Leadership
Holly McIlwain
Founder
Holly McIlwain is the founder and chief cheerleader of the Brave Women Project. She is the author of “For She Who Leads: Practical Wisdom from a Woman Who Serves” and leads the Talent Development platform for Winner Partners. She is a subject-matter expert in the usage of behavior assessments as part of coaching and development plans, in addition to talent acquisition engagements. As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, working with individuals and organizations to build a better world and sustainable business solutions is her passion. What’s not exciting about that? This enthusiasm comes with Holly into each coaching session, team workshop, search opportunity, and speaking engagement. It carries right over into the Brave Women Project. Nothing excites Holly more than inspiring women to do brave things. One of the brave things she did was partner with Amy Hooper Hanna to create "For She Who Grieves: Practical Wisdom for Living Hope".
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Developing leaders who change lives is Holly’s passion and professional purpose. She has studied and written about topics such as: Leadership and Mission, Bravery in Business, and Managing Human Relationships. As a recognized subject matter expert, Holly has spoken at numerous conferences and on Sirius XM Radio. She holds an advanced degree in Organizational Leadership from Robert Morris University, and is certified as a DISC Behavior Analyst and a Driving Forces Behavior Analyst.
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Holly invests herself to expand the reach of those organizations she serves and has a long record of engagement in the region. Holly functioned as a lead consultant in Organizational Management and Leadership Development for one of the largest non-profits in the world and spent 15 years in the non-profit sector. After studying with Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, she invested her time and professionalism in the Pittsburgh region, consistently seeking ways to challenge leaders to become fully engaged in transformation. In 2020 she began serving as Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation Faculty and became a DDI Certified Facilitator. Holly is an expert in the value of dynamic onboarding as part of the foundation for fully engaged employees and served in Human Resources at Robert Morris University and Franciscan University. She previously served as Director of People & Culture for Wolfe.com, an INC top 100 fastest growing company! Currently she leverages her subject matter expertise through conducting management training and corporate learning and development workshops.
Holly has worked with and served on the Boards of Directors for foundations and non-profits, and continues to be a frequent speaker and trainer on topics of leadership and living at Conferences and Workshops. She and her husband, Kevin, are raising two young boys and residing in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area. Learn more about Holly at www.hollyjoy.info.
Morgan Null, Esq.
Co-Founder & Chair of the Board
When we think about women doing brave things, Morgan Null demonstrates bravery as she has taken on building the Brave Women Project with Holly. Now serving as the President and Chairwoman of the Board for BWP, Morgan started the organization with Holly in 2020.
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Morgan, a Pittsburgh-native, graduated in May 2021 from George Washington University, double majoring in Communication and Organizational Science. She has completed her studies and received her Juris Doctor from Duquesne University, School of Law, in 2024. Following an accomplished law school career in many organizations at Duquesne, and completing two summer associate programs, Morgan is an Associate at Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC, following the July 2024 bar exam. She is so excited to begin her legal career in downtown Pittsburgh with this highly reputable firm.
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In her free time, Morgan enjoys exploring her Lawrenceville neighborhood, finding coffee shops and restaurants, and meeting new people. Morgan is also serving a term on the Session of her church, Westminster Presbyterian, where she has grown up and volunteered many hours. She is specifically involved with the Children and Family Ministries, where she helps to plan church-wide events for the families of the church.
Kelli A. Komondor
Executive Director
Kelli is a visibility strategist, consultant, speaker, and best-selling author with a passion in helping women-owned businesses and female professionals amplify their voices and build powerful brands. Her commitment is helping women in business rise, and she uses her strategic expertise to ensure that their stories are seen, heard, and celebrated.
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As a founding member and Executive Director of the Brave Women Project (BWP), Kelli empowers women to embrace bravery in their everyday lives. Her commitment to women's success has earned her recognition, including a 2023 Cribs for Kids Women of Achievement Award. She continues to give back by mentoring with Girls Inc. (formerly Strong Women Strong Girls), the PA Women Work Three Cups of Coffee program and was a 2023 mentor at the Pittsburgh Business Times’ Mentoring Monday.
