2019

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Coach: Julie Meyers
Peer: Jessica Bird

Venture Description

The Village is a play cafe where children from babies to tweens can be stimulated and entertained, while parents can relax and socialize.

About the Founder

Brooke is enthusiastic, energetic and always on the move. She loves to create to-do lists and loves to check things off even more! Brooke’s greatest accomplishment is her children, but before Brooke became a busy mommy, she acquired a bachelors degree in Medical Anthropology and attained a Masters degree in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine.

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Coach: Rachel Dukeman
Peer: Michelle Sloan

Website: etsy.com/shop/HamsaMade
Social media: Facebook, Instagram
Press: Jewish Exponent

When Danielle isn’t at improv rehearsal or a civic association committee meeting, you can find her scouring local flea markets or biking the Schuylkill Trail. As a Moishe House Without Walls host, she plans artistic & cultural meetups in her South Philly Row home to engage with her Jewish community. Danielle is a proud suma cum laude graduate of Drexel University’s Design & Merchandising program and currently is the assistant buyer of home décor at Five Below Inc, where she has designed and developed product for 750 stores nationwide. Her biggest fans are her grandma, her twin sister and her Calico cat, Paloma.

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Coach: Rebecca Bar
Peer: Alanna Raffel

Social media: Instagram
Press: Broadway World

Venture Description

Theatre Listens uses original works and interactive workshops to drive conversations on consent and mental health within the youth and community. This venture aims to work with local artists and mental health advocates to help spread awareness and teach life skills for those coping with assault.

About The Founder

Doriane is a driven theatre artist new to Philadelphia. Her concentrations include playwriting, acting, and dramaturgy; as an artist she strives to use art as a way to share the stories society ignores.

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Coach: Stu Maleef
Peer: Molly Wernick

Website: readby4.org
Social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Press: 6abc, Philadelphia Inquirer

Venture Description

Reading Captain is an app that gives grassroots leaders across the city the information they need to be champions of literacy for families in their communities. It is a project of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

About the Founder

People excite Sam. From children to adults, Sam finds such hope, comfort, and excitement just by being with people. His hopes and dreams are to play a role in something larger than himself: to be a part of a movement for a more equitable world, where everyone is seen with dignity, where we are all honored for the gifts and histories we bring, and we all engage in the transformational work of seeing ourselves, seeing each other, and building peace.

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Coach: Phil Katz
Peer: Jonathan Wetstein

Website: myphillygirl.com
Social media: Instagram

Venture Description

PhillyGirl Real Estate believes in the power of buying your own home as an important investment in your future. We’re a real estate group—a realtor and an educator—that provides real estate services, as well as education, tools, and resources for potential first-time homebuyers to help guide folks through one of the most important purchases of their life.

About the Founder

Corinne first became an activist at age 14; the social justice principles that she learned during that time have informed her life choices ever since. She bought her first house at age 28 and is passionate about teaching others how to invest in their future through real estate. Corinne currently works in nonprofit digital marketing, but has also taught English in Barcelona, studied sexuality education in the slums of Bombay, and written articles for various magazines and online journals.

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Coach: Marc Prine
Peer: Ariella Werden Greenfield

Venture Description

I want to take my expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Training, known as ACT, out of my office and into the workplace, yoga studios, and other wellness-oriented venues. My workshops are based on three pillars – teaching people how to embrace difficult situations with compassion, learning how to be more present focused and mindful in everyday life, and connecting to personal values and goals. I want to collaborate with business professionals, consulting firms, and other wellness practitioners to help employees, clients and the people around them live a more meaningful and vital life.

About the Founder

I am a clinical psychologist working at Drexel University counseling center where I counsel students and lead our group and workshop program, which focuses on teaching mindfulness and mental flexibility skills to students. I also work in a private practice in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I am recently married and moved to Philadelphia a little over two years ago from New York. I am a first generation American and first-generation college graduate. My parents were born in Odessa, Ukraine and I speak conversational Russian. I am excited about teaching others how to be mentally flexible based on my expertise and sharing my skill set outside of a conventional counseling/clinical relationship. I am excited by opportunities to help people be vulnerable and live a meaningful and vital life. I hope to have children one day and engage in meaningful work that excites me.

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Coach: Lori Turner
Peer: Katie Gould

Website: chickadeetheatre.com
Social media: Instagram
Press:

Venture Description

Based in compassion, Chickadee Theatre Company is a collaborative, welcoming community that thrives on providing an opportunity for artists to have an outlet to express their individual quirkiness. Our goal is to create energetic, colorful and meaningful art through down-to-earth, music-based collaborations with undiscovered theatre artists and musicians throughout Philadelphia. We do this through eclectic cabarets, open mic nights, and live-play readings from local playwrights.

