The VFA Story
Our Mission
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To revitalize American cities and communities through entrepreneurship.
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To enable our best and brightest to create new opportunities for themselves and others.
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To restore the culture of achievement to include value-creation, risk and reward, and the common good.
"I knew that there were promising startups and growth companies all over the country that needed talent to expand and thrive. I knew firsthand that there was an army of talented, ambitious, somewhat directionless young people who’d love to work for a startup. And I knew that if we could connect these two groups, we’d help everyone."
- Andrew Yang
The Problem
Many of our nations' college graduates crave hands-on experience building businesses and creating value. However, they often decide to follow a few well-defined paths that they have learned to associate with success, but which do not always provide them with the skills or motivation to create value. At the same time, many promising early-stage businesses struggle to identify, recruit, and enlist talented college graduates, in large part because they lack the resources, brand equity and scale to engage in on-campus recruiting.
This is where VFA comes in.
What We Do
Top grads choose the VFA path.
VFA trains Fellows as a cohort...
...and sends them to work at startups in up and coming cities.
There, they learn how stimulate business development in their community and grow as entrepreneurs.
Venture for America recruits motivated college grads to work in start-ups and early-stage companies in America’s cities that need business development the most (e.g., Detroit, Providence, New Orleans). We provide hands on entrepreneurship experience and teach Fellows how to build companies and ultimately stimulate job growth.
Many of our Fellows, after serving their two year commitment, will become successful entrepreneurs in the communities to which they were assigned. Venture for America’s hopes to generate 100,000 new U.S. jobs by 2025 by helping companies grow and training our top graduates to themselves become business builders and job creators.
Eileen was most recently a Senior Consultant at Accenture, where she specialized in managing technology integration projects for large industrial clients. Eileen’s clients at Accenture included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cargill, and Pepsico. Eileen graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Economics.
Andrew Yang is the Founder and CEO of Venture for America. He has worked in start-ups and early stage growth companies as a founder or executive for more than twelve years. He was the CEO and President of Manhattan GMAT, as well as the co-founder of an Internet company and an executive at a health care software start-up. Andrew was named a Champion of Change by the White House for his work with Venture for America and one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.” He is a graduate of Columbia Law and Brown University. Andrew’s first book, “Smart People Should Build Things,” was published by Harper Business in early 2014 and can be ordered here.
Andrew Yang
Founder, CEO
Mike Tarullo
VP of Corportate Development
Megan Hurlburt
Communications and Marketing Manager
Eileen Lee
COO
Prior to joining VFA, Mike was previously Director of Client Services and a founding team member at venture-backed NYC staffing startup Solvate. Prior to that, he was a marketing consultant at the boutique Greenwich Marketing Group, developing positioning strategy for clients including JP Morgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, and Bausch & Lomb. Before that, he co-founded a content aggregation startup and worked on the Obama campaign. Mike received his B.A. in Psychology from Duke University.
Megan is a graduate of the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she majored in Communication with a concentration in Media Studies. During her time in Charleston, Megan completed events, development and media internships with Spoleto Festival USA, Ronald McDonald House and CHARLIE Magazine, an online publication celebrating progressive culture.
Meet the Team
Before VFA, Seon-Hye worked at Reservoir Capital Group where she was responsible for streamlining the research and operations for both internal and seeded managers. Previously, she was a part of the Small Cap Growth research team at Lord Abbett & Co., LLC, involved with various aspects of portfolio maintenance and management. Seon-Hye graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English Literature.
Jason worked at Wildfire Interactive, a social media marketing company that was acquired by Google in the summer of 2012 before joining VFA. Previously, he was a founding member and Vice Chairman of the St. Louis City Charter School called Preclarus Mastery Academy. Jason received his B.A. in Economics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Prior to joining VFA, Lauren was a Teach for America corps member. Lauren graduated from Lehigh University in 2010 with a major in Psychology and minors in Business and Spanish. Her internship experiences include time with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay in Special Events and with Boston Early Intervention as a Resource Specialist.
Elisabeth graduated from New York University with a degree in Environmental Studies and concentration in Urban Development. She has worked with a social enterprise that provides entrepreneurial training for youth, led operations at a startup artisanal company, and interned with an environmental non-profit.
