Sam S.
🌎 Social impact
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.
🌎 Moving outside the US
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.
🙌 Nonprofit
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.
🎉 Entrepreneurship
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.
⭐️ Freelance / consulting work
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.
🌲 Climate tech
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!!
Eduardo L.
💸 Personal finance
I was born and raised in Mexico City. I studied Finance in one of Mexico´s top schools. Professionally, I jumped from corporate finance at a global consumer company, to investment banking at a leading global bank, to private equity and venture capital at the World bank before I figured out what I love. I currently work for an e- logistics startup were I have found the intelectual challenge of building the Strategic Finance department from the ground up. I am aiming to finish the year with 10 people in my team, up from just myself 4 months ago.
Personally, I recently got married after dealing with a long distance relationship. There were tough times, but I can say that it has worked out and I could not be happier.
As for Twenty, I loved the idea of mentoring for Twenty because it is a resource that I would have love to have when I first started my personal and professional journey as a young professional.
I am passionate about chess, soccer and Formula 1. Fluent in Spanish and English.
Ishaan P.
🚀 Engineering
I spent my twenties living in the constant flux of trying to find a direction that felt like it was truly "mine", while also doing my best to be intentional about accelerating my growth. I saw tremendous personal and professional growth during this time. I'm really happy that I spent my time exploring multiple domains - I worked in academia as a researcher, I tried starting a company (and learned a lot when it didn't work out), I switched careers, and finally landed on a path that I fell in love with. In my personal life, I ended a 7-year relationship, juggled old and new friends constantly moving cities, found my person, got married and moved between multiple cities. I'm lucky to have had a lot of help from incredible mentors along the way, and I would love to help in whatever way that I can.
RJ S.
Hey y’all! I’m Chelsea.
Professional Me - The Jobs:
Professional Me - The Navigation:
I’ve gone through a major transformation in my identity as it relates to work. I forged my sense of self on the idea that I need to ‘achieve’ in order to be liked and respected. As a child, I was put into accelerated learning and AP courses. I received a full tuition scholarship to college and was part of a very rigorous honors program. I would put 150% toward every internship and role and only feel good when I would receive validation of my output.
I also feel like I prioritized the words and direction that people had ‘for me’, instead of me giving myself the chance to really uncover what I liked and didn’t like. This suppression of expressing my true self and putting so much effort and energy into work would often lead to burnout and feelings of ‘not good enough’ or ‘how can I be better.’
Now, I’ve finally gotten to a place where I’ve found some balance between ‘work me’ and ‘me outside of work’. I still work hard and do a good job, but also prioritize joy and exploration and my relationships.
If you’re in a similar boat, we can definitely chat about this. It’s a topic I’m very passionate about.
Personal Me:
Chelsea A.
Hey y’all! I’m Chelsea.
Professional Me - The Jobs:
Professional Me - The Navigation:
I’ve gone through a major transformation in my identity as it relates to work. I forged my sense of self on the idea that I need to ‘achieve’ in order to be liked and respected. As a child, I was put into accelerated learning and AP courses. I received a full tuition scholarship to college and was part of a very rigorous honors program. I would put 150% toward every internship and role and only feel good when I would receive validation of my output.
I also feel like I prioritized the words and direction that people had ‘for me’, instead of me giving myself the chance to really uncover what I liked and didn’t like. This suppression of expressing my true self and putting so much effort and energy into work would often lead to burnout and feelings of ‘not good enough’ or ‘how can I be better.’
Now, I’ve finally gotten to a place where I’ve found some balance between ‘work me’ and ‘me outside of work’. I still work hard and do a good job, but also prioritize joy and exploration and my relationships.
If you’re in a similar boat, we can definitely chat about this. It’s a topic I’m very passionate about.
Personal Me:
Katalina B.
Who I am: Hi! I’m Katalina. I grew up internationally (Germany & Switzerland) and moved to the states when I was nine. As both a middle child and third-culture kid, I always felt a bit in-between. My career has been similar, working across CPG and tech, going from brand management to product management. Lately, I’ve been leaning more into embracing the ambiguity and not needing to define myself by external labels, achievements, or affiliations as much — it’s an ongoing journey.
I’m passionate about: Mental health (overthinkers anyone?), dance (modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, tap, lyrical), dogs (ask me about my cute 3-year-old golden retriever cocker spaniel mix, Jovie), people (psych undergrad), sunny weather (find me at the beach).
