Isabelle Wood, MPA’26

Ranch Lab

Hailing from a family of ranchers in New Mexico, Isabelle Wood understands the importance of land stewardship, habitat restoration, and environmental protection. She founded Ranch Lab, a startup that connects young innovators with family-owned ranches to co-develop affordable and sustainable technologies that address urgent agricultural challenges facing generational ranches. Now pursuing her Master of Public Administration at Northeastern, she is dedicated to advancing public policies that support sustainable agriculture and incentivize innovation. “Land stewardship is a tremendous responsibility,” she says, “I reframed my life at 23 years old to accept the responsibility I have for the incredible opportunity I have been given.”

Hannah Wimpy, Khoury’27

Ionova

Hannah Wimpy is a Stamps Scholar at Northeastern, attending the university on a full-ride scholarship in the John Martinson Honors Program. She combined her interests in computer science, physics, and biochemistry to design an independent major in computational biophysics. Additionally, Wimpy has conducted research at Northeastern’s Center for Drug Discovery and completed a co-op at Harvard Medical School, where she developed computational models of ion channels to support new therapeutic strategies for pain and neurological diseases. Inspired by her passion for advancing biophysics research, she founded Ionova, a software platform that helps bridge the gap between hypothesis and experiment.

Shirley Wang, DMSB’25

Foundess

After learning that female-founded startups receive just two percent of venture capital funding, Shirley Wang co-launched Foundess, a nonprofit that empowers early-stage founders beyond gender barriers. She also co-founded Hackrah Media, a Gen Z-led impact marketing agency serving businesses from underrepresented communities. While managing both ventures, she is simultaneously studying business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurial startups and minoring in global fashion studies at Northeastern. A Boston Business Journal 25 Under 25 honoree, Wang is committed to building inclusive communities and envisions a startup ecosystem where women are fully supported, equally represented, and empowered to lead the ventures of tomorrow.

Marisa Sweeney, CPS’22

Be Well

Driven by a passion to transform women’s healthcare through holistic, evidence-based practices, Marisa Sweeney is an ardent champion for empathetic and accessible wellness. As a registered dietitian and the owner of Be Well Integrative Health Services in Morristown, New Jersey, her work integrates traditional medical care with innovative solutions that offer women with a comprehensive, personalized approach to healing. Beyond her clinical practice, Sweeney’s interest in sustainable living led her to found New Jersey VegFest—the Garden State’s official vegan food festival connecting more than 30,000 annual attendees with local plant-based businesses.

Ruby Sulter, DMSB’27

AthenaStrong

For Ruby Sulter, making the gym experience healthy, comfortable, and successful for women has been a lifelong goal. Combining her passion for innovation within the health and fitness space with her co-op experience at a local wellness brand, Sulter started AthenaStrong—a company that produces lifting straps to help women achieve their goals in the gym. Designed for women of all fitness levels, the AthenaStrong straps leverage the intersection of fitness and technology to instill empowerment during any workout.

Lee Sowles, Marymount’06, MPH’13, Roux Founder Residency’25

Kind Mind

Lee Sowles brings two decades of expertise in early childhood development, trauma-informed practice, public health, and applied compassion to her pursuit of transforming education. Drawing from her personal healing journey with mind-body practices and research-based principles, she developed Kind Mind, an education technology platform that integrates high-impact compassion practices into the school day. The platform empowers teachers to reduce challenging behaviors and bullying while fostering emotional wellness in students. By cultivating the seeds of compassion one person at a time, Sowles advocates for systemic change in education at every level.

Vallabhi Singh, DMSB’17

Creatives Around The World

As a brand strategist and early-stage investor, Vallabhi Singh applies a global curiosity and perspective to her work as a storyteller, consumer insights analyst, and brand consultant.  Inspired by her time working with high-growth startups and direct-to-consumer brands, she launched her venture Creatives Around The World (CATW) to unite the many entrepreneurs and innovators in her network and drive meaningful collaboration and social impact through purpose-driven brands and ventures. Based between Delhi and Boston, Singh leverages her international perspective and cross-cultural expertise with CATW to discover, invest in, and scale innovative consumer startups.

