Jason Wong, Founder & CEO, Asian Corporate & Entrepreneur Leaders (ACEL)

Jason founded Asian Corporate and Entrepreneur Leaders in 2006, because he saw a need for a support system to develop leadership and professional growth in the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Mentoring is a key component of ACEL. These higher level mentoring relationships close the generation gap and strengthen the AAPI community as a whole. As the founder and President, Jason is leading ACEL to become the premier professional organization for AAPI. His goals include encouraging more active participation from members and promoting more collaborative projects and activities with other national AAPI community organizations. He aims to create stronger brand recognition for ACEL through opportunities for increased leadership & professional development, cultural awareness, mentorship and community participation. National and local organizations have recognized Jason’s commitment to leadership and community, awarding him the National Asian/Pacific American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship’s Business Leader Award, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award, DLA’s Diversity & Inclusion Leader Award and the University of Arizona Alumni Association Chapter President Award. Jason has served on multiple national and local boards and committees. He currently serves as Trustee for the Vitalyst Health Foundation and member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council for Maricopa Community Colleges. Born and raised in Hong Kong. Jason moved to the United States when he was 13. He attended the University of Arizona and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. While a student at the U of A, Jason founded the Asian Pacific American Student Affairs.

Jennifer McDonald, Assistant Director of Activism & Cities Work Director, Institute for Justice

Jennifer regularly engages policymakers, advises state and local governments, and empowers people to become their own advocates. Prior to joining the Activism team, Jenny was an IJ senior research analyst, where she conducted original social science research on entrepreneurship, home-based businesses, municipal fines and fees, government transparency, and civil forfeiture. Her work has appeared in multiple academic journals and her research results have been cited in national media outlets such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and Los Angeles Times.

Jenny Poon, founder of CO+HOOTS and HUUB

Jenny Poon is a serial entrepreneur and founder of CO+HOOTS and HUUB. As a self-made entrepreneur and the first minority and the first woman to receive the Phoenix Business Journal’s 2016 Phoenix Businessperson of the Year, she continuously advocates safer entrepreneur ecosystems for women and people of color.

John Giles, Mayor, City of Mesa

John Giles is the 40th mayor of Mesa, Arizona, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 and 2020. He oversees a growing economy that has added tens of thousands of new jobs, billions of dollars in capital investment, and employers like Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta.

Under his leadership, Mesa adopted a nondiscrimination ordinance, implemented a Climate Action Plan, and established the Mesa College Promise, connecting qualified high school graduates with free community college education.

Giles is Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Immigration Task Force, Co-Chair of Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment, Chair of the Mayor’s Alliance to End Childhood Hunger, and is the only mayor appointed to the national Electric Vehicle Working Group.

Jonatan Amastal, Community Assistant and Designer, CO+HOOTS

Born in Puebla, Mexico, Jonatan migrated to the United States at the age of 7 with his family in search of a better life. The journey was long and challenging, as they faced language barriers, cultural differences, and the struggles of adapting to a new environment. However, they were determined to make the most of their opportunity and worked hard to achieve their goals.

With the help of CO+HOOTS Institute for entrepreneurship, Jonatan was able to launch his own graphic design company focus on providing branding and graphic design services to immigrant’s self-starters. He has also worked with the Downtown Mesa association to design banners that demonstrates the city everchanging environment.
Jonatan works with CO+HOOTS as their community assistant and designer. Working alongside the Community and program manager to help students in their entrepreneurial journey as well as provide any other assistance they may need to help them reach success.

Keisha McKinnor, Founder/CEO, MKUU

Keisha A. McKinnor is an entrepreneur, nonprofit and community leader. Living by the mantra that our experiences, skills, and gifts are not solely for individual benefit but for contributing to others, she is passionate about giving back to the community and founded a nonprofit, MKUU.

In the native language Swahili, MKUU means chief. The nonprofit offers programs for girls which take a wholistic approach to developing our next generation of female leaders, inspiring them to lead with confidence and conviction.

Kristin Slice, Director of Community Entrepreneurship, Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University, Senior Program Manager, Peoria Forward, Community Entrepreneurship, Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University, Communications Strategist, Empowered Lab Communications

Kristin and her team are doing incredible work in building a thriving community of entrepreneurs, providing them with incubation opportunities that ignite their entrepreneurial journey. They believe in connecting humans to create thriving communities of entrepreneurs.

