Shelly Bell is a systems disruptor. She’s blazed new ways of thinking across the educational, political, and financial systems and scaled over 100 businesses across sectors. Shelly has worked as a K-12 Educator, Patent Examiner, Spoken-word Artist, and is a Computer Scientist and Nonprofit Executive. Between creating the first teepee for women on AirBnB, launching a business as a single mom of three, and building tech platforms for equitable financial capital, Shelly practices the mantra she preaches to ‘resist being average’. Her most recent disruption, Black Girl Ventures Foundation, transforms entrepreneurship by reimagining the way black and brown women founders get access to financial and social capital.

As an inspirational speaker, serial entrepreneur, and one of the 8 original Google Digital Coaches, she has trained over 5,000 entrepreneurs to rethink their earning potential; held over 300 events for executives to disrupt their thinking; and helped hundreds of black and brown businesses get funding to scale. She trots the globe–from Oman to Philadelphia—speaking to founders and executives, teaching them how to defy ‘average’ and create lasting change in their systems, industries, and communities.

She was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Business by Entrepreneur Magazine, Entrepreneur of the Year by Technically DC and acknowledged as A Rising Brand Star by Adweek. She has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Yahoo Finance, Inc Magazine, Politico Live, The Washington Business Journal, among others.

She is on the board of Malikah and Color of Chrons and Chronic Illness and founder SheRaise.com. Shelly’s podcast, A Dose of Disruption, helps leaders resist the urge to be average by disrupting their thought patterns and self-talk.