cela Office Hours for Health & Sustainability

Frances has done it all when it comes to accelerators: from building her own curriculum and mentor network at NUMA, a worldwide group of accelerators focused on bringing entrepreneurs across global markets, to acquiring NUMA New York, launching WEVE, and building a million dollar-plus accelerator business with a full team and blue chip corporate sponsors behind it.

Luigi is an investor at XRC Labs and is responsible for business development, strategic financial modeling, portfolio support, and data analysis.

As an investor at XRC Labs, Luigi focuses on Pre-Seed and Seed investments in Consumer Health, Commerce, SaaS, Supply Chain, and Logistics.

Luigi is experienced in sourcing startups, due diligence, market research, and industry analysis.

In addition, he is experienced in leading international teams, building a growth strategy, partnerships as well as negotiation tactics.

Luigi also enjoys connecting investors with startups, and providing growth opportunities.

Jackie is the heartbeat of the fashion tech landscape in NYC, and her program has not only brought together some of the best founders in the space, but also connected them with their first large enterprise sales opportunities.

The New York Fashion Tech Lab is a community-driven, relationship building, collaboration, and business development platform. The nonprofit program was co-founded by Springboard Enterprises and key fashion retailers to support women-led companies that have developed innovations at the intersection of fashion, retail, and technology. www.nyftlab.com

Murat is one of the best! Currently the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Remarkable Ventures (remarkable.vc) and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (http://eranyc.com), an early-stage technology investment fund and accelerator with a portfolio of 260+ companies in New York City.

Eastin Rossell is an Investment Associate for HearstLab, which funds female-founded female-led startups in the pre-seed and seed stage with an industry focus on enterprise software, healthcare, media, and transportation.

At HearstLab, Eastin focuses primarily on sourcing and evaluating startups. As a member of the portfolio support team, she also advises on fundraising and financial analysis.

Eastin brings extensive experience in market research, financial analysis and due diligence across asset classes. She has held several roles outside of venture capital, including quantitative analyst at a startup hedge fund, buy-side equity analyst, and business development associate within private equity.

She is extremely passionate about increasing diversity and inclusion within finance.

Outside of work, she is an avid reader, traveler, athlete and life-long learner.

Ben is driven by the belief that the talents held by the world's people at any given time are equal to the challenges they face in that era.

For this cause, he sees SAP role as a key tech platform enabler to bring businesses, NGOs, governments, entrpereneurs and communities - the SAP Purpose Network - to nurture and catalyze humanity's capacity to work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ben also co-founded the SAP Interfaith Alliance to advocate for policies to unlocking whole employee capability in a company, and to advance sustainable development across industry through the socio-economic capital of interfaith harmony.

Roslyn is passionate about optimizing entrepreneurial potential and investing in exceptional founders who are building startups to solve the world's biggest problems.

At Antler, she runs the US Residency, advising entrepreneurs as they scale their companies from 0 to 1 and continuing to support the growing Antler US portfolio of 55+ strong.

She specializes in strategy, sales, business development, GTM, and fundraising as an early stage investor, and comes from a background in finance, partnerships, and innovation, working across multiple industries and institutions like WeWork and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In her free time, she's also an avid yogi, musician, and also dabbles in life purpose coaching for friends and family.

As Executive Director at NY Tech Alliance (formerly NY Tech Meetup) , Andy has the privilege of meeting, vetting and selecting the companies that are selected to demo on the monthly stage to a crowd of over 800 attendees. He sees tech from all verticals, and is always on the look out for amazing technology that is being developed in NYC and around the world.

For any startup looking for support, Andy is not only one of the most experienced mentors around, but also one of the most well connected players in any tech ecosystem!

Jade leads SheMatters.io, She Matters is a digital health platform designed to support Black women who experience postpartum anxiety and depression through community, culturally relevant resources and culturally competent therapists. SheMatters is a part of one of the most selective accelerators in the world, and has raised venture funding from some of the top venture capital groups in Silicon Valley and beyond.

