Orlando, FL — February 27, 2026 — Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship (WTE) brought together founders, technologists, investors, and community leaders from across Florida for the 2026 WTE Awards, a celebration recognizing women driving innovation, leadership, and community impact across the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Held in Orlando, the event honored standout leaders in three primary award categories — Rising Star, Innovator, and Community Catalyst — selected from more than 100 nominations across the tech and startup ecosystem. Twenty finalists advanced to the run offs, with winners announced during the evening’s celebration.

The evening also included several special recognitions honoring extraordinary contributions to the WTE community and broader entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Tonight is about celebrating the builders,” said WTE Founder and CEO Raechel Canipe during the ceremony. “The entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, and leaders in this room are not just building companies — they’re building ecosystems, creating opportunity, and opening doors for the next generation.”

Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship has hosted 200+ free events serving more than 12,000 participants across nine Florida chapters, connecting women founders, technologists, and leaders with opportunities for mentorship, capital access, and career growth.

2026 WTE Award Winners & Finalists

Rising Star Award

The Rising Star Award honors an individual who is early in their tech or entrepreneurship journey - whether they’re just launching their first startup, making a bold career pivot, or diving into innovation later in life. The Rising Star demonstrates outstanding initiative, drive, and early impact, with clear potential to become a future leader in their field. Age isn’t the qualifier for this one - courage to begin is.

Winner

Samantha Sosa — Executive Director, SOFITEC — Ft Lauderdale, FL

Samantha Sosa is a legal and fintech strategist specializing in financial inclusion, regulatory compliance, and product innovation. She rose from legal counsel to Executive Director at SOFITEC, where she led the launch of the SEZA e-wallet and built partnerships with Mastercard and MoneyGram while contributing to fintech regulatory development with Haiti’s Central Bank. She also co-founded Ekosystem Fintek Ayiti and serves on the board of Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship.

Finalists

Etinosa Agbonlahor — CEO, Decision Alpha — Tampa, FL

Etinosa Agbonlahor is a behavioral economist and CEO of Decision Alpha, a behavioral pricing firm helping companies understand customer value and translate it into more effective pricing strategies. She has spent more than a decade shaping financial wellbeing and behavioral engagement strategies for global financial institutions, startups, and private companies across the U.S., Australia, Africa, and the U.K. Her work has been featured in MarketWatch and Morningstar.

Catarina Suplicy — Founder & CEO, RavenOps - Hollywood, FL

Catarina “Cat” Suplicy is an operations executive and strategic leader known for building scalable systems and high-performing teams. With more than a decade of leadership experience spanning hospitality, business operations, and technology, she founded RavenOps to help organizations streamline operations and build stronger foundations for growth.

Innovator Award

Our Innovator Award recognizes breakthrough innovation in tech or entrepreneurship. It honors an individual who has introduced a significant technological advancement or inventive solution with measurable impact on their industry or community — someone who exemplifies creativity, forward-thinking, and a commitment to driving meaningful change.

Winner

Yvonne Rivera — CEO & CISO, CyberMyte — Orlando, FL

Yvonne Rivera is a cybersecurity leader, Army combat veteran, and CEO and co-founder of CyberMyte. Through CyberMyte’s secure cloud platform, CyMyCloud, she helps small businesses meet complex federal cybersecurity and compliance requirements. After enlisting in the U.S. Army at 17 following 9/11 and deploying three times, Rivera built a career protecting critical systems for organizations including the Department of Defense and the FBI. She is also a passionate advocate for women, veterans, and minority-owned businesses entering the technology sector.

Finalists

Irina Zakharchenko — Co-Founder & CEO, ApolloRise — Orlando, FL

Irina Zakharchenko is a technology founder and strategist known for developing DocsDNA, a document intelligence platform designed to modernize procurement workflows. By shifting contract review and sourcing from manual analysis to AI-powered intelligence, her platform enables organizations to surface governance risks, extract insights, and generate executive-ready summaries in minutes. She is a strong advocate for responsible AI adoption and women’s leadership in technology.

