Women in Cloud (WIC) has launched the ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter Campaign, a global initiative aimed at preparing professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders to become the next generation of leaders for the AI economy.
The 60-day campaign, which concludes on September 15, 2026, is part of the launch of the book ICONIC Leadership, co-authored by Dee Dee Walsh, Chaitra Vedullapalli and 20 other contributors. The initiative seeks to build a global leadership movement focused on trust, collaboration, innovation and economic access.
According to Women in Cloud, the campaign is inspired by its 2026 Economic Access Research, which found that 92 per cent of professionals know where to learn new skills, but only 10 per cent know how to access opportunities. The organisation said the initiative aims to bridge this gap by encouraging participants to create opportunities, build partnerships and generate long-term economic impact.
As part of the campaign, Women in Cloud is inviting 1,000 founding members to help establish the first ICONIC Leadership cohorts, leadership workshops, assessments, companion tools and a global community with the goal of developing 10,000 ICONIC Leaders worldwide. The programme also includes insights from 20 global leaders.
Commenting on the launch, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-founder and President of Women in Cloud and co-author of ICONIC Leadership, said the future requires leaders who can exercise judgment, build trust, demonstrate courage and create opportunities for others, capabilities that AI cannot replace.
The first 1,000 founding members will receive invitations to the inaugural ICONIC Leadership Workshop, exclusive founding member recognition, access to more than 20 co-authors and global leaders, behind-the-scenes leadership experiences, special Kickstarter-only experiences, and launch celebration and book reveal events.
Women in Cloud said the Kickstarter campaign has an initial funding goal of 20,000 US dollars, which will support the production of collector editions of the book, educational programmes, leadership resources and global launch activities.
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