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.
Ryan M.
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.
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.
Eric K.
Howdy y’all! Eric here - currently in my last semester of an MBA/M.Ed dual degree program at Stanford. My 20s were a hop-around kind of decade personally and professionally - created a little visual representation of that below:
About as un-linear a career path as you can find, but it’s been a fun ride. Along the way, I learned a lot about what a “good job” looks like for me, as well as what I want in my life outside of work. Does it mean I have it all figured out? Quite the contrary, but I’ve learned to embrace being a little bit lost and a lot of curious all the time. After Stanford, that will likely mean working in the social sector (probably in education) and living back in Austin (where I was prior to school).
I’ve had countless conversations with strangers during my 20s - with people who had no obligation to help me out or to give me their perspective, but who did so anyway (often after I reached out cold). I mentor today to pay it forward, holding a sprinkle of hope that I might be that randomly helpful person to someone in your shoes.
I’m about as positive and as energetic a person as you’ll find (fun fact: without having ever sipped coffee!), and you can expect more of the same from me as a mentor. In those moments where life gets real, we’ll find a silver lining or a path forward, and if I don’t have the answers you need, I’ll give it my all to find you someone who does.
Excited to hear from you - let’s get crankin’!
Ankush T.
I'm Ankush, and I am currently pursuing my MBA at London Business School. As an engineer turned consultant turned start-up & venture capital enthusiast - I've straddled various roles and would be happy to chat about any of them.
I'm an ambitious individual using my curiosity and passion to drive my decisions and carve my path in life. Obviously, along the way, I've faltered and learned from my experiences - would love to share and hopefully help you out in the process!
Janae B.
- Served as Peer Advising Fellow in college (mentor to college freshmen)- Served as official student recruiter on behalf of Harvard College Admissions- Harvard College Alumnae Interviewer- Currently a ICF certified professional coach; 100+ coaching hours (1:1 client sessions)- Born and raised in Miami, FL- I’m constantly on the move!- I teach beginner dance classes on the side
Lucy S.
Hi, I’m Lucy! I’m so happy to be here. Let me give you a little glimpse of who I am and what my twenties were like 😊
I love quotes so I’ll first start out with one by Elizabeth Gilbert to set the tone ;)
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart”.
How I Discovered Twenty & My Passion to Mentor: About a month ago, I confided in a friend about my desire to make a more significant impact in the lives of individuals navigating this unique phase of life, beyond my work as a therapist. I was struggling to pinpoint the ‘how’ I was going to do this, but my friend encouraged me to let it go and that opportunities sometimes show up when they are meant to show up.
A month later, I saw an old teacher of mine on LinkedIn commenting on one of Twenty’s posts that Katie, the CEO of the company, had written. I began to read about why she was creating Twenty, and I deeply resonated with all of the points she made around this “defining decade”. Something inside me knew I needed to be a part of what she was creating.
And here I am!
I am such a strong believer of having mentors in your 20s. When we have mentors, we can truly “see to believe” what’s possible for us when we have direct access to people who possess what we desire or have gone through something challenging and made it to the other side.
I’m so looking forward to meeting all of you and helping you on your path forward!
Roberto B.
I LOVE mentoring and teaching, and have done so since my early undergrad years! Besides being a teaching assistant for multiple classes during undergrad and grad school, I had an undergrad scholarship called TEPP (which translates to Tutoring, Teaching, and Research of PUC) where I mentored multiple students. During my MBA, I was an Arbuckle Leadership Fellow, a program in which I took coaching classes and coached 3 students during their first year at the MBA. I'm excited to be a mentor at Twenty so I can help people while doing what I love the most - coaching you through the different problems in life and sharing my experience with you!
I’m a founder with work experience across early-stage (Shef), growth-stage (Instawork), pre-IPO (DiDi) and big tech (Google) companies. I specialize in operations and product management of marketplace startups, always bringing a strong emphasis on data storytelling and analytics to every decision I make with a team. My background includes Data Science, Operations and PM positions, besides a BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Kat F.
I’m a mom and marketing professional, with over a decade of experience building brands and culture at large organizations and high-growth startups. My career started with the question, “What now?” English degree in hand, with email writing as my superpower, I entered a mentee program at Franklin Templeton to find my place in the corporate ecosystem.
Career and life moves since:
👉🏼 Moved from SF to Portland
👉🏼 Got a job at adidas in Digital Innovation
👉🏼 Met my now-wife, quit my job, and moved to Los Angeles
👉🏼 Joined an electric scooter startup in Series A and ended up in NYC for the IPO bell-ringing ceremony four years later
👉🏼 Became a mom at the height of the pandemic (July 2020)
👉🏼 Joined a seed startup as the first marketing hire
👉🏼 Partnered with LinkedIn as an LGBTQ+ Creator
👉🏼 Joined a Series A startup in DEI tech to build & grow their marketing department
👉🏼 Started a professional newsletter for people leaders (The Break Room)