She is the author of Lean While Black, and was recently featured alongside Sheryl Sandberg in Forbes (check it out: https://bit.ly/3jlpGGL)!

Jeremy is the Managing Director of Tegria, which services every aspect of the healthcare industry through training, technology, staffing, consulting, and much more. He is an exited founder and experienced entrepreneur, and also a partner in VC funds! 4 of the founders selected for the event will have 1:1 time with Jermey to leverage his experience and connections!

Anam helped launch Purple Sage Ventures, where she is a principal. Purple Sage Ventures invests in early stage companies led by diverse teams building products/services that reimagine wellness, increase business and personal productivity, and innovate supply chains.

Anam received her venture training from Amplifyher Ventures while she was completing her MBA at Columbia Business School. Prior to investing, Anam co-founded the Art Department at Reliance Industries, India’s largest private-sector conglomerate, and Jio Plaform’s parent company.

Jamil is an advisor, investor and author focusing on entrepreneurship, technology and economic development around the world. He has worked with the World Bank, IFC, UNICEF Ventures, Clean Energy Venture Group, Schmidt Futures, Wamda, and Ashoka, among others.

Sara is a health services delivery researcher and digital health strategist with expertise in health informatics, user-centered design and implementation science, working with multidisciplinary partners including providers, health systems, payors, patients and startups.

She is a frequent presenter, instructor and writer in the digital health space, with first author publications in top-tier public health and digital healthcare journals.

Highly skilled in innovation approaches, such as design thinking, quality improvement, measurement and qualitative research methodologies, and is committed to improving the experience of patients and clinicians through the creation, evaluation and implementation of novel, evidence-based digital health solutions.

John is the heartbeat of the Techstars network, as well as one of the most supportive individuals across any ecosystem (…ask almost anyone).

Once the Higher Education Evangelist at LinkedIn, he then become the Network Catalyst for Techstars.

John believes "changing the world" can be more than hyperbole, and that building relationships and connecting people with opportunity are at his core.

Marquise is the lead of Techcrunch’s Startup Alley+ Accelerator, exclusively for select startups from within the Techcrunch Disrupt audience.

Cela was fortunate enough to work with the program to present Lean Startup Methodology for last year’s cohort!

The Startup Alley+ program supports a cohort of chosen startups to get the most out of Techcrunch’s network and resources leading up to Disrupt.

Yetunde Duro-Emanuel is a Senior Product Manager at Spora Health, and a Venture Partner at Republic.

Yetunde is a Consumer Health product leader, with a career that has spanned a variety of healthcare, consumer goods, and venture capital settings, and with a record of designing offerings that educate and empower users to live their very best lives.

She is a digital experience strategist, with deep tactical experience driving meaningful product growth from ideation to launch to scale, as well as driving creative end-to-end solutions to business challenges.

Yetunde is passionate about leveraging the innovation #ecosystem to create products and services that enhance our health, wellness, and vitality while yielding profitable results and rich brand experiences.

Yetunde is also most passionate about increasing resources for diverse and/or underserved populations, with a focus on access and education initiatives, women’s empowerment initiatives, and creative cultural development.

Flaviu Simihaian is the co-founder and CEO of Troy Medicare, a startup health plan leveraging the close relationship seniors have with seniors to deliver better care to the most underserved communities.

Previously, Flaviu co-founded Amplicare (now part of OMCL), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that 10,000+ pharmacies use to help seniors afford their prescription medications.

Originally from Romania, Flaviu grew up in Concord North Carolina and currently live in New York City.

Flaviu also invests and advises SaaS startups, healthcare companies, and founders with a chip on their shoulder.

FinTech Sandbox provides critical data access and development resources to FinTech entrepreneurs around the world. With this advantage, our startups build proven and resilient products, enabling innovative partnerships with financial institutions that address the industry’s most pressing challenges.

Alessandro brings expertise in community organization and program strategy to build successful organizations that contribute to healthy ecosystems.

