Elmira Bayrasli: Traveling along an innovative pipeline

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by: Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Pipeline

What is Elmira Bayrasli made of? The perfect balance of unquenchable curiosity, undeniable optimism, a deep connection to her Turkish roots, and foresight to imagine the world as she wants it to be. This could explain Elmira’s dedication to her work at Endeavor, a New York-based nonprofit supporting high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging markets.

Edited by: Ghazel Ghazaleh Abassalian, Video Editor, Pipeline

“I am a storyteller,” explains Elmira. “I have always been passionate about writing and telling people’s stories.” A woman innovator creatively imagines the world as she wishes it to be. With a passion for writing and telling stories, Elmira’s imagination is endless. Her career pipeline is now taking her to Turkey to unleash the entrepreneurship potential in the Middle East. She will undoubtedly tell the stories of her exciting new work there and the people her imagination touches. To a budding woman innovator such as myself, Elmira’s success and continued dedication to the greater good is inspirational. 

Watch the video to hear more about Elmira’s personal pipeline and her nuggets of advice to future innovators. 

*In Elmira’s #womaninnovator interview, she draws on Elif Shafak’s comments on creative writing shared in a TED talk.


Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Manager. Her responsibilities include overseeing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, volunteer management, and producing the #womaninnovator video series. As she completes her senior year at Fordham University studying English and Women’s Studies, Claire looks forward to continuing to meet inspiring women innovators, sharing their stories, and documenting her journey through her own career pipeline.


Pipeline Online: The fruits of our social media labor

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by: Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline

I am happy to report that Pipeline’s #womaninnovator media campaign is in full swing. Being the lucky Strategic Initatives Associate that I am, I have gotten to interview many vibrant women innovators and ask them to define and explain what that label means to them. When Pipeline is not behind the FlipCam, we are online posing questions to our Twitter and Facebook audience. How would you define the term #womaninnovator? Here are some exciting responses that we have received!
 
@crunkfeminists: A #womaninnovator brings their bold visions & thoughts 2 the world, (re)creating the magic that will heal & help us all!!
 
@sorayadarabi: a #womaninnovator is the same…as a man who innovates…creative and bold.
 
@WomenWhoTech: To me an innovator is someone who is entrepreneurial, a collaborator, networked and can check their ego. A leader.
 
@eldorn: A #womaninnovator looks for truth and will stop at nothing to pursue a correct idea.

Join the conversation: Using the #womaninnovator hashtag, tweet your definition to us at @PipelineWomen!

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observations as she navigates through her own career pipeline.

Rachael Chong and Jane Slusser’s innovative contribution to volunteer-matching: Catchafire

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by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Pipeline

We’ve all heard the saying, “Two heads are better than one,” but, it wasn’t until I met Rachael Chong and Jane Slusser, the partnership that heads up Catchafire, that I really believed it. Friends since college, Rachael and Jane combined their passions and skill sets to change the world of volunteering. Rachael Chong, Founder and CEO, is ablaze with energy and drive to innovate the volunteer world. For Rachael, every professional can volunteer their skills and every nonprofit has a real need for skilled volunteers.

Edited by: Ghazel Ghazaleh Abassalian, Pipeline

Catchafire connects nonprofits with professionals who can provide the expertise that they are looking for. In turn, professionals are matched with a nonprofit that needs their specific skills, in turn creating a meaningful volunteer experience. Jane Slusser, Vice President, is the peanut butter to Rachael’s jelly. When Jane joined Catchafire, she had the opportunity to apply lessons learned from her time spent organizing volunteers for the Obama campaign.

I caught up with Rachael and Jane on another hot New York summer day. They had fun with the #womaninnovator interview, bouncing answers off one another and finishing each others’ sentences. They shared the back-story of Catchafire’s launch and what makes them women innovators.


Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Manager. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. She also manages Pipeline’s volunteers. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observations as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.

Meet Ghazel Ghazaleh Abassalian: Pipeline’s innovative & tech-savvy #womaninnovator Video Editor

By: Ghazel Ghazaleh Abassalian, #womaninnovator Video Editor, Pipeline

I found out about Pipeline through a friend of mine, Jennifer Lauren. The last time we met we had many conversations about women’s position today in the Western world, but also in the Middle East. One day I received an email from her mentioning Pipeline and that they were looking for a video editor. I went to check out Pipeline’s website and didn’t hesitate for a minute to apply.  

I volunteer as Pipeline’s #womaninnovator Video Editor because:

After having graduated from art school with a major in Audiovisual Art, I really wanted to get more involved doing film and montage for issues that matter to me. Pipeline discusses what I care about. By becoming a video editor for Pipeline[’s media campaign #womaninnovator], I can do what I like to do, which is montage, while working with amazing women who share my ideals. This way I get to help to show something that carries a message and people should really hear about. 

I [was] born in Iran but [was] raised in the Netherlands. My parents fled Iran when I was just a few months old. Growing up with an active and involved mother who raised my brother and me I’ve always been aware of women’s situations in society, especially in the Middle East. 

We live in a male-run world where more and more women are starting to rule the business world, the household on top of that plus maintaining a family life. Still women are in a position where they need to struggle for equality. 

My definition of a #womaninnovator: 

She has a vision of what she wants. Being an open individual she is curious to learn to know and get better, I see her taking charge of her own life. She has the ability to take action, however challenging it may feel at the time, that may mean feeling a bit scared or anxious but deciding to take action anyway in the knowledge it will get a lot easier next time. A women innovator does not let fear stand in her way.


Tammy Tibbetts’ message for fellow women innovators: If you can rock the prom, you can rock the world!

by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline

My very first week working at Pipeline, I found myself on the red carpet at Manhattan hot spot Santo’s Party House for the GIRLS WHO ROCK benefit concert. This is where I first met the lovely Tammy Tibbetts, Creator of She’s the First. Female recording artists Kat DeLuna, Lenka, MoZella, Shontelle, Cara Salimando and Kelli Pyle, along with DJ Kalkutta, made music to make a difference for She’s the First, raising funds to support girls’ education in Africa.  She’s the First is a global education campaign that sends girls to school around the world, so they are able to become “the first” to achieve their goals.

Edited by: Ghazel Ghazaleh Abassalian, Pipeline


Despite the inevitable stress of putting on a benefit concert and the chaos of the red carpet, Tammy was poised and friendly as she answered my questions that evening. Fast forward a month later, Tammy Tibbetts sat across from me at In Good Company to formally define what a #womaninnovator is to her. In true woman innovator fashion, Tammy wears many hats these days. She works at Hearst Digital Media on the site DonateMyDress.org. The huge success of this creative site, that gives girls the chance to attend prom who otherwise couldn’t, set off a light-bulb in Tammy’s head. She’s the First is a directory of nonprofits that seek sponsors to send girls to school, capitalizing on social media and creative marketing. As full as her plate is, Tammy invites women and girls who are looking to become innovators to reach out to her and join the conversation about #womeninnovators.

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilities include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observations as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.