2022-2023 EVC COchair bios
Background: Prior to Booth, I spent six years in the world of early stage startups, having experienced two different seed stage startups, specifically in the world of EdTech (I'm also a former teacher!). These days I focus on pretty much anything BUT EdTech, but still in the world of early stage startups. I hold a B.S. in Media Studies from MIT and a M.Ed. in Tech and Innovation for Education from Harvard, and still dream about the cannoli at Mike's Pastry. My family moved nine times when I was a kid, so I'm not really from anywhere, but consider Boston, Cincinnati, and Savannah to be home!
Ask Me About: Early stage startups and investing, founding a company as a Booth student, weird fan theories, the NY Mets
How I Spent My Summer: I interned with Impellent Ventures, a generalist earliest-stage venture firm. I also spent two weeks camping in the South African bush and two weeks sailing in Greenland!
How I’m Involved in EVC: I oversee programming related to venture capital, along with my brilliant partner Rebecca! This includes educational programming on what it means to be an investor and how to recruit for internships, as well as events with VC firms such as fireside chats and our career treks.
Fun Fact: I'm a wildlife and landscape photographer in my spare time! I've experienced a lot of crazy wildlife encounters, including being charged by a rhino, having a tarantula try to come into my tent, and photographing a leopard seal successfully hunting a gentoo penguin!
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: I am an unabashed fan of emo and pop-punk tunes from the 2000's and 2010's.
Background: I was born and raised in Chicago, IL. I attended Princeton University for undergrad where I studied philosophy. After college, I moved to San Francisco, where I worked at Walmart eCommerce, Pottery Barn, and DoorDash before deciding to pursue my MBA. I always had an interest in entrepreneurship, with my first experience during college where I worked on a student-run startup. I knew that eventually I wanted to start my own company and came to Booth to sharpen up some of my business skills while starting my own venture.
Ask Me About: Tech, living in the Bay Area, entrepreneurship/startups, and why I love Chicago.
How I Spent My Summer: This past summer I received funding through Polsky’s Entrepreneurship Internship Program to work on my own venture focused on women’s professional development.
How I’m Involved in EVC: Within EVC, I’m focused on supporting founders and those interested in working at startups on their journeys. I’ve been pretty involved in Booth’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, and participated in VC lab and NVC last year, so feel free to ask me questions about either of those experiences.
Fun Fact: I used to dance hip-hop in college
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: Come On Eileen (a bop though)
Background: I grew up in the Bay Area, CA, and attended UCLA for undergrad where I studied Economics and Psychology! Post grad, I worked at PayPal and Stitch Fix, working a variety of roles within Finance and Strategy. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, I felt that same itch to build and fell in love with entrepreneurship. It was then that I decided to attend business school, to have the space, time, and tools to work on a company of my own. Outside of school and work, I have a deep passion for the arts and more specifically music - which is what has driven me to continue to work on solving some of the existing problems in the music / tech industry.
Ask Me About: The best vegetarian food in Chicago, Music / Singing / Anything in between, Animal Welfare, Resources in Chicago for female founders
How I Spent My Summer: I worked on my music-tech startup this summer alongside my co-founder!
How I'm Involved in EVC: Bringing founders together to provide community and support through the entrepreneurial journey.
Fun Fact: I got to be an extra in a TV show that was filming on UCLA's campus
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: Determinate from Lemonade Mouth
Background: I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina before attending UNC Chapel Hill for undergrad. I studied Business and Political Science on a rotational program through UNC, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Copenhagen Business School, before joining a consulting firm in Washington, DC. I primarily worked in growth and strategy consulting for FinTech and Healthcare clients, but I was most excited about my work with startups and new markets. My interest in venture investing and entrepreneurship led me to Booth.
Ask Me About: Venture capital internship roles, the Southeast / Mid-Atlantic, and why you should spend time outside of the Loop!
