Browse experts
Sherman L.
💡 Product
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.
💸 VC & investing
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.
🩺 Healthcare
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.
📕 Education tech
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.
🌎 Moving outside the US
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.
💡 Product
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.
Eliana E.
🔥 MBA
Hi! 👋 I’m Eliana - born and raised outside of Boston. I’m an engineer —> consultant —> PM —> founder —> figuring it out again ;) I’m a generalist and produc person who loves to work with others and solve problems.
I love being outside and smiling at strangers on the street. I live in Nashville now and am strongly taking advantage of the hot summers and the music scene. I also love building (and participating in!) communities, learning about new technologies, watching and playing sports (#Wagr. Recently started to play pickup volleyball which has been fun. I’m no good but it’s a great time!), and traveling as much as possible.
Looking forward to meeting!
Travis C.
💰 Finance
I work at a division of SYSCO, and manage a commodity that is perpetually dying. I enjoy the constant speed of the food distribution industry, and since it changes daily, I have always stayed on my toes. I thrive on teaching and coaching those who are engaged and want to grow. There's nothing better than giving some guidance on an idea, project, or life path and seeing someone succeed. Growing teams is one of the best parts of my job, and I'd love to do it more; the next best opportunity is to branch out and do it in places like twenty.
Claire J.
I’m Claire, a software designer and strategic planner. I’ve dipped my toes in many industries and skills with my main constant being my own high bar for building design driven and ethically-sound products in each of my work experiences.
I originally grew up in Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, with a highly medically-focused Argentinian-Jewish family. While studying pre-Med at Stanford and shadowing a few physicians, I found myself much more interested in the efficacy and beauty of their medical devices rather than the practice of talking to, diagnosing, and treating patients. That served as my wake up call to try out some engineering classes. Long story short, I loved them and ended up declaring Mechanical Engineering: Product Design as my major.
Having worked on a range of physical and digital products at Stanford related to the medical field; I decided to explore my ability to move and learn quickly by joining Accenture’s digital consulting practice after college. Fast forward 3 years, 6 industries, and 4 live products later, I felt I had acquired enough skills during my time at Accenture to lead design at a startup. That led me to a 10 person virtual fashion startup called Forma Technologies (recently acquired by Snap) for a brief 6 months until I realized I wanted to work at a medium sized company and have the ability to critique and collaborate with other designers again. I then landed my current position at Silicon Valley Bank where I was designer no. 5 to join our rapidly growing team of almost 45 designers now. I’ve now been at SVB almost 2 years and look forward to continued work building internal and external tools for our Global Fund Banking and Corporate Finance sectors.
In my personal life, I spend most my free time either playing and caring for my Aussie puppy named Gio 🐶, at Austin Bouldering Project (ABP), running, learning about climate change mitigation, painting, and hanging with loved ones! I also love to cook and bake and try new recipes (particularly on a Yotam Ottolenghi kick recently).
I’ve been mentoring via my Stanford, Accenture, and Brown networks both informally and more formally for a couple years. I particularly like working with passionate students and early/mid career employees to guide them to find what fulfills their purpose or ikigai in life and work. Understanding the concept of ikigai (japanese term for “reason for being”) and putting it in practice in my life played a significant role in my early twenties and the concept continues to keep me grounded and navigating my life in the right direction for me.
Devika P.
Hi! My name is Devika, and I'm a designer and public health researcher, originally from New Jersey, recently living in San Francisco, and now a medical student at Penn State University, College of Medicine.
I studied product design engineering before pivoting to focus my career on healthcare disparities research (via a Master’s degree in Community Health and Prevention Research). For the past five years, I was the Design Manager, and then Design Director at The Better Lab, an academic research laboratory that utilizes human-centered design to address vexing healthcare challenges facing disadvantaged patient populations in San Francisco and beyond.
Sam S.
Throughout my career, I've passionately dedicated myself to mentoring and teaching, recognizing the transformative impact it can have on individuals and communities. Through my Teach for America Experience and through my engagement with The Last Mile, I've nurtured the growth of students from diverse backgrounds, guiding them in harnessing design and technology for their future paths. With IDEO, my role as a Design Lead has enabled me to mentor professionals by integrating inclusive and human-centered design principles into learning experiences and leading initiatives like Disarming Whiteness to foster diversity and equity.
I am also an ICF-certified coach, and I have a career and life coaching practice called Alvita Coaching. My coaching practice has three primary offers: Vision & Vitality Coaching, Career Catalyst Coaching, and Next Gen Leadership Coaching (a career coaching program designed for 18-24-year-olds).