Soumya Singh, MS’26

Orange Stack
Glossi App

Soumya Singh has a background in architecture and UX design and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in information systems at Northeastern University. She brings a unique blend of user-centered design thinking and systems-level understanding to the two startups she founded: Orange Stack and Glossi. Orange Stack offers UI and UX design services to create intuitive and visually appealing digital experiences for a product or service, while Glossi is an app that uses an AI-powered system to streamline vehicle inspections.

Khushi Shah, DMSB’27, Khoury’27

Drizzl

Imagine developing a technology so innovative that it is used and recognized by Google, Forbes, and NASA—for Khushi Shah, that is a reality. As the founder of the climate technology company Drizzl, Shah has reimagined the irrigation process. Using a variety of underground humidity sensors, users can track and manage the irrigation process of their land and plants through the Drizzl app while keeping their water bills low. Shah isn’t just helping optimize irrigation; she is making a positive impact on the environment through the collective 13.5 million liters of water saved by Drizzl users.

Ceylan Rowe, SSH’03

The Fihri Foundation

Ceylan Rowe is a promoter of dignity and health for women and girls. She is the founder and CEO of the Fihri Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing period poverty by providing sustainable menstrual products to women and girls globally, with a focus on disaster-stricken areas. A former commissioner for the MetroWest Commission on the Status of Women, Rowe has spent her career advocating for women’s rights and menstrual equity. With a background in political science and an MBA from Babson College, she combines a passion for humanitarian work with strategic leadership to create lasting social impact.

Katya Pourteymour, DMSB’22, AMD’22

Arete Ventures Partners

Drawing on her unique background blending finance, entrepreneurship, and UI/UX design and experience leading more than 100 due diligence projects for private equity and Fortune 500 companies, Katya Pourteymour champions the belief that real estate can be both financially successful and community driven. As a founding partner of Arete Venture Partners, she reimagines how capital, design, and operations intersect to transform underutilized properties into high-performing, community-enhancing assets. Through her relationship-first approach to real estate private equity, Pourteymour is thoughtfully shaping tomorrow’s development landscape while paving the way for the next generation of leaders.

Izabella Pivo, DMSB’25

The Entrepreneurial Girl

It’s difficult for members of the university community to hear Izabella Pivo’s name without immediately thinking of the word “entrepreneur.” Since the beginning of her Northeastern experience, Pivo has been a beacon for the entrepreneurial community on campus through her work as outreach director and co-VP of WeBuild for WISE. Now, Pivo is working on her next great venture—The Entrepreneurial Girl, an entrepreneur-led media company that documents founders on their journey from the conception of their venture to its execution. With this new venture and her history of supporting more than 300 founders and their teams, she is on track to change the world.

Julieta Moradei, E’16

Overlay Capital Build

Through her work as a structural engineer and architect turned venture capitalist, Julieta Moradei has spent more than a decade driving innovation in construction. Inspired to pursue this career during her co-ops at Disney, SGH, and Arup, her core focus is digitizing one of the world’s least innovative sectors to drive its decarbonization. While designing tech campuses for companies like Apple, Meta, and Google, Moradei witnessed firsthand the inadequacies that lead to significant rework and waste. Today, as managing partner of Overlay Capital, she scales impact solutions by connecting construction tech innovators with large-scale adopters and developers to create a more efficient and effective construction industry.

Alexa Coulombe McGovern, Roux Founder Residency’25

Dirigo Sea Farm

Alexa Coulombe McGovern is a cancer survivor who was told her breast cancer at 29 may have been caused by environmental factors. So with her background in sales and marketing, R&D, strategy, and operations work, she’s using kelp to reduce plastic use and minimize harmful human exposure to chemicals and microplastics. Coulombe McGovern founded the Dirigo Sea Farm three years after she first learned about kelp farming. As a mom concerned by the abundance of plastic products available to her and her child, she uses kelp from her farm to create bioplastic alternatives to single-use and non-biodegradable plastic.

Sarah Martins, MS’23

The Special Standard

Sarah Martins co-founded The Special Standard to provide therapists with tools to work smarter, not harder. As a licensed speech-language pathologist, she experienced firsthand the overwhelming caseloads and resource shortages that burden therapists in educational settings. The Special Standard integrates state standards and developmental norms into a comprehensive curriculum that improves outcomes for special education students while streamlining therapy planning to combat practitioner burnout. 

