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As a part of the Morning Lazziness collection highlighting empowering girls who’re making a exceptional impression with their concepts, I had the pleasure of interviewing Isabella Ghassemi-Smith.
Isabella Ghassemi-Smith is a champion of girls rewriting the way forward for tech and enterprise. As Head of the Aurora Tech Award, she leads a worldwide motion that goes past recognition—backing daring feminine founders with capital, networks, and visibility to assist them scale quicker and additional.
Obsessed with storytelling, Isabella can also be the creator and host of “The Day I…”, a platform the place girls share the pivotal moments that modified every part—from leaving company jobs to negotiating their price. By these tales, she shines a light-weight on the facility of on a regular basis choices to spark extraordinary change.
Her philosophy is straightforward however highly effective: if the desk isn’t constructed for you, construct a brand new one. Guided by this perception, Isabella continues to amplify the voices of girls who’re redefining management, innovation, and impression around the globe.
On this interview, she opens up in regards to the methods, challenges, and key turning factors which have fueled her decade-long profession within the digital enterprise house.
What’s the origin story behind the Aurora Tech Award, and the way does it replicate who you’re past your title?
Aurora began from a frustration: girls in rising markets are constructing world-class know-how, however the rooms that resolve who will get capital and visibility weren’t constructed for them. I’ve at all times believed in creating new tables as an alternative of ready for a seat on the outdated ones. Aurora displays that intuition: it’s not about becoming girls into outdated fashions, it’s about reshaping what help seems to be like on their phrases. With inDrive already deeply concerned in difficult injustice of all types, we have been capable of make this a actuality.
Your work blends objective with enterprise — what’s the “why” that also will get you off the bed on robust days?
As a result of numbers like “2.3% of VC funding goes to women-founded firms” aren’t simply statistics, they symbolize billions in untapped potential. And since past the numbers, founders inform me about burnout, isolation, and closed doorways. The “why” is obvious: if we get Aurora proper, we don’t simply fund firms: we modify what’s attainable for whole markets. I consider wholeheartedly in constructing this “new desk”, as a result of when these distinctive girls come to take a seat at it, immeasurable alternatives open.
Others supply related awards, however few seize hearts — what’s your secret to constructing deep emotional resonance together with your viewers?
We don’t patronize, and we don’t do fluff. We don’t “empower” girls, we again girls who’re already constructing category-defining firms. That delicate however radical shift means founders see Aurora as a stamp of credibility and an actual alternative, not a pat on the pinnacle. The emotional resonance comes from constructing a model, and that feels as bold as the ladies it’s made for.
What’s been your simplest advertising and marketing technique, and may you stroll us by way of the artistic considering or risk-taking behind it?
At Aurora, our simplest technique has been going social-first and constructing the model extra like a worldwide shopper enterprise than a conventional establishment. Sure, we’re an award, sure, Aurora and inDrive present capital, connection, and neighborhood, however what makes us completely different is how we do it. We’ve leaned into daring visuals, elevated language, and a social-native method that grows organically and resonates with girls constructing in the present day, in addition to those that will construct tomorrow. The chance was stepping away from the acquainted playbook of our sector. The reward is that Aurora now feels just like the award bold founders wish to be seen with, not simply one other initiative they apply to.
How do you take heed to your neighborhood — not simply in surveys or analytics — however in ways in which enable you to anticipate their unstated wants?
I speak to founders immediately, of their contexts, whether or not it’s a late-night WhatsApp, a small pitch stage in Colombia, or a espresso chat in Cairo. Founders are sometimes extra trustworthy in these areas than on official purposes. That’s the place you hear the loneliness, the bottlenecks, the “if solely…” that helps us construct help that truly issues.
Which marketing campaign, collaboration, or strategic shift felt like a real turning level in your model’s public picture?
An actual turning level was after we started speaking about Aurora not simply as a prize or a program, however as a brand new desk, a spot the place capital, connection, and neighborhood converge. That language resonated far past the founders; it positioned Aurora as one thing greater than an award, as a motion.
On the identical time, we realized that being a worldwide award additionally means we are able to’t be all over the place without delay. A strategic shift for us has been partnering with trusted native manufacturers and entities to remain deeply related to ecosystems on the bottom. For instance, collaborating with Entreprenelle in Egypt for his or her SHE CAN occasion, or most lately partnering with Colombia Tech Week for our first Colombian pitch occasion, permits us to stay world whereas constructing genuine connections domestically. It means Aurora doesn’t simply drop in; we combine with the gamers already shaping these markets.