Janell Borrero — Founder, MoneyPOP — Orlando, FL

Janell Borrero is a CFO, financial strategist, and founder of MoneyPOP, an AI-powered financial guidance platform designed for beauty entrepreneurs. At the center of the platform is “Ella,” an AI CFO that helps founders translate financial data into actionable next steps. Since launching the platform in December 2025, Borrero has already secured paying customers organically and is focused on helping more women build profitable, sustainable businesses.

Community Catalyst Award

Our Community Catalyst Award honors an individual who has strengthened the tech ecosystem through mentorship, advocacy, and community-building. The recipient is a connector and leader, creating opportunities and inclusive spaces for others to thrive.

Winner

Safia Porter — Executive Director, Building Our Tech (BOT) — Orlando, FL

Safia Porter is the Executive Director of Building Our Tech (BOT), a nonprofit advancing workforce development and entrepreneurship across Central Florida. Over the past decade, BOT programs have engaged more than 6,000 participants, supported over 90 founders, developed 300+ technology professionals, and built dozens of regional partnerships while helping alumni companies generate more than $4 million in capital. Porter is widely recognized for her work creating inclusive pathways into technology careers.

Finalists

Christine Caven — Director of Business Development & Communications, PS27 Ventures — Gainesville, FL

Christine Caven is a strategist helping scale AI-powered B2B and FinTech startups through her work at PS27 Ventures. She co-founded the PS27 Female Founders Forum, now Florida’s largest International Women’s Day celebration, and works to help overlooked founders access capital through initiatives like the Rhea Fund. She also serves as Vice President of startGNV and helped raise $70,000 through Tech Battle of the Bands to support GRACE Marketplace.

Isabella Johnston — Founder & CEO, Employers4Change — Orlando, FL

Isabella Johnston is the founder of Employers4Change, an AI-enabled workforce platform connecting employers with talent through values- and skills-based hiring. A passionate mentor and community leader, Johnston has helped guide more than 1,000 interns and facilitated over 1,000 internship placements. She also hosts The Intern Whisperer podcast and serves on several academic and nonprofit advisory boards.

Impact Award

Impact Award

The Impact Award is a board member honor recognizing extraordinary dedication and service to the Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship community. It celebrates members of the WTE Board whose leadership, initiative, and behind-the-scenes contributions have had an outsized impact on the organization and its ability to serve the broader tech and entrepreneurship ecosystem. This award recognizes the doers — the builders who step forward to solve problems, bring ideas to life, and ensure that ambitious community initiatives become reality.

Winner

Leeonna Robinson — Founder, Assistance Made Simple — Orlando, FL

Angel Award

The Angel Award honors the essential work of caregiving that keeps families, communities, and society moving forward. It recognizes individuals who shoulder the significant responsibilities of caring for children, parents, partners, or loved ones while continuing to contribute their leadership and talents to their communities. Caregiving frequently requires profound personal sacrifice and can limit access to professional visibility, recognition, and opportunities — quietly gatekeeping many deserving women from the accolades they have earned. This award celebrates the resilience, generosity, and quiet strength of caregivers whose work behind the scenes makes so much of our world possible.

Winner

Carey McKearnan — Caretaker & Former Media Executive — Ft Lauderdale, FL

Luminary Award

The Luminary Award is the highest honor presented by Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship. It recognizes an individual whose lifelong commitment has profoundly shaped the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem and created enduring opportunity for others. This award celebrates leaders whose decades of work have helped founders launch companies, strengthened innovation communities, and expanded access to resources, capital, and mentorship. Luminaries are the architects of ecosystems — the mentors, advocates, and champions whose influence ripples across generations of entrepreneurs. It honors those whose careers have illuminated the path forward for thousands and whose impact will continue long into the future.

Winner

Carol Ann Logue — “Retired” Co-Founder & Director of Central Florida Tech Grove; Director of UCF Innovations District & Incubation Program

Thank You to Our Sponsors & Community Partners

The 2026 WTE Awards were made possible through the support of community sponsors including:

Presenting Sponsor: Suncoast Credit Union
Orlando Tech Community Grant: City of Orlando
Cocktail Sponsor: RevStar
Dessert Sponsor: BayView Financial Planning
Afterparty Sponsor: Velero Consulting

Gold Sponsors:

Hawkins AVL | Black Gator Productions | Ideal Image | Phaxis | CP Marketing  | Halo360  | Lavishly Events  | MPressed Events