NEW YORK (April 13, 2018)—This week, the 9th annual Tina Brown Live Media Women in the World Summit, presented and co-hosted by Toyota, will feature the Mothers of Invention (MOI) Class of 2018, celebrating pioneers who are driving positive change in the world through innovation and entrepreneurship. Three grants in the amount of $50,000 each were awarded for groundbreaking work in developing solutions to combat human trafficking, drug-facilitated sexual assault, and to create an educational technology platform that connects families. The Summit takes place April 12-14.
 
Since its inception in 2012, Toyota has collaborated with the Tina Brown Live Media editorial team to identify three women annually who affect change throughout the world and have tremendous passion: the finalists meet a myriad of criteria, solving large-scale problems, affecting impact and growth, introducing new product categories, finding solutions to societal issues around the globe, innovating technologies and more. Since its inception, the Toyota Mothers of Invention program has recognized the ingenuity of 22 women with a total of more than $1 million in grants. Their stories can be read here.
 
“These women are game changers who are creating massive impact in the world around them and the team at Toyota is thrilled to support them in their mission to make a difference,” said Jacquelyn Birdsall, senior engineer, Toyota Motor North America. “The Toyota Mothers of Invention network now stands at 22 brilliant women – we celebrate their success and applaud their efforts to come together to solve challenges and create lasting change among people and communities everywhere.”   
 
In addition to building great cars, Toyota is committed to improving society and the lives of others, championing solutions to issues around food, water, shelter, healthcare, electricity, sanitation, safety and education. As a sponsor of the Women in the World Summit since its inception seven years ago, Toyota has cultivated the Toyota Mothers of Invention program by not only awarding MOIs with the Driving Solutions Grant, but also facilitating networking opportunities, building relevant connections, and providing access to intellectual capital to help their organizations and causes go places.
 
 “I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s Toyota Mothers of Invention participants whose breakthrough inventions offer incredibly smart and simple solutions to timely problems that affect us all,” says Tina Brown, founder & CEO of Tina Brown Live Media.
 
This year, the three honorees – Maxeme Tuchman, Caribu; Emily Kennedy, Marinus Analytics; and Danya Sherman, KnoNap – will be highlighted through in-depth conversations over the course of the Summit program. More information about the Mothers of Invention Class of 2018:
 
Maxeme Tuchman (CEO and co-founder, Caribu)
Miami-based Maxeme Tuchman inspires with her story of Caribu, an education platform that helps parents, extended family and mentors to read and draw with children when they’re not in the same location. Used by military parents stationed overseas to parents traveling on business trips and more, the Caribu experience is an engaging livestream shared-screen experience featuring hundreds of books in six languages. The inspiration to invent Caribu came from seeing a photograph of a deployed U.S. soldier who was struggling to read a book to his daughter through a laptop webcam. 
 
Emily Kennedy (CEO, Marinus Analytics)
Emily Kennedy is the brains behind Traffic Jam, a groundbreaking technology used to apprehend sex traffickers and rescue trafficked victims that’s relied upon by law enforcement in the U.S. and abroad. Traffic Jam is a suite of AI tools that turn big data into actionable intelligence for sex trafficking investigations, including the first facial recognition technology designed to find human trafficking victims online. Inspired by having witnessed children being trafficked when she visited Europe as a 16-year-old tourist, she began working on the technology in 2011 at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute. Kennedy hails from California.
 
Danya Sherman (Founder and CEO, KnoNap)
Danya Sherman is a young entrepreneur and the founder of KnoNap, a detection device cleverly disguised as a napkin that detects the most common date rape drugs. With one in 13 college-aged individuals having suspected their drink was laced with a rape drug last year, Danya’s invention is timely and important.  Motivated by her own experiences as well as the shared experiences of other women, Sherman wanted to make a difference to help women feel comfortable in any social situation. Sherman resides in Washington D.C. and is a junior at George Washington University.