Rachel L.
📈 Marketing, sales, & business
I’m a product marketer at Intuit on the QuickBooks team. Recently, I graduated from UCLA Anderson School of Management with my MBA, where I focused on Marketing Analytics and Technology Management. It’s great to meet you 😊
Nicole C.
📈 Marketing, sales, & business
I’ve been a mentor and coach before for both W&M undergrads and Darden first-year MBA candidates. I’ve also been on the other side of the table and have had incredible mentors to learn from in my own circle. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been supported in taking some non-traditional leaps in my career and personal life and am excited to pay it forward in support of others!
Some fun facts:
Kevin K.
📕 Education tech
Hello! I've just completed my MBA and am currently based in LA. I've mostly lived in California (10+ years, including 4 as an undergrad at USC) and grew up in East & Southeast Asia (I'm also not a US citizen!) Professionally, I've worked as a management consultant in SF and also as a strategic planner / business operations generalist at an LA-based public charter school district (a nonprofit). I recently began working at Beyond Meat and the learning curve’s pretty steep and humbling, so if you're in the same boat then I know your struggle! Outside of work, I love watching and playing tennis, listening to podcasts while I'm out and about, cooking new dishes, and going to the movies. I'm on Twenty because I'm a lifelong learner and I wish I had access to this platform as a resource when I was adulting in my twenties. Ultimately, I'm here to be a resource; whether that's being a whiteboard to discuss career directions, whether to apply to an MBA, adapting to the nebulous nature of life post-college, or something else from what I've written above. Happy to schedule regular conversations or to have one-off chats for more specific questions!
Megan R.
🔥 MBA
My name is Megan - I'm excited to meet with you as a Twenty mentor! By way of background, I majored in Economics and French Cultural Studies at Wellesley, and then I worked in investment banking and private equity. I’ve also volunteered at a nonprofit organization developing a curriculum to teach personal finance skills to underserved communities in NYC. Happy to talk about all things related to managing your career, finance, managing personal finances and more!
Kali R.
💡 Product
I am a brand and product marketer, writer, and content enthusiast deeply interested in how media intersects with technology. I’m a recent Columbia Business School grad where I focused on media and product strategy in my coursework. During school, I worked with Spotify helping launch their new audiobooks vertical. I also worked at seed-stage venture firm: Overton VC as their Content Development Intern, where I represented both the firm and its portfolio company’s initiatives from a strategic communications perspective. I spent my years prior to business school working in brand and product marketing for Google – running global campaigns for brand moments, kids and family products, and Google Cloud events. My previous professional experiences include BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. Personally, I’m a yoga fanatic, big reader, podcast listener, and write my own Substack newsletter providing content recs called Sorry to Stare.
The phrase: your 20s are a mismarketed decade resonates with me greatly. twenty, its mission, and business is something I wish I had started myself as I think there is SUCH a need and market for this type of community support! They are a time of great joy, challenge, freedom, and at times, disquiet. I enjoy mentoring greatly, as a junior board member at Girls Inc. of NYC, I've worked with a committee of teammates to plan events, fundraisers, and auctions on behalf of local teen girls in need. I have identified my superpower in and outside of work in mentorship. I find immense value in helping my community in career and personal development. During my MBA program, I worked as a Career Management Center fellow, where I was professionally trained to offer industry exploration and education guidance, networking best practices, résumé and cover letter reviews, pitch preparations, and mock interviews. Thus, I know how to quickly shift my perspective when it comes to diversity of thought in order to give informed advice.
Pedro R.
🎉 Entrepreneurship
I am a first-generation immigrant who was born in Peru and raised in the suburbs of Massachusetts. I began my academic journey in community college, and continue it at MIT Sloan this fall. My professional path has been equally diverse. I began my career as a bartender. Over time, I have worked in Finance, Consulting, and EdTech, all in a variety of roles. Career navigation is very important to me - I see it as a critical step in forming your adult identity. Having only recently exited my twenties, I am excited to provide guidance and clarity as I am to learn from you and your perspectives. Mentors have helped me tremendously over the years, and I look forward to passing on what know (and what I don’t know) to future generations.
Ryan M.
💸 Personal finance
As I've progressed in my career, I've realized how important it is (especially for those in disadvantaged situations) to have a mentor and how my trajectory has been altered, for the better, by having someone to provide insight, bounce ideas off of and teach me about what is possible.
I received my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida back in 2014, and decided to take a role as a field service engineer with Siemens Energy. I didn’t know it at the time, but this role has become a fundamental building block in my personality and work ethic, how I attack problems and deal with adversity, how I manage teams and interact with people, but most importantly, how I value my time and energy. After 5 years of 91 hour weeks, I was recruited to join EY in their business consulting arm out of Atlanta, GA. This was a 180 career change for me - I went from wearing cowboy boots and jeans every day to sitting in conference rooms with executives, and the first few months weren’t the easiest for me. But as I learned at Siemens, we learn, adapt and overcome!
I then spent 2 years getting my MBA at Emory University in Atlanta GA. I spent the summer interning at Nike HQ in Oregon, and could not have asked for a better summer. While I loved working at Nike, it made me realize that consulting was the current career path for me. I came back to Emory for year two and successfully recruited back into consulting to join McKinsey & Company’s Atlanta office.
While nearly everyone I met told me to take the summer off between school and work, I ignored their advice and pursued a passion of mine - 3D printing. During my MBA program, I came into contact with the CEO of a 3D printing company out of Austin TX, and expressed interest in formally gaining experience in the 3D printing space. She allowed me to join her company for the summer, and I’ve loved every second of learning from her and her team. I’m sure I would’ve been happier on a beach in the Maldives or driving a motorcycle through Vietnam for the summer, but this is a close second!
Twenty excites me because I love the success of others and I really love helping others realize their full potential. One of the reasons I mentor is the hope that I can infect my mentees with the desire to continue the mentoring, and we get this long web of knowledge transfer, excitement and success as a result. I've also realized that things I take for granted (like understanding the importance of keeping and maintaining a network, or things like good professional habits) are not common knowledge to everyone and I should share that from my place of privilege with those who may need it.
Jamie K.
💡 Product
I started my first company at 18 and transferred to a new school to scale it to well over a six-figure business. I ultimately decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do and pivoted from retail/eCommerce to product management and am now at Atomic Venture Studio (the studio behind HIMS/Hers, Found, Openstore, Terminal.io, and many others). I’ve worked for myself, a Fortune 500 (Macy’s), a Fortune 1 (Walmart), joined an early stage startup that became a unicorn ($1.B Evaluation), and navigated what would be the best next move (joining a pre-product team as a founding team member, venture studio, or business school) before landing at Atomic! I’m obsessed with start-ups across all sectors and love to help people navigate their career journeys to meet their goals.
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.