NABIP Speakers Bureau - Speaker Information

Julie Castro Abrams
Founder and General Partner
How Women Invest
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Chapter:
E-mail: paola@howwomenlead.com

Julie is the founder and general partner of How Women Invest, an early stage venture firm focussed on high growth, tech enabled women-founded enterprises. The firm is a culmination of her lifetime of work propelling women founders to launch and find success with training, capital and networks. She is bringing her extensive networks, leadership and entrepreneurship experience to disruption of the venture landscape.

An active investor and advisor to start-ups, and as the leader of the nation's largest microenterprise and microfinance organization for 11 years, Julie has helped launch over 6,000 women into successful businesses. Julie sits on the advisory boards of the fin-tech start-up LENDonate, Nia Capital, The New Search Collaborative. She was also the former governance chair for the Women’s Funding Network.

As the CEO of How Women Lead, she is at the center of the movement to disrupt antiquated, unequal systems by propelling women into even greater leadership roles and increasing opportunities for all women. Julie has been an essential driver of the ecosystem for women on corporate boards in California. As a prior managing partner for 2020 Women on Boards, Julie has been a national leader in the movement and drove the successful passage of the groundbreaking Senate Bill 826, requiring public companies to have women on their boards. Julie also leads BoardLeaders.com, which specializes in corporate board placements to meet the demand for women leaders. 

She has previously led the board of multiple nonprofit organizations located throughout the country, including board director for the National Council of La Raza, governance chair for the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, and board chair of Cypress String Quartet. The recipient of many accolades, she has won the More Jobs Genius Award, the Morgan Stanley Innovation Award, Cisco’s Innovation in Technology Award, the League of Women Voters’ Women Who Could Be President Award, the Stevie Award for Best Non-Profit Executive, and the Commission on the Status of Women’s Human Rights Award, and is a member of the Women of Color Action Network, Leadership California, and the Marin Women's Hall of Fame. She has also been featured in four books, including “Scrappy Women in Business,” “Women of Courage,” and “The Missing Mentor,” and Fast Company’s video series “30 Second MBA.” 

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