Philly Tech Week 2020

Stephanie Harris is a back end software engineer at AWeber, where she builds software that enables customers to easily create awesome content for their emails. After earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, Stephanie transitioned into tech by joining the Fall 2015 cohort of the Rutgers Coding Bootcamp in New Brunswick, NJ. She was able to land an internship shortly after graduating, and eventually a fullstack engineering job before moving to AWeber in 2018.

Lisa is Seer’s Data Strategy Lead based in Philadelphia. She harnessed a passion for data and her tenure within digital marketing and business operations to focus on pushing Seer forward in utilizing data-driven strategies. Her favorite thing to do is dig deep into data to help clients solve complex business questions. Her second favorite thing to do is convince Wil of the virtues of bridge tables & ngrams.

Before Seer, Lisa worked in roles across the board in digital marketing and software with positions at TIG Global, MICROS Systems, and Oracle. Recently hitting ten years in the industry, Lisa started her career in PPC before branching into SEO, product management, program management, R&D, and finally Data Strategy. She has experience with clients at all levels and across most major industries. In her role as Data Strategy Lead, Lisa gets to touch a ton of Seer’s clients in one way or another, which is one reason she loves what she does.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Delaware. In her free time, she enjoys eating at every new restaurant in the city and doing all things outdoors with her husband Bernard, kids George and Annie, and their too-energetic pup Deacon.

Aisha Bowe is an aerospace engineer and the founder and CEO of STEMBoard.

STEMBoard creates smart systems and solutions for large-scale, U.S federal, and private sector clients. The company proactively identifies technical gaps and executes programs that lead to high-quality, cost-efficient solutions in data analytics, IT services and geospatial visualization.

STEMBoard also has an Education Directorate committed to closing the opportunity gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among historically underrepresented youth worldwide. In June of 2020, STEMBoard officially launched LINGO, a STEM-based, teen coding kit designed by STEMBoard’s engineers. LINGO is a fun and engaging way for students to learn basic coding and engineering concepts at home or as part of a virtual camp or school program, junior high through the first two years of university.

Prior to founding STEMBoard, Aisha worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center where she focused on miniaturized satellites and aircraft trajectory optimization. Aisha holds a B.S.E in aerospace engineering and an M. Eng. in space systems engineering, from the University of Michigan. She has received numerous awards for her dedication to technical excellence and the principles of diversity and opportunity, including:

The 40 Under 40: Tech Diversity – Silicon Valley U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Emerging Star Award NASA’s Engineering Honor Award

Tiffany is a dedicated leader passionate about creating sustainable social impact through social entrepreneurship and more importantly, empowering people. She's been nominated for the Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Award and also recognized by Generocity, Social Innovation Journal, Philadelphia Citizen, Wharton Business Radio, and Penn News as a leader of social entrepreneurship. Tiffany is the Founder & CEO of Fulphil, which she created to empower the youth to pursue their passions through entrepreneurship on the micro scale within cities to create a collectively broader effect. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Hult Prize Ivy.

She is a current graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a dual degree in M.S. Nonprofit Leadership (Cl ‘19) while holding her B.A. in Sociology, concentrating in Health and Medicine (Cl ‘18). She has also worked for City of Philadelphia's Office of Innovation and Technology.

Due Quach (pronounced ‘Zway Kwok’) is an inspiring social entrepreneur and the author of Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment and Joy, one of Fast Company’s best business books of 2018. Through Calm Clarity, she uses neuroscience and mindfulness to guide organizations and individuals to address unconscious bias, lead with authenticity, foster genuine inclusion, and heal trauma. After her autobiographical essay, “Poor and Traumatized at Harvard,” became a viral sensation, she collaborated with student leaders to start a grassroots organization, the Collective Success Network, to mentor, support, and empower low-income, first-generation college students to successfully navigate college and enter professional careers.

