COME JOIN US FOR THE WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT FORUM! The Chicago Chapter of the Fulbright Association along with the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago invite you to a speaker forum followed by a reception at the University Club of Chicago.
DATE Thursday Oct. 5, 2023
TIME 2:00 pm <
WHERE University Club of Chicago 76 E. Monroe St. Chicago, IL 60601
COST Free
SPEAKERS
Věra Komárová, CEO Dermacol & Founder of Leonardo da Vinci Academy
Nicole Robinson, CEO YWCA Metropolitan Chicago & Founder of Southside Giving Circle
Markéta Klíčová, Nanoscientist, Young Innovator of the Year Audience Choice Award 2018
VĚRA KOMÁROVÁ She was born in Prague. At the age of 14, she stood on Prague’s Wenceslas Square and participated in the Velvet Revolution. At a time when freedom of speech was only an illusion in Czechoslovakia, she actively transcribed information on a typewriter and distributed it to mailboxes. She studied foreign trade and then languages (she speaks 7 languages) and pedagogy at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. During her studies, she got the opportunity to spend 3 years in Italy at the universities of Siena, Ferrara and Milan. After graduating from university, she worked in the marketing department of large international companies Ferrero and Colgate-Palmolive.
When she learned about the Dermacol brand— its amazing history, great products – she immediately fell in love with it and fell in love with her work. During her more than 20 years tenure, Dermacol has increased its turnover more than twentyfold, and the brand ranks among the best-selling cosmetics in the Czech Republic.
Dermacol is now distributed in 60 countries around the world. Věra Komárová presented the brand in, among others, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, the USA, Poland and Brazil. In 2016, Věra was on the cover of Forbes magazine and ranked among the 75 most important women in the Czech Republic.
She supports the Zdenka Žadníková foundation fund, which beautifies hospitals and social facilities with paintings and poetry. It is associated with the support of the Happy Hearts Foundation, which builds safe schools in countries affected by natural disasters. She herself participated in volunteer work during the construction of a school in Nepal. In 2020, she became the author of the Help beauty project for the Be Charity foundation, which helps children with disabilities. Věra Komárová is a mother of 3 daughters. And in 2021, it opened the Czech-British School Leonardo da Vinci Academy.
NICOLE ROBINSON Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Nicole R. Robinson has spent her career building bridges between communities, individuals, government and business leaders. Today Nicole serves as the Chief Executive Officer for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, a human centered organization dedicated to empowering women and eliminating racism. As a fierce advocate for women, girls and justice, Nicole is inspired by the resilience of the families who turn to YWCA for family supports, economic opportunities and collective healing. Prior to joining YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Nicole was the Chief Partnership and Program Officer at the Greater Chicago Food Depository where she designed strategies to expand food access while tackling the root causes of poverty, unemployment, and racial inequity. Her food justice advocacy resulted in a $10MM investment in the emergency food system and she inspired the reimagination of Chicago’s entire food system as one the of the co-creators of Chicago’s first ever Food Equity Council. Before joining the social sector, Nicole began her career in corporate finance supporting various business units and would go on to lead the corporate foundation for Kraft Foods and Mondelez International. Nicole resides in Bronzeville on Chicago’s South Side and is the founding leader of Chicago’s first ever South Side Giving Circle focused on reducing inequities faced by Black women and girls.
MARKÉTA KLÍČOVÁ Markéta is working on the development of novel nanofibrous patches for covering the intestine after operations and thus preventing serious postoperative complications. Challenging research is conducted in close collaboration with clinicians, who lack such material on the market. Together, they believe that the newly developed material will save the lives of patients after surgery. Markéta has won numerous awards for her research, e.g. during the international finals of the Falling Walls Lab 2018 breakthrough ideas competition in Berlin, she won the prize “Young Innovator of the Year – Audience Award”. She was recently awarded by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi in cooperation with the French Embassy in the Czech Republic; Markéta won the first place for the best pharmaceutical research in 2023. In 2020, Professor Donald E. Ingber from Harvard Medical School accepted Markéta as an internship student, thus she participated in the unique development of the organs-on-chip. Based on these and previous scientific results, Forbes magazine placed her in the prestigious ranking of successful young people (30 under 30). Markéta is dedicated to supporting and supervising other students who participate in the field of tissue engineering and biomedical research at the Technical University of Liberec. She regularly publishes her results in international scientific journals. Markéta is also involved in the business environment, collaborating on the development of biotechnological products with the Czech company IQS Group. It is important for her to transfer the results of scientific research into commercial products. At the beginning of 2023, she was also selected for the unofficial advisory team of the Minister for Science and Research, Ms. Helena Langšádlová. Together with the whole team, she is dedicated to improving the conditions of Czech science and to motivate young people into starting research.
FULBRIGHT CHICAGO 