2019 Annual Luncheon

Noor Tagouri is a prominent Muslim-American woman, blazing a trail across mainstream media. In 2018, Noor released the documentary "Sold in America," investigating the sex trade in the U.S., with a podcast spinoff climbing to #8 on Apple's Podcast Charts. In 2017, Noor released her Hulu series "A Woman's Job," highlighting badass women in male-dominated careers.

Noor has been featured at SXSW, TEDx, Create & Cultivate, and New York Fashion Week. Noor's influence can be summed-up in two words: innovative storytelling. Noor Tagouri is, quite literally, changing the face of journalism - one story at a time.

Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian, writer, and disability advocate. She is a guest comedian in residence at Arizona State University and the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. She was on-air contributor to "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and a columnist for The Daily Beast, appearing on Oprah Winfrey Network's "In Deep Shift," "60 Minutes," and ABC News.

Maysoon had the number one TED Talk of 2014. She walked in New York Fashion Week and is an ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Maysoon is currently developing a comedy series called "If I Cancan."

A Denver native, Julie Groves feels privileged to be a part of The Women's Foundation of Colorado. Like many of you, Julie's interest in WFCO piqued after attending a luncheon over a decade ago. Since that time, Julie became a PEP member and is a current member of the WFCO grant making committee. She firmly believes that we absolutely have the ability to help women and girls in our great state achieve economic security.

Professionally, Julie and her husband of 25 years, Matt Groves, opened their own law firm, Groves Law, LLC, nearly nine years ago. Julie's practice focuses on educating women about the power of planning. Because women live longer, earn less, and are more inclined to be caregivers for young children and aging family members, Julie understands that women sometimes need convincing to also take care of themselves. Julie's practice emphasizes estate, trust, tax planning, probate, and business law as well as litigation in each of those areas.

Having lost her first and oldest friend to domestic violence, and having survived breast cancer, Julie understands some of the challenges facing women. She believes that her partnership with The Women's Foundation of Colorado offers the most valuable alliance to ensure that those who lack needed services will find they support they need through WFCO's amazing grantees.

Laura has been a leader across a few different industries; but her career focus has been in real estate for the past 14 years. She is accomplished as an individual producer, but her talents as a coach and mentor have left a mark with her previous team. During Laura’s tenure with New Era Group @ Your Castle Real Estate, she played a key role in growing the team from 17 to 70 agents. While seamlessly handling the company’s operations, Laura was able to lead by example and set a standard of excellence.

Laura’s approach to real estate is focused on getting to know her clients as real people, enjoying their company and taking care of them from beginning to end. Her management approach is similar in that she believes that helping agents achieve their potential is extremely rewarding. She sets a high professional standard for herself and freely shares her knowledge and expertise with team members to help them take their careers to the next level.

Beyond Laura’s career success, she is a native of Denver and grew up in the Sunnyside Neighborhood of Northwest Denver. She has a large family of whom she is very proud of and spends a lot of time with. Laura’s known to be a natural matriarch and makes her co-workers feel like family.