September 21, 2026 — Two emerging entrepreneurs walked away with a combined $20,000 in funding on Sept. 19, capping the first New Orleans edition of Curate Conference, a three-day personal and professional development experience that brought more than 200 women together at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.
Alicia Williams, founder of Selah, an app dedicated to helping women better understand and improve their hormonal health every day, received the $15,000 Curate Women’s Pitch Competition award. Aisha Abbasova, founder of ABBASAID, an AI-powered seeing-eye cane for the visually impaired, received $5,000 through the Student Pitch Competition.