Camelback Welcomes Our 2023 Fellows!
Camelback Ventures is proud to welcome our first cohort of 2023 education and conscious tech innovators as part of our rigorous fellowship supporting undervalued entrepreneurs leading social impact ventures across the United States. These 10 founders represent 10 organizations tackling pressing issues including more equitable access to higher education opportunities, literacy, STEM education, mental wellness services, prenatal healthcare, and financial literacy. The 2023 cohort proudly joins our community of 130+ fellows (and growing) - a group we lovingly call the #CamelbackFam!
2023 Camelback Fellows
Education
Fellows are listed alphabetically by Founder name, and share details as provided by leaders. Education Fellows may be nonprofits, for-profits, hybrids, or schools.
ALEXA SIMEONE founder of Lele Art Lab
Pompano Beach, FL - For Profit - www.leleartlab.org
Lele Art Lab is leveraging the power of art and marine science to unify and inspire young explorers to care for the planet.
Alexa on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I’m thinking, here ‘I am making waves and I will ride this one until the very end.’ I’m feeling blessed at the opportunity to share my story, learn from others and come together in community to create, connect and build for a brighter future. I’m excited about having a new ‘familia,’ which will inspire me and give me the right tools to better serve my community.”
![- [ ] 2023 Education Camelback Fellow Araba Maze, Founder and Executive Director of Storybook Maze](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57e2d6ab440243c69eb9cb95/853e59b6-56bc-40f5-955a-387da7950d85/ArabaMaze.png)
ARABA MAZE founder of Storybook Maze
Baltimore, MD - Hybrid - https://www.tiktok.com/@storybookmaze
Storybook Maze leverages social media to increase free book access in book deserts.
Araba on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “The biggest thing I'm excited about is learning and joining a team of people Ruthless For Good.”
IJEOMA KOLA founder of Cohort Sistas
South Bend, IN - Nonprofit - https://www.cohortsistas.org
Cohort Sistas is a community-led and driven digital non-profit organization that supports Black women and non-binary people pursuing research doctorates by providing resources, mentorship, and community to improve educational, professional, financial, and mental health outcomes. We work to increase the number of Black women and non-binary people who matriculate into and complete research-based doctoral degree programs while reducing the undue financial and emotional burden of doctoral education.
Ijeoma on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to join the Camelback Fam and be enriched by all the coaching and curriculum the program offers!”
NICHOLAS OKAFOR founder of trubel&co
Palo Alto, CA - Nonprofit - https://www.trubel.co
trubel&co is a culturally-responsive technical education platform that champions diverse youth to disrupt society for the better. By integrating STEM education with civic innovation, trubel creates a pipeline of changemakers committed to improving their community using equitable data analytics, responsible technology, and inclusive design - together, we'll spark good "trubel" where it's needed most.
Nicholas on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I'm feeling incredible! It's been a long process but this stage feels very validating. I applied during the last round 6 months ago and didn't make it here. We got great feedback and used that to inform our research and main questions we needed to answer. After writing application #2, I looked back at the first draft from 6 months ago and saw how far we had come in just our envisioning of impact and how we modeled our future. Can't wait to share that with you all!”
VERONICA BENAVIDES founder of The Language Preservation Project
Denver, CO - Hybrid - https://thelanguageproject.co
The Language Preservation Project develops learning resources and programs to help families and educators teach their heritage language to children. All of our development is backed by both research and our own experiences as heritage language learners.
Veronica on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I'm excited to meet other finalists and be in conversation with the Camelback team. Participation in the fellowship will be catalytic to our development and growth at this stage.”
Conscious Tech
Fellows are listed alphabetically by Founder name, and share details as provided by leaders. Conscious Tech Fellows may be nonprofits, for-profits, or hybrids.
ALAN HIPÓLITO founder of Suma
Portland, OR - Nonprofit - https://mysuma.org/sumaplatform
Suma believes community-led technology is required to advance financial independence and quality of life for low-income people, people of color and other frontline communities. Launching in Portland in late 2022 by providing affordable housing residents with low-cost, secure and easy to use access to clean mobility services, our proprietary, multi-sided, web-based suma platform grows to offer affordable food, transportation and utility goods and services to frontline community members in Portland and other cities.
