Browse experts
Amelia W.
📕 Education tech
When I scroll through Instagram or LinkedIn, it can be easy to fill in the gaps with stories about other people: “Their career has been smooth sailing!”; “Their relationship looks so easy”; “How are all of my friends somehow in Italy right now?!” However, when we create space for authentic and genuine conversations, we quickly uncover that all of us are having imperfect and sometimes frustrating moments in our personal and professional lives; leveraging some combination of skills, luck, and privilege to navigate our careers and personal lives; and simply doing our best to grow and succeed in a challenging world.
When I left Teach for America as a transitioning teacher, I felt unsure how to land a job at a top startup or how to apply my leadership skills in a new industry. Through the support of mentors and networking, I was able to land a great role in Customer Success at a really exciting EdTech start up. After my successful transition into EdTech, I found that many teachers were eager to do the same, and I started offering pro bono mentoring sessions to provide advice on how to navigate the transition and set yourself up for success. After supporting 20+ mentees, I have learned that sometimes the most impactful tool a mentor can offer is to believe in the mentee and just nudge them along the path they are already building for themselves.
I am eager to help early career leaders (especially young women) harness their greatness, see their potential, and take bold steps toward the life they want to create. Mentors have been critical to my personal and professional growth, and I am eager to pay it forward.
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Jackie H.
💻 Startups
Hey! My name is Jackie Y. HU, born and raised in the city of Shanghai and had my first college dropout experience in Shanghai (ask me more!). At the age of 19, I moved to the U.S. with my parents and started college at UC Berkeley.
I wandered quite a bit in college and explored different aspects of college life before committing to taking Economics and East Asian Studies as my majors. I still remember how my college advisor wanted to dissuade me from doing two majors by saying ‘unless the other major is the first thing you want to do waking up Sunday morning’😅.
I still can’t wake up on Sunday mornings, BUT I am so happy that I wasn’t discouraged! Taking the East Asian Studies major and becoming involved in writing and conscious critical thinking really lifted me up spiritually, and that level of motivation made everything fall into places.
I LOVED social science and humanity so much so I decided to attend Oxford University for a master program that focused on contemporary China. The reason why I picked a UK school instead of a U.S. school (which is supposedly the strongest in the field) is that I just … loved a vegetarian buffet place in London so would want to always go back! Sadly by the time I attended Oxford, the restaurant was permanently closed down due to rising rent and I literally cried for 3 days and lost the sense of purpose going there.
At Oxford, I focused my research on a youth community in mainland China and did an interesting virtual ethnographic study about it (ask me more!).
I now work as a Data Science Manager at a dating company, leveraging data to spread love. I feel so loved by having the privilege to working with a group of super authentic, logical, reasonable, and open-minded people. My company has a very unique culture of bringing everyone close together while working and it exemplifies so many American ideals that attracted me to move to this country at the first place. I feel very proud of my work and fulfilled, and I am ready to invest in my mentees and to give back to the community that cultivated me!
At Twenty, being able to give authentic talk excites me! I love being explorative, real, and grounded with my mentees instead of coming to be prescriptive or pedagogical. Being authentic also helps us to learn from EACH OTHER — this would be a great opportunity for me to grow so I am looking forward to our conversations!! 😃
Christal W.
🌈 LGBTQ+
I’m a little bit of everything. From solo backpacking to permaculture farming (during the pandemic) to raising VC $ & running a startup to consulting to social impact… I’m happy to talk about it all. What strings across it all is my values & why I do what I do:
Life is not just about achievement & busy-ness. Life also isn’t about living for other people & their perceptions of you. That’s why I think it’s super important to know what is important to you and build a life that celebrates that. F everyone else 😇
Julia O.
🎨 Design & art
Hi there! I’m Julia, a mid-westerner who has spent my adult life in CA (Stanford for 4 years + 3 years in SF) and Austin, TX (past 2 years). I’m a former innovation consultant at a Management Consulting firm, and recently took 6 months away from the career hamster wheel to travel, read a lot, noodle on ideas, and spend time with family and friends. My next adventure is in the land of startups, where I recently joined a small 12-person team working to help athletes achieve their performance nutrition goals. While my whole career has been in the product space, I’ve jumped around a bit between design, innovation, and Product Management roles.
Outside of work, I stay busy with my 2-year old dog, Hazel, lots of outdoor adventures, racket sports, and exploring the live music and taco scene in Austin.
