Unstoppable Women | unDavos 2026

Wendy Starland got 48 rejections before anyone would listen to her pitch for an unknown artist dressed “like a clown.” That artist became Lady Gaga. Jessica Chaijaya arrived in San Francisco from Indonesia speaking only “yes” and “no” in English, cleaned an entire school for free to earn her place, and has since met King Charles, Prince Albert of Monaco, and a half-dozen heads of state. This panel strips away the highlight reel to reveal what unstoppable actually costs.

WHAT THIS PANEL COVERS

• How Wendy Starland discovered and developed Lady Gaga by reverse-engineering a market gap — going edgy and bold when the entire industry was soft and pretty — and is now building MusicSoul, an AI platform that pays creators 70% of revenue
• Why Maja Marburger rebuilt her entire business after her life partner and business partner left overnight, pivoting from jewelry to real estate and closing her first deal with her son reviewing the contracts
• How Dr. Christina Rahm went from wanting to hide under the covers after losing everything in a divorce to co-leading a portfolio of nearly 30 companies in health, wellness, and nanobiotechnology
• Why Jessica Chaijaya lied about speaking English to escape Indonesia after the 1998 May Riots, cleaned a school for free to learn the language, and now chairs the United Society Council
• Why the belief that loving people will make them love you back is the hardest lesson in business — and why learning to be a warrior does not mean closing your heart

PANELISTS

• Elena — Host, EMTECH Invest
• Wendy Starland — Co-Founder & President, MusicSoul; Discoverer of Lady Gaga
• Maja Marburger — Founder, Marburger GmbH; Founding Member, 100Women@Davos
• Dr. Christina Rahm — Nanobiotechnologist & CEO, DRC Ventures
• Jessica Chaijaya — Chairwoman, United Society Council; Investor & Philanthropist

unDavos is a community-driven summit running during WEF week in Davos, democratizing the conversation around global challenges.

🌐 undavos.com

Tags: women in business, unstoppable women, Lady Gaga discovery, Wendy Starland, MusicSoul, female entrepreneurs, women leadership, mental health, resilience, Christina Rahm, Jessica Chaijaya, Maja Marburger, music industry, AI music platform, women investors, 100Women Davos, female founders, philanthropy, unDavos, Davos 2026, WEF

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TRANSCRIPT

Thank you so much, Dustin. It means a lot being here today. It means a lot being here in this room, sitting next to these beautiful ladies. I had the privilege to dive into your bio a little bit, and I'm so impressed. So I'm hoping for a real conversation, an open conversation. And I'm not going to talk about the unstoppable that you think, or the society thinks that unstoppable means. I'm not going to talk about the success. I want to pick your brain about the truth behind building. I want to share stories here for the next generation, so when they decide to build, and they decide to lead, that they understand that it comes with challenges, and that they can overcome them. So enjoy the conversation. Thank you. I'm going to start with you. Please, can you introduce yourself? Let's start there. Hi, my name is Wendy Starland. I'm best known for discovering and developing Lady Gaga from an unknown artist into a billion dollar brand. I am now the co-founder and president of MusicSoul. It's an AI-driven music streaming platform and marketplace that uses AI to drive mass promotion to the users from the brands, and pays the users 70% of all streaming and advertising revenues. Thank you so much. So I'm immediately going to ask you a question, because building something, especially in the music industry, you have to believe in yourself enormously. So how did you kept going in the beginning when you felt uns

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:09

Thank you so much, Dustin. It means a lot being here today. It means a lot being here in this room, sitting next to these beautiful ladies. I had the privilege to dive into your bio a little bit, and I'm so impressed. So I'm hoping for a real conversation, an open conversation. And I'm not going to talk about unstoppable that you think or the society thinks that unstoppable means. I'm not going to talk about the success. I want to pick your brain about the truth behind building. I want to share stories here for the next generation. So when they decide to build, when they decide to lead, that they understand that it comes with challenges and that they can overcome them. So enjoy the conversation. Thank you. I'm going to start with you. Please, can you introduce yourself? Let's start there.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Hi, my name is Wendy Starland. I'm best known for discovering and developing Lady Gaga from an unknown artist into a billion-dollar brand. I am now the co-founder and president of Music Soul. It's an AI-driven music streaming platform and marketplace that uses AI to drive mass promotion to the users from the brands and pays the users 70% of all streaming and advertising revenues.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Thank you so much. So I'm immediately going to ask you a question. So how did you keep going in the beginning when you felt unseen, when nobody believed in your vision? What kept you going?

