Belva Anakwenze
Entertainment Business Manager and Tax Professional
ABACUS FINANCIAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Belva Anakwenze is the principal of Abacus Financial Business Management, a minority and female-owned boutique business management company in Los Angeles. She is an L.A. native and graduated from UCLA. In the male-dominated financial world, she is able to reach goals by facing challenges head-on and speaking in everyday vernacular to ensure complete transparency and financial climate understanding. Anakwenze teaches courses to promote fiscal responsibility throughout Southern California. She educates youth and emerging creatives on financial literacy.
Bonique Edwards
Owner
KALEIDOSCOPE CONSULTING GROUP
Bonique Edwards started Kaleidoscope Digital out of the breakfast nook of her father’s kitchen. Edwards started off providing services to Black-owned businesses. She was compelled to help level the playing field and close the gap on the digital divide within her community. Now in her 20th year of business, Edwards manages a team of engineers, programmers and social influencers to help grow brands and transform images for business owners, non-profits, and Fortune 500 companies globally.
Jessica Kirchner Flores, AICP
Owner/Managing Principal
IMPACT SCIENCES
Jessica Kirchner Flores is the owner/managing principal of Impact Sciences, an environmental planning and analysis firm specializing in CEQA/NEPA services. She has over 15 years of experience in environmental analysis for projects covering diverse land uses, including commercial, institutional, affordable housing, transit facilities, and single- and multi-family residential projects. At Impact Sciences, she prepares proposals and secures contracts as a prime- and sub-consultant for million-dollar projects and clients, including the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.
FINALISTS CEO: SMALL COMPANY
Christa Haggai Ramey
Shareholder/Lead Trial Attorney
RAMEY LAW PC
Christa Haggai Ramey, who has spent the majority of her career representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases, discovered the lack of resources and legal representation for bullied children and their parents when she was forced to intervene to protect her own child targeted by school bullies. She posted about the experience on social media, and soon parents from across Southern California were calling for help. Since then, Ramey has been breaking new ground in school bullying law.
Angela Reddock-Wright, Esq.
Founder/Managing Partner
REDDOCK LAW GROUP
A practicing attorney for nearly 25 years, Angela Reddock-Wright is regarded as a “go-to” attorney and human resources professional when it comes to any issues dealing with the workplace. She is the founding and managing partner of the Reddock Law Group, a boutique, minority, and woman-owned dispute resolution and investigations law firm based in downtown Los Angeles. The firm focuses on the resolution of employment and labor law, Title IX sexual assault, hazing, and bullying legal claims through the alternative dispute resolution, investigation, and other neutral processes.
Amber Romo
Managing Director
NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL
Amber Romo is the managing director of Northwestern Mutual’s newest location in Ontario, California. She has been instrumental in the continued mentorship, development, and attraction of talented financial advisors.A career changer, she left behind a lucrative position in the entertainment industry to makea greater impact on people’s lives. Over the past five years, she served asa field director and a growth and development director for Northwestern Mutual in downtown Los Angeles, leading a sub-district of 13 advisors.
Ida Starr
Founder/Owner
CHIP FINANCIAL INC.
Since 2007, Ida Starr has been managing portfolio support and project services, alongside volunteering with the elderly and promoting women within her community. With her skillset, she successfully manages budgeting, development, and implementation of a range of effective projects. She has demonstrated her ability to initiate collaborative efforts at all levels of an organization while striving to provide added value via performance improvement and quality project initiatives. Starr is the proud founder and owner of Chip Financial Inc., an innovative payment technology agency.
Mercy Steenwyk
President/CEO
FORENSISGROUP INC.
Through a deep sense of purpose, clarity of mission and the power of company culture based on values, Mercy Tolentino Steenwyk, founder & CEO of ForensisGroup, has led the nationwide expert consulting firm for 30 years. Her journey began when she immigrated from the Philippines. She assists attorneys and other companies uncover the truth by bringing the best minds to find out what happened when things go wrong. Today, ForensisGroup has served 20,000 clients in 30,000 cases in business, engineering, construction, environment, and science.
Kimberly Stepp
Principal
STEPP COMMERCIAL
Kimberly R. Stepp is a principal and co-founder with Stepp Commercial, the leading multifamily brokerage firm in the Los Angeles market with the sale of more than $1 billion in properties since its inception. She founded the company in 2013 with her husband Robert Stepp and one of very few women that has ownership of a commercial real estate brokerage firm in all of California. Stepp’s original approach to marketing, unrivaled market intel and the loyalty of her staff and clients fuel Stepp Commercial’s continued growth.
