Puna Mohajer

Women Challenging the Status Quo: Building Businesses Their Way

Joyce Chang, Maha Dahil, Minka Kelly, Maladi McCluskey, Puna Mohajer, Robin Ward, Tina

The Milken Institute convened a high-level forum where panelists like Joyce Chang, Minka Kelly, and Malia McCluskey addressed systemic gender disparities in venture capital and technology, where female-founded companies outperform male-led rivals yet occupy merely 6% of investment partner roles. The event moved beyond problem identification to outline actionable strategies such as "frindtorship," bootstrapping to maintain control, and leveraging the proven 35% higher equity returns of women-led enterprises to challenge entrenched biases. Ultimately, the gathering aimed to accelerate the transition from a 10% to a 30% representation of women in leadership, emphasizing that technological entrepreneurship and peer-to-peer support are the most effective levers for dismantling the "boys club" and fostering a new generation of female industry leaders.