M Ali Nervis, Director, Archwood Community Resource Empowerment Strategy (ACRES)

Ali is an entrepreneurial activist who previously worked in the financial services industry before leaving to focus on various business and community initiatives full-time. He serves as Director of Community Impact for Archwood Community Resource Empowerment Strategy (ACRES) formely known as Archwood Exchange. He is also the co-founder of Straw and Wool Hat Store and Grassrootz Books and Juice Bar. Ali is a firm believer in using every tool at our disposal, including entrepreneurship and investing, to empower ourselves economically in order to fund liberation work and build new institutions that serve the interests of the people.

Archwood Exchange was established in 2016 by a group of entrepreneurs and organizers with a goal of increasing the presence and vitality of Black-Owned businesses in Arizona. In May of 2017, Archwood Exchange began hosting monthly community gatherings known as “The Buy Black Marketplace”. Through the monthly marketplaces, educational opportunities and growing network, Archwood Exchange has been able to support the growth and development of over 200 black owned businesses in the Phoenix Metro Service Area.

Nishia Slater, Owner, Star Life Wellness Group

Nishia T Slater is a visionary, purpose-driven, life coach and speaker dedicated to fostering holistic growth and development for women. She empowers them through her five pillars of Empowerment: Personal Development, Health and Wellness, Financial Literacy, Business Bootcamp, and Leadership. Her organization is community based, specializing in being supportive, providing tools and resources that educates women on learning, growing, and empowering them to live a well-balanced life.

Odeen Domingo, CEO & Founding Partner, CO+HOOTS

Odeen Domingo is the president and founding partner at CO+HOOTS, Phoenix's purpose-drive workspace. Ranked #4 coworking space in the nation by Inc.com, CO+HOOTS currently houses 280+ scaling entrepreneurs and small businesses and has been an integral role in creating hundreds of jobs locally. Odeen has helped his wife Jenny build CO+HOOTS into the #1 most innovative coworking space in the world. He speaks regularly on entrepreneurship and leadership as an ethnic minority, husband, father and former corporate cog. His mission is to provide access to networks, capital, technology, knowledge and circles of power to those who don’t have the privilege of naturally possessing it.

At CO+HOOTS, Odeen nurtures and curates a community of local-minded and business-focused professionals who collaborate on projects, share resources and generate more successful businesses. From high level and partnership strategizing to on-the-ground grunt work, Odeen make sure CO+HOOTS continues to be a globally-recognized coworking space that has the largest collaborative coworking community in Arizona and a major driver of local economic
development.

Odeen also co-founded nonprofit CO+HOOTS Foundation, sits on several committees of local nonprofits and serves as a mentor for young and experienced entrepreneurs. He transitioned to the entrepreneurship realm after his 14-year career as a content strategist and award-winning journalist at The Arizona Republic, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.

Oye Waddell, Founder, Hustle PHX

Oye Waddell is the Executive Director of Hustle PHX. Waddell grew up in inner city Los Angeles and has a long track record in urban education and entrepreneurship. He attended the University of Washington on a full athletic scholarship to play football. He later earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Education from Arizona State University. He is the founder of Gameplan International and serves as a pastor at New City Church in downtown Phoenix.

Pamela Slim, Author and Co-founder of K'é Community Lab

Pamela Slim is an award-winner author, speaker and agency owner who has spent three decades helping business owners scale their businesses and IP. Pam’s team specializes in the design and development of certification and licensing programs. Pam is the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation (Penguin Portfolio, 2009), Body of Work (Penguin Portfolio, 2014) and The Widest Net (McGraw Hill, November, 2021, winner of Best Sales and Marketing Book of 2021 from Porchlight Books). Pam and her husband Darryl co-founded the K’é Community Lab in Mesa, Arizona, where they host scores of BIPOC entrepreneurs and contribute to the local social, health and economic development of their community.