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Through her agency, K2 Creative Strategies, she drives success by offering comprehensive services in Visibility, Influence, and Brand Elevation (VIBE). Her clients have gained significant visibility by speaking in front of thousands and by being featured on platforms like Dr. Phil, ABC’s Jet 24, Ya Jagoff! Media, Talk Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Business Times, The Boston Herald, and The New York Telegraph, to name a few.
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She lives in the little borough of Port Vue with Rob, her husband of 30+ years, and their 13-year-old Yorkie Poo, Mia. Her greatest accomplishments are their two grown children, Cameron and Kayla.
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Kelli is a lover of love, writing, and food and a hater of hate, chaos, and stemless wine glasses.
Renee DeMichiei Farrow
Renee DeMichiei Farrow is an entrepreneur, executive coach, small business advocate, former corporate director, and bestselling author who is highly lauded for her business and personal branding knowledge, marketing, public relations, coaching, government, and nonprofit relations. She is the President and Owner of two businesses, Decorating Details, a window treatment company, and her coaching business, Results With Renee.
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In 1992 Renee founded the award-winning business Decorating Details and earned multiple awards. This first tenure with Decorating Details lasted until 2005. During that time, she was recognized as a Pennsylvania Best 50 Women in Business, SBA Regional Women in Business Advocate of the year, YWCA Tribute to Women, and Girl Scout Women of Distinction. She received the 2022 SPEO Wallenberg Spirit Award, which is presented to a SPEO member who makes the lives of others better. She was awarded the 2018 Women of Achievement from Cribs for Kids in advocacy and business. Renee was honored as a 2015 Plum High School Distinguished Alumni and has served on the board since being honored. She was also an Athena Finalist in 2003. After attending Duquesne University, during the pandemic, she became a certified coach and started Results With Renee.
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She is a two-time published author; first in 2013 with the book Empower! Women’s Stories of Breakthrough, Discovery and Triumph, contributing the chapter “From Coaltown to Uptown”. She wrote the foreword and chapter “Empower Your Future” in the Amazon bestselling anthology, Twenty Won, in 2021.​
Renee serves on a few boards including Vice Chair of Gwen’s Girls, Cribs for Kids, and ICF Pittsburgh (International Coaching Federation). She is a member of the United Way Women’s Leadership Council, the Brave Women Project, and Chatham University Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship. She is a former board member SPEO (Southwestern PA Engineering Outreach).
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She is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh XIX, the foremost multi-disciplinary leadership identification, enrichment, and networking organization in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As a speaker, Renee regularly presents at Duquesne University and shares her knowledge of networking and how it can increase your bottom line and connect you with people who can advance your career. An avid networker, she was a founding member of Building a Network MACE (Manufacturing, Architecture, Construction, Engineering, Energy) and a member of the Plum Chamber, where she holds an elite sponsor title. She is a member of WBN (Women’s Business Network) and Greater Pittsburgh Business and Professional Women and was a past member of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners), where she presented multiple workshops and speaking engagements to help advance women in business.
Renee ran for office twice, both for City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County positions. As a Plum High School graduate, she continually supports the district with the scholarship she created in honor of her parents and to date has given over $20,000 to Plum students.
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Renee is proud of the amazing life she shares with her husband of 45 years, Bob; her 3 children, Rob, Rachel, and Ryan; their spouses; and her precious grandchildren - Jack, Ellie, and Ezra. Her number one passion is working with and helping all small business owners and mentoring anyone who asks her. She has been a mentor to many for the past 30 years and has helped guild them in careers, life, non-profit work, corporate work, and starting and growing their businesses.
