Two Tech Leaders Announced as Joyce Ivy’s 2025 Women of Impact
The Joyce Ivy Foundation is pleased to announce its 2025 Woman of Impact award winners, venture capital executive Alexis Alston and NASA engineer Clare Luckey. The Woman of Impact awards recognize achievements of rising female leaders who have demonstrated professional talent and a commitment to improving their communities. Alston and Luckey work at the forefront of technology, advancing innovation in American government and business.
“We are ecstatic to welcome these brilliant women in STEM into our JIF community. Their innovation, leadership, and ambition are sure to inspire and provide powerful representation for our students who see themselves in their success,” said Abril Rangel-Pacheco (JIF ‘13), Secretary of the Associate Board of Directors, which annually selects the Woman of Impact honorees.
Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel
Clare Luckey serves in NASA’s Exploration Mission Planning Office. She is a critical member of the Mars Architecture Team, working toward designing the first crewed mission to the Red Planet, and of the Artemis missions for lunar exploration. After completing her BS at the University of Michigan and an MS in space architecture from the University of Houston, Luckey began her career as a contractor at Barrios Technology in 2019, focusing on cargo integration for the International Space Station Program. She transitioned to a civil servant position in Center Operations by late 2020, and her career rise at NASA has been meteoric.
Alexis Alston is a General Partner at Lightship Capital, where she says she loves to “rocket ship growth” and business strategy in tech forward companies from startups to Fortune 500 brands. She also supports the non-profit Lightship Foundation, where she leads production for notable conferences such as Black Tech Week and Black Tech Weekend. In addition, Alexis served on the Entrepreneurial Council, an advisory board at Target Corporation. In her spare time, she enjoys writing and looks forward to a 2025 release of her debut book “The Pitch and The Proposal: VCs and Founders, a Love Story.”
Alston and Luckey are both nationally and internationally recognized thought leaders, and both have been honored with recent recognition on Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists of young stars in their fields. Luckey is a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council, a board that advises the United Nations on next-generation space exploration concepts. She has also engaged with global space leaders at the Space Symposium, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Science and Technology Forum, and elsewhere. Alston has served as keynote speaker on tech and inclusive leadership for organizations such as Forbes, Axios, Pipeline Angels, William and Mary Law School, and Michigan Tech Week.
Luckey and Alston are also deeply involved in teaching the next generation of technology leaders. Alston serves as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering at her alma mater, Brown University, where she teaches within the Nelson Center of Entrepreneurship and leads the B-Lab program for entrepreneurship. Luckey is involved with the National Society of Black Engineers, helps students with school projects like the one that inspired her career, and is deeply involved in community outreach, encouraging the pursuit of space careers and diversity in STEM.
“We are excited to invite women with such strong commitments to mentorship into the Joyce Ivy community,” said Brittany Knight, Executive Director of the Joyce Ivy Foundation. “Learning from a role model can make a huge difference in how a young woman imagines her own potential. Alexis and Clare show it’s possible to reach for the stars–even literally!”
Alston and Luckey will be honored at Joyce Ivy’s 20th Annual Summer Scholars Send Off on Saturday May 17, 2025 in Lathrup Village, Michigan. The event will feature a keynote conversation with Joyce Ivy’s 2025 Leader of the Year, Tina John, Executive Legal Counsel and Secretary of Rocket Companies, Inc. All three women will inspire and encourage the 2025 cohort of Joyce Ivy Summer Scholars, a group of exceptional high school girls to whom Joyce Ivy has awarded scholarships to attend pre-college academic programs at some of America’s finest colleges and universities.
The Foundation also looks forward to reuniting Scholars from past cohorts as part of this year’s special 20th anniversary celebration. Event tickets are available on the Joyce Ivy website and those interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Brittany Knight at brittany.knight@joyceivyfoundation.org.
Past Women of Impact award recipients include:
2024: Anisha Gupta, climate tech startup founder; Ping Ho, Detroit restaurateur
2023: Dr. Sydney McKinney, Executive Director of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute; and Dr. Sally Afia Nuamah, professor, activist, writer, and filmmaker.
2022: Echo Brown, author; Kimberly Dowdell, Marketing Principal at HOK Architecture and Design; Christina Koch, NASA astronaut; and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando, Olympic Gold Medalists and Founders of the Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux Foundation.
2021: Megan Red-Shirt Shaw, Director of Native Services at the University of South Dakota; Sarah Politis, VP of Business Development and Creative at Wayfarer Entertainment; and Camille Stewart, Head of Security and Privacy Policy for Google Play & Android.
2020: Denise Fair, Chief Public Health Officer, City of Detroit – Detroit Health Department; and Amy Peterson, Co-Founder and CEO, Rebel Nell.
2019: Anna Clark, Journalist and Author of The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy; Allison Drutchas, Policy and Product Counsel, Waymo; Dr. Asha Shajahan, Medical Director of Community Health, Beaumont Health; and Stella Safari, Director of gBETA Detroit.
2018: Nia Batts & Katherine Cockrel, Co-Founders, Detroit Blows; Cynthia Shih, Management Consultant & Performing Songwriter, McKinsey & Co; and Tiffany Taylor, Vice President, Deputy Chief People Officer, Teach For America.
2017: Veronica Scott, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, the Empowerment Plan; Linzie Venegas, Vice President, Ideal Group; Tiffany Brown, Communications Director, Mission Flint Office; and Allyson Carpenter, President of Student Government, Howard University.