Career projects include launching Firefly Innovations based in the CUNY School of Public Health, leading NYC based sustainability policy initiatives, and supporting businesses to scale for public health impact.

StartEd’s programs are for education innovators with companies around the world with tech-enabled solutions to improve education and workforce learning.

The StartEd Immersion program, which is 5-day commitment, provides mentorship from the StartEd Network -- the most seasoned and supportive network of investors, entrepreneurs, and educators in the world.

It is designed to help entrepreneurs with up to $5mm in funding or revenue secure their next round of financing and expand their customer base.

Innovation in healthcare holds the key to a better quality of life for millions of patients around the world. As Senior Manager in Global Strategic Marketing at Johnson & Johnson, I’m driven to seek out and identify opportunities for innovation, both internal and external. I’m inspired to bring products to market that improve the lives and livelihoods of patients and physicians.

My background in engineering, research and development, sales, and business development enables me not only to introduce these life-changing medical devices to the marketplace, but also to deliver value and maximize revenue. I extract the very best of people and departments across different sectors—supply chain, manufacturing, marketing, and sales—to enable higher performance and meaningful results.

In my free time, I contribute to my local community by mentoring individuals and startups.

Johan is the Managing Director for MINI's Brooklyn-based venture accelerator program URBAN-X.

Leading a multidisciplinary team of experts that cover the entire product and brand development pipeline for technology-driven startups.

Educating and mentoring founders in industrial design, brand building, and product development, holistically covering a human-centric design process from first ideas to a working solution.

Strategically developing hypothesis-driven innovation practices for tech startups that combine deep customer discovery, rapid iteration, and relentless testing to help startups succeed faster while minimizing risk.

Rei is an NYCx Innovation Fellow under the NYC Mayor’s Office, and a former product lead at Palantir! Forum’s pre-seed program provides mentors who are industry-leading executives, subject-matter-experts and seasoned founders ready to help you iterate on your product and scale your business.

Once you’re part of their portfolio, you’ll be paired with dedicated mentors according to your industries, needs, gaps, and interests, while also having access to a wider variety of mentors via office hours.

Based in New York City, Brian has a decade of experience working in the financial services industry, holding positions leading teams in businesses spanning across fixed income, operations, risk management, finance and investment banking.

Prior to joining Barclays to lead the firm's fintech engagement platform in North America, Rise New York, Brian solidified operating experience working at a late stage start-up to support the founding team and executive leadership on a highly anticipated IPO.

For Rise, Brian leads engagement efforts with early and growth stage start-ups to leverage emerging technologies and support Barclays’ open innovation strategy.

His additional responsibilities at Barclays include business development; deal sourcing, lifecycle management and closing; facilitating network based activities for the firm's global fintech accelerator program; and the Female Innovators Lab venture studio by Barclays and Anthemis.

Chris has been working with global startups for the past ten years.

He is experienced in working with startups from different sectors: Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Data Science, Blockchain Technologies, Cloud Infrastructure, and more.

As the Inception Program Partner Manager at Nvidia, Chris supports startups through access to Nvidia resources, go-to-market support, investor relationships, and ecosystem connections.

In addition, he brings experience in mentoring and advising startups on lean business, pitch training, and business development, as well as finding and leading investment opportunities in pre-seed and seed companies, developing corporate innovation and acceleration programs, in companies such as 500 Startups, PWC, IBM, and have worked with startups across Europe and the US.

Dr. Maria Blekher, is a startup value accelerator, advisor, and behavioral scientist in NYC.

Using data driven holistic approach, Maria supports early-stage startups in entering US markets.

She incorporates behavioral research into strategic processes, business development, marketing research, and a vast global network, to help startups develop market research plans, go-to-market strategies, and actionable road maps to achieve their business goals.

Maria is also the Founding Director of YU Innovation Lab, and a Clinical Professor, at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, NYC.

