#88: Erika Balbuena - Head of Strategic Initiatives at Twilio.org
Breaking Into Startups28 Touko 2018

#88: Erika Balbuena - Head of Strategic Initiatives at Twilio.org

After the recording of the podcast, Erika joined the Impact Team at Amazon Cloud Services. Prior to that, at the time of the episode recording, Erika was the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Twilio.org. Before that, she also worked for TaskRabbit. Erika has not only in tech for a long time, she served on several boards and she also has deep experience in the nonprofit industry. Under the Impact Fund at Twilio, they've given away about a $1.5 million in investments and grants where they take a platform and portfolio approach. Her vision? To have a platform in Twilio where nonprofits have a one-stop shop for technical help. Erika is about to launch The Only, it's a storytelling project and podcast that documents the stories of women who were The Only in all male or mostly male environments. Do you know someone who's been an "only" woman or if you've been an "only" woman yourself in your company or organization, submit a nomination form and Erika will reach out to you. This covers people in practically all types of industries.

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#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

A San Francisco-native, Nick deWilde was so certain he wanted to make movies but he ended up taking on a different path that impacts people’s lives. Nick is now the Program Director at Tradecraft, an ...

28 Tammi 201749min

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

Transitioning from arts to engineering was not a smooth ride for Matt Brooks, but he never allowed obstacles to get in the way because he was willing to embrace failures. Matt started out as a fine ...

25 Tammi 201731min

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

After excelling at Goldman Sachs and top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Preethi Kasireddy decided she wanted to leave “the best job in the world” to become a software engineer. In her blo...

23 Tammi 201743min

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

Ina Herlihy is a San Francisco local who knows what’s it like to hustle your way to get the thing that you want right at a very early age. She is passionate about journalism and was an editor-in-chief...

18 Tammi 201731min

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

Edgar Pabon is a New York-native who, prior to his current position as a software engineer at Amazon Music, was a rapper, a communications degree graduate, and an active duty military. He knew that ...

16 Tammi 201738min

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

Kush Patel is the Founder of App Academy, which is considered to be the MIT of coding bootcamps. Prior to breaking into startup, Kush previously worked at hedge funds until he finally decided to pursu...

11 Tammi 201745min

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

Born and raised in Taiwan, Chia Lin has traveled far and wide. She came to Tennessee when she was 11, moved to California in high school and college, and lived in Tokyo for a year. Her love of food an...

9 Tammi 201743min

#12: Shawn Drost - Founder of Hack Reactor

#12: Shawn Drost - Founder of Hack Reactor

Shawn Drost is the Co-Founder of Hack Reactor, a coding bootcamp founded in 2012 along with his college friends Tony Phillips, Marcus Phillips, and Douglas Calhoun with the primary motive to set peopl...

3 Tammi 201748min