Philly Tech Week 2018

Ariel Lopez is a career coach, entrepreneur, and public speaker with an expertise in digital media and technology. She's the CEO of 2020Shift, a company that provides professionals with the skills they need to find careers that they love in tech and media. Currently, 2020Shift helps top startups and brands like Spotify, Uber, Oscar Insurance, Yelp and more attract and retain talent. The company is also a part of the national “Tech Hire” initiative which aims to get 100,000 people employed in high paying tech jobs by 2020.

With over 7 years of recruiting experience she’s worked with top brands and startups to help them with their recruiting efforts. She’s helped with thousands of marketing, advertising, and tech professionals grow in their careers and find lucrative opportunities. She is a member of Forbes Coaches Council, and has been featured in Fast Company, Business Insider, Ebony, Huffington Post and more. An avid speaker, she’s spoken at several conferences & events including Tech Inclusion, Greenhouse Open, Hispanicize, Black Tech Week, Social Media Week and others.

"Recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change and a Forbes Under 30 Honoree in Law and Policy. For over a decade, Jamira has made it her mission to employ her personal experiences as the driving force to improve the lives of others. From implementing anti-violence programs throughout Philadelphia – when she was just a high school student, to organizing youth trainings around the world – in collaboration with the United Nations. Jamira ardor for personal and social advancement is undeniable; she leads with marked expertise on youth engagement, education reform, global citizenship, gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform.

Currently, Jamira is the Head of Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education, helping to ensure a collaborative relationship between youth and business leaders; to enable innovative ways to educate, engage and activate young people around the world. Prior to the Global Business Coalition for Education, Jamira worked as the National Deputy Millennial Vote Director at Hillary For America and before that, she managed the gun violence and criminal justice portfolios at Amnesty International USA—one of the first and largest human rights organizations in the world. Jamira also consult with a number of public and private entities on how to authentically engage impacted communities. Working at the intersection of policy, community and social good, Jamira provides unique insight that will help actualize the change we all so desperately need."

Erica is CTO & Founder at IOpipe where she is building tools to help developers of serverless applications iterate faster and support their applications in production. She is a former maintainer of Docker and OpenStack and has been building cloud, ops, and infrastructure tooling for over 15 years.

Eric is a user experience designer who helps create straightforward solutions that address a person’s practical, physical, cognitive, and emotional needs using accessible, performant, device-agnostic technology. You can check out his work at ericwbailey.design.

Mont Brown has devoted his life is to provide personalized attention and mentoring youth in the inner- city communities through music, art, and creative expression. He continues to support our youth in formulating impactful ways that encourages them. His accomplishments are driven by his childhood experiences growing up in South West Philadelphia. He believes in the power of unity and uses his story to inspire and help the youth going through similar challenges in their lives. He is an example that regardless of your surroundings you are still capable of living out your dreams. Mont’s primary goal was to have one day of no violence within his (South West) community and he has achieved that with his "Stop the Violence Kickback" four years in a row, with his annual KickBack Festival which gives local up and coming music artist a platform to display their talent. He values the importance of sharing ideas, talents, resources, and time in order to help youth and creative individuals reach their full potential. He has been given the title of The South West Ambassador by Senator Anthony Williams and also named one of BME’s (Black Male Engagement) Community leaders of 2015. Currently, Mont sits on the Board for Mothers in Charge with founder Ms. Dorothy, has a monthly “Brunch with the Elderly Event” at the senior case home in South West and stands as the treasurer and one of youngest board members of Philadelphia Mayor Kenney African American Commission. Mont Brown leads by example that you cannot judge a book by its cover; he is bridging the gap between community and cool-ness.

Archna Sahay is a Sr Consultant with J Nowak Strategy, a strategic advisory firm based in Philadelphia. Archna's primary areas of focus include urban innovation and public-private partnerships. Prior to this role, Archna was the director of entrepreneurial investment for the City of Philadelphia. As Director, Archna was responsible for the economic and business development of the tech sector for the City. She launched various programs to help connect entrepreneurs to resources needed as they built their businesses in Philadelphia. Archna also managed StartupPHL, the City's platform for supporting entrepreneurship and startup activity in Philadelphia which also included management of an early stage venture fund and a grant program. She helped guide the growth of the platform from providing sources of funding to startups to also incorporating thought leadership, open innovation concepts and equitable and inclusive ecosystem development. Archna began her career in finance working for over 10 years at leading investment management firms working closely with high net worth clients.

Archna served as an Advisor for the 2018 SXSW Cities Summit and is currently on the boards of Philadelphia Community Corp, a non profit salvage organization combining workforce development and sustainable building and deconstruction practices as well as Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a non profit whose mission is to provide a soft landing for new immigrants through education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.

Denayja Reese is Partnerships and Production Manager for BlackTech Week and BlackTech Weekend. Her diverse career journey has meant seamlessly moving through industries, markets and projects to innovate and inspire. She has worked with companies like Uber, SF Giants, Live Nation and Airbnb. She is passionate about diversifying the global tech ecosystem and telling the stories of underrepresented visionaries.

As co-founder and CEO, Natalie leads the direction, culture, and team happiness for Wildbit, makers of Beanstalk, Postmark and Conveyor. With 28 team members across 5 countries (15 cities) working on multi-million dollar products for developers, she’s proving that you can grow an extremely profitable business while focusing on shorter work days, an enjoyable work-from-anywhere environment, and staying small.