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This Episode will air at 5:30 pm EDT on Saturday June 4th

Strategies from Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurial Women with Kathy Hurley, Bobbi Kurshan, and Nisha Ligon

As a woman, how can you foster an entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in business? How do you take an idea, dream or goal and transform it into a strategy for success in a purpose-driven organization? How can you align your purpose and passion to help you “do well and do good” in your profession?  Authors Barbara Kurshan and Kathleen Hurley, both experienced and highly regarded business and education leaders, wanted to know how today’s top female leaders might answer these questions. The result is InnovateHERs: Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurial Women Rise to the Top.

Through 29 personal interviews with today’s top women leading purpose-driven organizations—ranging from startups and nonprofits to large companies across the globe—Kurshan and Hurley have created a unique, insider’s view of what it takes to be a successful female entrepreneurial leader in today’s competitive world. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, corporate leader, or new to business, learning how to leverage your personal entrepreneurial traits and skills and develop an entrepreneurial mindset is key to accelerating your purpose-driven journey. For men, understanding the mindset of entrepreneurial women will help them be better leaders and mentors. More about our guests below the video.



Episode Guests

Kathy Hurley                                                            Barbara Kurshan

Kathy Hurley is a former senior executive for numerous educational publishing and technology companies, including IBM and Pearson. Currently, she is a senior advisor to educational technology companies, education associations, and school superintendent networks. She also serves on the board of directors for several non-profit and for-profit organizations. After retiring from Pearson, she was selected as a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) at Harvard University. Upon completion of the program, she co-founded a global nonprofit organization, Girls Thinking Global, which has since merged with the Women’s Education Project, where she serves on the board of directors. In 2004 she was inducted in the Association of Educational Publishers’ Hall of Fame and in 2019, she received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Education Technology from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). She is the co-editor, with Priscilla Shumway, of Real Women, Real Leaders:  Surviving and Succeeding in the Business World (Wiley).

Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Kurshan is the President of Educorp Consultants Corporation and Senior Innovation Advisor, Graduate School of Education, Education Entrepreneurship, University of Pennsylvania, and a former education industry entrepreneur. Dr. Kurshan has more than 40 years’ experience in education as a researcher, entrepreneur, developer, investor, and company executive.  She developed the first children’s software products for Microsoft, as well as award winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson), and others. She is the author of several books, including Internet for Kids (Sybex); Exploring Creative Writer and Exploring Fine Artist (Addison-Wesley Longman); Understanding Computers Through Applications (Glencoe); Activities for Kids and Kids at Heart (Reston).  She has received numerous awards and recognitions including the WISE Prize, the King Bahrain UNESCO Prize, 2019 Most Influential Corporate Board Directors, 100 Edtech Influencers, and Laureate Tech Awards – Technology Benefiting Humanity.

Nisha Ligon is the co-founder and CEO of Ubongo, Africa’s leading edutainment company for children. More than 24 million kids across Africa learn with Ubongo’s popular animated TV and radio programs, Akili and Me and Ubongo Kids. Nisha is a social entrepreneur with a background in media and science and has a passion for education. She is a 2017 WISE Award Laureate and 2021 Elevate Prize winner. Nisha has produced content for the BBC, the Guardian, online learning platforms, and an award-winning documentary, Twiga Stars. She has a B.S. from Yale University and a M.Sc. from Imperial College London.