Why I mentor at Twenty: I have mentored throughout all stages of my career - from being a dance instructor in high school, to providing mentorship through StepUp in Los Angeles, to interviewing and mentoring for Duke University. I want to give back, help navigate, and provide support in ways that I wish I had in my early twenties. I love that Twenty provides the type of support, direction, and guidance that was previously hard to come by without either access to top institutions or a ton of potentially awkward conversations.
Let's break the ice and make the twenties the best decade for the next generation!
Kruti M.
Who am I? I’m Kruti - a native Texan (I love my homes of Houston and Austin equally!) currently living in Brooklyn. I’m a former management consultant, and for the last 3 years, have been helping grow a network of high-performing public startup schools in underserved areas of the Bronx. I am about to start my next adventure: getting my MBA at Chicago Booth. There, I will focus on my interest in building and scaling a new generation of sustainable nonprofits that provide direct services to children and families while also influencing broader public policy.
I’ll also be using this time away from work to pour into the things that bring my endless joy: spending more time with my family (happy to talk about being the only person in your family that lives in a different place!), making up new recipes and feeding all the people in my life, and all things yoga/hiking/boxing.
Why am I here? Mentoring is incredibly personal to me because I did not find real mentors in my life until my mid-twenties. I know the challenges of finding people with the right experience to guide you, and know that this depends heavily on the complex combination of who you are, where you come from, and where you're trying to go.
If I can be a part of your journey, just as many have been for me, I would be thrilled!
Clara M.
Hey Future Mentee!
I’m a Bay-Area native who grew up in the OG Silicon Valley (my dad was a chip programmer) so tech has always been a part of my life. In my career, I’ve worked almost exclusively at early stage startups (AngelList, On Deck, Hugging Face) with a stint at a Bollywood fitness company, and most recently, I’ve started my own recruitment and placement agency for Chiefs of Staff. Looking back on my career, I can weave a concise narrative of why I went from place to place but while I was going through it, I felt lost and like I was never going to “catch up” to my peers who were all engineers or product managers or data scientists.
I’m a strong believer in operationally minded folks being the next wave of talent that startups and companies want (it’s already starting to happen) but it’s a hard role to feel successful in because of it’s generalist nature. I can help you better define what it is that brings you joy and how you personally define success so that you feel more fulfilled.
Outside of work, I love staying active and seeing friends. I grew up dancing (competitively like on Dance Moms and was also on my school’s dance team) and so I try to take a dance class whenever I can - my favorite teacher is in NY. I’ve also been nomadically traveling around for the last year and a half so finding community around me has been something that I’ve grappled with and know the struggle to do so first hand.
I’m excited to share all the things I’ve learned in my twenties with people who want to listen and chances are, I’ll learn a lot from you too! I’ve mentored folks both within the companies I’ve worked at as well as through the communities I’ve built and my favorite thing to do is help others succeed. I can’t wait to meet you!
Chase D.
Twenty excites me because I remember feeling overwhelmed with the number of seemingly "life critical" decisions I was making. I want to help give back by providing guidance and frameworks to help people understand how they make the best choices for their future selves (professionally and personally) while still taking care of their present selves.
Teddy S.
I have always pushed myself to the extreme in many facets of my life. I played lacrosse in high school which allowed me to get recruited to some of the best colleges in the country. When I got to Amherst College, I gained an affinity for computer science and soon found myself taking twice as many classes as I needed to major in CS. While there is also played lacrosse and sang in the Glee Club.
After college I went to Bridgewater as an engineer and quickly found myself working as an Investment Engineer on the FX research team. I have some wild stories from those years 😄. But I realized I wanted to do more in ML/AI and left Bridgewater for a small start-up in NYC where I got deep into building neural network models.
At the same time, I also applied to HBS and was accepted and started a year later. HBS really opened the aperture of what was possible in life and the different paths I could take.
If you want to hear more, happy to tell you over a call!
Lastly, I've always mentored those earlier in their career than me as it is one of the activities which brings me energy, in a world where many activities deplete. I have helped many navigate finance (hedge funds), start-ups, and venture capital.
Justin S.
I led an LGBTQ+ mentorship program and Dartmouth and loved helping students in that context. I have spent the last several years focused on finance and am working on a personal finance mini-course at HBS, and would like to help individuals in their 20s improve their financial lives and financial decisions.