Amy Hooper Hanna
Amy Hooper Hanna serves as a coach, trainer and consultant in employee communication, people engagement and leadership effectiveness. She consulted with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies in organization effectiveness and communications for several years in a leading human capital firm in Washington D.C., and another decade of continued employee attitude survey work on her own in Pittsburgh.
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As an adjunct consultant for a leading talent management firm in the most recent decade, she has focused on assessing corporate client leadership behavior and providing developmental feedback, as well as facilitating and producing various professional trainings. She has also taken on a business coach and board facilitator position with The Alternative Board of Pittsburgh.
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Soon after she became a mom (another key role) for the second time, she established her own independent entity, Amy Hooper Hanna & Associates (AhHA!). This started as a strategic employee research consultancy for employee engagement, retention, communications and marketing projects, and has since shifted to leadership coaching, making people-leadership easier with practical wisdom that works. As a strategist, researcher, communicator and coach, she takes an approach in life and business of asking questions and listening closely and creating “ah ha!” moments for people that generate positive momentum. As a single mom of three, she simply takes the approach of “AHHH!”
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Amy encourages taking a leap of faith, trusting oneself, and life, while questioning it too. She created the work flexibility she needs to responsibly be who she wants and continues to take risks to consciously carve out the “shoulds” and commit to what feels intuitively and intellectually right and light, to live a life of meaning and positive, personal impact.
Noted for being unflappable in the face of life’s constant blows, grace (ha!) under pressure, and seeing the humor in the most absurdly horrible, Amy is a big believer in laughter and keeping it real.
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Amy was the very first member of Brave Women Project!
Kayla M.Komondor, PhD
Kayla Komondor holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Biological Sciences with a specialty in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. Kayla’s bravery is shown by reaching well outside of her comfort zone as being the first in her family to pursue a PhD. Her NIH funded PhD research focused on different aspects of fertilization, and she is currently continuing to build on this research. While at Pitt, Kayla served on the Biological Sciences Graduate Student Organization as the Social Chair, the Department Retreat Planning Committee, and as a peer and rotation student mentor to new and incoming graduate students.
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Kayla graduated Summa Cum Laude from Robert Morris University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. While at RMU she completed her internship at the Gastrointestinal Mucosal Laboratory, formerly known as the McGowan Lab, at Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation. Kayla was also a STEM Outreach Ambassador at RMU where she promoted scientific literacy and encouraged students to take interest in STEM-related career paths within school districts around Pittsburgh. She was also a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society, Beta Beta Beta Honors Biology Society, Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Medicine Honors Society, and served as President of the Biology Club. She was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award, the Dean’s Scholar Award, and the Renaissance Award – awarded to students who completed all parts of the Student Engagement Transcript – Arts, Culture, & Creativity, Professional Experience, Transcultural/Global Experiences, Leadership, Undergraduate Research, and Service.
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Her volunteer efforts outside of her educational volunteering include committee member of Cindy’s Memorial Bark Park and past work with Fund it Forward and The Pink Pamper.
After completing her PhD in 2024, Kayla’s future plans include continued research in reproduction and women’s health in relation to fertility at the University of Pennsylvania.
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When Kayla is not doing research, she loves to spend time with her friends, family and her dog, Maggie. You can find her attending trivia, listening to all genres of music, reading, working out, listening to true crime podcasts, and watching the latest Marvel movie or show.
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As part of the Brave Women Project, Kayla is hoping to encourage growth and empowerment and to push other women to step outside their comfort zone.
Nicole Lerda
Known for her compassionate and emotionally intelligent leadership style, Nicole Lerda spent over 20 years in the highly male-dominated financial services industry before she purchased and launched MaxxCole Salon & Skin Spa. This experience, combined with her professional training and passion for mentoring, made Nicole perfectly poised to assume and enhance the salon’s existing operations and services.
