About empowHERed
EmpowHERed is led by Susan Apgood and Anjali Varma who are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advisors specializing in women’s leadership and gender equality.
EmpowHERed's mission is to increase awareness of gender equality and develop and elevate women leaders across all industries. EmpowHERed leads events, programming, training, coaching, and community focused on advancing women and provides services targeted toward corporations, women leaders in the workplace, and women business owners. Offerings include corporate training workshops and group coaching programs as well as events and workshops targeted toward women leaders and women business owners.
At American University's Kogod School of Business, where Susan and Anjali are both professors, they designed and lead the award winning course Women In Organization Leadership. Both are entrepreneurs, seasoned marketers, and business coaches who specialize in women’s leadership.
Meet Anjali
Anjali Varma is a women’s leadership advocate who consults with organizations and individual leaders on gender equity and women’s leadership strategies. She hosts and moderates events targeted toward women leaders and develops and leads women's leadership corporate training programs. Anjali is an adjunct professor at American University Kogod School of Business where she teaches Women In Organization Leadership and Introduction to Business.
Anjali is also an entrepreneur. She owned and operated a small business for ten years, which she sold in January 2020. Throughout that time, she also served as a business coach and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs. Prior to entrepreneurship, Anjali worked at American Express for eight years in various roles including small business marketing and partnership marketing. Anjali earned her MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and her BBA from the University of Michigan. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and two sons.
Meet Susan
Susan Matthews Apgood is the founder of News Generation, a premier media relations firm which she launched in 1997, and sold to 4media group in April of 2020.
Apgood is active in a number of public relations associations, including Washington Women in Public Relations, of which she was Treasurer from January 2019 to 2022, and now serves on WWPR’s Advisory Board. She is also active in the Public Relations Society of America, National Capital Chapter, and was on the board of directors for 12 years. In November of 2022, she was inducted into the PRSA-NCC Hall of Fame.
Since 2016, Apgood has been an adjunct professor in the Kogod School of Business at American University teaching Women in Organizational Leadership, Business Ethics and Introduction to Business. In August of 2022, she and her colleague, Anjali Varma, won the Ann Ferren Curriculum Design Award for best course design of their class Women in Organizational Leadership.
She is a business facilitator, and coaches women in workshops and private sessions to grow their new and growing businesses. She earned her MBA in finance from American University and BA in economics from George Washington University. For fun, she competes in triathlons and half marathons. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and three sons.