One of Fashion’s Biggest Name’s Is Empowering Women in Science

Nabiha Saklayen has been named the Tory Burch Fellowship recipient of 2021.

And while you may know Tory Burch as the name behind the famous fashion brand, how much do you know about her support of female entrepreneurs?

Recently, the fashion and lifestyle queen has teamed up with the 2020 Nobel Prize winner and co-founder of Caribou Biosciences, Jennifer Doudna, to create the Tory Burch Fellowship at the Innovative Genomics Institute.

While Burch’s foundation has helped boost the careers and businesses of many women, the latest recipient is one of the first from the biotech and science sector—and this new fellowship suggests that Burch will continue to support along this line for the near future.

Who is Tory Burch?

Tory Burch is a New York-based self-made billionaire, entrepreneur, and designer who launched her lifestyle brand in 2004. The brand saw early success with the launch of her boutique in Manhattan, but it wasn’t until Burch sent Oprah a tunic from her collection that business skyrocketed. An appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005 and the endorsement of the talk show queen herself led to over 8 million hits to her website in just one day.

Her luxury line now consists of ready to wear, handbags, accessories, homewares, and those iconic ballet flats with the double T logo—you know the ones.

tory burch flats — Tory Burch, Minnie Travel Ballet in Quilted Leather ($410)

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But Burch’s work far surpasses her fashion empire. Not only is she a CEO, mother, and wife, but a philanthropist passionate about female empowerment.

In 2009, the Tory Burch Foundation was launched to support the empowerment of women entrepreneurs.

Since its inception, the foundation has “developed programs and initiatives that invest in the success and sustainability of women-owned small businesses” by providing access to capital, entrepreneurial education and mentoring and networking opportunities. The Foundation’s Fellows Program has already provided $1.3M in grants to help women grow their businesses, while the Tory Burch Capital Program, powered by Bank of America, has distributed more than a whopping $63 million in loans to over 3,500 female entrepreneurs.

The Tory Burch Fellowship at the Innovative Genomics Institute marks a significant moment for women in the scientific research community who are often under-represented. This year’s recipient Nabiha Saklayen, co-founder of Massachusetts based Cellino, is set to receive $10,000 for business education and up to $50,000 in research supplies. Not only that, but Saklayen will have access to the Innovate Genomics Institute and Tory Burch Foundation’s extensive science and business networks.

Nabiha Saklayen, Tory Burch Fellowship Recipient

Nabiha Saklayen is a Harvard-trained physicist who has made her way onto the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list for healthcare and MIT Tech Review’s Innovators under 35 list for her inventions in cellular laser editing.

Image: Innovatie Genomics Institue

Saklayen’s start-up, Cellino, “is a personalised regenerative medicine company developing an AI-guided laser editing platform for autologous cell-based therapies.” In short, the company aims to make personalised regenerative medicines viable at a large scale.

Previous processes have been hard to scale due to the extensive manual handling required, but Cellino’s platform will help enable thousands of patient samples to be processed in parallel in a single facility.

With the backing of Burch and Dounda, Saklayen and Cellino are set for success and ready to make their mark in the Biotech sphere.

While you’re here, learn a bit about Donatella Versace’s goals of empowering women as well.