Browse experts
Christie L.
💻 Startups
When I meet new people, I like to say that I grew up with Southern sensibilities and East Coast values. Take what you will from that.
I spent my childhood between Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the greater Dallas, Texas areas. I was fortunate to have two older brothers who navigated the American public school system in the South, college applications and the job search as Asian Americans. They filled in many of the gaps that my parents, who will forever be immigrants in their eyes and others, had.
After graduating high school, I moved to the East Coast to attend Wellesley College, an all women’s college right outside Boston. I loved it, and that’s all I’ll say here. Please ask me more.
Prior to graduating, I realized that I needed to delay my graduation by a few months because I was missing one core requirement…don’t tell my parents. (Yes, I am 30 and still keeping some of my academic history a secret from my parents.)
I was fortunate to have internships during my college years, mostly geared towards the public sector. However, after graduation, my career has take me down a path of product and strategy within financial services and healthcare.
Mentorship has been so valuable to me as both a mentor and mentee. The most exciting aspect of mentorship is that both people grow and hopefully make better decisions because of the relationship.
Gabrielle W.
😎 Consulting
I've been a mentor with my alumni group for years. I also work with two charities - one that provides financial counseling to young families and one providing comfort to terminally ill children.
I am a bit older than some of the other mentors, but it took me a bit longer to get my professional career to a place where I now feel I can give back in this way. I am 37 and look like I am in my mid-20s. I know the feeling of being in the corporate world and trying to be taken seriously but being looked at as a "little girl." I want to help other young women navigate the corporate world with confidence.
Madelyn S.
📕 Education tech
I’m Maddy and I’m excited to meet you! I’m super passionate about education, great marketing, and social impact.
I’m a Bay Area native — I grew up in Marin County, moved to Los Angeles for college at the University of Southern California, and now live in San Francisco.
I’ve had a mix of roles across research, marketing, and business development/partnerships. Currently, I’m part of the industry partnerships team at Coursera — helping companies like Google and Facebook create job-training programs for people around the world. I’ve also worked at design and marketing agencies (IDEO and Hero Digital) in marketing and business development roles.
Recently, I started my MBA at the University of Southern California (USC). This is a hybrid program, and I’m working full-time while in the MBA program. Happy to discuss any topics pertaining to applications, managing work/school schedules, and more.
Over the last 8 years I’ve mentored middle school, high school, college, and post-undergrad students across a wide range of both professional and personal topics. I am thrilled to be part of Twenty to help share tips and tricks on what I wish I had known in my early twenties.
Jamie P.
🩺 Healthcare
I know how beneficial it can be to have relationships with people who are just ahead of you in their career and life. I personally have benefited from this, and would like to help others in this way. I’ve spent the last nearly 15 years trying to figure out what how to find fulfillment in my career and personal life. I’m still on that journey, and would love to join you on yours.
Morgan H.
🧦 Fashion & retail
Hi there! I am a Nashville, TN native, which I hear is a unicorn these days around here :). I graduated from UT Chattanooga, although huge UT Vols fan! I have the cutest little Pomapoo dog, Ollie, and live with my Fiancée. (Getting married in Dec 2023)
I started my career back in 2012 in the Recruiting Agency world. I learned the fundamentals (good and bad) in that world + met a lot of good connections, that I still communicate with now. I found my passion lied in the Corporate space so switched over to my first Corporate recruiting job in 2015 and have never looked back!
While at my past company Asurion I stood in as the main mentor on our TA team. I thoroughly enjoyed having 1:1 conversation with my teammates about what their future career could look like, giving them advice, I had learned from my time thus far and how to approach certain situations. I have recently gotten into people management, and it still always takes me back to really enjoying the mentorship side of it.
I really feel everyone, especially in early stages, should get access to a mentor, or mentorship program. Remote work can make it very dangerous if there is not that structure, as most can feel on an island or scared to ask questions. Whether you are hunting for specific advice, or just want someone you can throw an idea to, I am happy to help!
Katya N.
🔥 MBA
Hi all! I’m Katya — I was raised in Bangkok, Thailand; my father is Indian-Thai, and my mother is American and German. I graduated from the International School of Bangkok and, at the age of 18, moved to Burlington, VT to pursue a Bachelors of Science in Social Work. I then went on to receive a Masters in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University.
I started out my ecommerce career at Seed Health as one of its first hires, and helped build the foundations for their member experience, ecommerce and operations teams.
I recently transitioned out of my role as Director of Strategic Operations at Tomorrow Farms, a venture-backed food and beverage startup that I had joined pre-launch of its first brand and product, Bored Cow. In this role, (a la Chief of Staff), I was responsible for all customer experience, people & culture operations and internal communications, executive assistance, and internal operations, including process establishment and improvement and management of company softwares, systems and tools.
Having traveled to over 30 countries, my experiences in various cultures has deeply influenced how I build and scale with a human-centric approach. As a champion for candidate, employee and customer experience, I foster organizational health, drive operational efficiency, reduce friction, and eliminate pain points cultivated with the highest level of thought, care and intention.
John N.
💻 Startups
I come from a low-income first-generation household and spent 8 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy before pivoting into a PM role at Meta. I then became a Project Manager supporting eLearning efforts at Google before transitioning into my current role as a Senior Project Manager at Boeing. I understand both sides of the coin when it comes to military/civilian life and the challenges that come with each. I'm currently a mentor for transitioning veterans through Veterati and have been in the mentorship space for over 10 years. A big passion of mine is sharing the knowledge I've learned in order to set folks up on a trajectory towards success. Twenty is a program I see big potential in because of the capability to create huge impact for such a small personal investment on my part. I'm excited to have the chance to not only help you navigate your professional career but also be a resource for life in general.
Jara M.
🙏 First-gen
I’m an educational strategist, program designer, and illustrator. With a background in art and education technology, the bulk of my work aims to mitigate the education and equity gap using design. Currently, I work at Webflow where I scale education programming for the larger design community and students. Prior to Webflow I worked at Coursera as a Program Manager and Salesforce as an Instructional Designer.I’ve worked as a mentor since 2016, specifically looking to increase access to tech for underrepresented communities (Black, Latinx, disabled). I've mentored with SMASH, BuiltByGirls, and Young Data Scientists League (YDSL). Related, I am currently the Outreach and Education lead for Techsgiving, where I teach UX design & prototyping to students.I grew up in Palo Alto, but currently live in Brooklyn!
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.
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