Paulo Gregory, Designer, Inventory, Community Builder

Paulo serves as Chair of our Intercultural Unity (ICU) committee at SCN. He is the inventor of Cohado, a flexible design structure and tool to understand collaborative and sustainable design. Paulo is also the President of Cohado Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to leveling the economic game through developing models and vehicles for economic ascension of economically starved communities, and the Director of Ignoma Foundation, whose mission is to develop sustainable solutions to poverty. He recently launched the Black Butterfly Network and Exchange in Baltimore.

Robin Reed, Business Strategist, Executive Performance Consultant, Professional Speaker

Sima Ladjevardian, Chairperson, National Women's Business Council

Sima Ladjevardian is a lawyer, a mother of two, a small business owner, and a community and political activist. After leaving political upheaval and revolution, Sima’s family arrived in the United States and, through her journey as an immigrant, she saw first-hand the power and promise this country can provide. She has since worked extensively to ensure that hardworking families have all the opportunities to strive and be healthy. She was one of the first Iranian-American major party nominees for Congress. She ran in TX-2 on providing affordable access to health care for all. She was named as Houston’s Most Influential Women 2020-2021.

For the last 2 years, she was appointed as Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, serving as HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s representative responsible for guiding and coordinating HHS policy initiatives as they related to state, local, and tribal governments in Region 6 covering Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, as well as 68 federally recognized tribal nations.

Stephanie Bermudez, Financial Inclusion Strategist at Startup Unidos

Stéphanie, a dynamic force in binational business opportunities and cultural inclusion, boasts 15+ years of experience cultivating deep local relationships and earning respect across society. She focuses on fostering entrepreneurial communities and networks through events, training, consulting, and research, extending her impact beyond Southern Arizona. Specializing in the region's binational business ecosystem, she offers tailored services, particularly for Spanish-speaking individuals and organizations, embodying a servant's dedication to radical inclusion and cultural competence.

Stéphanie's track record reveals her passion for dismantling systemic barriers and supporting diverse small businesses in their entrepreneurial journey. As a sought-after collaborator, she provides invaluable guidance on executing transformative cultural inclusion initiatives, utilizing innovative approaches to engage "hard-to-reach" participants.

Her impact is palpable through her work with organizations like Startup Unidos and Still Good, where she excels in bridging cultures and fostering collaboration, catalyzing transformative change in communities.

Subash Yadav, Owner, Mr. MOMO

In 2007, our founder (and original momotarian) Subash Yadav moved from Nepal to America to study medicine. Soon, he missed his favorite Nepali flavors from home: especially the momo. So, he decided to merge his passion for cooking with a devotion to health, and brought Mr. Momo to life in 2019.

“I wanted to use my love of Nepali cooking to create a healthy and exciting alternative to this fast food world. I believe in eating to feel good – you don’t have to compromise flavor!”

From the top of the world to the Valley of the Sun, and beyond, we make the happiest food on earth!

Victor Hwang, Founder & CEO, Right to Start, Founder & CEO, Victor & Company 

Victor is an economic growth expert. His ideas have shaped the economic lives of millions of people worldwide. His work has helped over 300 communities, cities, states, companies, and even entire countries in creating greater economic prosperity.

His economic development clients have included the World Bank, Ford Foundation, Inter-American Development Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has also worked with corporate clients seeking to grow entrepreneurial innovation, including Accenture, IBM, and Microsoft.

He is founder and CEO of Victor & Company, an economic growth consultancy.

He is founder and CEO of Right to Start, a campaign fighting to expand entrepreneurial opportunity for all. Right to Start seeks to level the playing field by lifting the voices of everyday entrepreneurs, grassroots mobilizing and organizing, and engaging with policymakers at all levels.

Previously, he was Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading philanthropy supporting entrepreneurs with an endowment of $2 billion. At Kauffman, he led initiatives that impacted over 200,000 entrepreneurs, including efforts in catalyzing capital formation, transforming economic development practices, launching a national policy roadmap, and breaking barriers for underserved entrepreneurs.

Vincent Orleck, President, Social Media Club PHX

Vincent is the President of Social Media Club PHX, a contributor to and evangelist for the #yesPHX startup and entrepreneurial community, and manages social media planning and strategy full time for Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise. Residing in Greater Phoenix for the last 15+ years, he's honed his methodology through time spent in social media marketing with IO Datacenters, Plexus Worldwide, Gannett Inc., and Facebook as well as partnering in an agency.