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Well, I can definitely speak to what happened when I was building Lady Gaga. Basically, uh everyone told me no. I I I must have gotten at least 48 no's where people told me I was going to be laughed out of the industry. Wendy, why are you bringing this person into my office who's dressed up like a clown? Um and I said, you have to find the part of the market that, the niche in the market that isn't being filled, and then fill it. At the time, uh, this was around 2005, um, 2006. Everything, Nora Jones was the biggest artist on the planet. She had sold 25 million records. Um, everything was pretty and soft. And I said, we've got to go in an exact opposite direction with something edgy and bold and fill that part of the marketplace that's completely being ignored. And all of these people said to me, Wendy, you're crazy. This isn't the trend. Um, and that's exactly what I said. I said, if you don't have the foresight to see what's happening now will be irrelevant in eight months, you're gonna lose your job. And that's exactly what happened.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. So you had a trust in yourself and a belief. You believed in your vision.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yes, I I knew that the talent was spectacular. I knew that uh her voice, uh her ambition, her um it factor was unstoppable. She had the confidence of a lion on stage. Even if she was performing to 300 people in a small venue, it was as if she was performing to a stadium. And I knew that if we could capture that and put all of the right elements around her, the right music, the right musicians, the right songs, production, um, and sell it as a package that the world couldn't help but fall in love with her, and they did.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

Beautiful. I'm going to you, Maya. I just met you now. So it's a pleasure to meet you. Can you please introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Hello, everybody. Thank you very much for having me. My name is Maya Marburger. I'm raised and born in Switzerland. I'm actually a mountain girl. You don't believe that, but it's true. And um, well, I have not such a beautiful story as you have. I'm really impressed. Thank you for sharing. I uh raised two kids alone, at least, uh a daughter and a son. And I'm on the board of the Zurich Film Festival by the donors, and I'm an entrepreneur at heart, I would say. I'm in the jewelry business, I uh do customized jewelry with recycled gold and silver mainly, and I'm also in real estate. And um, I'm uh one of the founding members of 100 Women at Davos. Probably you have heard about that community. It's about leading ladies who really try to do and have an impact. Dr. Anino Emumo is the founder, we started in 2020 when we looked around us after we had a panel discussion. I'm really happy we have so many men here. And at that time there were probably two women versus 200 men, so we thought we have to do something together because um it cannot be that women are not on the table where decisions are made. And I'm really proud that uh I'm always the one who is in charge of hosting our dinner. It's always the first Monday. It was uh again this Monday, of course, and we are growing. In between, I think it took 24 hours, the dinner was sold out, and it's just an easy thing, and we are talking about what we want to achieve, not so much what we already achieved, but what we want to do globally also. That's about me.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

Beautiful, thank you so much for that. I have my first question for you building businesses while carrying personal responsibilities requires deep inner growth. Was there a moment when you questioned whether you could continue and what helped you make the decision to go on?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Oh my god, I think I faced that many many times. Uh, last time before COVID, my deadtime partner was my uh life partner, my business partner, my best friend. He decided to go back where he came from to Scandinavia, and I was facing uh to take over the company for myself, to take over the flat we were living in, and from one day to the other, I thought, okay, where are the where is the money to pay him out, you know? So how do I uh continue with this, especially financially? And it was quite a hustle, so I thought, okay, let's start again, you know. So it is. I did it once, I can do it twice. So I went back. Um at that time I was only in real estate, and then I went back, I was only in jewelry, so I thought, okay, where is the money? I have to go to real estate again. And the good thing is, I'm now more in real estate than in jewelry, and um, very nice things we have heard before. My son is also in real estate now for four years, and um, we were sitting on a table with all the contracts. My first object uh was a few months ago, was really difficult. Um, and then he was sitting with me on the table looking through all the contracts, and then he said, Mom, have you read the contracts? And he said, Yes. And he said, Have you understood it? And I said, Um, the same questions I asked, I have asked him. I have asked him ten years ago, so that's the way. So I learned about from my son again, and we could close the deal just before Christmas, and I'm very proud he could help me. So that was that.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

