The ISOUL Women Leadership Award Paris 2026 has announced its shortlist, recognising 32 women across eight categories ahead of the awards ceremony in Paris on 3 October.
While the awards span a broad range of industries, technology and innovation feature strongly across this year’s shortlist, with women leading organisations, developing new technologies, investing in emerging businesses and creating opportunities for others to enter and progress in tech.
The shortlisted women come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and countries, reflecting the increasingly diverse ways women are contributing to the technology sector.
Women driving innovation in technology
The Innovator of the Year category highlights women who have created new technologies, methods or systems and translated them into real-world impact.
Among the nominees is Alme Tang, Founder and CEO of XBIO and Founder of XBl College, who created the TARDAI architecture and has more than 30 invention patents filed.
Lia Yuldinawati, Program Director for University Expansion at Telkom University, is also shortlisted. Through her work with Ladyverse, she helps women-led businesses access AI and metaverse technologies and has contributed more than 1,000 hours to mentoring women entrepreneurs.
Championing women in cybersecurity and digital risk
Technology leadership is also represented in the Global Visionary Leader category, including cybersecurity and digital-risk leader Fatiha Zeghoudi, CEO and Co-Founder of CySAFE Consulting.
Alongside her work protecting organisations from digital risks, Zeghoudi is focused on creating greater opportunities for women in technology. She serves on the board of Women4Cyber France and is an ambassador for Women & Diversity in Tech.
Her inclusion highlights the growing importance of women’s leadership in cybersecurity – an area where technical expertise, leadership and efforts to improve representation increasingly intersect.
Supporting women in technology through investment
The Investor in Women category also shines a light on women helping to shape the future of technology by directing capital and opportunities towards women-led businesses.
Eugenia Dunaeva, Partner at DVC and Founder of Ultralite & Your Money, Your AI, is an investor in AI, machine learning and robotics, having previously held leadership roles at Meta and Expedia.
Tatiana Jama, Founder and Managing Partner of SISTAFUND and Co-Founder of SISTA, has made more than 30 investments and focuses on closing the funding gap for women and supporting female founders and gender-balanced teams.
Investment plays an important role in determining which ideas and businesses get the opportunity to grow, making the work of women investors particularly significant for female founders and women-led technology businesses.
Women building careers at the intersection of technology
The Rising Star category includes women developing careers across a variety of disciplines, including technology.
Angelina Kozhevnikova, Founder and Director of Animaspace, works at the intersection of art, robotics and technology. Her projects aim to make robotics more accessible to women and children.
Anzhela V., Software Engineer Test Lead at FIS Global, brings expertise across software quality, automation, banking and payments, while also mentoring and supporting other engineers in technology.
The category also includes Maria Yudina, Founder and CEO of MAYU Agency, an international communications agency working across Web3, AI and fintech.
Their different career paths demonstrate just how broad a technology career can be – from software engineering and automation to robotics, AI and Web3.
Creating more opportunities for women
Beyond technical roles themselves, several shortlisted women are using technology, entrepreneurship and their own platforms to create opportunities for others.
Alena Yudina, Founder and Managing Director of Quantum Leap Strategy AG, works across blockchain, digital assets and emerging technology and has advised companies and startups in more than 27 countries.
Meanwhile, Lia Yuldinawati’s work supporting women entrepreneurs with access to AI and metaverse technologies demonstrates another important part of the technology ecosystem: helping women not only participate in emerging technologies, but use them to build and grow businesses.
The shortlist also includes women whose work centres on creating communities, mentoring and increasing access to opportunities – reinforcing the importance of support networks alongside technical skills and career development.
Celebrating women’s leadership in tech
The 32 shortlisted women represent different industries, countries and professional backgrounds, but their work shares a common thread: they are contributing to innovation, leadership and opportunity in their respective fields.
For the technology community, the shortlist offers a snapshot of the many different ways women are shaping the sector – whether through developing new technologies, leading technology businesses, investing in innovation, building technical careers or supporting the next generation.
The Global Jury is now voting to select the winners, who will be announced at the ISOUL Women Leadership Award ceremony at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris on 3 October 2026. The event is expected to bring together approximately 200 women leaders, including founders, CEOs, investors, entrepreneurs and creators.