Why am I here? Mentoring is something that gives me a ton of energy, and I am where I am today because of my “village” of career mentors, close friends, family, and therapists helping me navigate my 20s. “The Defining Decade” is an accurate name for your 20’s - it’s when we start to build our careers, figure out our passions, and cultivate meaningful relationships. I believe each person needs that village of support to help them navigate this tricky decade and I would be honored to be part of someone’s circle of mentorship.
Kevin V.
💍 Getting married
I have a strong interest in driving value for visionary leaders and ambitious, mission driven organizations seeking to make a meaningful impact. Given the various industries and companies I’ve been a part of, I like to think I have a diverse and grounded perspective. At my core is the unwavering belief in servant leadership - placing the needs and well-being of others at the forefront of my actions.
I started my career in investment banking, both on the equity research and M&A side. Then I spent some time doing venture capital and private equity. Currently, exploring the “operator” side of me at a beverage company called Guayaki Yerba Mate and have done a few stints at startups (with Chief of Staff and finance-related responsibilities). On a personal note, I moved to Los Angeles from Texas (grew up in Austin, TX, went to college at Texas A&M, and lived in Houston for a few years) at the beginning of 2019. I am currently engaged and have a puppy Golden Retriever named Goose. When I’m not going on long walks and exploring new places with my fiancee, Tara, and Goose, you’ll catch me playing pickleball or golfing. On his lazier days, Kevin loves to watch any sports events on TV (and sometimes catches himself watching reality TV shows with Tara).
Shivani M.
🎉 Entrepreneurship
I'm a design strategist and management consultant with a background in sociology. I started my career as an entrepreneur and switched to corporate consulting. I’m now on track to start my own consultancy! I’m action-oriented and a big picture thinker. I love learning from real situations and hence, I’m an opportunist. I actively seek out ways to help others and grow myself at the same time!
Rajeev P.
📈 Marketing, sales, & business
Ask me/Talk to me about:
Katy H.
🌎 Social impact
After 5 years in digital advertising program management & production, I pivoted to become a classroom educator. As a teacher I've mentored new teachers and led instruction for groups of students from K-12 learners to adults in the business world. I recently made another transition to re-envision my work life, and currently work as a consultant developing curriculum (ie. online courses and learning experiences) for organizations like The Life Brief and Rewiring America.
Also, as is common for many people, some of my most important learning and personal growth has happened outside the classroom and the office. After studying World Arts and Cultures (Dance) and geography in college, I moved to Spain for a year to teach English. Traveling and immersing myself in different cultures through language and the arts has continued to be a big part of my life, inspiring trips to Mexico, India, Japan, Korea, and around Europe. Some other jobs and side projects that have shaped my perspective are leading interactive art tours in New York City, planting trees in LA, serving drinks on a cruise ship in the Bay—and during the pandemic, starting an interview-based podcast about learning styles & stories called Still Learning. I’m also a nonfiction & aspiring fiction writer, and believe in the power of telling our own stories in order to see and know ourselves more clearly.
I’m excited to be a mentor with Twenty because connecting with mentors has provided such comfort and inspiration for me in both my personal and professional life. Conversations I had with former teachers, managers and wise, slightly older friends helped me to name and eventually pursue both major career shifts as well as smaller, also meaningful, adjustments to how work fits into my life. Finally, as someone passionate about being a lifelong learner, embracing a growth mindset, emotional intelligence and seeing the career journey as a learning process—all of which I'd be eager to discuss—are all topics near and dear to my heart!
Jena D.
My tagline says it all - I crave adventure, adrenaline, and anything that pushes me outside of my comfort zone.
Professionally, I've spent over a decade navigating the complex world of digital solutions in academic research and industry-sponsored clinical trials. My focus has been on bringing disruptive change to legacy standards. As the 6th hire to a health tech startup, which reached a 2.1B valuation, I have been fortunate to be part of a very unique professional journey. Utilizing my expertise in UXR and truly understanding our end-users’ lived experiences (patients and caregivers), I established a department solely focused on engaging and measuring the success of these key stakeholders in an innovative way. By empowering these patient and caregiver advocates, they now have a direct role in shaping our company’s product development, streamlining study workflows, and improving the overall trial experience thereby creating patient-focused solutions that matter.