That's beautiful, beautiful that connection. Can you just give me one thing about what you do and how you manage setbacks? Setbacks in life.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Breathe, think, restart, and um, I think I'm one of those unstoppable women with a lot of energy. And it's not so that I'm losing energy with being with people, but I get energy from the people, from those wonderful women like here, like the audience here. I think it's so gorgeous to talk with people. And what I the advice I give is keep talking to each other, network, don't be shy, ask questions, look up to other people, younger, older, whatever, what nationality, we can always learn. Keep on learning.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Thank you so much. I'm going to our next panelist, Dr. Christina. Maybe you can introduce yourself for the people that don't know you yet.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Thank you. Um, and thank you for having me on the panel. I love the women that I'm up here with, so thank you. My name is Christina Rahm, and I am I was born in a small town called Dexter, Missouri, in a farming community, and I've worked in 92 countries with governments and corporations, and I have four children, and I'm here to make life hopefully better for all of us if we can all work together. Beautiful, beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

I have my uh first question for you as well. So your life has included moments where strength was not optional but necessary. I read a little bit in your bio, and I was so impressed. It was necessary for your survival. Can you give or share a moment when you had to keep going, even when everything around you, even when you feel or you felt you couldn't anymore?

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yes. So I've um I've started a lot of companies as a serial entrepreneur, and I'm a research scientist. So research scientists and entrepreneurs both fail a lot. So I've had a lot of experience throughout my life of not being successful and some success. One of the hardest times of my life was when I went through a divorce and kind of similar situation, lost everything. And I remember um I had four young kids, and I thought, how am I going to raise these children? Because I was left to raise them really on my own, and they're wonderful kids, but it's still a lot. Now they're adults, and at the time I thought I just want to go to my bedroom and put the cover over my head. And I think we've all wanted to do that at times. And I wanted to rest and just sleep. And I went to my room, covered my head, and then I thought I have no option. I have to feed my children, I have to support them. I can't show weakness. If you show children weakness, then they don't have faith in you. And they need you to show strength. So I got out of bed and I decided to start new companies and to improve the world with what I had left. And now I feel like that's made me stronger as an individual.

SPEAKER_04 11:26

It definitely has, and what an incredible journey has it been with what you created afterwards. It's even better and bigger. Thank you. I think did you dream of that? Could you imagine that?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

You know what? We each have a mission in the room, and I knew my mission as a scientist that was a mother that had had a child with cancer and lost a child to cancer and had experienced it myself. I knew that my mission, and I think part of what's important for all of us is to know our mission, was to be a scientist that did work that improved lifestyle brands from pharmaceutical to nutraceutical to skincare to clothing, because I felt like there was so much to do, and I should throw myself into that instead of feeling sorry for myself. So being able to work with Clayton um and managing a holding company with almost um 30 companies under it. We talk about 20 of them a lot, but I I knew I wasn't gonna quit. I decided that no matter what, I would keep going. So I did have that vision.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Beautiful. Uh dear Jessica, can you please introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_03 12:33

First, I mean I just want to say thank you so much to our beautiful angel Elena and to Dustin for having us in this beautiful room and to everyone. My name is Jessica Chaidaya. I born in a very small village in Indonesia. And actually, so many people always like a thing, my life is like something amazing, but actually, behind all this kind of thing, my life is like Laurel Coster. On 1998, I was the victim of the May riot in Indonesia because I'm Indonesian Chinese, they kill everyone or the Chinese in Indonesia. And that time I lost everything, I lost my son. It's now my son alive, it's 27 years. On this time, my husband, my late husband working for the Sony Indonesia, and Sony Indonesia make decisions, move to Malaysia, and my husband lost the job, we don't have anything money, and that time I keep pushing my husband, how about we go to America? Because America, I heard they opened for the political asylum. And my husband asked me, Can you speak English? I said, actually, I tell you the truth, that's time 29, I only can speak yes and no. And my former education only high school from the small Phillies, but I lied. Of course, yes, I can speak. And after that, otherwise she will not bring me to become a burden. And I went to San Francisco, I remember that time. I always, every day, I always go to Chinatown because I only can speak Chinese. I cannot speak English. Every single day say, What? What your English they don't understand? And after that, I don't have the courage to speak. And one day I keep promise myself, I cannot be like that. And I I uh I mean I attend the esthetician in San Francisco. I remember when I applied the aesthetician, the teacher said, I'm sorry, you need to go to second class, uh ESL, because your English is very bad. But that time I said, Please, you give me the chance, I will clean everything. I remember that time I cleaned all the school free. Every single time I need to wake up, I mean like a house cleaning for free. And in there, so many people they teach me English. That's why in there I learn everything. And until now, even though I say your English have an accent, I will not be shy because for me, English is not my second language. No, and you are here speaking to everybody.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

That's why. It takes a lot of courage.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Actually, sometimes I'm very proud. I'm the only one in Indonesia in Europe can make the king charge. I met the Prince Albert Monaco 9. I'm the one who met the President Antonio Costa. I met the mayor of Cannes, Deputy Lisner's future president. Because for me, I bring my genuine. The one thing I always think, one kind word can live up everywhere. That's why so many people they say, well, Jessica, you have a good energy, because good energy you can live on everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

That is beautiful. It's actually I'm going to my question for you because it's a little bit similar to what you were saying. You have entered spaces where you were not accepted, or maybe you feel you didn't belong. How did you internally claim your place and remain grounded when the environment was not welcoming?