Lori Lennon, AMD’04

Thinkubator Media

After a gratifying career in journalism, marketing, and public relations, Lori Lennon was seeking a new challenge. So she decided to launch her own agency empowering women in STEM through branding, communications, and coaching. As the founder and CEO of Thinkubator Media, Lennon is dedicated to elevating the profiles of women in STEM. A passionate storyteller and advocate, she worked in television news at NECN and WBZ-TV Boston, pioneering digital news content and earning multiple Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press awards. Lennon now helps amplify the diverse voices of women heard inside and outside of their STEM fields.

Anjali Laddha, DMSB’26

Degree2Destiny

To Anjali Laddha, every student at any level of their educational journey should have the ability to unlock their potential. Using the CAN system—communication, AI, and networking—Degree2Destiny aims to equip students with learning management systems, AI-powered tools, and career resources to enhance their trajectory. Since launching in 2023, Degree2Destiny has helped more than 2,000 students transform their degrees and has secured funding from the Northeastern University Startup Founder Co-op Program. With these resources, Laddha is not only helping students take the steps towards their first full-time position but also guiding them toward lifelong career growth.

Safiya Khalid, SSH’24

Community Organizing Alliance

Safiya Khalid founded the Community Organizing Alliance (COA) to empower people to actively shape and transform their communities. Drawing on her background as the first Somali American elected official in Maine and her master’s in public policy from Northeastern, she engages young people in the civic process through targeted leadership development and voter participation initiatives. In just two years, the COA has connected more than 300 individuals with leadership opportunities, systematically expanding civic participation to ensure young people have both the resources and power to lead meaningful change.

Daisy Kendrick, SSH’16

DaisyK.Madrid

Daisy Kendrick has applied an entrepreneurial mindset to a wide range of projects since graduating from Northeastern in 2016. Her guiding principle? Developing personalized solutions to address large scale problems. Her environmental nonprofit Ocean Generation harnessed social media and technology to educate millennial and Gen Z audiences about climate change, making significant waves in environmental activism. In 2024, Kendrick pivoted to fashion, founding the elevated made-to-measure shirt brand DaisyK.Madrid while challenging conventions in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

Tejaswini Kambaiahgari, MS’25

BaselineTech

Tejaswini Kambaiahgari graduated from Northeastern in 2025 with a master’s degree in product development and is an alumna of the Sherman Venture Co-op program. She founded BaselineTech, a startup developing a cutting-edge snowboarding simulator that uses VR integration and real-time analytics to track performances, giving users a realistic, immersive experience. By combining her engineering background with her passion for creating innovative, user-centered products, she’s making snowboarding more accessible and safer through mixed-reality technology, enabling year-round practice and enjoyment.

Stephanie Golik, AMD’15

Frontflip

From her start in architecture to her current role as a seasoned entrepreneur, Stephanie Golik takes opportunity as it comes. A Miami-based startup founder and designer, she is currently building Frontflip, an AI companion for real estate investors. Golik previously founded and led two venture capital-backed startups that were acquired, and also led design teams at Cruise, a self-driving car company. She originally trained as an architect before making her way into the technology startup space, and is passionate about urban planning, painting, designing beautiful software, and helping creatives become more entrepreneurial.

Gabby Gabriel, AMD’12

Second Wind Media; GAB INC

Named one of USA Today’s Top Entrepreneurs of 2024, Gabby Gabriel is an international marketing expert, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker who has led impactful strategies and campaigns that drive growth for brands worldwide. Gabriel’s agencies, Second Wind Media and GAB INC, harness the power of storytelling with a sharp business focus to craft dynamic solutions and connect ideas, audiences, and markets. Offering services ranging from brand management to technological elevation, public relations to international expansion, she ensures every project delivers results while supporting people and companies to enable them to reach their full potential.

Cassandra Friend, BHS’24, DNP’27

Kavalyn Custom Solutions

While serving in the United States Army, Cassandra Friend suffered three back fractures—one in a tank incident, another during night training, and a third in a car accident. Following these injuries, she left the Army and pursued a nursing degree at Northeastern University Charlotte. During her studies, she also worked as a full-time director of federal performance improvement and analysis for a government consulting firm. These personal and professional experiences led Friend to co-found Kavalyn Custom Solutions, a women veteran-led consulting firm that helps service members, veterans, and their families navigate military benefits, transition from active service, and more.

