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 CO-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.

MARKETING LEAD

Yvonne is currently a Partner at N1AC, an early-stage angel collective investing in frontier technologies including AI, robotics, and healthcare innovation.

As the Marketing Lead at Project 2.8, Yvonne will lead branding, encouraging founder engagement, and community-building initiatives across Columbia’s venture ecosystem, with plans to further connect and engage Columbia-affiliated entrepreneurs globally.

Yvonne graduated from University of California, San Diego with degrees in Mathematics and English Literature with High Distinction before pursuing graduate training at Columbia University in epidemiology and biotechnology. Her background across academic medicine, implementation science, and biotech research has shaped her interest in how capital and strategy accelerate innovation from lab to market. She is particularly passionate about early-stage biotech, healthcare innovation, and founder-driven communities. 

Outside of work and academics, she loves food and recently became a dog mom to An-Na!

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.

EVENT CO-LEAD

Linda Kugblenu is a student at Columbia Business School, Payments Executive, and founder passionate about expanding access to capital and opportunity for the next generation of builders.

She currently serves as a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where she leads go-to-market strategy and commercialization for cross-border payment solutions, helping financial institutions navigate an increasingly real-time, global economy.

Linda is also the founder of Foreign at Work, a platform that helps early-stage founders refine their narratives, strengthen their positioning, and become funding-ready. Her work sits at the intersection of storytelling and strategy, helping founders translate vision into compelling stories that resonate with investors, customers, and partners.

Before JPMorgan, Linda worked across emerging markets and financial inclusion initiatives, including as a Fulbright Scholar in Uganda supporting women entrepreneurs and expanding access to capital for underserved communities. Having lived and worked across 30+ countries, she brings a deeply global perspective to her work and is especially passionate about supporting women founders building solutions with lasting social and economic impact. Linda was recognized as an Inspiring Fintech Female in 2024 and nominated as a Rising Star in Payments for her contributions to the fintech industry.

As Event Co-Lead for Project 2.8, she is excited to help cultivate spaces where founders, investors, and operators can connect, learn, and build meaningful relationships.

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.