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Actually, I have so many sex stories in my life because last time when I was young, I'm the most ugly one. And all my friends and my family, they always looked on me. Whatever the party, they will not ever invite me because I'm like a they always like, oh, you are not invited because you are not popular, you are not good on talking. Everybody always looked on. And one day I look at the mirror. No one can help me, only myself. If I didn't look at myself, I didn't believe on me, this universe will block everything. Then every day I will say, everybody, one day you're waiting. Jessica Chai Jaiya will be stand up. But now, at least everybody Google me, everybody before, everybody Google me and Jiro. But now, since last year I created the United Society Council, now my profile is very good in all the LLM. And also thank you to my good friend Dustin. Because make me in Monaco voice, when you click my name, the Google ranking asks, thank you so much. I mean, I'm forever thankful and grateful for you, Dustin. You are the one always wanting everyone near you to become the best of the best. You are one of the kind in this world. It's true, Dustin.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Beautiful, really beautiful. I have a question for all of you, and I will start with you. How do you protect your energy when you work? And I know that you are really builders, you are high energy, high performance ladies here on stage. So, how do you protect that? And also, how do you protect your boundaries, especially when you are working on the top and a lot of people want something from you? How do you protect your boundary and how do you protect your energy?

SPEAKER_02 17:16

That that's a great question. Um I protect my energy by my life is so much attached to my purpose, my sense of purpose. Um, as you know, we're writing our legacies every day. And what legacy do I want to leave behind? Um, what do I want to build? What systems and structures do I want to build in society so that when I when I pass one day, that will be left behind to help millions of people. And that's what I've devoted my life to in terms of boundaries, uh boundary setting. Um, I'm so tied to that sense of purpose that um if someone tries to cross it, they're crossing the futures of millions of people who will be employed by Music Soul within uh in the next few years. And because this platform is going to pay content creators 70% of streaming and advertising revenue, this is the true monetization of media that doesn't currently exist. And so if that's something I can leave behind for countless creative people who are dreaming the dream of living a creative life, making that a reality for them so that they are able to provide for themselves and their families. Well, I that that's a dream more. Stand on your boundaries. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Exactly. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Well, I'm on so many events, and I do so many um events also during the Zurich Film Festival and during the World Economic Forum, so that is the time to um you know find a little boundaries, and uh it's not we are here in the mountains, so what I do is going into the mountains and uh try to get a little um energy from the nature. That's what I do, and otherwise, yes, it's uh always difficult to say no, even so, no is a full sentence.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Thank you. Beautiful, beautiful. It was beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Both of you, it's hard to follow everyone. Um I protect my energy by starting every morning and ending every night in meditation and prayer. Um, but when I walk in a room, I ask I ask to be protected, and I also ask to be open. I don't want to close my heart. Um, so I made a decision about a year ago that no matter how much money I made or what happened in my life, that I would not close my heart. Instead, I would be guarded as it pertained to business and new people, but open my heart to new friends. So when I meet people now, I look in their eyes, I feel their spirit more than even what they say, because it's their energy. As a nanobiotechnologist and a bioscience engineer, I know that our cells talk, so I can feel good energy. And if I need to set a boundary, I am becoming really good at that. Very good. Very good. Thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

For me, because I see so many people in this world, because I came from the small village. I stay in Australia, in Melbourne, I stay in San Francisco, I stay in Hong Kong, in Shanghai, in Japan, in Brussels, in London, and now in Dublin. This one I'm I'm staying, it's not as a tourist, as a resident. That's why for me, I I speak the my language, I speak Indonesian, it's my mother language, and I speak Mandarin very firmly. Even I'm not truly Chinese, I'm Indonesian Chinese, and I speak Hokkien so many dialects. And one thing, if I protect my energy, one thing I need to surround it with the positivity. Because sometimes you you mingle with the negativity, they can drag you down. And the one thing I always surround you with the people, they're never jealous. Like me, for example, if today I can be successful, I also want to surround it. That's why the reason why I can get along with Dustin, Dustin and I, we are very similar personality. We always like a gift more than we take. Is that true, Dustin? And so many people they try to destroy us because actually everything, the the negativity, the more they want to attack, the more we need to stand up. Then I believe the one word is very powerful because leasilience. I think you guys everything agree, right? This word is very important, especially in Darfur. Is Darfus is I call Darfus is like so brutal if you are not strong. Is that true, Dustin? Darfus actually is very very brutal. Especially, I think you guys agree, right? Who is the first one? It's brutal, right? And it's so much. Negative in things. That's why in here we need to be strong. Thank you, Dr. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