Gina Dunn, SSH’06, MS’13

My Paris Connect

As an American expat living in France, Gina Dunn recognizes the life-changing force of cultural immersion—and she wants to share it with others using her company My Paris Connect. Dunn started her French career in fashion communications, eventually becoming a freelance writer and working with clients like the International Chamber of Commerce, Louis Vuitton, and fashion and tech startups. Now, as the author of Paris Possibilities and founder of My Paris Connect, she is building a network that fosters meaningful connections and redefines what is possible for those seeking Paris as a destination or home.

Daniella Cohen, DMSB’26

BioBeats

For many people, music is a means of connection and a vessel for invoking emotions—for Daniella Cohen, it is a source of peace and an opportunity to help others sustain a healthy lifestyle. Combining her inherent business sense with her experience as a certified yoga teacher, Cohen started BioBeats, a biometric app that syncs the music you’re streaming with your body. Rooted in the philosophy of meditation and strength building, BioBeats aims to help users navigate certain stressors and anxieties using the power of music.

Ashleigh Chiwaya, S/Khoury’26 

Nuly Root’d 

Ashleigh Chiwaya was a freshman at an all-girls boarding school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, when she first realized that Black students faced a unique challenge: limited access to hair care products in academic environments. Using her experience as a hairstylist and hair store assistant manager, Chiwaya and her business partner Naomi Barrant, DMSB’26, AMD’26, launched Nuly Root’d, a vending machine venture that offers accessible and quality haircare products for students with natural hair. After competing in Northeastern’s Entrepreneurship Club Husky Startup Challenge and developing the business through a Sherman Venture Co-op, Barrant and Chiwaya are continuing to foster belonging on college campuses by making haircare more attainable for all.

Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk, Mills’90

Caliativity Productions

As the founder of Caliativity Productions, Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk has dedicated her career to helping individuals and organizations harness the power of narrative to elevate their voices, build confidence, and make a meaningful impact in their industries. With more than 25 years of experience, the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning producer, executive coach, and personal branding expert has explored many creative corners of the film and entertainment world. Today, her work with Caliativity Productions is grounded in fostering confidence and empowering individuals to step into their power (and the spotlight) through personal branding, public speaking training, and executive coaching.

Julie Brady, S’09

Balanced Beauty

Julie Brady graduated from Northeastern in 2009 with a degree in psychology and earned a nursing degree from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2017. Since then, she has combined her clinical experiences and passion for medical aesthetics to launch her own practice, Balanced Beauty. In addition to helping clients look and feel their best, she’s developing a program to train new injectors—not only through utilizing hands-on techniques, but also in compliance, safety, and the regulations essential to building a successful career in medical aesthetics.

Danielle Birchett, S’27

Aurora Health Tech

For Danielle Birchett, making an impact in the healthcare space has been a lifelong goal. Her dreams started to become reality this past spring. After placing first in the 2025 Demo Day competition at Northeastern, her venture, Aurora Health Tech, secured a partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital. With the help of these resources, Aurora Health Tech has been able to use transformative AI technology to detect and manage dystonic episodes in patients with cerebral palsy through a wearable device. Through personalized data tracking, families and caretakers can help improve the day-to-day lifestyles of patients and loved ones.

Claire Beskin, Roux Future of Healthcare Founder Residency’23

Empallo

Inspired by her dad, Claire Beskin originally wanted to become a doctor. But instead, she used her skills to make a bigger impact on healthcare through advancing new care delivery models. After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College, she worked in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs, and management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. While earning her MBA at MIT, she pitched a healthcare venture at a hackathon that led to the co-founding of her company, Empallo. Empallo is an AI-powered virtual clinic offering affordable and accessible concierge-level cardiac care, allowing patients to receive high-quality care from home.

Naomi Barrant, DMSB/AMD’26

Nuly Root’d 

Growing up in Boston, Naomi Barrant noticed a gap in the availability of essential beauty products for people of color on college campuses around the city. Using her experience as a freelance hairstylist, Barrant—along with her business partner Ashleigh Chiwaya, S’26, KCS’26—launched Nuly Root’d, a vending machine venture that offers accessible and quality haircare products for students with natural hair. After competing in Northeastern’s Entrepreneurship Club Husky Startup Challenge and developing the business through a Sherman Venture Co-op, Barrant and Chiwaya are continuing to foster belonging on college campuses by making haircare more attainable for all.