Alan on becoming a Camelback Fellow:? “I’m excited about all of it: the community, the capital, the curriculum, the connections, the coaching - especially the coaching and the community. That’s what I hope to get out of it - thought partnership, tech startup mentors, like-minded peers who know what it’s like to see yesterday’s unfinished problem staring at you from the office whiteboard when you come back to work in the morning.”
PETER NJONGWE founder of Oben Health
Oakland, CA - For Profit - https://www.joinoben.com
Oben Health is building a culturally competent digital application to engage black and brown patients in reversing chronic disease conditions. We act as an extension of care for health systems to help provide care management, care coordination and patient engagement for patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
Peter on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I'm feeling nervous, excited, and thrilled. I'm glad to have been selected. I am thrilled and grateful for the opportunity.”
PRIYA IYER founder of Our Roots
Oakland/Hayward, CA - Nonprofit - www.rootswellness.org
Our Roots provides culturally-reverent virtual peer education and support around mental wellness by and with pregnant and postpartum women and birthing people of color who are low-income.
Priya on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I am most excited about a few things: 1) Being in a space with BIPOC and women entrepreneurs who want to create radical change for good, who are tirelessly working every day to achieve that, and with whom I can have raw conversations around how our identities shape and can further our impact. 2) Building relationships with community members, funders and coaches with whom we can discuss, unpack, and push our thinking and practice around what is means to build a culturally-reverent and anti-racist organization under the hood.”
VERONICA BERRY founder of TruDiary
Atlanta, GA - For Profit - https://trudiary.com
TruDiary works to eliminate barriers associated with the $32B in pregnancy complications each year, by focusing on Black and Brown moms who have limited access to resources that put them at an increased risk for pregnancy complications. With the help of technology, the company provides culturally relevant curated content by moms, for moms, and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) services, such as food security, mental health support, lactation services, and transportation.
Veronica on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I am feeling blessed and overwhelmed. I am excited about the opportunity of having a safe space, a team and support system that understands what I am trying to accomplish in Maternal Health.”
YOLANDA BARTON founder of RevereXR
Atlanta, GA - For Profit - https://www.reverexr.com
RevereXR is pioneering inclusive immersive storytelling experiences by preserving the history of music, legacies, and communities rich with cultural heritage and historical significance. RVR is using XR preservation and immersive storytelling to recreate history and bring that history to life for all to experience through personal downloads, immersive museum exhibits and education.
Yolanda on becoming a Camelback Fellow: “I’m beyond excited, there are no words. Camelback Ventures is one of the few organizations that values community and is creating access for founders who are overall unseen, unheard and underserved. The opportunity to gain expertise through mentorship, create greater opportunities for business development, provide training, resources to empower our success - this is what lacks in my community. Great ideas are just that unless we have the ability to gain training and education on what it takes to mobilize them and develop solid foundations to support our success. I truly believe that Camelback is the catalyst for RevereXR. I’m always in places where I am the only woman, or only person of color, or only single parent balancing entrepreneurship and parenting. The application alone made me feel SEEN, HEARD and valued. That is a true sense of belonging. I know I can thrive and become the visionary business leader I was born to be.”
“We are excited to start a new year with a new class of Fellows, especially after hearing their authentic storytelling through the application and interview process. It’s an honor to know we’ll continue to be a part of their stories through the Camelback Fellowship and beyond,” said Michaela Subido, Camelback Fellowship Search & Align Associate.
Since our inception, Camelback Ventures has invested more than $10-million into emerging entrepreneurs across the country. The 2023 Camelback Fellowship is supported by the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, McCance Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Kenan Charitable Trust, Margulf Foundation, and Walton Family Foundation.
You can learn more about the Camelback Ventures’ Fellowship and meet past fellows. Camelback Ventures’ next fellowship application window will open in March of 2023. Interested in joining our next fellowship cohort? Fill out our interest form today!