Lauren Maillian is a change agent committed to diversity, innovation and inclusion. She is the CEO of digitalundivided, the social startup that leverages data and advocacy to catalyze economic growth and success for Black and Latinx women entrepreneurs. The former board chair of digitalundivided, Lauren is an award-winning marketer and brand strategist, entrepreneur, tech investor, and advisor.

Lauren is the Founder and CEO of LMB Group, a strategic marketing and brand advisory company working with Fortune 500 brands and high-growth startups like J.P. Morgan, Cover Girl, and Bumble and Bumble. Lauren was invited by Walmart's CEO to join the Board of Disruptors of their first-ever Innovation Council. A pioneer in the tech space, she was the first black woman to start an early-stage venture capital fund, as a founding partner and Managing Director at Gen Y Capital Partners. She has advised and invested in over 40 startups. Lauren serves as an advisor to Pipeline Angels, a social enterprise that trains executive women to become angel investors. She is also the founder of Straight Up and Successful, a community and personal and professional development company that empowers and advocates for women. She has distilled what she’s learned about entrepreneurship in her best-selling memoir, The Path Redefined: Getting To the Top On Your Own Terms.

Lauren began her entrepreneurial journey at age 19, when she became the youngest self-made winery owner in the country, co-founding Virginia’s Sugarleaf Vineyards. As the Chief Operating Officer of the boutique winery, it became an internationally recognized, award-winning brand that was eventually acquired in 2011. She has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Cosmo, Inc., CNBC, MSNBC, Fortune, Black Enterprise, and others.

She serves on the Board of Directors at CoSign, a technology company which allows users to monetize social media and shareable content, and at the spirits brand LIQS. Lauren is on the Board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Engagement. She is the creator of The Collab art series, which uplifts the work of artists of color. She was also the Vice-Chair of The Apollo Theater Foundation’s Young Patrons Steering Committee, a member of the New York Urban League’s Development Committee, and is a founding member of the Young Entrepreneur Council. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science, Magna Cum Laude, in International Trade and Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology.