We are 5 mothers, living in New York
and with strong ties to Venezuela.
We understand that the only way to ensure
a brighter future for Venezuela is to help
educate the children.
Claudia Benshimol
is a business executive with over 20 years of experience, currently working at KKR Capstone, where she focuses on value creation across the consumer portfolio.
Prior to KKR, Claudia served as SVP/General Manager of Estée Lauder and AERIN Beauty for North America where she led the development and execution of the go-to-market strategy for the Estée Lauder Companies’
flagship brand in the region. Claudia began her career at McKinsey & Company, advising companies primarily in the consumer and luxury goods sectors.
She holds a BS in Production Engineering from
Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela
and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Cinthia Fernholz
is an experienced investment banker and entrepreneur,
with particular expertise in strategy, finance,
operations and planning.
She has worked at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup,
Deloitte & Touche and Goldman Sachs.
She is a former CEO and founder of Coucou LLC,
a children’s clothing wholesaler,
which she sold after achieving profitability.
She is currently focused in assisting non-for profits,
providing them with strategic and operational
improvement consulting services.
She has recently been appointed as project coordinator
for the Arts & Culture Committee of
Harvard Business School Community Partners in New York.
She serves on the Board of Park Children’s Day School of NYC,
and is a member of the Pediatric Support Committee
for Weil Cornell. She is a native of Bolivia.
She holds a BS from University of Virginia
and received her Harvard MBA in 2002.
Morella Machado
Is a real estate broker specializing in residential luxury markets in New York and South Florida. Her team at Compass is well known for transacting well over 2 Billion dollars in sales.
Morella has lived in London, São Paulo, Paris and Caracas before settling in New York with her family for the past 17 years. Morella studied Culinary Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, and French History at Sorbonne Université. She is a mother of two and was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French. She also serves on the board of “Guerreros Azules”, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting children with type 1 diabetes, and she is an active member of Convent of the Sacred Heart.
Isabel Mendoza
is a business leader in the entrepreneurial world.
She is currently the founder and CEO of
Childrenchic Inc, an apparel and footwear company
which manufactures for the biggest retailers in USA.
Isabel manages retail, e-commerce and
wholesale operations globally for the brand.
Her business experiences double digit growth annually
since launched. Prior to founding her company,
Isabel worked at Limited Brands in the international sales team
growing the travel retail business for VSBA.
Isabel also has experience in commodity trading
and logistics while working in Cargill as an operations manager.
Isabel holds a BS in Business Administration from
University of Miami (Cum Laude/Dean’s List)
and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Melissa Ramirez
is Managing Partner and COO of IDC Network, an alternative asset manager focused on private equity, venture capital and infrastructure investments across the Americas and Europe. Based in Miami, she leads the firm’s operations, strategic transformation, and global expansion in support of IDC’s 2030 vision.
Beyond her executive responsibilities, Melissa is actively involved across IDC’s investment platforms, co-leading Valante Flagship Fund II and Venezuela Fund I, while serving on the Board of Directors of A.GAIN, IDC’s technology, sports, and entertainment investment platform.
Melissa brings more than 20 years of experience in cross-border M&A, capital markets, and investing. Prior to joining IDC, she served as Head of Infrastructure, Consumer & Retail Investment Banking for Latin America at Citigroup, based in New York.
Melissa graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Production Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela, and earned an MBA with a specialization in Finance from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
She is Co-Founder and Treasurer of For a Brighter Venezuela.