In your individual phrases, how do you measure success past revenue, by way of legacy, affect, or cultural impression?
Legacy is when “Aurora finalist” turns into a marker of credibility, the identical method “Y Combinator alum” is. Affect is when governments, VCs, and corporates begin asking how they’ll plug into our community. Cultural impression is when girls in rising markets cease asking if there’s a spot for them and begin saying: I’m constructing at Aurora’s desk. We all know it’s working when the phrase “Aurora” opens doorways for these founders.
Are you able to recall a second when a failure grew to become a narrative price telling for others to study from?
Within the early days, we underestimated how completely different markets required other ways of displaying up. One-size world messaging didn’t land, what sounded aspirational in a single place felt out of contact in one other. That taught us: if you wish to construct for rising markets, you’ll be able to’t copy-paste. You want nuance, persistence, and listening: the identical method that helped inDrive develop and develop, which is tradition and location-conscious.
What’s a every day or weekly ritual that retains you grounded and in contact together with your model’s mission, even when the work days get chaotic?
Each week, I make time to learn founder tales from our candidates. Even when I solely get by way of a handful, it resets my perspective: these girls are constructing know-how to unravel actual issues. It’s unattainable to learn their journeys and never really feel re-energized. It reminds us why we do what we do. Just lately being in Colombia, assembly these distinctive girls, it really makes you realise, “wow, we’re constructing one thing that’s actually transferring the needle”.
How do you method innovation in a method that makes your model each trend-aware and timeless?
We borrow the sharpness of in the present day’s cultural language, visuals, tone, storytelling, however the basis is timeless: credibility, capital, and neighborhood. Developments preserve us related; rules preserve us enduring.
When you may go down just one piece of knowledge to the following era of entrepreneurs, what wouldn’t it be and why?
If the desk isn’t constructed for you, or the seat you’ve is uncomfortable: Construct your individual desk, your individual room, your individual guidelines. That’s the place the change comes from.
Profitable recognition within the tech business is not any small feat — what’s the secret sauce for girls entrepreneurs who obtain it?
The founders who stand out are those constructing companies they consider ought to exist, not ones the market tells them to construct. They give attention to actual traction, product-market match, consumer engagement, income indicators, even when others dismiss their house as area of interest. These niches typically grow to be new classes. They convey their imaginative and prescient clearly and uncompromisingly, with out diluting it for traders or audiences. The readability and conviction make them magnetic, and the outcomes converse for themselves. I additionally consider constructing in public once you’re at the start of your journey is a very important tour for creating your individual recognition, your individual visibility and understanding your viewers.
How have public recognition, awards, or media options shifted alternatives for the winners of the Aurora Tech Award in sudden methods?
Recognition by way of Aurora has opened doorways in ways in which transcend capital or partnerships. Winners instantly begin receiving investor calls they hadn’t earlier than, safe authorities collaborations, or achieve entry to world accelerators. One founder informed us the award gave her the credibility she wanted to shut her seed spherical. Past these tangible outcomes, there’s a deeper impression: girls in rising markets who could not have seen function fashions start seeing founders from their very own international locations on world levels. That visibility conjures up others, indicators what’s attainable, and creates a ripple impact throughout ecosystems that we hadn’t totally anticipated.
If somebody hears your identify or sees your work simply as soon as, what’s the one message or feeling you hope they depart with?
That Aurora is the place the boldest feminine founders in rising markets go to be seen, backed, and brought critically.
I need Aurora to be a phrase that opens doorways. When folks hear it, they instantly perceive the usual it represents: founders who’re daring, constructing significant companies. It’s not nearly recognition, it’s aspirational. We would like founders to take a look at Aurora and assume, That’s the place I wish to be, and we would like the market to acknowledge it as a sign of great, high-caliber companies being inbuilt rising markets. It’s a model that conjures up, elevates, and units the bar for what’s attainable.
The place’s the perfect place for our viewers to observe your journey and discover your work?
One of the best ways to expertise Aurora is the place our neighborhood is most alive: Instagram and LinkedIn @auroratechaward.
That’s the place we share founder tales that encourage, actionable suggestions for profitable the award, insights from native occasions, and a window into the journeys of girls constructing game-changing companies, in addition to some entertaining behind-the-scenes.
It’s an area for founders to study, join, and see what’s attainable, and for anybody within the ecosystem, it’s a front-row seat to the following wave of female-led innovation. After all, our web site is the place you’ll be able to dive deeper and discover how you can be part of the desk.
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