Nicole began her professional career in Recruiting and Marketing with the MetLife Corporation and leveraged her tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit to rapidly ascend to executive leadership roles within two Fortune 50 organizations. First becoming the Director of Marketing, Nicole also became a fully licensed financial planner and was later elevated to the position of Director of New Business Development. Ultimately, she was promoted to Managing Sales Director where she oversaw a team of 40 financial advisors, scouted new talent for the firm and oversaw all community initiatives.
Over the course of her career in the financial world, Nicole has led sales and administrative teams to great financial success, created and executed award-winning, national marketing campaigns, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Carlow University as the Director of Major Gifts. Nicole is also a sought-out speaker who’s been an invited guest and featured speaker at the country’s most prestigious financial conferences. She also frequently addresses groups in her community to share her thoughts and best practices on female empowerment.
As she was rising through an industry where only 15% of its employees were women and only 4% were in leadership roles, Nicole made it her personal mission to help as many women as possible – and not just her female coworkers in the industry. Nicole not only mentored and hired women into leadership roles within the financial services industry, but she also leveraged her financial savvy to deliver women-focused financial planning presentations all over the United States. For these efforts, Nicole was named the Community Champion of the Year in 2021 for volunteerism focused on women and children.
At the community level, Nicole volunteered at the local women’s shelter and made a habit of frequenting women-owned businesses – often offering free financial and operational advice to those business owners. These local efforts directly led to her becoming the owner of MaxxCole Salon & Skin Spa, as she’d referred her friends to the salon, helped the former owner with financial planning, and held client events in the salon’s space to drive traffic to the business. When Nicole learned in 2020 that the owner didn’t expect the salon to survive due to the pandemic, she decided to rescue the business and the careers of its 10 employees.
With her extensive background in strategic marketing and business operations, it’s no surprise that the salon not only survived but is thriving and growing. She has tripled revenue and transformed customer service into an impeccable client experience. As the owner and operator of MaxxCole, LLC, Nicole is the architect behind MaxxCole's commitment to excellence for clients and team members alike. In 2021 MaxxCole was named the “Women-Owned Small Business of the Year Nicole was recognized as a Pittsburgh Professional Woman of Influence, and Allegheny West Magazine dubbed her an “Influential Leader.” In 2023, the Better Business Bureau awarded MaxxCole Salon & Skin Spa with an A+ accreditation and in October of 2023, Nicole won the Brave Woman Project Pillar Award for Encouragement.
When Nicole is not at MaxxCole, she can be found participating as a member of several business, community and non-profit groups, including the Airport Area Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh Professional Women, Brave Women Project and Face2Face Healing. In 2023, she was selected to be an Advisor to the Women in Business Club at Robert Morris University. Financially, she supports local non-profit organizations that focus on helping women on challenging journeys in the areas of domestic violence, food insecurity, female cancers and career support and placement.
Mary Richter
Mary Richter has a great appreciation for the link between community and bravery—growing up with Italian immigrant parents, Mary witnessed firsthand how the gathering of a community (usually around a great meal) bolsters bravery.
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Mary earned her degree in accounting at Duquesne University and had a 35-year history of serving tax clients before starting her next act as a professional career and leadership development coach and writer. In addition to her professional leadership, Mary has many ties to the local and global community in serving as a Board Member for Magee-Women’s Research Institute & Foundation, Western Pennsylvania District Export Council (DEC), and WELD. She continues to work with ACHIEVA, where she has been involved for many years, including as past board chair. She also serves on the Tocqueville Committee for United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
She has mentored both women and men and continues this tradition, as she recently earned her professional coach certification and is now working with emerging and mid-career professionals to help them on their career journey. BWP inspired her to follow her passion and move toward helping others succeed in their careers!
Mary Richter has been a champion for Brave Women Project since the very beginning, and brings so much more than deep experience and knowledge from her industry—she brings her seemingly boundless energy, passionate commitment to providing opportunities and a model for professional women to demonstrate bravery, love of dogs and NHL hockey and unmatched expertise in Italian cooking!
