Women in Cloud (WIC) announced the launch of its ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter Campaign, which is aimed at preparing professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem builders to develop the next generation of leaders who will shape the AI economy through trust, collaboration, innovation, and economic access. The campaign is designed to be a global leadership movement, which is a part of the book launch of ICONIC Leadership that has been co-authored by Dee Dee Walsh and Chaitra Vedullapalli along with 20 others. The campaign will run for 60 days, concluding on September 15, 2026.

The genesis of the ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter campaign is deep-rooted in the recent Economic Access Research conducted by Women in Cloud in 2026 that revealed a critical leadership challenge. The research highlighted that 92 per cent of professionals know where to learn new skills, but only 10 per cent know how to access opportunity. ICONIC Leadership addresses this opportunity gap by shifting the conversation from technical excellence to opportunity creation, helping women and allies to build trust, expand influence, activate partnerships, and create lasting economic impact for others.

The campaign also invites 1,000 Founding Members to help launch a global leadership movement focused on economic access, opportunity creation, and developing 10,000 ICONIC Leaders worldwide. These founding members will help establish the first ICONIC Leadership cohorts, leadership workshops, assessments, companion tools, and a worldwide community committed to democratizing economic access through leadership. The program also has insights from 20 accomplished global leaders.

Commenting on the ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter campaign, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-founder and President of Women in Cloud and co-author of ICONIC Leadership, said, "The world doesn't need more managers. It needs ICONIC leaders. AI can automate knowledge. It cannot automate judgment, trust, courage, or the ability to create opportunity for others."

The first 1000, who join as co-founders will get invitations to the inaugural ICONIC Leadership Workshop, exclusive founding member recognition, access to 20+ Co-Authors and Global Leaders through behind-the-scenes conversations and leadership experiences, special Kickstarter-Only Experiences, and get access to launch Celebration and Book Reveal Experiences available only during the campaign.