Women in Business

Laura Belmonte, a history professor, serves as dean of the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

A specialist in the history of U.S. foreign relations, she is author of Selling the American Way: U.S. Propaganda and the Cold War and numerous articles on cultural diplomacy. Her most recent book, The International LGBT Rights Movement: A History, was published in December 2020.

Belmonte served on the national council of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and the editorial board of its official journal, Diplomatic History. From 2009 to 2019, she served on the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee for Historical Diplomatic Documentation, a group that participates in ongoing debates over transparency and declassification and the intersections between historical events and contemporary diplomacy.

Belmonte holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Virginia.

Bio

Artemis Berry is vice president of member relations and strategic partnerships at the National Retail Federation. Berry leads the year-round member experience, recruitment and engagement strategy and oversees a team responsible for partnerships, products, and program management for digital, technology, cybersecurity, loss prevention and marketing communities for the retail industry.

Before taking on the membership role, Berry managed NRF’s digital retail community and was responsible for community engagement, education and thought leadership. She formed the NRF Digital Council, established and managed NRF’s Startup of the Year Competition and led other key programs and partnerships.

Prior to joining NRF, Berry worked at several technology startups. Her last role was as the marketing director for Vision Chain, a Washington, D.C. area-based startup software company where she managed the marketing portfolio including media, digital strategy and event management as well as supporting business development, customer success and strategic partnership initiatives.

Berry holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Virginia Tech (where she currently serves on the Pamplin Business School Marketing Advisory Board) and a master's degree in corporate communications and public relations specializing in digital communications from Georgetown University.

Octavia M. Green, currently serves as a federal judicial law clerk for a district court judge in the Southern District of Florida. Prior to her clerkship, Octavia worked as a commercial litigator at a national law firm where she served as counselor and advisor to fortune 500 companies in a wide variety of litigation matters.  As a lawyer, advisor, counsel and woman in business, Octavia or “OMG,” constantly applies the intersectionality of business, brand management and the law, to her practice in order to retain clients, provide exceptional services and build lasting relationships. 

Octavia received her Bachelors of Science in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech in 2011 and her law degree from University of Miami, School of Law in 2015. Octavia also earned her Masters of Music in Music Business and the Entertainment Industries, from the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, in 2015. 

Traci J. DeShazor is a public administrator with a focus on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, strategic communications and community engagement. Traci’s versatility as a public administrator has allowed her to inform a wide variety of social justice policies and initiatives throughout her career. Most notably, Traci’s work informed the recruitment of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer, historic restoration of rights efforts—restoring the voting and civil rights of more than 200,000 individuals since 2016, the codifying of Virginia’s first-ever African American Advisory Board, and the creation of the Commonwealth Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Traci has received numerous awards and currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a role she was re-appointed to in December 2017 by Governor Ralph Northam following an initial appointment by Governor Terry McAuliffe.  Traci is a proud Virginia Tech alumna.