people who come after them will build on what they made. 

Vice Chair, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment; Owner of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty

Clara is Governor and an owner of the New York Liberty and an owner of the Brooklyn Nets. As Vice Chair of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, the teams’ parent company, she oversees fan development and community engagement in Brooklyn.

She builds institutions outside sports too. Clara founded the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, which brings together six universities to advance the science of human performance. In 2020, she established the Social Justice Fund to drive economic mobility in Brooklyn, and she is a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance. Earlier in her career, she ran Hong Kong operations for Taobao.

Founder & CEO, Digital Culture Group

Crystal founded Digital Culture Group to disrupt an ad tech industry built on demographic assumptions. Her answer is the Audience Resonance Index, a proprietary AI platform that predicts how consumers will respond and connects brands with high-intent audiences. The company now works with Fortune 50 brands and has earned honors from outlets including Adweek and Digiday.

She is also widening access to the technology through initiatives including the Digital Culture Innovation Center in Liberia, and she says her mission is to redefine who gets to shape the future of advertising. “This recognition is bigger than me,” Crystal says. “It represents every door that wasn’t opened, every assumption I refused to accept, and every risk I took believing there was a better way. I didn’t build Digital Culture Group to fit into the industry. I built it to change what’s possible.”

Founder & CEO, ActOne Group

Janice founded her staffing company in 1978 and grew it into the ActOne Group, a global workforce business. She is widely recognized as the first Black woman to build and own a billion-dollar company.

No one had drawn that blueprint before her. Janice proved that a Black woman could build a company at that scale and keep ownership of it, and she shared what she learned in her book Acting Up.

Founder & CEO, BECA

Jerri spent more than 40 years in marketing and executive leadership. She most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer of Office Depot, where she oversaw e-commerce, customer service, marketing and communications. She was also chief marketing officer at Office Depot, ADT and Nokia, and she held senior roles at Verizon, Citibank, Revlon and the NFL.

She used that experience to build something lasting. Jerri founded BECA, an alliance of global C-suite executives created to champion inclusion at the highest levels of corporate leadership. The alliance gives its members a forum for collaboration, and it expands the access and skill-building that develop the next generation of C-suite leaders. A Spelman College graduate, Jerri sits on the boards of Dow, Root Insurance and Under Armour. She entered the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame in 2024 and received the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.

Executive Chair, UniWorld Group, Inc.

Monique is the executive chair and majority owner of UWG, the longest-standing multicultural advertising and marketing agency in the United States. She acquired the agency in 2012 and has turned it from a pioneering agency into a global platform for cultural intelligence and creativity, with a footprint that now reaches Canada and Africa.

She has also built new systems inside it. Under Monique’s leadership, UWG developed The Uniculture Intelligence Network, a proprietary data platform that brings together behavioral, linguistic and attitudinal insights across diverse audiences, and Culture Labs, its applied intelligence practice. In 2024, she co-founded BLACKWEEK, a global platform celebrating culture, creativity and commerce. Monique came to UWG after roles at Motorola and International Paper, and she serves on the Advertising Week Global Board.

Founding Executive Director, NYC Her Future

Nathifa is the founding Executive Director of NYC Her Future, the city office created to expand opportunities for young women across New York City. She previously led the Young Men’s Initiative as Acting Executive Director, where her team built programs to remove structural barriers for young adults of color.

She has spent a decade in the city’s nonprofit sector. At the NYC Center for Youth Employment, she developed workforce strategies for young people, and as a National Urban Fellow at the Annie E. Casey Foundation she brought young people’s perspectives into grantmaking decisions. Nathifa graduated from Medgar Evers College and now teaches in its Department of Public Administration. She says this recognition honors “the young people and communities who have shaped my leadership,” and her plan for the office starts with them. “I’ll listen to young women across New York City,” she says, “and help them shape the opportunities available to them.” Her motto is “Take the best and leave the rest.”

VC Fund Partner, Portfolia

Sheila is a venture capitalist at Portfolia, a private investing community for women. She funds early-stage tech startups, and she backs founders building solutions for health, longevity, and financial inclusion.

Her larger project is changing who writes the checks. Sheila’s mission is to help more women and underserved communities take the driver’s seat as funders and founders.

She explains it through her two school-age daughters. “My two daughters think I just work on my laptop a lot,” she says. “This award is my chance to show them what that work is for: a future where women, and communities too often overlooked, write the checks, build the companies, and create a better future for them.”

President & Owner, OneUnited Bank

Teri is President and Owner of OneUnited Bank, the nation’s largest Black-owned bank. Under her leadership, the bank consolidated four local banks into one national brand and launched a digital platform.

She came to OneUnited with 30 years of financial services experience from Bank of America and American Express, where she was one of the youngest vice presidents. Teri holds an M.B.A. with honors from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. As Chief Operating Officer, she runs the bank’s day-to-day operations and its strategic initiatives. OneUnited is also an award-winning Community Development Financial Institution, and it serves as a bridge by offering affordable financial services and promoting financial literacy. Teri carries that work beyond the bank as the author of I Got Bank! What My Granddad Taught Me About Money, a financial literacy book for urban youth, and as co-host of “Who’s Your Ma Honey,” a show inspired by her great-grandmother.

President of OWN

Tina joined OWN in 2009 and was named President in 2019. She oversees every operational and creative area of the network, from programming to digital expansion.

Under her leadership, OWN has become one of the most trusted destinations for Black audiences, particularly Black women. It is the number one cable network among Black women ages 25 to 54 on Saturday nights and a top five network on Fridays for the fifth consecutive year. Tina has expanded franchises including Ready to Love, Love & Marriage: Huntsville and Belle Collective, and that programming has earned NAACP Image Award nominations. “It means so much to be recognized for work dedicated to elevating women’s voices,” she says, “and I remain committed to telling stories that inspire, empower, and create lasting impact.”

Chief Executive Officer, The Obama Foundation

Valerie is Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation, where she oversees the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side and the Foundation’s leadership programs. From 2009 to 2017, she served as Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama and chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls.

She has been building and running institutions for most of her career. Valerie previously chaired the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Transit Board. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Finding My Voice and chairs Civic Nation.

Click here to meet all 50 inaugural Groundbreakers and learn more about the December 1 Gala.