Prior to working at a startup, I made significant contributions as a Clinical Research Manager at both Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine where I co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications, each focusing on harnessing machine learning, artificial intelligence, and remote patient monitoring for early autism spectrum disorder intervention.
Additionally, I am a fitness professional and teach a heated HIIT class at boutique and exclusive yoga studios and fitness centers.
Beyond my professional career, I've led Birthright trips to Israel, organized volunteer expeditions, and lent a hand to Big Brothers Big Sisters. I’m an avid horseback rider, mountaineer, and cyclist (🚴♀️ & 🏍️). I’ve delivered my best friend’s two babies (the first at-home delivery was not planned 😅), am one of less than 400 women who have skied to the South Pole, and have gone skydiving over 25 times. I sleep better in a tent than I do in my bed and my days always include exercising my border collie, Emma, and my horse, Taya.
Let's chat, connect, and find your path together!
Slater M.
Hey, I’m Slater. When many people our age hear the word “entrepreneur”, they often picture the Silicon Valley, VC-based startup founder. In my world, the word “entrepreneur” conjures a picture of my dad (running his construction business) or my uncle (starting his restaurant and brewery). Since I was young, I have been drawn to the highs and lows of building things. After finishing my senior year as a student-athlete at Stanford, I applied to and joined Venture For America to pursue this particular passion. Fast forward six years, I’ve now built ops functions and teams at two pre-IPO companies (BARK and DoorDash) and am currently running marketplace operations at a web3 startup, Braintrust. During this journey, I’ve found that I get most excited when I get the opportunity to unlock the people around me. Mentoring is one form of this. I view the mentor / mentee relationship as a two-way street where each person learns as much as the other in the relationship. I’m looking forward to sharing more and learning about you soon!
Sherman L.
Hey everyone! I grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC and spent time in the Bay Area, Boston, and New York City before moving to the Bay Area to begin training as an emergency medicine resident physician at Stanford while also working part-time on the investing team with a16z bio+health. Through my hybrid lens as a clinician and venture capitalist, I am passionate about finding ways to leverage technology to support underserved patient populations and build a more efficient and equitable healthcare system.
Throughout my 20s, I’ve gone through some existential rollercoasters of how I’m meant to impact healthcare at scale. Initially (overly) bought into the Silicon Valley mentality that technology can magical solve any hard healthcare problem, I’ve been humbled by many healthcare providers (including my wife) in learning about the many systemic gaps in our healthcare system. I went through a stint of deep dissatisfaction while working in healthcare startups/VC with the build-first and fast funding of new healthcare ideas in a vacuum without truly understanding patient care. And though I strongly believe you don’t need to be in medicine to change healthcare for the better, most of my twenties have been a circuitous journey of realizing that where I want to sit in healthcare innovation in service of patients as a physician directly while also building a more equitable and efficient care delivery models at scale.
On a more personal note, I ended up marrying the one and only girl I dated throughout + after college (met in our freshman dorm!) and feel like we’ve grown a lot personally and as a couple over our 20s as well. Over the next 5-7 years, we’ve gained conviction in our shared medium-term goal of raising a family and building sustainable professional careers in Hawaii where my wife is from. In each new city we’ve moved to, we’ve made it a priority to find and plug into our local church and also cultivate a strong community personal and professional friendships as house party hosts (and aspiring mixologists!).
Strong and consistent mentorship and my Christian faith has been an indispensable part of my own circuitous journey from engineering/product into both venture capital and medicine and something I'd love to pay it forward especially to anyone considering a career pivot from tech > medicine or vice-versa. Also passionate about helping underrepresented minorities interested in breaking into product, VC, or medicine. To this effect, I've started Path to Product with Emma Townley-Smith (another mentor on Twenty!) and also MD+ a 2K+ community of aspiring physician-innovators supporting non-traditional paths through medical school and clinical training.
I look forward to meeting and working with you!
Angie C.
Born in Lima, Peru. Moved to Mexico at 17 alone to study university awarded a full merit scholarship. Graduated top of the class, work in corporate, climb the corporate ladder to realized I was the only woman in C-level boardroom and hated it.
Moved to the UK at 24 and heard about the future of humanity, technology and Silicon Valley. Taught herself to code, started a tech star-up and went to Silicon Valley to fundraise for that tech start-up. Failed to raise money.
