Young Global Leaders and Market, Career Opportunities

We held our latest globinar "Young Global Leaders and Market/Career Opportunities", a hybrid event, via zoom and in-person at Global Chamber® in Thunderbird School of Global Management.

This 75 minute event was informative, inspiring and interactive. We had 4 extraordinary speakers guided by two excellent moderators sharing experiences, tips and more. Be global and UNSTOPPABLE!

Watch the conversation HERE.

Who Should Watch: Young Global Leaders and the global tribe who are open to learn about the dynamic global marketplace for business success, entrepreneurial opportunities and career opportunities. Viewers will be informed and connected to information and key leaders. Gain connections, inspiration, tips and techniques for your global career with impact.

Speakers:

• Brett McMickell - President & CEO at Circlio
• Alina Morse - CEO at Zolli Candy
• Shalom Bako - Managing Director at Afrivana
• Caitlin Balderrama - Arizona Air & Ocean Branch Manager at Mainfreight USA

Moderators: Susana Trasente (City of Peoria) and Kamilia Hereira (Global Chamber)

We collaborated with Mandela Washington Fellowship a group of leaders from Africa that will be in a separate event at Global Chamber® in July. Thank you Hector Zelaya at ASU. We also collaborated with Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU with a group of high school students from Saudi Arabia in the in-person audience, with our global tribe. Thank you!

Biographies

Dr. Brett McMickell is the President and CEO of Circlio, Inc. focusing on creating technology that will have an impact on global challenges. He is currently working with companies on autonomy, industrial controls, and advanced avionics. Previously, Dr. McMickell served as AgJunction’s President and Chief Executive Officer from January 2020 until its acquisition by Kubota in December 2021. He also served as AgJunction’s Chief Operating Officer, where his responsibilities included leading Sales, Global Customer Care, Engineering, Program Management, and Operations and as the Senior Vice President of Global Product Development.

Prior to joining the AgJunction team, Dr. McMickell held a variety of leadership positions at Honeywell Aerospace including serving as the Senior Director of Engineering in charge of Actuation Systems. He brings experience from leading electrical, software, and mechanical system development. He was awarded the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Lawrence Sperry Award for his achievement in the advancement of small satellite technology. Dr. McMickell holds an M.B.A. in Global Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He also received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah with a certificate in Mechatronics.

Alina Morse is an American entrepreneur, the CEO and founder of Zolli Candy. Her company sells the candy she developed: sugar free lollipops called Zollipops, hard candy called Zolli Drops, and taffy called Zaffi Taffy. The candy is sold online and in about 25,000 stores in the United States and internationally, totaling US$6 million in sales (2018). She was the youngest person to be on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine, and she was twice invited to the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama. In addition to being the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company, Alina goes to high school and dances competitively.

The idea for Zollipops, the sugar-free lollipops that are the company's flagship product, originated in 2012. Morse, seven years old, was at a bank with her father, when she was offered a lollipop that her father stopped her from eating, saying that it would rot her teeth. Morse began thinking about making a lollipop that would not. She asked her father over 100 times for four to five months before he agreed to help. It took two years of online research and at least a hundred unsuccessful experiments in their home oven, stove, and microwave. Making the candy in molds at home did not work and only made messes. Alina collaborated with a food scientist and her dentist on the ingredients. When she settled on a formula, Alina invested her life savings, $3,750 from birthday and holiday gifts, and got her father to match it. Alina and her father traveled to different commercial manufacturing plants throughout Michigan to find one with the equipment they needed. They eventually proposed their product to Whole Foods Market. It was Zollipops' first retail placement, and it was a success. The company became profitable a year and a half after its 2014 launch. Seventy thousand Zollipops were sold the first year, and sales doubled each year from 2014 through 2018. In 2016, Zollipops were picked up by Kroger, America's largest supermarket chain. Online sales began soon after Whole Foods, via Amazon, making up approximately a quarter of total sales. By 2018, Zollipops were both Amazon's best selling sugar-free hard candy and best selling lollipops.

Shalom Bako is Managing Director at Afrivana. He was born and raised in Northern Nigeria. Shalom moved to the United States as teenager; excelling as an athlete with teams like the Los Angeles Galaxy. Groomed by unique international experiences, Shalom returned to West Africa, focused on agricultural development, manufacturing and distribution. He also serves on the Global Chamber® Los Angeles advisory board.

Shalom is passionate about connecting the African continent with the global diasporas; using agricultural trade and development as a primary vehicle. "Innovation for Africa, must be lead by Africans.”

Caitlin Balderrama, LCB & CLTD is the Branch Manager and Licensed Customs Broker of Mainfreight’s Arizona Branch. Mainfreight is a New-Zealand-based global 3PL with offices in 26 countries across Europe, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, and providing warehousing, Trucking Air, Ocean and Customs services.

As founding Manager of the Arizona Branch, she has driven growth, excellence in customer service and strong fundamentals of global freight as the foundation of the branch.

She received her degree in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, and has lived and worked in various countries including Ireland, Belgium, Russia, Argentina and Peru. As a result of her travels, she speaks Spanish, French and Russian and is excited to grow personally and professionally in the Valley of the Sun. Her work experience includes being Global Recruitment Operations Coordinator at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Moderators: Susana Trasente at City of Peoria and Kamilia Hereira at Global Chamber®

Global Chamber® is a growing and collaborating community of CEOs, executives and leaders in 525 metro regions around the world... connecting member businesses to new opportunities and advancing growth and success. It's the only chamber of commerce in the world operating in hundreds of locations that helps exporting, importing and investing members to connect through warm introductions to clients, partners, projects and resources. Global Chamber® is a registered trademark of Global Chamber, LLC since 2014.