MEET THE FOUNDERS

Maisha is the Founder & CEO of WorkChew, a startup that turns hotels, empty office spaces, and restaurants into on-demand flexible workspaces. WorkChew connects remote workers to workspaces that support productivity, collaboration, and well-being. WorkChew exists to meet the rising demand from companies looking for agile workspace solutions as they roll out post-pandemic hybrid work models. Maisha is one of a shortlist of black women to raise millions at the forefront of the future of work, having raised $2.5M from notable investors including Harlem Capital, Wilshire Lane Partners, and Techstars Ventures. Maisha is dedicated to transforming the work environment of 1B remote workers by 2030. Maisha is a visionary, leading thought leader at the frontier of the future of work, having appeared in panels, conferences, blogs, and press articles. As a Techstars mentor, Maisha shares her experiences, knowledge and looks to inspire other entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams to change the world. Prior to launching WorkChew, she worked as an investment banker, brokering M&A deals and performing multi-million financial valuations. Maisha is a Techstars alumni and was a 2021 Forbes 1000 recipient.

Ofo is the CEO and Founder of WYL (WhoseYourLandlord) a VC and Google-backed platform that turns meaningful feedback from residents on their living experiences into actionable insights that help home providers better understand and engage their communities. Ofo was named to the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Forbes #Next1000 list, and BET’s #30Under30. He was recognized as the Young Professional of the Year by the African American Chamber of Commerce, and a Modern Man by Black Enterprise. He’s worked with companies like Nike, ESPN, Facebook, Starbucks and his work has been featured in TechCrunch, Newsweek, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Blavity, and the New York Post. A board of trustee member at D’Youville College, Ofo sits on the Board of Directors for several non-profit organizations and gives lectures on tech, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills at prestigious institutions like The White House, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He’s a professional actor and model, has walked New York Fashion Week, and been featured numerous times on the Today Show.

Marcus is the Founder and CEO of Breefly, a cloud-based, insights reporting platform that transforms mundane data into actionable, engaging content for clients and teams. As workforces grow more mobile and data-centric, Breefly helps close the data-to-action gap, helping companies curate and translate data into meaningful content that drives teams to act. Breefly is a Boomtown Accelerator graduate from the nationally recognized Boulder Colorado-based tech accelerator program. For more than a decade, Marcus has provided thought leadership and innovative data reporting solutions to leading global organizations including Citi, Diageo, and PepsiCo. Marcus was honored by the ADCOLOR Industry Coalition as a Change Agent Award Recipient for his dedication to industry, diversity, and community. While serving on its Board of Directors, he co-founded the ADCOLOR Diversity & Inclusion Conference, the industry’s largest gathering of ethnic advertising and technology professionals. A true hybrid, Marcus maintains a unique blend of rich, urban life experience, honed by years of academic rigor and business acumen. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Fashion Institute of Technology with continued graduate studies at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, Cornell University, and MIT.

Maryann is the founder and CEO of Pink Lotus Technologies, creator of the POMM connected care platform. The company keeps families connected through wearable devices and a mobile app. She is known as the “Startup Evangelist” and is a lifelong serial entrepreneur with vast experience in startups. A Mexican-American woman living her dreams, Maryann has made it her mission to excel and help others along the way to “go for it” when it comes to pursuing your goals. She is a NAWBO member and was formerly the Vice President of The Inventors Council Central Florida and sits on the board of Christ the CEO at her church. With more than 16 years experience building restaurants, she bootstrapped and transitioned to the technology sector when she saw a need for a solution to help keep families safe and connected. She considers herself as a techy student as she builds a team of exceptional individuals who share her vision for the mission. Maryann has been recognized on Forbes Next 1000, recipient of UPS Ignite Entrepreneurs award, Technology Innovator Award 2021 and named Top 10 Startups to Watch 2022. She also has been published in the book Latinas 100 and Successful Women Inventors.

Shontay is the CEO, Creator, and Founder of Black Girl Sunscreen (BGS). In 2016, when Shontay became tired of using sunscreen that left a white residue, she decided to leverage her MBA and knack for business to develop a melanin-friendly option for women who look like her. While working to build awareness for BGS, Shontay has continued to fuel her passion by traveling the world educating women of color on the importance of wearing sunscreen. Shontay has emerged as a thought leader and innovator in the beauty industry and her success has been chronicled by Forbes, Business Insider, Teen Vogue, InStyle, and countless other national publications. The first indie Black-owned sunscreen brand sold in Target’s sun care section full time, you can also find Black Girl Sunscreen at Ulta, CVS, Walgreens, Macys.com, NordstromRack.com, FSA.com, Ross, TJ Maxx, and specialty retailers across the globe.