What excites me about twenty is that it is a service that I so desperately wished existed when I was in my twenties. The platform’s recognition that professional growth is inextricably linked to personal development resonates deeply with my holistic approach to mentorship. I am eager to be part of a community that doesn’t shy away from the tough, intricate discussions that pave the way for authentic growth and learning.
Joe G.
I’m Joe, a product manager who has background as an engineer, researcher and designer. I started my career in research, transitioned into consulting and transitioned these skills into product roles at various technology startups.
So far in my professional career, I’ve developed skills that span across product development from strategy, UX research, design and engineering. Having started my career in consulting and then transitioning to high-growth startups, I’ve worked internationally in 4 markets (Indonesia, Turkey, Amsterdam, and the UK) and 6 industries. From these experiences, I’ve strived to work on building meaningful products and experiences while helping create sustainable organizations and impact in local communities.
Aside from a tactical product skillset, my experiences have allowed me to develop as a people manager and leader. I’ve worked at organizations that offer B2B and B2C solutions, across all stages of maturity from seed funding to post-IPO fortune 500 organizations. I’m happy to discuss the nuances to my experiences and how to navigate these environments and advocate for personal growth throughout.
In addition, I currently advise entrepreneurs through my own agency services and as part of the Alter Global network. Outside of work, I love being active physically, socially, and mentally. I love exploring the ocean - while working at a YC startup in Indonesia, I recently received my master diver certification. Additionally, I have competed in various lengths of Triathlons keeping me busy with training on a weekly basis. I try to stay active in my local communities, serving as a KIPP mentor to low-income high school students.
Nikhil R.
Hey friends - my name is Nikhil and I'm so excited to be a mentor here at Twenty. I've explored quite a few non-traditional paths in my life from music, to medicine/global health, to social entrepreneurship, to public policy. I'm excited to share what I've learned to help you navigate your own journey!
Daniela V.
My name is Daniela and I grew up in San Diego surrounded by a love for the ocean, soccer and any outdoor activity! I moved to the Bay Area to attend Stanford University where I got my undergraduate degree in Product Design and my master’s in Learning, Design and Technology at the school of Education.I have experience working as a product designer, UX researcher and UX/UI designer at different sized companies. I am currently working on an EdTech startup focusing on social-emotional learning and early education. Happy to speak about any and all experiences! I love speaking to and learning from new people and love helping people learn from experiences I have had, mistakes I have made and from moments I have learned from.Creative brainstorming is my passion and being able to help people think creatively through their life is one of my favorite things to do!
Harry S.
Who am I? I'm Harry, currently based in Seattle. My journey has led me to the role of Chief of Staff at Quantive, where I've had the privilege to work on scaling operations, driving strategy, and supporting investment activities among other responsibilities. On the side, I’ve started a newsletter focused on my passion for exploring business strategies and investments in the soccer world.
Why am I here? Mentoring holds a special place in my heart because of its transformative power. I believe in the value of good guidance and how it can steer us closer to our aspirations. I would not be where I am today without a mentor who helped me entirely rethink how I was approaching my career. Out of all the skills, degrees, and jobs you can have, I firmly believe it's the people and networks you build that can propel you into a life and career you've always wanted. That’s why I’m here—to offer you the insights I’ve gathered on my own journey and hopefully make your path a little easier to navigate. I'd like to give back to others what my mentor gave to me and help those who are facing the same challenges or questions I had.
Sohan M.
Heylo! I’m Sohan Mone. My mission is to deliver infrastructure that expands access and unlocks society’s potential - let’s just say, we have a lot of work that needs doing! I’m a structural engineer by trade and I specialize in rail bridges (high-speed rail, monorail, LRT, and metro-rail). 🚆My background is in seismic engineering and structural dynamics, but I’ve since joined a design-build contractor that focuses on big infrastructure.Today, I can say that I’m a key player in winning lucrative government contracts valued in the billions! I also dabble in scripting and data science as it relates to my role, and have done some freelance work as well.I LOVE what I do… but it wasn’t always this way! Getting to this mindset was a struggle.I believe the 20’s are a time where it’s okay to fail. These years are about exploration, discovery and taking measured risks! It’s about finding out what’s meaningful to you!If you’re not sure what you want to do, or are just feeling unfulfilled - I’ve been there, and I’m all ears!!