Due has a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from the Wharton School and started her career in management consulting at the Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte). She then worked in growth capital and infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia and in social impact investments in Asia and Africa. Due also serves on the board of the Power of Professional Women, a non-profit organization that supports the advancement of women leaders in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Dr. Frank Lee is the cofounder of the celebrated Drexel University Game Design Program and the creator of the Cira Centre video game series, which is the Guinness-certified world's largest video game.

Philadelphia native, James Lindsay, graduated from Cheyney University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. He initially developed his marketing skills while serving as a manager in the consumer products industry for Johnson Products, an ethnic hair care company, and Warner-Lambert. These experiences, and his desire to own a business, empowered him to start Rap Snacks, Inc in 1994. The initial success of Rap Snacks helped solidify a co-marketing agreement with Universal Records. The deal consisted of advertising Universal’s Artists on all Rap Snacks bags. Eventually the company grew into a five million dollar business selling mostly twenty-five cent bags of chips.

In 2001 Mr. Lindsay decided to expand his product line by purchasing a snack foods line called “Mr. G” snack foods. Mr. G was a locally owned Philly brand that was best know for its hot and barbeque cheddar flavored chips.

In 2007, Mr. Lindsay launched Soulful Foods, Inc. The mission of the company is to provide consumers with a great cultural experience through unique products and seasonings, and to partner with other ethnic brands in order to expand their product reach in the marketplace.

The first product launched under Soulful Foods, Inc was a venture between Mr. Lindsay and Sylvia Woods, the “Queen of Soul Food”. They came together to develop a nationally recognized brand of snack foods called “Sylvia’s”.

The introduction included three flavors of Kettle Cooked Potato Chips fried in Sunflower seed oil, which eliminates trans fats. The initial flavors included honey barbeque, lemon pepper, and Louisiana hot.

Mr. Lindsay has been in the consumer marketing industry over 17 years. His unique marketing concepts and flavor profiles have differentiated his products from other snack items on the shelf and helped him build the company’s loyal consumer base.

In 2010, Mr. Lindsay continued to be an big influence in the music marketing industry; guiding platinum selling recording artist, Meek Mill by connecting his brand with corporate America and securing brand deals with companies such as, PUMA, Monster Energy Drink, and Ciroc. As well as partnering with Monster Headphones to help create the Monster’s 24k Headphones. Mr. Lindsay also assisted Meek Mill in growing PUMA’s business an additional 200 million over a five year period. He’s also worked with Master P and his family.

Over the past 12 years he has been featured on “CBS Morning Show”, ABC’s “The Jimmy Kimmel Show”, BET, Fox News, People Magazine, The “Tavis Smiley” Show, Black Enterprise, Forbes, and Entrepreneur Magazine. He was also recognized by Business Philadelphia Magazine as “Top 100 People to Watch”

Natalie W. Nixon, PhD is a design strategist and a hybrid thinker. She applies her diverse background in anthropology, fashion, service design and dance to change lives through ideas. In her consultancy, Figure 8 Thinking, LLC she helps organizations design smarter processes and systems, build strategy, and develop leaders by teaching and applying the strategic design process. Natalie is the Founding Director of the Strategic Design MBA program at Philadelphia University and is a published author: the editor of Strategic Design Thinking: Innovation in Products, Services, Experiences and Beyond and a regular contributor to INC.com online magazine on creativity and design thinking.

Her public speaking invitations have included the Business Innovation Factory, 360 Possibles (Saint Malo, France), Creative Mornings, TEDx Philadelphia, The Copenhagen Institute for Interactive Design, The European Innovation Academy (Nice, France), SEB Bank (Tallinn,Estonia), FUSE and the Mayo Clinic's Transform conference.

She serves on the boards of the Philadelphia Art Commission, the Arts & Business Council of Philadelphia, CultureWorks of Greater Philadelphia, and the Alumni Association of Vassar College.

Natalie earned her BA (Honors: Cum Laude) from Vassar College with a double major in Anthropology and Africana Studies; an MS in Global Textile Marketing from Philadelphia University (USA), Shenkar College (Israel) & Reutlingen University (Germany); and a PhD in Design Management from the University of Westminster, London.