Dustin is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Local Sports Network, a digital community allowing sports fans to watch high school sports and connect with one another.The company counts Comcast NBCUniversal, Techstars, and The Minnesota Twins as investors. After beginning his finance career with Merrill Lynch in Dubai, Dustin was the founding Chief Operating Officer at Louisiana’s most active venture firm. He was also founding Chief Strategy Officer at the nation’s fastest growing test prep company (acquired), Co-founder of a career development company for educators of color, and Founding Teacher at two STEAM-focused schools. As an offshoot of his family’s horse racing business, Dustin formed a collective of data scientists that predicted race outcomes with over 80% accuracy. Team members later joined the Boston Red Sox’s player analytics division, Google’s artificial intelligence research group, and Uber’s self-driving car technology group. Motivated by his own professional experiences, Dustin is a strong advocate for increasing racial diversity in the technology entrepreneurship sector. To this end, he co-founded an accelerator for underrepresented early-stage entrepreneurs and a workforce development program that teaches basic computer coding skills to youth. Dustin holds degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard.

Folasade is the founder and CEO of Unskrypted TV, an interactive cinematic experience that aims to redefine the narrative surrounding the Black community through 24-hour programming made free to its viewers by using advertisements and commercials. Unskrypted TV brings together Black-led content with Black-owned businesses in a unique ecosystem where viewers can shop what they see on TV. For years, Folasade has been working toward building a legacy and reputation as an innovative disruptor. As a Nigerian American, she has been able to use her multi-cultural background to relate to people across the African Diaspora, while also finding new ways to do so. After building technological roots at a specialty high school, Folasade welcomed the opportunity to broaden her media horizons. This ambition led her to pursue television production at Howard University, later continuing her education with a Master’s in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. The business growth she has gained opened up powerful corporate doors ranging from ABC to Revolt. She hopes to use media and entertainment to help close cultural gaps and redefine the narrative in the Black community.

Lorel is the Co-founder, COO, and Head of Global Partnerships at StartupStarter. The company is a community for startups and supporters featuring a collective of founders, investors, subject-matter experts and service providers on a mission to make launching and scaling successful businesses accessible to anyone. As a serial entrepreneur and driven leader, Lorel is known as a super connector who prides himself on building multi-level partnerships across all industries to align with their various functions and goals. As a minority founder, he is passionate about helping the underrepresented entrepreneur find a path forward with world-changing ideas that make an impact, a place for them to be supported, and a platform for learning the foundation of starting a business. Lorel’s professional experience spans 15 years of multi-level responsibilities and has been dominated by extensive managerial and sales training. He possesses the confidence needed to face the toughest leadership challenges and has a proven track record as a solid achiever. His appetite for building and maintaining relationships helps him to excel within management, sales, customer cultivation & acquisition, marketing, advertising, and entrepreneurship.

Rodney is the Co-founder of SoLo Funds, the leading community finance platform for everyday Americans. SoLo Funds allows people to lend money to other members on the platform. Since 2018, SoLo has offered more than 600,000 loans funded and redefined access to capital and returns for 1 million users. As a Black-led Certified B Corp fintech, SoLo is grounded in the following hope and mission: to build a community that enables financial autonomy for all. Prior to founding SoLo, Rodney founded LISNR and led the company to over $40M in funding, numerous awards and partnership across retail and financial services. Rodney’s career started at Procter & Gamble in brand management where he was a critical catalyst in the company’s digital strategy, eCommerce, and social media. Rodney has been recognized with numerous awards, including Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 in 2012; Cannes Gold Lion award in 2015; and the CNBC Disruptor 50 List in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Rodney is a graduate of West Virginia University and Howard University.

Brandon is the founder of iAccess Life, a mobile app that allows people with disabilities to rate, review and research accessible venues such as; restaurants, retail shopping, grocery stores and more. He grew up playing sports until he found his first true love of motocross where he traveled the country racing dirt bikes. In 2008, was injured in a motocross accident that left him with a thoracic spinal cord injury (paralyzed from the chest down). Only 14 years old at the time, he was faced with the decision to either let this dramatic event stop him from truly living the life he wanted or to turn it into an opportunity to triumph in the face of tragedy — Brandon chose the latter. He loves to travel, enjoys good music and comedy, and making new friends and memories. Through his start-up, Brandon aims to empower users to “know before they go” and feel confident making plans with their friends, colleagues, and loved ones.

Chris is the Founder & CEO of Pop Viewers, a content discovery platform delivering next-level customer sentiment to studios, content creators, and brands. Pop Viewers allows its diverse users—the audience—to become the critics: recording quick and authentic reactions to what they’ve watched. They give the TV show or movie a score, and share their media across the platform’s network so people can decide what to watch next. Chris is an entertainment journalist, producer, and entrepreneur with a signature, accessible approach to media and culture. He served as an entertainment correspondent for Fandango and CNN and was the Entertainment Editor for NBC’s theGrio.com. He still regularly appears as an Entertainment Expert on MSNBC, NBC’s TODAY, and NBC News Now. He’s interviewed Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Viola Davis, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Zendaya, and Harrison Ford. Witherspoon got his first taste of media as an intern with ABC’s Good Morning America and has never looked back. He is an alumnus of the prestigious NBC Page Program and of Ohio University.