All Experts

<ul><li data-block-key="ag15x">Sung is an entrepreneur, inventor/engineer, and former patent attorney with a rich background in diverse technologies including consumer electronics and medical devices.</li><li data-block-key="c6fdd"> Sung couples best practices from his extensive experience as an engineer and patent attorney to invent and engineer products that are more innovative and cheaper than what is currently offered, and then builds and develops an impenetrable IP portfolio that protects the core technologies of his inventions.</li><li data-block-key="6bmet"> Sung has co-founded several consumer tech startup companies, including but not limited to DivergentIP LLC d/b/a BruviTM and Touch Coffee LLC.</li><li data-block-key="53h5c"> Sung maintains a strong network of R&amp;D and engineering relationships in Asia to expeditiously and cost effectively develop a new product from concept to mass production launch.</li></ul>

<ul><li data-block-key="ag15x">Mel is a proven executive, investor and Board Member, as well as Advisor and M&amp;A consultant to US and global businesses, particularly coffee, retail and food &amp; beverage businesses, including DTC and Omni-channel brands.</li><li data-block-key="adef8"> Educated in Singapore and London and based in Los Angeles for over 20 years, he balances the clear thinking and analytic skillset of a lawyer, with an entrepreneurial and growth minded approach to business.</li><li data-block-key="7ch7b"> Mel has created significant shareholder value by supplementing his extensive network, experience and cultural savvy with his operating and corporate governance protocols expertise.</li><li data-block-key="43ag6"> Mel is the former CEO and Board member of The Coffee Bean &amp; Tea Leaf and was intimately involved in the sale of the business to Jollibee Brands in 2019 for $350M.</li></ul>

<p>Michelle Songy, CEO and Founder, Press Hook</p><p></p><p>Michelle Songy is a serial tech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Press Hook, a media relations platform that connects brands, media, publicists and journalists. As a PR industry change maker, she was recently named on PRWeek’s Dashboard 25 list of the most influential people in communications technology, representing the enterprises that are shaping your tech stack. She has more than a decade of experience developing, managing and marketing businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.</p><p>After relocating to London in 2014 for a finance management position with Coca-Cola, Michelle founded her first company, Cake Technologies. It became the United Kingdom’s largest mobile payment platform for restaurants and was sold to American Express just three years later, in 2017.</p><p>In 2020, Michelle founded her second entrepreneurial endeavor and passion project, Press Hook, a tech-enabled media relations platform specializing in promoting brands, especially small businesses. The Press Hook platform offers the first two-sided marketplace that intelligently connects brands seeking publicity with journalists seeking content. With Press Hook, lifestyle and consumer brands can easily and affordably get the media coverage they deserve with unprecedented speed, volume and reach. </p><p>Michelle is a graduate of the University of Georgia, in the Terry School of Business with a degree in Management Information Systems.</p><p></p>

<p data-block-key="1kine">Matt Hassett has been an entrepreneur since birth, starting with the creation of a school-led newspaper in childhood. After graduating from Brown University and Harvard Kennedy School, Matt worked in communications, policy, and program design at the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance group, and the City of New York.</p><p data-block-key="ubkgr">He began working on the project that eventually became Loftie at the design firm IDEO where he was an Entrepreneur in Residence. In 2020, Loftie was officially launched.</p><p data-block-key="l4zgg"></p>

<p>Charlotte Dales (She/Hers) is the Co-Founder and CEO of Inclusively, the workforce inclusion platform empowering employers with accommodation insights, access, training and the support they need to attract and retain previously hidden talent. Charlotte’s cousin Cameron became the first licensed aesthetician in the state of Florida with Down syndrome and after witnessing Cameron’s career fulfillment, she became passionate about replicating her employment success story for disabled talent and started Inclusively. </p><p>Before launching Inclusively, Charlotte started her career in finance with Deutsche Bank in London working with trading desks around the world. After five years, she left her bank job and co-founded her first company, CAKE Technologies, a mobile payment and reservation application for restaurants and bars which scaled to over 200 restaurants in London and was acquired by American Express. Charlotte’s experience in technology and startups has allowed Inclusively to provide a new technology solution to drive authentic diversity and inclusion in the workplace–helping employers acquire and retain top talent based on job seekers&#x27; needed accommodations to build sustainable livelihoods and careers. Under Charlotte’s leadership, Inclusively is proud to be modernizing recruitment by creating structure and transparency around accommodations, benefitting all job seekers. Charlotte graduated from University of Colorado, Boulder and lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, daughter, and son.</p>

<p data-block-key="5xhy7">Dr. Merenda is a featured grief counselor at Guardian Lane. Dr. Merenda has more than 15 years of experience in early learning and therapeutic settings. Her background is in early childhood education, with a specific expertise in therapeutic play and supporting families with children who have special needs. Dr. Merenda holds a Masters of Art in Early Childhood Studies from Ryerson University and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Western University. In addition to her experience at the University of Guelph-Humber, Dr. Merenda has taught academic courses at Humber College ITAL, she was the Program Advisor for a continuing education stream of the Early Childhood Education program at Humber College ITAL. Dr. Merenda is perfect for grief related questions.<br/></p>

<p>Kristina Jones is an award winning advertising art director turned tech entrepreneur. When Kristina Jones was looking for the next tech company to build after scaling courtbuddy.com (now Lawchamps) nationwide, raising $7.5 Million in funding, and becoming the 14th African American woman to ever raise more than $1 Million from VCs for a tech startup, she started with a personal story. When Kristina was seven, her father died from cancer and she knew one day she wanted to share her story on how she kept the connection to her dad alive. Throughout the process of writing and editing, &quot;My Forever Guardian&quot;, she noticed the immense lack of online support for the millions of grieving children here in the US. After connecting with the nation&#x27;s best grief counselors and getting feedback from over 500 grieving parents, she quickly got to work building Guardian Lane, a children&#x27;s mental health platform that is innovating how children access grief counseling. With the use of video sharing technology, community, tele-counseling and a whole lot of creativity, the children have begun to build their own social healing network. Guardian Lane has partnered with over 1,000 schools since it&#x27;s beta launch in late January and is growing into new districts daily! Kristina&#x27;s work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Forbes, CNN Business, Inc., Entrepreneur, Essence, Black Enterprise and more. <br/></p>