Mignon Francois

Founder and CEO of The Cupcake Collection

Mignon Francois is the Founder and CEO of The Cupcake Collection (TCC). While crunching numbers and creating the craze are amongst her job requirements, her favorite responsibilities within this role are giving hugs, listening, and mentoring her team and other up and coming entrepreneurs who seek after her grass roots experience. Using her “Follow Your Spirit” approach, Mignon developed an iconic flavor that drew lines and attention to the hip nature of her Historic Germantown neighborhood that hadn’t seen this concept developed prior. The success of TCC thereby became icing on the cake amongst the existing North Nashville restaurateurs that would ignite a new movement to the area for other business concepts that might not otherwise have considered doing business in North Nashville. Since planting its roots in 2008, Mignon’s business savvy has earned her the titles of “Woman of Legend and Merit” by Tennessee State University, “Emerging Business Leader of the Year” and Black Enterprise Magazine “Family Business of the Year Award”.

Prior to her career at TCC, Mignon was a Household Manager and mother of 6 plus 1. A NOLA girl from the core and die-hard Charter School enthusiast, she lends her talent as a Nashville community cheerleader and entrepreneur to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation Foundation, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Pathway Women’s Business Center and to Republic Charter Schools as a board member. Mignon is an alumnus of Xavier University in New Orleans and received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Houston Baptist University in 1999. While she obtained her M.B.A. from the School of Hard Knocks, she is currently working on an accredited one from Lipscomb University. In her spare time, Mignon enjoys reading, walking the Nashville Greenway, and donut sampling around the country as a self-proclaimed donut aficionado. I mean someone's got to do it, she's already got the best cake in the country figured out.

Linda Edell Howard

Special Counsel for Novick Law

Linda Edell Howard is affectionately known as the “Mama Mafia” because of her decades of almost ruthless representation of client and partner interests to attain legacy preservation, financial growth, and avenge the historical inequities inherent in the power-base of the entertainment industry. She is recognized as a preeminent Intellectual Property expert, specializing in the field of global copyright protection and enforcement. With over 35 years of experience in television, film, music, and new media law, social media transactions and emerging technologies, Linda guides her clients and partners to implement successful growth and monetization strategies. Her knowledge in the field of copyright recapture is unsurpassed. Many of her clients are legends and the musical works they represent are iconic. Her deep network of highly regarded industry leaders and clients include songwriters with some of the biggest songs in recorded music history, which have been recorded by the likes of The Eagles, Bon Jovi, KISS, etc. As an attorney, she has helped clients protect and monetize the copyrights for 100s of musical works.

Cate Luzio

Founder & CEO, Luminary

Cate Luzio, is the Founder and CEO of Luminary, a global membership-based career and personal growth platform and collaboration hub created to uplift and upskill women through all phases of their professional journey. Members are comprised of a multigenerational and intersectional community of individuals, intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs, corporations, and organizations including UBS, WW, JPMorgan Chase, Unilever, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, and Heidrick & Struggles.

Before starting Luminary, Cate spent twenty years in financial services leading global multibillion-dollar businesses. Previously, she was Global Head of Multinational Corporate Banking for HSBC, managing more than 2,000 employees worldwide and prior to that, she served as Head of Multinational Corporate Banking at J.P. Morgan EMEA based in London. She spent her early years in Latin America with Bank of America across both consumer and wholesale banking. She started her career working in tech in China. 

Cate is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she was named its Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020, and in 2021 joined its Board of Governors. She has a master’s degree in International Relations from Georgetown University.

A long-time advocate for empowering women and girls, she serves on the National Board for Girls Inc., as a WE.NYC mentor, and sits on the Boards of Pomp & Whimsy and WaterAid.

Cate was recognized as one of Forbes’ Next 1000 Entrepreneurs in 2021 and a Top 100 Female Founder by Inc. in 2019. She has been featured as an expert in top-tier financial, business and lifestyle media and is currently a contributing writer to Fast Company, Business Insider, and Worth. 

Theresa Sexton

Partner at Claritas Capital

Theresa is a Partner at Claritas Capital where she spends her time sourcing and evaluating privately held companies seeking late stage venture and growth capital. Since joining in 2008, she has focused on investing in healthcare, technology, and business services companies primarily located in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. She currently serves on the boards of directors for Apcela, Forbes Travel, Genomind, nSight for Travel, Oasis Holdings, and TwelveStone Health Partners.
Prior to Claritas Capital, Theresa spent over 10 years with Massey Burch Capital Corp., a venture capital firm, where she was involved in investor services, fund administration, and licensure involving the SBA, in addition to transaction work. She earned her M.Acc and MBA from Belmont University in Nashville. Personal interests include serving as board President for a local non-profit working with at-risk families and incarcerated women focused on transitioning into the community. Her greatest achievement, however, is being a wife and the mother of three children: Victoria, John, and Violette.