Leadership

Analisa Leonor Balares | Founder & CEO

Analisa Leonor Balares is Founder & CEO of the Humansphere Foundation and the social enterprises Womensphere Interactive and Womensphere Institute. She is a producer, innovator, artist, philanthropist, conservationist, and creator of platforms to empower diverse leaders, innovators, artists and youth globally, working to create more inclusive, more sustainable futures.

For two decades, she has worked on leadership development, innovation, entrepreneurship, conservation, and advancing women & youth in sustainability and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics). She has produced over 100 summits/programs in these fields.

In addition, Analisa is City Lead for NASA Space Apps Cambridge, the world’s largest annual hackathon, where she leads the Cambridge/Greater Boston program. She is the Convenor & Curator of the original Emerging Leaders Summits/Forums/Festival, and Founder of Space & Earth Alliance (SEA). She is also the Creator and Curator of the Vision 125: Global Art Exhibition Series, an artistic contribution to the global celebration of the 125th Anniversary of Philippine Independence.

Through her work today, Analisa is building and nurturing an interdisciplinary, inter-generational community of leaders, educators, innovators, artists, and students across academia, industry, and civil society, who share the goals of uplifting humanity, inspiring stewardship of the Earth, and exploring and expanding the boundaries of our knowledge and understanding of our planet and our Universe.

For all her work, Analisa has been recognized as a UBS Global Visionary (2017) and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2012), honored as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in America and one of the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in the World, and received Distinguished Leader Awards from UN Women New York, Society of Foreign Consuls NY, The State of New York, and WNBA. She is also a Madam CJ Walker Leadership Award honoree of the US National Minority Business Council.

Analisa recently joined the Advisory Board of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, collaborating with the UN PGA President, His Excellency Philemon Yang, and a global advisory board of experts, with 2025 being the 80th anniversary year of the United Nations, and the 30th anniversary year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. (The Beijing Declaration is the resolution adopted by the United Nations in 1995 that established principles for gender equality, and considered the turning point in advancing a global agenda for gender equality.)

Analisa serves among the International Gender Champions and is an Action Coalition Partner of UN Women's Generation Equality Campaign. She serves as a Commissioner of the Women's Refugee Commission; Honorary Member of Women Moving Millions; Fundraising Committee Member of UN Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund; Marketing Committee Member of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest; and an Advisory Board Member of Music Beyond, Wearing Irish, and Infinity Capital. She has also served on Advisory Boards for JPMorgan Chase (on advancing women) and L’Oreal (on sustainable business leadership).

Analisa previously worked in investment banking at the Goldman Sachs High Technology Group and Morgan Stanley Energy & Power Group, working on and helping execute over $100 Billion in IPOs/secondary offerings and M&A transactions. She also worked in product management, technology strategy, business development, brand management, and global marketing at Microsoft, Milestone Capital, and Broad Holdings/85 Broads (now Ellevate Network).

Analisa is an alumna of Harvard Business School, Mount Holyoke College, Lester Pearson United World College, New York Film Academy, and the Manila Science High School, and was recently elected to serve as a Steering Council Member of the Pearson College Alumni Association.

Supporting herself through college while on scholarship, Analisa juggled varied college employment and internships, including internships at JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), Massa Products and Mellon Private Wealth Management in Boston, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, the Philippine Senate in Manila, and SEO Banking Internship in Morgan Stanley in New York, as well as teaching mathematics to high school students during Mount Holyoke SummerMath, computer technical support and library support services at the Mount Holyoke Library, assisting with research at the Mount Holyoke Economics Department, and becoming the first Speaking & Arguing Mentor (SAM) at the Mount Holyoke Weissman Center for Leadership.

Analisa’s work today reflects her lifelong commitment to helping create a better world.

Since her youth, Analisa has been actively involved in serving both global and local communities, starting as Youth Village Captain at the age of 12, and Youth Mayor of Manila City at the age of 16 during which she signed 18 Executive Orders into law. She served as a Youth City Leader of the Manila YWCA where she started a program for homeless children and organized leadership programs for girls, served as Regional Leader of the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs where she organized leadership programs for youth, and Senate President of the Inaugural Philippine Youth Environment Congress where she led drafting the Philippine youth’s policy recommendations for the Inaugural Earth Summit.

Inspired by legendary polymaths Leonardo da Vinci and Jose Rizal (Philippine national hero), Analisa always believed in the unity of all disciplines, and the vital role of the arts and literature in our world: In parallel to her works in science and innovation, community leadership, and sustainability advocacy, she served as an editor and journalist in her school newspapers from elementary to graduate school, a writer and director of theatrical and film productions, and a visual artist.

Looking up to transformational leaders like Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. since her early years, Analisa similarly draws on spirituality to fuel her work. She likes to quote Dr. King’s challenge, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” and Dr. King’s inspiring call to action: “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”