Office Hours at The Garage
Office Hours are a great way for Northwestern students to learn more about The Garage or get help with an entrepreneurial venture – or both!
Members of our community are available to provide guidance on a wide array of topics. Read on to determine which expert is the best fit for you at this juncture. Due to the high demand for Office Hours, please note that these meetings may not be used for class interviews. At this time, Office Hours will be held virtually.
OPEN TO ALL NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS
Not sure where to begin? Curious about programs at The Garage? Want to brainstorm an idea? Chatting 1-1 with a peer is the perfect place to start.
Kevin Kaspar, McCormick ’24
Co-founder at InfernoGuard
Kevin is a Junior studying Manufacturing and Design Engineering (MaDE) and entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder of InfernoGuard, a startup that provides wildfire monitoring and detection services to large-scale landowners. InfernoGuard recently won the 2022 Northwestern VentureCat competition and has received over $425,000 in non-dilutive funding to date. He is eager to help all students swiftly integrate into The Garage community.
Adala Makhulo, Weinberg + SoC ’23
Founder at 3 Point Productions
Adala is a Radio/Television/Film and Psychology Major at with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She is passionate about the Film and Media Industry. She’s an alumnus at the MultiChoice Talent Factory East Africa. Adala is working on 3 Point Productions, a film production company based in Nairobi, Kenya making content for the youth, by the youth. Adala also provides Office Hours as part of The Opportunity Fund.
Zoe Lews, SESP ’25
Founder at PETAL Solutions
Zoe is a sophomore majoring in Social Policy with a personal focus on social impact-based entrepreneurship. She is the Founder and CEO of PETAL Solutions, which prioritizes equitable, transformative, and active learning solutions. She has participated in Propel, Residency, X-Factor, and Jumpstart through The Garage and has separately held numerous peer leader-style positions. She would love to talk about how to center your values with those of your company and much more!
Jake Erichson, MMM ’23 (Kellogg + McCormick)
Founder, Renota
Jake is in the MMM program, earning his MBA from Kellogg and MS Design Innovation from McCormick. He is the Founder and CEO of Renota, helping math students receive more feedback on their work while saving teachers time. Before starting in the MMM program, Jake worked in management consulting and in startup strategy. He is excited to speak with any Kellogg / MMM students exploring entrepreneurship, or with undergraduate founders hoping to speak about strategy or team management.
OPEN TO ALL NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS
Alumni of The Garage have gone on to do incredible things. Learn more about their journeys, and gain valuable insight from their experiences.
Yasmeena Faycurry, Weinberg ’22
Founder at Unfound
Yasmeena is an analyst at Chicago Ventures (an industry agnostic, tech oriented VC) specializing in all things consumer and sustainability. Outside of VC, Yasmeena has been growing her startup Unfound – the app community where people share and discover local gems (think antithesis of Yelp). At Northwestern, Yasmeena studied economics, marketing, & entrepreneurship and participated in Propel and Jumpstart.
Spencer Levitt, Weinberg ’21
Co-founder at Buffd
Spencer was a Computer Science student from Baltimore, MD. He previously interned at Under Armour HQ and worked as a web developer at an EdTech startup. Most recently, he co-founded Buffd (previously Qade), a platform that provides automated stats and performance reports for gamers, winning grand prizes at VentureCat and Jumpstart.
Ibraheem Alinur, McCormick ‘20
Co-founder at City Health Tech
Ibraheem is a Gates Scholar and graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship and the Segal Design Certificate in 2020. He founded 3 companies at The Garage and participated in Jumpstart and X-Factor. He currently leads an innovation lab commercializing research in healthcare and life sciences and serves on the Farley Center Advisory Board. He is also the Founder of City Health Tech, a smart city startup that was incubated and developed at the Garage.
Lilliana Robinson, McCormick ’21
Program Director at Techstars Chicago
Lilliana was a Computer Science and Entrepreneurship student, an LJV Fellow, and has won competitions such as ImproveNU and Stanford’s Hackathon. She loves helping ventures succeed and mentoring students to find their passions. For the past two years, Lilliana worked in venture capital at Techstars Chicago, a startup accelerator.
