Women Startup Challenge 2019 NYC Advisors

Craig Newmark is a Web pioneer, philanthropist, and a leading advocate on behalf of trustworthy journalism, veterans and military families, women in tech, and other civic and social justice causes. In 2017, he became a founding funder and executive committee member of the News Integrity Initiative, administered by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which seeks to advance news literacy and increase trust in journalism.

In 2016, he created Craig Newmark Philanthropies to promote investment in organizations that effectively serve their communities and drive broad civic engagement at the grassroots level. Amid growing concerns about the proliferation of “fake news” in the context of the presidential campaign, one of the foundation’s first donations went to the Poynter Institute to create the Craig Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics. Newmark is widely credited for his leadership in promoting “news we can trust.”

Craig serves on the board of directors of a range of nonprofits including Blue Star Families, Center for Public Integrity, Girls Who Code, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Poynter Foundation, Sunlight Foundation, VetsInTech, and Women in Public Service Project. He also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Columbia Journalism Review. He serves on the advisory board of nearly twenty other nonprofit organizations including Donors Choose, EFF, New America Foundation, Voto Latino, Wikimedia Foundation, Women Who Tech, Consumer Reports, and many others.

In 1995, Craig started curating list of San Francisco arts and technology events he personally emailed to friends and colleagues. People were soon calling it “Craig’s List” and when Craig turned it into a company he monetized minimally, opting for a business model that prioritized “doing well by doing good.” Today more than 5 billion ads have been posted on the site, the vast majority for free. Craig has not been involved in management since 2000.

In 2015, craigslist received an award from the FBI in recognition of its undisclosed cooperation with the bureau in combatting human trafficking. Craig was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2013 he was named “Nerd-in-Residence” by the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation.

Craig communicates regularly through his own blog at craignewmarkphilanthropies.org and through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium. He also travels the country speaking about issues and appearing on behalf of organizations he supports.

Lisa Stone is an investor, co-founder and c-level entrepreneur with extensive experience working successfully across sales, product, engineering, marketing, content and community to design platforms, programs, pricing and partnerships that activate millions of people and achieve defined business goals. As a social media pioneer, Lisa has used technology to create scale consumer movements and communities (25-127 million monthly uniques) on topics ranging from lifestyle to enterprise (BlogHer, Ellevest, Law.com, Women.com Networks, Fortune 100 clients, various advisory boards). Specialties: Storytelling with data, putting millions of dollars in the pockets of women, and advocacy for inclusivity in tech. Awards and honors include Fortune’s MPW Entrepreneur Award, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University. 

Sarah Kunst is the managing director of Cleo Capital & a contributing editor at Marie Claire Magazine. She has served as a senior advisor at Bumble where she focused on their corporate VC arm Bumble Fund and on the board of the Michigan State University Foundation endowment.

Kunst has been named a Future Innovator by Vanity Fair, Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 and a top 25 innovator in tech by Cool Hunting. She has been recognized for her work in Business Insider as a 30 under 30 Woman in Tech and Top African-American in Tech & Pitchbook Top Black VC To Watch and honored as a top woman in VC by the Wall St. Journal.

Amy is the CEO of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). Whether it is by connecting individuals, organizations, campaigns, or possibilities, Amy helps to facilitate the nonprofit technology sector transitioning into a movement-based force for positive change. She is also a blogger, facilitator, and trainer, having worked with groups and spoken at events in the U.S., U.K., and around the world. In 2013, she co-authored Social Change Anytime Everywhere with Allyson Kapin. She previously co-authored Social by Social, a handbook in using social technologies for social impact, and has contributed to various other publications about social change and technology. She is a conversation-starter and thought-leader, writing about strategic uses of new technologies for communities and organizations on her blog and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Diane works on communications, events and programs for Mozilla's 1000+ global staff. Previously, she worked in Mozilla's MDN Web Docs group supporting web developers worldwide. She joined Mozilla to run WebFWD, Mozilla’s accelerator for open source startups. She currently works on internal communications; previously she was Program Manager for Mozilla’s Developer Relations team. Pre-Mozilla she did communications, marketing, product management, and business development at various startups as well as at Charles Schwab. She got her MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and her BA in History from Stanford.

Sibyl is the Executive Director for DC Innovates (DCI), a nonprofit organization with the mission of fostering and supporting a diverse tech innovation economy in DC. DCI manages the Digital DC Technology Fund (DDCTF), a $1 million fund and customized mentorship program dedicated to promoting the success of early and growth stage technology ventures in the District. Sibyl is also the President of DC Web Women (DCWW), one of the longest-running tech nonprofits for women in D.C, which supports and advocates for women and girls in technology. For over a decade, Sibyl has created successful digital campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, non-profit associations, and startups.

Tinu is the Hot Mommas Project Editor-in-Chief and founding Women’s Leadership Fellow, a two-year long program designed to provide exponential benefit to the women’s community. Tinu brings to the Project her expertise in web site promotion, as an author, and content specialist as the principal of Leveraged Promotion, LLC.

Tinu has written over 30 ebooks and multimedia guides on using the web to increase business profits, as well as volumes of how-to guids. She’s frequently quoted in books and articles, and has been part of a CNN’s Leading Women article and chat series.

Tinu was named one of 2014’s top 50 Industry Influencers by AGBeat. She was on of TopRank’s 25 Women Who Rock Social Media in 2012 and 2015. Other honors include “Digital Sister of the Year” and Liberated Muse’s Top 10 Women in Social Media.”

From October 2011 to February 2014, Tinu was the Editor of the Women Grow Business publication, hosted by Network Solutions, now a Web.com company. She has been on Network Solutions Social Media Advisory Board since July 2009.