Moved to Silicon Valley at 25 and got mentored by a well known investor called Tim Draper. Work for his accelerator program. Got a full scholarship by Google to attend Singularity University when it was held at Nasa Ames Research Park. Founded and fundraised successfully for a venture backed startup. Got into key differences with founding team members and leave startup.
Travelled the world as therapy, then do actual therapy. Mental health is really important for me. And I’ve been remote working since 2018.
Moved to Brasil at 28. Consulted for big tech companies like Bayer, Boston Scientific, HP.
Remote at 30. Became a Limited Partner at an investment fund, Scout and Venture fellow for a stealth venture fund in New York.
Now. Guest Hosting the Women in Tech podcast.
Interested in mentorship: leveling up the playing field for diverse people around the world. To open more opportunities regarding where people where born.
Genius is widespread but opportunity is not.
Jasmine K.
As a current founder, I've the opportunity to mentor our interns in time management, goal setting, leadership skills, and most importantly, story-telling. When I was in college, I was turned down from people who I wanted to get mentored by. Mentorship is extremely valuable and I hope I can offer my expertise to others. As an investor as well, I dedicate my time to causes that I believe can change people's lives.
My career path has not been traditional at all and I love being able to pivot and take the knowledge I’ve gained in different industries and apply them to what I’m currently doing. I started as a professional makeup artist, then switched to healthcare management, and more recently to ecommerce and media. Always experiment until you find where you belong!
Angela C.
Hi! I’m Angela.
I was born in Shanghai, China and moved to Toronto, Canada at an early age. I was a part of the Huntsman Dual-Degree program at the University of Pennsylvania and quickly found out I loved consulting through solving strategy challenges for international NGOS.
After graduating in 2017, I joined Deloitte as a management consultant. The first team I was placed with was a horrible fit, but I found mentors who helped me to navigate the firm to find my perfect fit in public sector consulting as a defence innovation specialist. I was also very actively involved at Deloitte and ran our national Analysts and Consultants initiative, led on campus recruitment for my team, and managed the summer internship program for the Toronto office.
Three years into consulting, I decided I was ready for a change and applied to Stanford’s Masters of International Policy program. After I committed to the program, I found myself serendipitously becoming an edtech founder - in the summer between Deloitte and Stanford, I developed a tech product that mentored 11k+ university students across 81 countries. I’m working on a related idea now with generous backing from a Stanford Graduate School of Business innovation grant. Since starting at Stanford, I’ve also gotten involved with the VC side of the startup ecosystem as a venture fellow, accelerator lead, and angel investor.
Happy to share my experience & help you grow as you navigate your twenties 😊
Simy B.
I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
At the ripe age of 6, I decided it would be really cool for my best friend and I to “run away to China to open a restaurant” (I loved my weekly family dinners at our local Chinese spot). We packed a couple t-shirts in our JanSports and promptly walked off campus instead of to daycare. To answer your most pressing question, yes, I got in a lot of trouble once we were found.
I got a few other things too, though. I learned I loved to challenge what I was supposed to do (to my parents’ dismay probably up through today 😇). I’ve had the most fun and felt the most fulfilled achieving goals, reaching life milestones and overcoming challenges by doing it by avoiding any formulas.
Largely due to my phenomenal mentors throughout my life, my journey has landed me leadership roles at every stage of my life from athletic teams to some of the most successful tech startups of the century all the way to NGOs in Europe and Asia where I made the most amazing memories.
Abhishek B.
I have been a tech and social impact-focused founder since the last few years. When I get any time free from being a founder, I write or I teach.
I got into Teaching and Mentoring about 3.5 years back - this includes physical lectures, talks, and sessions, which then went virtual on the onset of the pandemic. My experience of mentorship comes from being a mentor with a Govt. of India initiative (Atal Innovation Mission) where I get to work with school students to help them build an industry-focused career. In addition to that, I have been a regular mentor to startups in India, Africa, and other geographies under programs such as the Africa Blockchain Institute Incubation program, MassChallenge USA etc. If this sounds like you - feel free to reach out and speak! As for my teaching experience, I have taught Blockchain Technology, web3, DeFi, and NFTs to 6,000+ students, faculty, and PhDs globally.
Most of my experience is in and around blockchain technology, product management, entrepreneurship (3 startups yet), fintech, and social impact. I am a Forbes under 30 honoree in the social impact category. I try to give back to the community by mentoring, helping, teaching, publishing.