Rachel Cantor, SoC ’20
Brand & Content Marketing at Tydo
Rachel runs brand strategy and content marketing at Tydo. Prior to joining Tydo, she was a writer at Morning Brew. Rachel is also a cofounder of Oddly Specific, a NYC-based event series helping people connect in oddly specific ways. At NU, Rachel was part of the first cohort of Little Joe Venture Fellows and was one of the Exec Co-Chairs of NUDM. She graduated in 2020 with a B.S. in Communication Studies, a minor in French, and certificates in IMC and Entrepreneurship.
Sarah Ahmad, McCormick ’18
Co-founder of Stable
Sarah is the co-founder and CEO of Stable (YC W20) – a virtual address and mailroom for startups. Previously, she was a UX Engineer at LifeLink. During her time at Northwestern, she co-founded HotPlate, a food app to help diners find the best dishes at local restaurants. She graduated from Northwestern in 2018 with a B.S. in Integrated Engineering Studies and a double major in Economics.
Charlotte Oxnam, McCormick ’23
Founder at Cue the Curves
Charlotte Oxnam is a senior studying Industrial Engineering and is the founder and CEO of Cue the Curves. Cue the Curves is a social shopping app for plus-size women. She has participated in residency, the Propel Program, and Jumpstart at The Garage and was most recently a part of the Techstars Chicago Accelerator. Charlotte is currently a resident at The Garage and runs the Propel program for female entrepreneurs.
Harrison Larner, Medill ’23
Harrison is a journalism and entrepreneurship student from Atlanta, Georgia. Previously he created YouTube videos for 7 years and was a New York Times student Podcast award winner. He also consulted brands and college athletes on content marketing through his company 8 In The Box Productions and as a Multimedia Associate for Techstars Chicago. Currently, he works as a Youtube Analyst for creator economy company Jellysmack. He would love to talk anything related to multimedia content or marketing!
OPEN TO ALL NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS
Founders in Residence are experienced alumni or former students working on their ventures full-time and using The Garage as their office.
Ana Cornell
Co-founder, Acorn Genetics
Ana is the CEO and Co-Founder of Acorn Genetics, the first at-home DNA testing company. At Northwestern, she studied biomedical engineering, and has experience building user interfaces for apps, nanotech and hardware, and a deep understanding of genetics and xgenetic technology. While at Acorn, she has raised $70,000, recruited and currently manages 15 undergrads, graduates, and full time employees, and participated in a number of programs including Jumpstart, the national NSF I-Corps, and Propel
Raman Malik
Co-founder, Rhetoric
Raman is a graduate student at the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of Rhetoric – a presentation feedback platform. Prior to Northwestern, Raman spent six years in data science, the majority on the growth team at Lyft as a Data Science Manager. He is passionate about building products to help founders grow and advance their careers.
Alex Bahram
Co-founder, JupiterDX
Alex is the co-founder and CEO of JupiterDX, a health data aggregation and analytics startup that helps patients with chronic illnesses manage their care. Prior to his work at JupiterDX, Alex was an operations analyst at SummerBio, a COVID testing automation startup where he managed the company’s hardware supply chain. While at Northwestern Alex studied economics and was a resident at the Garage. He also participated in Jumpstart, The Garage’s summer pre-accelerator.
Casey Grage,
Founder, Hubly Surgical
With her background in neuroscience and software, Casey Grage founded Hubly Surgical. Through NUvention Medical and the Garage, Grage worked with neurosurgeons at Northwestern Hospital to co-invent, design, prototype, build, and patent their 510(k)-pending advanced intracranial Hubly Drill with autostop for safely drilling holes through the skull without damaging underlying tissue. In five years of being founder/CEO, Casey Grage has won top prizes at over 10 international pitch competitions winning over $300,000 in non-dilutive awards, secured several hospital partners, filed three patents (all of which she is a listed inventor), hired a full-time team, and raised $2M investment to bring the Hubly Drill from ideation to launch.
Mateo Price
Co-founder, AMA
Mateo studied Psychology and Economics at NU and is passionate about brands, social media, and building digital communities. He’s the founder of Authentic Media Ascension (AMA), which is a creator growth studio helping brands & creators better engage their audiences through data. The business started with a cold email to his favorite YouTuber and has since grown to creating $5M in incremental revenue for their partners.
OPEN TO RESIDENTS AND TINKERERS OF THE GARAGE ONLY
Questions?
Email us at thegarage@northwestern.edu