Hi, I’m Amelia.
In the past 5 years, I’ve started a B2B tech company, a higher education social enterprise, a viral card game, and an organization supporting female tech founders. Through these experiences, I’ve built multifunctional teams, developed partnerships, raised venture funding, launched marketing initiatives, written contracts, shipped code, and learned a whole awful lot. Now I’m solving interesting problems at Capital One.
Experience
Desoco
Founder
2023-Present
I recently made the jump to build something from scratch again. Stay tuned!
Capital One
Director, Product Management
2022-2023
People Strategy Lead
2020-2021
Bank Product Excellence Lead
2019-2020
After several years in startups, Capital One was my first “big girl job,” as I like to call it. There, I worked on projects like project managing a major international integration, leading our Card innovation portfolio, launching an apprenticeship program to bring folks from our branches and call centers into product roles, and redesigning and relaunching our interview/casing for product managers. I had the best time there, and I miss it already!
Hatch Apps
Cofounder & Chief Operating Officer
2015 - 2019
I had the amazing opportunity to cofound a tech startup bringing transparency, speed, and price stability to the software development industry. We were named Tech Startup of the Year by Technical.ly DC in 2017, and listed in Entrepreneur among Amazon and SpaceX as one of 20 companies investors were excited about in 2018. There, I built and managed team of 23 developers, marketers, designers, and salespeople, and played a key role in raising $2.3M in investment dollars. I also secured press coverage in TIME, Fox Business, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Washington Business Journal. It was an incredible learning opportunity. Learn more here.
Student Language Exchange
Founder & Executive Director
2013 - 2015
Immediately after graduating college, I developed national initiative to diversify language learning in US education. There, I trained and supported 100+ volunteers throughout the Northeast. I also developed partnerships with leading language education organizations, was asked to serve as plenary speaker at ACTFL’s 6,000-person national convention, and was profiled in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Prior to my departure, we had launched programs in 32 languages (e.g. Bengali, Thai, Swahili) at Brandeis, Brown, Columbia, Tufts, Williams and Vassar. For this work, I was awarded Halcyon Fellowship and C.V. Starr Social Innovation Fellowship. In 2019 we open sourced much of the content from the organization here.
Side Hustles
American University
2021
I had the opportunity to teach a course on social entrepreneurship at AU’s Kogod School of Business. I had students break into groups to design and pilot their own social ventures over the semester while learning from experts, case studies, and their own research.
The Vinetta Project DC
2015-2019
When I first moved back to DC, I launched a local organization to help female founders in the DC area access investment ($30M+), publicity, mentorship, and connections. I raised $100K+ in corporate sponsorships and engaged 100+ female founders, all while juggling my full-time gig. We also partnered with 12 venture firms (incl. NEA, Revolution, Grotech) to develop a badass venture committee to support in our programming. I moved to the board in 2017 after we hired full-time staff, and left the board in 2019.
2016 Election Game
Back when the presidential election was funny, I ideated, designed, and launched product over three-day weekend with a friend. We sold $50,000 in card games in two weeks and fulfilled 4,000+ orders on a tight Super Tuesday turnaround. We established a relationship with an Amazon fulfillment partner and distributed through a national chain of toy stores. I was fortunate to secure press in Forbes (60,000+ views), NowThis (250,000+ views), USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. Through our PR efforts, we ended up going viral multiple times, rising to #1 in Games on Product Hunt and trending nationally on Facebook
Honors
2019
Forbes 30 Under 30
Nominated and selected to exclusive list of the nation’s “brashest entrepreneurs”
2019
Washington Business Journal’s “People to Watch”
Included alongside CEOs of Marriott, Northrop Grumman, and JBG Smith
2017
Washingtonian Tech Titan
Featured on front page of magazine’s “guide to the most important people in digital Washington”
Publications
“How to Establish Values on a Small Team” Read on HBR
“7 Compensation Strategies for Cash-Strapped Startups” Read on HBR
“Four Easy Ways to Give Your New Hire a Great First Day” Read on Fast Company
“How to Maintain Your Relationships as You Grow Your Network” Read on Fast Company
“How to Hire for a Position You’ve Never Held Before” Read on Fast Company
“America’s Lacking Language Skills” Read on the Atlantic
“Why One University Is Sharing the Risk on Student Debt” Read on the Atlantic
Education
University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business (MBA, class of 2024)
I’ll be starting an Executive MBA program, supported in full by my fabulous employer, Capital One. I’m excited to learn from brilliant professors and peers over the next couple of years, and I was fortunate enough to be selected as a Batten Scholar and Forté Fellow.
Brown University (BA, class of 2014)
I majored in Portuguese and Brazilian studies (v practical) and graduated with cumulative GPA of 3.97. I caught the entrepreneurial bug while there, serving as a TA for Leading Social Ventures (an application-only course for student entrepreneurs) and receiving a C.V Starr Social Innovation Fellowship for entrepreneurship. I was also the recipient of the Social Innovation Leadership Award, the Joslin Award, a Citation for Fostering Understanding, and an Inspire Grant.
Mindshare
I was selected for invitation-only educational program for DC-area CEOs of tech companies, and was elected by peers as most likely to succeed at graduation
Y Combinator Fellowship
While at Hatch, we were among 50 companies selected by “the world’s most powerful start-up incubator” for funding, mentorship, and access.
Halcyon Fellowship
I was one of 8 entrepreneurs selected for competitive DC incubator for social ventures. I received an equity-free grant, six months of housing, and an 18-month educational program.
Get in touch.
I <3 new friends. Shoot me a note about cool things you’re working on or reasons we should chat. And please don’t be spammy or weird. I tend to get a lot of emails, so I apologize if I don’t respond right away. Looking forward to our hang :)