As the Founder Operations Manager at Primary, Emma partners closely with existing portfolio companies to drive value and helps run Primary's NYC Founders Fellowship program.

Emma has experience working with early-stage (pre-seed and seed) entrepreneurs across different verticals. She can be particularly helpful in crafting their story and refining their investor pitch.

She has spent her early career supporting startup founders in a variety of roles, and believes that entrepreneurs are agents of change.

After graduating from Tufts University with a BA in Political Science and Entrepreneurship, Emma joined Venture for America (VFA), a two-year entrepreneurial fellowship that serves to create economic opportunity in American cities. Through VFA, she took on a Program Manager role, building entrepreneurial communities in Charlotte, NC.

Most recently, Emma helped run programs at Techstars, a leading seed-stage accelerator. Outside of work, Emma can be found running, hosting dinner parties, and baking her “famous” chocolate chip cookies.

Gil is the Managing Partner of Stardust Ventures, which works with consumer focused technology companies. Gil mentors early stage startups for Techstars, Silvertech and Sapir Venture Partners about marketing, business strategy and working with celebrities and influencersHe also works closely with the CEO and CINO of Silverstein Properties on the future of real estate in a post Covid-19 world. As an active entrepreneur, he was an early adopter of crypto and is continuing to invest in the sector.

Gil was President and Founder of HYPR, the market leader in data-driven influencer marketing automation solutions, which was sold to Juliusworks in 2020. Under his leadership, HYPR won multiple awards, such as: Best Content Marketing Tech Platform, Best Influencer Marketing Platform awards, the International Performance Marketing award for Best Saas/Tracking Platform, the MarCom Award for excellence in Print Media, and the Martech award for Best Influencer Marketing Platform.

Gil has revolutionized the way many of the world’s biggest agencies and brands are running influencer marketing by focusing on the same data, analytics and audience demographic information relevant to traditional digital marketing. A veteran of over 200 celebrity endorsement deals, Gil has worked with many of the biggest names in music, film and sports including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Pitbull, Lance Armstrong, Lil Wayne, Zendaya, Stephen Curry and Serena Williams.Gil was ranked #30 in the list of most influential people in Influencer Marketing. Nathan Latka crowned Gil as the "New King of Influencer Marketing" on his popular podcast.

He has delivered keynotes at notable influencer marketing conferences, including Influencer Marketing Days in NYC, and Influencer Marketing Hub in London.

Gil was the recipient of the 2017 Digiday Top Boss award in the technology industry, Gil is an expert operator, team builder and marketing strategist. Gil is also a two-time winner of the MarCom award for Excellence in Marketing and Communications from Adweek.

Gil has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Holly is a serial entrepreneur and female founder advocate whose mission is to change the founder experience through connection and access to resources. Holly supports early-stage startups through data-driven decision making and actionable road maps to achieve their growth goals.

In addition, she brings experience in mentoring and advising startups on lean business, pitch training, and business strategy.

As a local leader for Founder Insititute Dallas, Holly supports startups through access to resources, strategic planning, investor readiness, and ecosystem connections.

In 2020 she launched EqALL, an advisory and consultancy space to support startups and the spaces that grow them. EqALL supports incubator and accelerator programs through collaborative design and facilitation.

A technologist and social entrepreneur from the age of 19, Shana has built businesses designed to positively impact people’s lives through access to disruptive technologies.

With a mission to break barriers between corporate powerhouses, reputable educational institutions, and resource-hungry entrepreneurs, Shana founded Upward Hartford in 2017 as a centralized ecosystem for technology, art and community ventures to transpire. In 2018 she launched Upward Labs in partnership with fortune companies as an engine to help global PropTech and Healthtech startups fast track their growth into the US by collaborating correctly with the large enterprises.

In January 2022, Upward launched its Net Zero Lab in partnership with multiple commercial and residential building owners that are committed to achieving Carbon Reduction and Net Zero in their properties. The Lab will accelerate and invest in promising technologies from around the world that are working to decarbonize the real estate market.