About the Founder

Liat graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre from The University of the Arts in 2014. She spends much of her time teaching drama to preschool kids, meandering around farmers markets, and creating work with other young artists.

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Coach: Deb Weinstein
Peer: Morgan Berman

Venture Description

Somewhere allows people to discover and share stories in the places where they actually happen. Through an app, users can share text, video, photo, and / or audio stories, which are geo-tagged and discoverable to those who are nearby. Stories on the app are found via augmented reality (AR), which adds a digital layer to the real world through the phone’s camera and mirrors the experience of truly discovering.

About the Founder

Rachel LeWitt is a communicator, researcher, and adventurer living in West Philly. She has surfed on a river full of crocodiles in Borneo, studied relationships between language and perception, and currently advises senior leaders about communicating their most important messages. Forging connections is her biggest passion. For Rachel, this plays out through bringing people together to hear classical music concerts or enjoy Shabbat dinners in her home, seeking cultural commonalities while traveling, and sharing stories over cups of tea. Rachel hopes to own and run a business or two or three that help make the world a more equitable and meaningful place, live near water, and never lose her sense of constant curiosity.

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Coach: Bob Vogel
Peer: Zach Matz

Venture Description

Holi-Daze is a card game which focuses on players trading ingredients to craft recipes for different Jewish Holidays. Players cooperate to complete all the recipes needed for a specified holiday, while simultaneously competing to get the most points.

About the Founder

Martyn is an engineer by profession, with several years of exposure in the game design field. He kickstarted 1 other game while in college, and has participated in the creation of several others.

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Coach: Scott Aronow
Peer: Ben Goodstein

Website: alodf.org
Social media: Twitter, Facebook
Press:

Venture Description

The American Living Organ Donor Fund was founded in 2014. The Philadelphia based, Guidestar platinum rated nonprofit exists solely to protect and support living donors by making direct grants to cover any and all donation-related expenses. The organization has grown to provide free mental health services and free legal services when needed.

About the Founder

Michael Mittelman is a patient-driven design, experience, engagement, and outcomes consultant. He is Chairman of the American Living Organ Donor Fund, a PCORI ambassador, and former Patient Editor of The BMJ. He has an MBA from Temple University and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Coach: Michael Adler
Peer: Dave Fine

Website: espressoselfphilly.com
Social media: Instagram, Facebook

Venture Description

Espresso Self Philly is a queer-centered coffee shop providing LGBTQ+ youth with employment opportunities as well as the ongoing therapeutic support and 21st century life skill development they need in order to thrive and achieve their career goals. The shop will host a variety of social, educational, and artistic events connecting members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies to local resources, while fostering relationship-building in a safe, inclusive space.

About the Founder

Nuriya (she/her/hers) is a queer, Israeli, passionate LGBTQ advocate, working as an Occupational Therapist in the non- profit sector. Her work focuses on empowering individuals form vulnerable communities through connection to resources and helping them develop meaningful life skills.

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Coach: Bill Lucas
Peer: Josh Silverbauer

Website: thejewishweddingproject.com
Social media: Instagram, Facebook

Venture Description

The Jewish Wedding Project puts ten percent of all Yael Pachino Photography LLC wedding earnings toward helping couples in need afford the weddings of their dreams.

About the Founder

Yael is an entrepreneur and aunt of 8 crazy kids. Lover of fruit, fuzzy socks, and everything photography.

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Coach: Matt Pincus
Peer: Amy Zitelman

Website: retailresilient.com
Social media: Instagram, Facebook

Venture Description

Retail Resilient is the #1 most transparent solution for digital marketing and sales training on social media. Retail Resilient includes keynote speaking on the topic of resilience to businesses and communities nationwide and within the local Philadelphia market. These resilience workshops and speaking engagements will provide people with real life stories of resilience, key steps to move forward when experiencing life setbacks and an opportunity to journey into a new way of living.

About the Founder

Gail has spent 22 years in the automotive Industry in multiple positions ranging from General Sales Manager, New Car Manager, Finance Manager and Performance Manager with vAuto and Cox Automotive. Gail has built a few automotive start-up companies from the ground up. Gail is originally from Winnipeg Canada and has lived in the United States since 2001. She believes in entrepreneurship, capitalism and the spirit of using creativity to build something from nothing. It is through hard work, dedication, passion and love that people can come together to build strong business communities that provide jobs, financial resources and a place you can call home.