SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
Mayor Jim Kenney
Tech innovation and entrepreneurship is key to economic growth in Philly. The City of Philadelphia also understands the importance of representation in this vision for the future.
Aniyia L. Williams | @operaqueenie
Founder & CEO, Tinsel | Executive Director, Black & Brown Founders
Aniyia Williams founded Tinsel with the inspiration to create an audio accessory that doubles as a beautiful piece of jewelry. Aniyia has a unique background in music and tech, with experience as a singer and marketer. Alongside building Tinsel, she serves as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) with CODE2040 and Google for Entrepreneurs.
Arlan Hamilton | @arlanwashere
Founder & Managing Partner, Backstage Capital
Arlan is an emerging venture capital fund manager, and tour manager to Atlantic Records recording artist Janine & The Mixtape. Having founded and published the internationally distributed indie magazine INTERLUDE, and toured extensively as a live music production professional, she enters the venture investing world from an unconventional path.
Danielle Leslie | @danielleleslie
Founder, Course Alchemy
Danielle is the Founder of Course Alchemy where she helps startup founders create & launch online courses. Previously, she worked as a course launch strategist at Udemy where she helped influencers including Guy Kawasaki earn millions of dollars by monetizing their expertise through online courses. She has created courses with over 50k people enrolled around the world. She currently supports startups and personal brands with product launches and growth consulting.
Deldelp Medina | @deldelp
Founder, Medina & Associates
Deldelp Medina is a Latina technologist who has worked in the Bay Area as a DBA, Project Manager and Program Manager. She is a leader in the movement to diversify technology founders and workers to represent the U.S changing demographics. In 2011, Medina co-founded Avion Ventures, the only Latina-focused accelerator for mobile platforms in the U.S.
Tara Reed | @tarareed_
Founder & CEO, Apps Without Code | Code2040 EIR 2016
Tara Reed is a non-technical entrepreneur who creates software startups without using code. Before launching her business, Tara’s experience included running marketing initiatives for Google, Foursquare, and Microsoft. She isn’t an engineer or developer but she built her first app in 2014 in just a few months, without writing a single line of code. A couple of years, thousands of dollars in revenue, and a TED talk later, Tara realized that other non-technical entrepreneurs wanted to be able to do the same, so she began teaching them how to build apps without code.
Kelly Shapiro | @kelshap
Founder & CEO | The Law Offices of Kelly D. Shapiro
Attorney Kelly Shapiro represents world famous entertainers, writers, public speakers, non-profits, athletes, startups, and entrepreneurs in Philadelphia, New York City, and Los Angeles. Attorney Shapiro received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and B.A. from the University of Southern California.
Melanie Araujo | @melarauj0
Creative Director & Founder, Front & Center
Melanie is a Visual and Interaction Designer in San Francisco, CA passionate about mission driven companies in the personal care, health and education spaces. She has worked, collaborated and learned from some amazing design leaders, teams, and companies, like John Maeda, eero, Honor, CODE2040, Telenav and more. When not designing, you can find her working on Front & Center where she mentors design students and advocates for inclusion in tech.
Stephen B. Green | @pdxstepheng
Founder, PitchBlack
Stephen is a recovering banker & venture capitalist. He got the entrepreneurial itch early on, starting his first business as a junior in college. His career has been spent in finance in Portland, Oregon helping firms big and small figure out the stuff they don't know, that they don't know. PitchBlack is a pitch competition he started in 2015 to highlight black founders in regions across the country. Spreadsheets are his super power and sneakers are his kryptonite.
![Ramona Ortega | @ramona_ortegaCEO & Founder, My Money My FutureRamona Miranda Ortega is the founder and CEO of Mi Dinero Mi Futuro [My Money My Future], a financial-tech company that empowers Latinas to manage their money with confidence. …](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58a2074a5016e1e70323d493/1487638300004-46CDJ1PPS8TGP2FMJCAT/ramona+ortega.jpeg)
Ramona Ortega | @ramona_ortega
CEO & Founder, My Money My Future
Ramona Miranda Ortega is the founder and CEO of Mi Dinero Mi Futuro [My Money My Future], a financial-tech company that empowers Latinas to manage their money with confidence. She is also the VP of Strategic Partnerships for the Latino Startup Alliance, which creates culturally relevant financial content that connects them to curated financial products.
Andre' D. Davis | @andrewyze
Founder & CEO, Humble Genius Media
Andre' Davis is a spoken word poet and the founder of Humble Genius Media. After being published at age 12 and performing on stages such as Showtime at the Apollo, Andre' manifested his passion for telling stories into Humble Genius. While utilizing his background in public speaking and psychology to help grow brands, he uses his experiences to build a platform that will encourage others to turn their dreams into a reality.
Mandela SH Dixon | @mandelash
Founder, Mandela SH
As a six-year startup veteran, Mandela SH Dixon specializes in helping anyone from part-time hustlers to full-time founders accelerate their business and achieve their dreams. To-date, Mandela has shared her frameworks for success on over 60 stages, including TEDx, Google, and Facebook. She has also received several recognitions, including being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, LinkedIn's Top 10 Voices in Venture Capital and Startups, and Medium's Top 10% of Writers.
