Mentors: WEB APPLICATIONS
Summary of Qualifications Todd Waldo is an engineer, artist, and community advocate. With a BSEE from North Carolina State University, he has a career in systems development, maintenance and operations. Todd Waldo is the Enterprise Engineering Manager at Royall & Company. He is responsible for the development, maintenance and operations of all systems to support clients’ needs and requirements. He graduated from North Carolina State University (BSEE) and the Interactive Marketing Institute at VCU. His recent focus has been on operations ensuring quality and performance for users and clients as well as resolving issues with products and data. He is also making investments in other colleagues as a mentor and adviser to increase diversity, inclusion, mission awareness and engagement. All of this carries over in his service to the Richmond community with his work for various non profits. He serves on the Board of Directors for Better Housing Coalition, the President of the Board of the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center, board member for Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT) and the Church Hill Academy. He also serves Church Hill through the Church Hill Central Civic Association. He leads development and execution of annual special events like TEDxRVA and the Hill Topper 5k. His goal is to partner with leadership adding value for client and employee management, applying his expertise in operations, technology and data, while supporting mission and values. Want to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...
Summary of Qualifications A tech startup veteran with a diverse background in economics and music, Luke Rabin is an expert in the very first steps of turning ideas into excitingly simple products. Luke Rabin has had the rare opportunity to spend much of his career in the very first steps of some of Richmond’s most heavily funded tech startups. These hard-earned experiences on top of his background in economics from UVA and a stint in the music industry have made him extremely well prepared to help new teams navigate the uncertainty of creating new companies and products. After being both an in-house Product Manager and a consultant, Luke and his design partner Brandon Lewis started BLDR to put all of their lessons learned the hard way into an accelerated service for creating and validating new products. Luke’s experience and skillset are vital when it comes to problem and market validation, prototyping, messaging, and proving measurable traction without investing in code. Want to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...
Summary of Qualifications Sydney Lester is a personal stylist with over eight years in the fashion industry. She is the founder of Chic Stripes, a full-service personal styling company designed to help women create sustainable and timeless wardrobes that work for them, not against them. In 2009, Sydney launched Chic Stripes, her personal style blog that focused on creating individualized style by shopping second hand first. She parlayed her blog into a successful personal styling business where she now works one-on-one with clients and focuses on giving women confidence through their wardrobes and teaching them how to create a timeless, personalized style and sustainable wardrobe that work for them, not against them. Services include: closet audit, personal shopping, and outfit creation. Sydney has been featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Richmond Magazine, R-Home, Richmond GRID, and Coffee with Strangers; appeared as a style expert on Virginia This Morning, ABC8 News Richmond, and NBC12 News Richmond; has worked with local brands such as VCU Massey Cancer Center, Jackson and James, and Elements Beauty Shop, national brands such as Kendra Scott and J. Crew; and has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal and The Today Show and continues to be the area’s go-to style expert. Before her career switch to fashion, Sydney spent over ten years working in fundraising in the nonprofit field, holds dual masters degrees in Social Work and Christian Education and was part of the 2014 class of Leadership Metro Richmond. Sydney earned her fashion credentials at the Los Angeles-based School of Style, and currently lives in Richmond with her husband and their three cats. Want to...