It's WEF. It's the F right? It's not doubles. It's the WEF. I'm speech. I have to protect.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

It's a VEF, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Thank you for that as well. I want to go back to you, Dr. Christina, about what is the belief that we still carry, even as women, women that are building, leading, what is the belief what is actually not true anymore and doesn't serve us as women about leadership?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

So the belief that I can love someone and they'll love me back is not accurate, and I always thought that. I thought the nicer I could be to people when they were mean to me, they would would fill my heart and they would be nice back. That's not accurate. And I'm glad my mother brought me up that way. But in business, um, I have learned there are amazing people. We need strength and wisdom. We should not leave love and kindness behind. But I have learned to be a warrior, and I understand that that's an example for my children and other women for the future.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

That is a beautiful lesson there. Comparing yourself with men that are building, do you still feel and see the difference? Or also, maybe on a positive side, do you see a lot of change? And I want to ask you after Dr. Christina as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

So I have the privilege of working with Dustin and got to know Riyadh and work with Clay. There are amazing men out there that are kind to women and do care with women about women. But as men, I feel like um there are powerful positions that some men are in, and I will walk in a room to this day. And I think people it used to be a strength of mine that people didn't know who I am, because it kind of gave me I was an underdog, so I got to walk in and people didn't know and I could close a deal or or file something, but now I don't have that advantage. So sometimes I'll walk in a room and men try to put me in my place. But I've had women do that too. So let's be fair. That is true. Let's be fair, yeah. And so, and then but then I think of all the great, great men. I'd like to say I celebrate the differences in men and women. I just want to say that a lot of people think I'm a feminist, I'm not.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

I don't think that's being feminist. I think that's true. Yes, we are wired different, we are built different, we make our decisions different, and it's something that we need to respect. We should respect ourselves for that. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

And so I love that. So it it's it's neat to me that I feel like women are accepting they can be who they are. And I want to use one final example. I've had so many people say to me, What do you mean you are a CEO of a management development company with over, you know, almost 30 companies? And I'm like, Well, and you have four kids. I'm like, I mean, this is what I'm doing. And I and then they're like, but you're a woman. I've had that happen to me so many times. No one has ever said that about gates or jobs or anyone else. And I'm not gates or jobs, so please know I know that. But I feel like as women, we can do different things. If you want to love music, like Wendy, and be an entrepreneur and be successful, but also be a scientist or understand business, it's fine.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

But also be a mother, be vulnerable, be a mother, it's okay. Exactly. We can combine all of that. Exactly. Exactly. And there's no shame in that. There's no shame. So true. So we are a little bit uh running out of time, but I do have one more question for you. We are being filmed today. So if there is a young girl that will see this panel, what is the generational wealth? And I always not talk about money, but I always feel like generational wealth is also what we as leaders are leaving behind for the next generation, and not only in profit and money, but how we lead and the stories that we know leave behind. What is her story instead of his story?

SPEAKER_02 26:18

I think that um as leaders, whether you're a man or a woman, it's one thing to help one person succeed or um to help one business succeed. It's a whole other thing to create a system that millions of people can succeed, millions of businesses can succeed, new ways of thinking that will help multiple verticals. Um and in terms of leaving any legacy of leadership, whether you're a man or a woman, that to me personally is the key to success and to being a great leader. It's one thing to just allow your ego to be fed and say, Wow, look what I did, and rest on your laurels. That's one way. But it's a whole other thing to create a system that can be used with or without you. And for me, that's what leadership is. For women, do we have uh more obstacles than men? In my opinion, yes. Uh, have I faced them personally? I've been in the music business my entire life. You bet you're you absolutely, you know I I faced it on a daily basis for years. But what doesn't kill you make you makes you stronger. And I'm so tough, and those lessons have made me resilient in building my business today.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Beautiful, and I think this is yeah, definitely word an applause and also beautiful way to end this panel. Thank you so much, ladies, for your vulnerability, for your honesty, and your trust. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

Everybody loves you.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Thank you, Dustin.