Launched in 2018 with a cohort of 22 high-growth individuals, the Notley Fellowship program has grown into a premier program for young professionals looking to make an impact. With a rise in the number of young professionals comes an abundance of talented, driven individuals that face the challenge of wanting to expand their impact beyond the walls of their offices. This is a unique opportunity for promising young professionals to step into a program that facilitates co-ownership over entrepreneurial projects that tackle Austin’s toughest challenges.
Throughout the Fellowship, Fellows will work with Austin business and civic leaders to gain knowledge surrounding social innovation, philanthropy, and issues affecting the Austin area. The Fellowship program empowers high-potential individuals to make effective connections with city stakeholders and innovators, approach their community’s problems with an entrepreneurial lens, and thereby create a systemically durable solution.
Today, we are excited to introduce you to the 2019 Notley Fellowship.
Meet The 2019 Fellows:
Alejandra Garcia – Alejandra is on the Growth team at The Guild, a hospitality start-up in Austin. Ale has been involved in various non-profit initiatives in Austin including Food In Tummies, and she co-founded Guilders for Diversity, an organization at The Guild.
Alex Ecenia – Alex worked in philanthropy for six years in Los Angeles, New York and Austin and has always kept charity work at her core. Last year she founded Rainey Productions, an events and marketing LLC.
Asia E. Haney – Asia is a professional in the Austin community who seeks to leave her indelible mark on society through culture, collaborative and social change. A business graduate of Huston-Tillotson University, Asia serves as the Interim Director of Recruitment and Admission at her alma mater.
Avram Rampersaud – Avram founded PocketCab LLC before joining Uber in 2013. He’s spent the last 6 years between Chicago, Singapore and Austin, working across Uber rides & UberEats and he currently leads global expansion for JUMP Scooters for Uber.
Brittany Solano – Brittany is a Vice President of Marketing and BD at JDI. In her marketing role, she helps startups spark change in large and slow-moving systems like food, agriculture, and health care. Today she is particularly focused on synthetic biology and cellular agriculture, digital therapeutics, genomics and precision agriculture.
Caitlyn Conner – Caitlyn is the Startup Champion for the Entrepreneurs Foundation at Capital Factory, devoted to supporting the philanthropic efforts of Austin’s tech and startup community. Being involved at the startup level of multiple companies fostered a deep sense of appreciation for those who build cultures that create positive change and maintain their altruism through growth.
Chelsea Buell – Chelsea is a strategic thinker in a creative space, currently solving design problems at Clearhead, a studio acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2017. She’s loved creating things ever since she was little.
Christina Burgess – Christina is a Director of Product Marketing at Khoros (formerly Spredfast). She has served as a non-voting board member of AIDS Services of Austin and as Student Admissions Chair for the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, with a focus on recruiting and retaining more women into the MBA program.
Claire Schmitt – Claire is the Director of Digital Marketing at BuildASign, and seeks to use the knowledge and resources she’s accumulated thus far to amplify others. Claire started and continues to run the BuildASign Women’s Group, which promotes personal and professional development among its members.
David Rapoport – David is the Business Operations Manager at Clearhead, a studio acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2017. He is currently responsible for resource management, invoicing & collections, financial forecasting, and budget & contract management.
Hilary Corna – Hilary is a Bestselling Author and Founder of the Human Processes Continuum with a mission of humanizing business. Hilary’s work draws on 10+ years of industry experience in operations, culture and people development. Hilary been featured in the New York Times, ForbesWoman, NBC, Upworthy and dozens of other publications.
Kaelin Hooper – Kaelin is an avid learner of all things technology. Today, he’s tackling new ways to buy and sell homes online as a Product Manager on the consumer technology team at Keller Williams Realty International. He’s also exploring other problems to solve by using his experience in consumer tech.
Leigh Edwards – Leigh is a CPA, voracious reader and vocal user of the Austin Public Library system. Her love of reading has brought her to many of her passions, including healthy living, minimalism, and personal finance.
Maggie Engler – Maggie is a data scientist at Duo Security, where she works on behavioral analytics to detect fraudulent login attempts. Her interests include ethics in artificial intelligence, open data, and empowerment through technology education. Maggie volunteers with Women in Security and Privacy and the RSA Conference Security Scholar Program Committee.
Matt Sorenson – Matt serves as an Innovation Program Manager for the University of Texas System, helping students, faculty, and researchers get their life changing ideas and technologies to the people who need them. Matt is a runner, Runified Podcast host, and author of My Mommy Runs, a children’s book.
Sasha Parsons – Sasha currently works at Indeed in the inaugural class of the Associate Product Manager Rotational Program. Her favorite part of her job is combining insights from data and conversations with job seekers to improve the way people get jobs. Her passion for global policy education has led her to run high school Model United Nations conferences for the past 10 years.
Savannah Barker – Savannah recently joined Notley Ventures as their Director of Strategic Programs. Previously, she led Diversity & Inclusion efforts at Capital Factory. Before moving to Austin, Savannah spent years working in the nonprofit space in Los Angeles and helped launch the first-ever Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Taskforce at Center Theatre Group, one of the largest nonprofit arts organizations in the nation.
Shaquille Gould – Shaquille is a Principal at Quake Capital, a venture fund and accelerator based in Austin. Previously, he worked for PepsiCo, several startups, and Google. In his spare time, Shaquille mentors at-risk students in the Austin area, enjoys reading, traveling and staying active.
Suhailah Waheed – Suhailah has served in the nonprofit industry professionally for the last three years. For two years she served on the board of the Young Women’s Alliance as the VP of Development and now owns her own development agency, Giving Geeks. Suhailah believes everyone deserves optimal support in fulfilling their goals toward social change.
Trevor Theunissen – Trevor Theunissen currently serves as Senior Manager of Public Policy and Communications at Uber Technologies, establishing and building Uber’s brand and profile, and working to ensure that regulatory frameworks support Uber’s products. Previously, he worked for the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state entity set up to lead Louisiana’s rebuilding efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Zoe Gabbard – Zoe is an investment associate at UTIMCO, the investment management company responsible for overseeing assets supporting The University of Texas and Texas A&M Systems. Zoe has participated on the grants committees of the Women’s Fund of Central Texas and Impact Austin, and she continues to seek out opportunities to apply her business experience to support social impact organizations.