Jason Lorne Giles | @jasonlornegiles
Founder & CEO, JLG Creative | CEO, Zefyr
Jason Lorne Giles is a Creative Solutionist and CoFounder of Zefyr. With a penchant for putting decision makers at ease while ushering their brands into the future. He is responsible for the rebranding of Backcountry.com, Case Logic, as well significant brand, product, and campaign development for Nickelodeon, Hyland’s Homeopathy, The Geological Society of America, Gaiam, Bula, Nomis, Wahl Pet Clippers, Beyond Clothing, Benelli, Gruppo Campari, Hines Interests Limited Partnership, Tinsel, and The Black and Brown Founders Club. Jason is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Zefyr, a B2B business, product, and consumer analysis platform for the legal cannabis industry.
Sofiya Ballin | @sofiyaballin
Journalist | Creator, The Electric Lady
Sofiya Ballin is an award-winning journalist from the Philadelphia Inquirer and blogger for the Huffington Post. She has interviewed everyone from Jidenna to Tyler Perry and introduced readers to up-and-coming talents in the city, she's written about the emergence of Black Twitter, and covered major news events like Ferguson and Baltimore protests. She's also photographed and produced digital fashion features. Miss Ballin is the creator of the award-winning project, Black History Untold an identity series that explores the importance of a comprehensive black history and the power of that knowledge. She is also the creator of WUK party, an African & Caribbean party series in Philly and the Electric Lady Series, a collective that hosts/facilitates woman-centered events.
Rudiger J. Ellis | @rudyjellis
Co-Founder & CEO, Switchboard Live
Rudiger J. Ellis, also known as Rudy, is the CEO of Switchboard Live; a Techstars backed cloud company that helps businesses manage their live video activations, across multiple platforms, to improve audience reach and engagement. Rudy has been in various senior leadership roles over the past fifteen years in gaming, product marketing, network operations and live streaming services. He previously held roles as the Director of Streaming Services at NeuLion and was the Director of Digital Broadcast & Live Services while at XOS Digital. Prior to becoming an expert in live streaming, Rudy worked on the video game Madden NFL Football as a Producer.
Tiffanie Stanard | @tiffaniestanard
Founder & CEO, Stimulus
Tiffanie Stanard is known for following all of her passions - an anomaly in many sorts because she is a techie, a creative, radio personality/producer and serial entrepreneur. This influencer isn’t limiting herself to one career. Stanard is the Founder/CEO of Stimulus, a technology and media company providing a platform to connect communities to resources and suppy resource-providers with the tools to deepen community impact. For years, Tiffanie has brought her trademark personality and passion for national news and entertainment to radio as one of the hosts and producer for Philly Speaks with Radio One, Inc. Stanard has been a featured speaker for Microsoft, SXSW, IBM, Techweek, AT&T and more.
Fabiola Cineas | @fabiolacineas
Business Editor, Philadelphia Magazine
Fabiola Cineas is the Business Editor at Philadelphia magazine where she covers innovation in everything from Philly’s small businesses and tech community to large corporations. Before covering Philly’s local economy, she covered its education system as a reporter with the Philadelphia Public School Notebook. She also covered education as a reporter with Chalkbeat in her hometown of New York City. She is a graduate of Dickinson College and the University of Pennsylvania.
Kevin Williams
Founder & President, The Sales Sector
Kevin leads teams in sales strategy and execution. He brings many years of experience working in sales and business development with a wide array of companies, including retailers Staples and CompUSA, as well as tech companies Tinsel, Voxer, Siteworx and Cognis IT. Kevin brings expertise in sales strategy and analysis, market profiling, relationship management and sales training.
Adrean Turner | @coachadrean
Founder & CEO, Turner Coaching
Adrean is an Executive Coach, Speaker and Business Consultant. Her 25 years of expertise in Management, Marketing, Sales, Training, and Business Operations enable her to successfully partner with individuals, entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 organizations to achieve maximum potential. Adrean’s coaching approach combines strategic guidance and mental fitness planning. Clients also include government officials, nonprofit leaders and corporate executives.
Eric Jordan | @ejordanill
Founder & CEO, Ejordanill
Eric is an American designer and painter from West Philadelphia currently residing in Los Angeles. Eric’s works run the gamut from paintings, to logos, to full websites with clients ranging from local entrepreneurs to internationally respected conglomerates. Eric recently completed his first book “Fire Your Designer,” showing how to use whats around you, whats available to you to relieve the back and fourth between you and your designer, to pop open some apps, and design exactly what you need yourself erasing the dependency on someone else.
Adriana Vazquez
Co-Founder & CEO, Lilu Inc
Adriana graduated from MIT where she received a B.S. in Mathematics with Computer Science. She later pursued a Masters in Integrated Product Design at the University of Pennsylvania.
She loves running, attempting to snowboard, has been a pescetarian for over a decade, kind of speaks four languages and prefers carrot cake over chocolate cake.
