DIRECTOR

NanaYaa Mensah-Thomas is the Managing Partner and founder of Purelite Ventures. Purelite Ventures is a Healthcare venture capital firm based in New York which specializes in funding seed stage startups. She graduated with a Biology degree from Grinnell College, and worked as a research and clinical laboratory scientist, as well as a quality control/quality assurance lead at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for over two decades. She completed her MBA at Columbia Business School, where her passion for venture capital was born. She currently serves as a mentor at Techstars Chicago, and Nucleate, where she has the opportunity to help the next wave of founders cultivate winning strategies for their startups.

SPONSORSHIP CO-LEAD

Ramy is a seasoned technology leader with expertise in leading data solutions and digital transformations across fortune 500 companies. She has done significant work in the Data Analytics and AI space, which informs her current focus on governance frameworks and ethical safeguards. She is deeply committed to ensuring advanced AI and digital solutions are deployed responsibly, aligned with human values, and accessible to all.  Ramy, core belief is that “building companies and systems is about more than solving problems - it’s about reflecting our shared responsibility to one another.” 

An alumnus of Columbia University's MS in Technology Management program, Ramy is committed to giving back to the academic community and fostering the next generation of responsible technology leaders. She is deeply inspired by Project 2.8’s  mission to open doors for female founders as she has seen firsthand how innovation thrives when diverse voices are included. She believes empowering female founders, in particular, is critical because women bring perspectives and solutions that are essential for building a more inclusive and human-centered world.

EVENT LEAD

Sergine Delma is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Doctor of Nursing Practice candidate at Columbia University.

As Event Lead for Project 2.8, she curates events that bring together founders, VCs, angel investors, and innovation leaders.

A former Columbia Healthcare Ventures Fellow, Sergine has experience in oncology at Mass General Brigham, AI research focused on reducing bias in clinical documentation, and strategic consulting with major healthcare organizations.

She currently serves as a University Senator and co-founded the Columbia Nursing Pathways Collective to expand nontraditional career paths for clinicians, including opportunities in tech, venture, and entrepreneurship.

Passionate about bridging care, capital, and community, she is committed to building more inclusive innovation ecosystems.

SPONSORSHIP CO-LEAD

Heta Kariuki is an undergraduate at Columbia University, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Mathematics, where she is a recipient of the William Strong Academic Scholarship and additionally holds an academic background in law (LLB). Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, she is a singer, songwriter, and music producer, as well as the founder of three ventures: Informing S.A., a public health enterprise; H Studios Production Company, spanning film, music, and publishing; and HoneyMilk, a CPG beverage brand. Her work is animated by a commitment to intellectual synthesis—integrating ideas that may initially appear conceptually incongruent and employing them as analytical lenses through which to interrogate societal controversies. At Columbia, she has served as an Orientation Leader and contributed as a research assistant at the Digital Storytelling Lab. She additionally retains a literary background as a published contributing author in the Pan-African short story compendium Whispers from the River (2020). In her leisure time, she is devoted to her beauty, self-care, and fitness regimen, and takes an active interest in connecting fellow students to institutional resources that support their personal and creative projects.

OPERATION LEAD

Marsha B. Murphy is an alumni of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation with a Master of Science degree in Real Estate Development. She is a 14-year veteran of the real estate brokerage sector in New York and New Jersey and is licensed with Serhant Real Estate via The Lesley Steiner Team. Over the years she specialized in international relocation, managing multiple accounts and hundreds of clients for the team in the Hudson County and New York City region, grossing millions of dollars in transactions. She has transitioned into the commercial and real estate development markets, where she concentrates on institutional-level off-market asset transactions throughout the country.

In addition to her work in real estate brokerage, Marsha specializes in redevelopment and value-add acquisitions and is in the process of securing investment properties of her own. Her goal is to redevelop the existing built environment into structures that no longer cause the significant carbon, water, material, and energy waste that contributes to the climate change taking place worldwide.

Marsha is a Chicago-born native with two undergraduate degrees: a BFA in Fine Art from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA in Art from Western Illinois University. 

INSTRUCTOR & WORKSHOP LEAD

Amy Osorio has over 15 years of professional experience in the health care and life science sectors. She has provided advisory and strategic services to health systems on health policy, community health programs, and frontline staff development. As a senior consultant in market access at an international contract research organization, she worked with large pharmaceutical clients on identifying opportunities and risks for product launches as well as marketing and regulatory related projects. Her interest in venture arose at Columbia Business School, where she also became an angel investor. Most recently she was selected as a SomosVC Fellow. She continuously mentors students and has been highly involved in the Columbia community by serving on the Mailman School of Public Health Alumni Board for 8 years on its Governance and Events committees.
Amy holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California, an MPH from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is currently based in Los Angeles, CA.

FOUNDER LEAD

Vinita Vijay is a venture and strategy professional with over nine years of global experience across private equity, venture capital, and early-stage company building. She began her career in investing, managing over $100M in transactions across India, North America, and APAC, before co-founding a technology advisory firm supporting startups on go-to-market strategy, product validation, and fundraising. She also led U.S. expansion efforts for a $17B publicly listed multinational, launching operations across 10+ cities. Vinita has worked with founders across FinTech, HealthTech, and SaaS to refine business models, launch MVPs, and navigate key inflection points - from customer discovery and technical validation to early GTM, AI product strategy, and capital raise. While her expertise is rooted in business and investments, she thrives at the intersection of product and technology, translating market insights into actionable decisions. As a founding and investment committee member of a $20M India-based venture capital fund, she focuses on backing high-growth tech companies in emerging and underserved cities. Vinita holds a Master’s in Technology Management from Columbia University and remains actively engaged in the venture ecosystem through her commitment to building inclusive and innovation-driven communities.

VENTURE ECOSYSTEM LEAD

Lona is a creative strategist building what’s next in health. At Johnson & Johnson Innovation, she helps shape the future of health by attracting innovation into the partnership and venture capital portfolios. Previously, she led a team of venture and growth designers in J&J’s global design studio, crafting award-winning strategies for new products, services, and business models across consumer health, med tech, and pharma. She's known for turning ambiguity into opportunity and ideas into action. Before joining J&J, Lona worked in venture philanthropy and management consulting, where she partnered with Fortune 100 companies to drive impact and navigate transformation. As a corporate strategist, she has a track record of accelerating growth through innovation and building high performing teams - as comfortable in a boardroom as she is in a whiteboard session. Lona has a Masters in Public Health and Sociomedical Science from Columbia University where she focused on digital health and human behavior and an MBA from Cornell University. Based in Harlem, she is an angel investor for diverse founders and believes weekend brunch is a sacred ritual of creative recovery.