Author(s)

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  Sterling McDavid

  Sterling is the Co-Founder, Co-CEO and President of Burnett New York, a luxury womenswear brand she founded with Emily Burnett. Sterling and Emily met when Emily began designing Sterling's custom wedding gown when she was Creative Director at Dennis Basso. The two agreed that the fashion world was missing a powerful female-founded and women's empowerment focused luxury label, so they began working on a business plan for what is now Burnett New York. Sterling tapped her network of diverse inspiring women to find nine female investors to fund Burnett. Sterling made the decision to leave her Wall Street career as a Goldman Sachs analyst after an eye-opening trip to Vietnam with UNICEF. She decided she wanted to focus her energies on helping women and children in need by creating social impact businesses. Inspired by how much one solar panel can provide a single community, McDavid was inspired to launch The Starling Project, a luxury home fragrance line that with every sale helps provide solar energy to families in need through the company’s partnership with UNICEF. Sterling serves as a member of the UNICEF New York Board of Directors. In 2016, Sterling received the UNICEF Champion for Children award at the annual Children First Gala for her dedication to helping women and children globally. She also received the President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama for her philanthropic work. Sterling was named a top female entrepreneur by Town & Country magazine and was one of 50 women listed on the magazine’s Modern Swans list in 2017.

  Sterling has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, The New York Times, Town & Country, InStyle, Harper’s Bazaar and Downtown Magazine NYC.