How I Spent My Summer: Interned at a Seed-stage VC Firm in Chicago, Bridge Investments
How I’m Involved in EVC: I support our VC-specific programming alongside Sofia. We can help with VC internship and full-time recruiting (including VC Lab opportunities), and we orchestrate VCIC, firm info sessions, treks, and other events throughout the year. I'm also plugged into Polsky center programming, and interned part-time during the year at Jump Capital in Chicago.
Fun Fact: I'm an avid oil painter
Most Embarrassing Song On My Playlist: Something Super Sweet - Rory Webley
Background: I’m from Sarasota, FL and attended the University of Florida for undergrad, where I studied Biochemistry and Business Administration. I spent the first five years of my career in NYC consulting with Accenture in their Growth Strategy practice, serving both commercial and nonprofit clients. While at Booth, I’ve spent my time exploring the venture capital and start up ecosystem as a different platform for delivering innovation and positive social change. While I’m a staunch believer in driving sustainable impact through profitable businesses, I also believe cross-sector collaboration is key to supporting underserved communities. That said, I also keep ties to the nonprofit world as a co-chair for the Net Impact student group!
Ask Me About: Generalist and impact investing, education and financial services start ups, surviving Chicago winters, local salsa/bachata socials
How I Spent My Summer: I interned at Moderne Ventures, a ~$500 AUM generalist fund that invests in cross-vertical, U.S.-based startups. I also worked closely with the CEO of a seed stage startup Aura Finance as an Entrepreneur in Residence, supporting sales and fundraising activities.
How I’m Involved in EVC: I oversee programming related to venture capital, along with my brilliant partner Rebecca! This includes educational programming on what it means to be an investor and how to recruit for internships, as well as events with VC firms such as fireside chats and our career treks.
Fun Fact: NYC apartments are small and have silly layouts, so I custom built my own couch (picked out lumber, learned how to drill pocket holes, etc). I brought all my tools to Chicago, so let me know if you need help with any home improvement projects.
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: Maybe the volume of All Time Low songs? But honestly not embarrassed about it.
Background: Prior to Booth, I was a part of the founding team of a Micro-loan start-up in India, where we help women with low to no credit history enter formal credit channels. I also run an education non-profit in that provides free after-school classes to over 1,500 students at present.
Ask Me About: Social Entrepreneurship, Startups, and how not to kill your plants during Chicago winters!
How I Spent My Summer: Worked on my startup—and squeezed in some conference planning for fun.
How I’m Involved in EVC: Co-chairing Seedcon 2025.
Fun Fact: I’m a proud plant mom to 27 houseplants
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: I have an entire playlist dedicated to 2000s Disney bops. Zero regrets.
Background: I was born and raised in California and come from a family of real estate professionals (no, my life was not like Selling Sunset). I did my undergrad in Computer Science at the University of Washington in Seattle. Prior to Booth, I worked as a Software Engineer for companies like Amazon, Uber, and GoFundMe. While at Booth, I have been exploring my interests in VC and entrepreneurship by interning with early-stage VC firms and working with startups. In particular, I have been looking for ways to combine my tech background with my family background in real estate and have been able to leverage programs at Booth, like Startup Summer, to intern with a real estate analytics startup and Polsky’s Entrepreneurship Internship Program to explore my own ideas for innovation in the PropTech space.
Ask Me About: Consumer/B2B SaaS, PropTech, Product strategy/development, Entrepreneurship and VC Programming at Booth (VCIC/VC Lab/EIP), Hiking, living in California
How I Spent My Summer: This summer, I received funding through Polsky’s Entrepreneurship Internship Program to explore ideas for a PropTech startup. I also have been working part-time with an early-stage software infrastructure-focused VC firm, Decibel.
How I’m Involved in EVC: This year, I am one of the organizers for EVC’s annual flagship entrepreneurship and venture capital conference — SeedCon (Friday, January 31st @ Gleacher Center). Over the next couple of quarters, I will be looking for ways to bring in great speakers and deliver helpful content to our EVC members through SeedCon and beyond.
Fun Fact: Last year, I did two high-altitude treks — Everest Base Camp and Kilimanjaro!
Most Embarrassing Song on My Playlist: "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band. Not ashamed.