Elisabeth Deogracias
Corporate Development Manager
Lauren Gill
Senior Talent Manager
Jason Tarre
Startup Partnerships Manager
Seon-Hye Moon
Director of Operations
Jackie Miller
Corporate Development Manager
Amy Nelson
Director of External Relations
Leandra Elberger
Admin & Development Manager
Joe Guy
Community Marketing Manager
Before VFA, Joe worked as a digital marketing strategist at BlackRock. During his time at the University of Dayton, Joe started two businesses and served as CEO of Flyer Enterprises.He sits on the national board of Epsilon Nu Tau, the nation’s first entrepreneurship fraternity, and is the youngest member of the University of Dayton’s Business Advisory Council. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in Operations Management.
Prior to joining VFA, Leandra worked in Client Services at Standard & Poor’s and as an Account Manager at New York Blood Center. During her time at Tufts University, Leandra interned at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (formerly the HIV/AIDS Initiative). She graduated from Tufts University with a double major in International Relations and Community Health.
Amy has held senior business development roles with high-growth nonprofit organizations, including at B Lab, Cambodian Children’s Fund and Relief International prior to joining VFA. She has volunteered extensively with Step Up Women’s Network and the Middle School Public Debate Program, organizations that teach young people the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond. She holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from NYU Stern.
Before coming to VFA, Jackie managed fundraising and events for international organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Rescue Committee. Her nonprofit experience includes coordinating benefit galas, donor briefings, and women’s rights conferences as well as managing a board of young professionals. She received a B.A. in French and a B.A. in Religious Studies from University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!).
Isa worked as a campus organizer for CALPIRG, where she recruited and trained college students to work on public interest issues before joining VFA. As an organizer, she ran campaigns to increase youth voter turnout and promote clean energy, and ran a civic engagement internship program. Isa received her B.A. in Politics from Pomona College.
Cathlin spent six years at Google on the Global Business team in Ann Arbor and New York City. She was most recently an Account Executive, focused on sales and business development. She also held a leadership role in training and development across the New York City office. Cathlin is a Grand Rapids, Michigan native and graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English and Psychology.
Before VFA, Jessica worked as the corporate events and operations manager at Manhattan Prep. She also previously worked as an event coordinator for Rehage Entertainment, a festival production company who recently merged with Live Nation. Jessie sits on the associate board for Gilda’s Club NYC, a free cancer support community. She graduated from the University of Florida with an M.S. in Tourism & Recreation and a B.S. in Event Management (Go Gators!).
Prior to VFA, Eric ran business development, marketing, and sales for Manhattan Prep. Eric served as a curriculum developer, faculty trainer, and MBA applicant mentor, and he maintains a senior instructor role today, teaching GMAT courses at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, and Google. His startup experience includes co-founding a successful software marketing agency and developing digital signal processing algorithms at Shutterfly.com. Eric has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and M.S. & B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from UCLA.
Eric Caballero
VP of Programs
Jessica Serre
Events Manager
Cathlin Olszewski
Senior Programs Manager
Isa Ballard
Operations Associate
Zeve is a student at Brown University working towards a degree in Politics with a minor in Creative Writing. He transferred from NYU, where he played point guard on the NYU Basketball Team, tutored in the Writing Center, and interned at the ACLU.
Jake joined Venture for America as one of the first Fellows as part of the 2012 class. He served his fellowship at Benzinga where he managed the Benzinga Professional newswire while heading up internship recruitment and working as a senior analyst on the newsdesk. Jake graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in economics, where he helped run multiple startup weekends while serving as an entrepreneur in residence at a student business incubator called “The Hatch.”
Prior to joining VFA, Laila co-founded a concert promotions company in Cairo, Egypt. In addition to bringing artists from the West to Egypt, Laila organized and ran a nation-wide competition for budding female vocalists. She has also worked as a paralegal at an entertainment law firm, as well as an advocate for Iraqi refugees in Egypt and disenfranchised populations in Massachusetts. Laila graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in International Relations.
Laila Selim
Recruitment Associate
Jake L'Ecuyer
Fellow Community Manager
Zeve Sanderson
Recruitment Ambassador
