Her Story
About Cvic
My professional journey has taken me from community college to some of the world's leading institutions. After attending Kingsborough Community College and City College of New York, I worked for NASA for several years before pursuing my doctorate at Cornell University and postdoctoral work at Oxford University. I then became assistant director and research faculty at Harvard Medical School alongside Boston Children's Hospital. Throughout this time, I was also an angel investor and completed various investment fellowships in venture capital, eventually landing two large leadership roles at different VC firms before founding my own. Today, I lead Frankenbuild Ventures, where we focus on sustainability and dual-use technology. I've created programs like the Professional Investment Internship to help guide the next generation of VC associates who want to assess first-of-a-kind tech. I believe strongly in the marriage between investment and policy development, which is why I've spoken at the United Nations, World Economic Forum satellite conferences, and COP30. My goal is to increase visibility for the work we're doing so more people can support our efforts in sustainability and the dual-use sector.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cvic
01What do you attribute your success to?
I genuinely credit my 3rd grade/4th grade teacher, Mr. Aaron Pohl, with the idea that I could use my mind and be smart. That was a long time ago, but it made a fundamental difference. Beyond that, I had a mentor at NASA, Dr. Frank Scalzo, who was instrumental as well. I would also say the education system itself was a mentor to me. I ended up going to a lot of amazing schools, but found myself at Kingsborough Community College, which really let me know how powerful the brain can be. Not to sound too sappy, but those early influences about the power of my own mind have carried me through everything.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
No piece of advice will do it justice. You will have to learn your own way, no matter what. Also, there is nothing inherently so different about venture capital that you have to learn anew. You probably know all of the same things that you need to know about yourself and about how you want to live yourself morally and productively in any other field. Just apply it also to venture capital. I think the idea of making VC special kind of pulls us back a little bit. There is nothing inherently different about VC as to why we don't have as many women. So, if you have the opportunity to be in it, there's nothing holding you back besides society, and so I know society is huge, but you are absolutely capable.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
For me, it's very important that we acknowledge the marriage between investment and policy development, because when it comes to the community, both are equally important. This is why I have a policy-oriented focus to technology development. I believe in living morally and productively in my field. My involvement in nonprofits and organizations centers around sustainability, energy, hard tech, and supporting women in finance. If I can increase the visibility of Frankenbuild Ventures so more people know about it, then more people are interested and want to support the efforts of sustainability in the dual-use sector, and that's what drives me.
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