Luis C. Gamardo | @lcgamardo
Co-Founder & CEO, Besto
Luis is the CEO and Co-Founder of Besto, a mobile app where users help pets get adopted by sharing videos. Previously, he acted as the lead investment banking analyst in $30 billion of public financing. Luis is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. He is a singer/songwriter with guitar and piano skills and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Bentley University.
Joah Spearman | @joahspearman
Founder & CEO, Localeur
Joah Spearman is founder and CEO of Localeur. He has been called one of the top voices in tech by LinkedIn, and has been a frequent speaker at conferences and classrooms from the Wharton School of Business to South by Southwest. Joah was named one of the Top 10 Black Innovators of 2014 by MVMT 50 ("Movement 50"), Emerging Business Leader of the Year by the Greater Austin Black Chamber in 2013, and is a four-time finalist for Austin’s Under 40 Awards. He is also the co-author of Real Role Models: Successful African Americans Beyond Pop Culture (Univ. of Texas Press). Before Localeur, Spearmanwas the director of operations and strategic initiatives at Bazaarvoice in the leadup to their 2012 IPO, co-founded an experiential marketing agency which worked closely with SXSW and ESPN X Games, and earlier served as a social media and communications adviser to companies ranging from FedEx to Volkswagen. Joah is co-chair of the board of directors for AIDS Services of Austin and a boardmember of KLRU-TV (Austin's PBS affiliate).
Jade Floyd | @jadefloydDC
Vice President of Communications, The Case Foundation
Jade Floyd is Vice President of Communications Case Foundation and Revolution. She’s cultivated media coverage on behalf of executives and founders in hundreds of publications covering venture capital, business, philanthropy and finance – from CBS Sunday Morning to the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Entrepreneur and more. Jade has more than a decade of strategic communications experience at several leading D.C.-based public affairs firms. Her clients have included the American Dental Association, Center for Wine Origins, Champagne Bureau, Fields Family Foundation, the National Black M.B.A. Association, DuPont, U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and many more where she has supported government relations and public affairs initiatives. Jade is a recipient of the Washington Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and Huffington Post IGNITEGood Millennial Impact Challenge.
Tony Williams
Senior Director of Government & External Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal
Tony Williams currently serves as the Senior Director of Government and External Affairs for Comcast NBCUniversal. In this position, Tony partners with Diversity, Consumer, and Community Based Organizations to advocate for free speech, civil rights, and economic inclusion in Technology and Media. Previously Tony led outreach and partnerships for Comcast’s Internet Essentials program. Under his leadership Comcast build partnerships with over five thousand school districts and engaged more than nine thousand community-based organizations, government agencies, and federal, state, and local elected officials to spread the word. Today Internet Essentials is the largest and most impactful broadband adoption program in the world connecting over 4 million low income Americans to high speed Internet. Prior to Comcast Tony worked for Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Darla Wolfe | @darla_techlife
Founder, Sweat EquitE | CTO, Milkcrate
Darla is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. She is currently the CTO of Philadelphia-based sustainability startup MilkCrate and is a board member for several Arizona-based startups. She is the founder of Sweat EquitE, LLC, an innovative service company that matches experienced professionals to non-traditional work opportunities. Darla earned her BBA in Computer Science from Temple University, MBA in Leadership from Villanova University and is currently completing the Digital Marketing program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is on the Advisory Council of the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership and on the Board of Directors for the Villanova University Alumni Association.
Tayyib Smith | @215tayyib
Co-founder, Little Giant Creative | Co-founder, The Institute of Hip Hop Entrepreneurship
Mr. Smith is co-founder of Little Giant Creative and The Institute of Hip Hop Entrepreneurship, is dedicated to cultural competency and the ability to engage multicultural audiences. He co-founded Pipeline Philly to serve as an inviting and dynamic co-working space filled with professionals from various backgrounds and industries, creating one of the most diverse workspaces in the city. Tayyib has long been a successful conduit between artist/niche brands. He is a fellow of the Place Lab Ethical Redevelopment Salon at the University of Chicago and sits on the boards of Prizm Art Fair in Miami, Black Star Film Fest, Temple University’s Apps & Maps and the GreenLight Fund.
Liz Brown | @lizbrownsays
Co-CEO and Head of Design, Webjunto
Liz Brown is Co-CEO and Head of Design at Webjunto. Over the past 15 years, she has worked on a wide range of projects including research on motivation theory, cognitive learning theory, and user experience. After more than 10 years of taking on side gigs as a web designer and front-end developer, she earned a master's degree in information design and technology from SUNY Polytechnic Institute and went on to cofound Webjunto. Liz continues to do work in the community as a civic hacking enthusiast, event organizer, and public speaker in the Women in Tech community.
Yuval Yarden | @yyarden03
Executive Director, Philly Startup Leaders
Yuval Yarden is the Executive Director at Philly Startup Leaders, a local nonprofit that works to develop the technology and startup community in Philadelphia. After graduating from Temple University in 2013, Yuval worked in Management Consulting before she caught the startup bug. Since then, she's worked at four startups and consulted for countless others. Yuval is passionate about helping founders launch their businesses and connecting them to local resources. In addition to Philly Startup Leaders, Yuval is a Co-Organizer of Amplify Philly, an initiative that works to raise national awareness of the Philadelphia tech scene.