We’re thrilled to announce the inspiring entrepreneurs on the 2025 High Five Grant Judging Panel. These eight incredible leaders bring with them expansive experience, sharp insight, and a passion for empowering small business owners. From powerhouse entrepreneurs to transformative coaches and innovation-driven CEOs, our judges are ready to champion ambitious moms and help select the next round of High Five Grant finalists.
These leaders understand what it means to build with purpose, lead with courage, and turn vision into action. Get to know the amazing individuals who will be reviewing applications, asking thoughtful questions, and cheering on our 2025 finalists.
Amy Schutte
Storytelling Strategist & Brand Visibility Expert
Amy Schutte believes in the power of a good story to transform businesses. After starting as a journalist and working in international marketing, she founded Hudson & Co. to help everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies strengthen their brand with authenticity and impact. Certified as a business coach and creator of the Origin Stories™ Method, Amy blends storytelling, neuroscience, and marketing frameworks to help businesses stand out and grow. She brings a keen eye for brand clarity and visibility to the High Five Grant panel, helping identify founders who can tell their story in a way that captivates customers and investors alike.
Jimmy Choi
Fintech Leader & Champion for Small Business Growth
Jimmy Choi serves as the CEO of Bridge Financial, where he leads a fintech-driven mission to empower small business owners with clearer valuations, improved financial planning, and confident exit strategies. With a rich background in entrepreneurship, digital innovation, and community building, he previously served as Chief Administrative Officer at U.S. Bank WMIS CPO, overseeing fintech partnerships, acquisitions, and product governance to drive digital adoption among diverse enterprise clients. At Bridge, Jimmy combines deep finance expertise with a passion for making business ownership more accessible and sustainable. His career is marked by strategic impact, innovative thinking, and a results-focused approach. As a High Five Grant judge, he’ll evaluate applications with sharp financial insight and a commitment to practical growth.
Nadine Fonseca
Anti-Bias Educator & Inclusive Business Leader
Named as a Latino Leader: Driver of Tomorrow by TIME Magazine, Nadine Fonesca is a passionate advocate for human connection, equity, and inclusion and a published children's book author. She’s on a mission to build a brighter, kinder, and more inclusive future by fostering positive change through Mighty Kind, her educational multimedia company. In addition to running Mighty Kind, she partners with brands, nonprofits, and other organizations as a consultant to co-design systems, structures, processes, and messaging that ignite and support meaningful, sustainable, and equitable change. As a High Five Grant judge, Nadine brings commitment to diversity and building businesses with lasting social impact through mission-driven leadership.
Illens DorT
Leaderhip Coach & Culture Builder
Illens Dort is a speaker, author, and leadership coach known for helping individuals and organizations thrive through values-based leadership. As the founder of Maximum Impact Council, Illens has spent years cultivating strong business cultures, guiding entrepreneurs, and giving back to his community. His work focuses on unlocking human potential by fostering authentic connections, empowering leaders to build resilient teams, and driving purposeful growth. Illens’ ability to inspire meaningful transformation makes him a dynamic force on this year’s judging panel, where his insights will help identify entrepreneurs poised for both business success and maximum impact.
Juliana Lindsay
Serial Entrepreneur & Strategic Powerhouse
Juliana Lindsay is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 15 years of hands-on business experience across multiple industries. Raised in an entrepreneurial family, Juliana launched her first venture in her early 20s and has since built a diverse portfolio that spans franchising, real estate, strategic consulting, and her newest project, Coral Cove Childcare. As a dedicated single mother, she’s mastered the art of balancing business growth with family life and gained firsthand insight into the unique challenges mom entrepreneurs face. Her journey has been shaped by both hard-won victories and valuable lessons, giving her a wide-angle view of what it takes to build sustainable, compelling businesses. Juliana brings a sharp strategic mind, deep empathy, and an unwavering belief in women’s potential to this year’s judging panel—and she’s ready to champion the next generation of mom-led ventures.
Jeff Durham
CPG Innovator & Brand Builder
Jeff Durham is CEO of Durham Brands, a family-owned CPG company whose flagship product, Gimme Beauty, is sold in over 25,000 retail locations nationwide, including ULTA Beauty, Target, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. Under Jeff’s leadership, Gimme Beauty has become a standout in the competitive beauty market by creating innovative, customized hair accessories and tools that cater to unique hair types. Jeff also founded the CPGX Forum, a vibrant community connecting top brand builders and executives across the CPG industry. With his deep experience in product innovation, retail strategy, and brand growth, Jeff brings invaluable insight into what it takes to scale consumer-focused businesses successfully. His hands-on expertise will help the High Five Grant panel identify founders with strong growth potential and a clear path to market.
Michelda Castro
Champion of Creative Equity & Economic Empowerment
Michelda G. Castro is a South Florida native with proud Haitian roots and a deep commitment to creativity, community, and economic equity. As founder of Versatile Image, she transformed a Florida-based creative agency into a Utah nonprofit dedicated to building platforms for underrepresented creative professionals and entrepreneurs. Her background in financial services, including roles as a licensed banker, small business specialist, and manager of a $69 million small business loan fund at the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, has given her a firsthand view of the systemic challenges many founders face when accessing capital. Now also the co-founder of Black Salt Capital, a growing real estate and wealth management firm, Michelda combines financial acumen with a passion for inclusive innovation. Her unique perspective at the intersection of entrepreneurship, finance, and social impact brings a high-powered, purposeful lens to this year’s High Five Grant judging panel.
Lonny James RuBEN
CPG Trailblazer & Founder’s Coach
Lonny James Ruben is the founder and former CEO of VeganCuts, a pioneering subscription box company that brought plant-based, cruelty-free products to the mainstream. Under his leadership, VeganCuts grew from a startup in an apartment closet to a $30M+ brand, featured by CNN, Forbes, ABC, and named to the INC 5000 three times (once as high as #256!). But behind the explosive growth, Lonny faced the crushing mental toll of entrepreneurship. After reaching a breaking point, he made a life-altering decision to prioritize his well-being, ultimately leading to a successful exit from the company. Today, through LonnyJames.com, he coaches high-achieving founders who feel stuck in the businesses they’ve built—offering his step-by-step Founder Rehab program to help them regain clarity, freedom, and fulfillment. With his rare blend of entrepreneurial success and deep personal insight, Lonny brings powerful perspective to this year’s judging panel.
Our team is here for you
Each of these judges brings something unique to the table, whether it’s deep marketing expertise, transformative leadership, financial savvy, or a lived entrepreneurial journey. They are each reviewing 2025 High Five Grant for Moms applications with care, looking for bold ideas, scrappy execution, and big dreams.
We’re so grateful to have such an inspiring panel leading the way in this eighth cycle of the High Five Grant. With their guidance, we’ll awarding $22,500 in grant funding, putting this competition over the $100,000 mark in awarded grants given since 2018.
Applications open September 1, 2025, and if you’re a mom building a business with vision and grit, this is your moment. Apply at www.highfivegrant.com between September 1-30, 2025. We can’t wait to see what you’re working on and for our judges to meet you!
Let’s go, 2025!
