This Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re highlighting the remarkable AAPI women on Elpha who through their work are paving the path for other women in tech.
We asked the Elpha community to nominate the AAPI women they admire for their career journeys, their impact, and the innovation they are driving in their fields.
With that, meet the amazing AAPI women who are creators, doers, executives, investors, and innovators that continuously inspire those around them.
Amy Gong
Amy is the Head of Marketing at Beaming Health, a platform that helps autistic children and their families find the resources and care that they need. She’s been a consultant and advisor for healthcare, CPG, e-commerce, fintech, cleantech, creator economy, and agtech startups.
Marissa , a teammate and friend, said,
“Her hustle and creativity know no limits. She's been growing early-stage start-ups for 7 years. Whether it was founding and growing her own food truck or establishing Soylent as a market-leading brand, her teams have all benefitted from her growth mindset and aura of positive energy. She is unequivocally an A player and I'm so lucky to work with her (and learn from her) every day.
My favorite quote from her reference interviews:
‘There’s no one else you’d want with you in the trenches’.” 💙
Helen Phan
Helen is the Product Owner at Voices, a voice marketplace that helps brands find professionals online to bring their projects to life. It was while working in Product Management that she fell in love with asking the right questions to get the right answers when talking to users.
Alexandra , a former co-worker, adds,
“She started in tech with no background and worked incredibly hard to become a product manager by the time she left after starting in support. She was working with vulnerable populations to help them get access to healthcare via video and walked hundreds of patients and providers through our platform. She made the move to product to improve the patient and provider experience and inspired several other Asian women on our team to want to move to product through her tireless work ethic and the example she set.” 💁🏻♀️
Jolyn Cafferata
Jolyn is a Business Development Manager at Bill.com, an end-to-end solution that simplifies, digitizes, and automates complex, back-office financial operations for small and midsize businesses.
Here’s what Nicole had to say about Jolyn,
“She's an amazing mentor, manager, and role model. Jolyn is always looking out for those looking to make their first break in tech. On top of that, she's a strong mom of two boys!”
Quinn Wang
Quinn is a UCSF-trained cataract surgeon, a digital health advisor, and the co-founder and CEO of venture-backed startup Quadrant Eye. Teresa especially admires Quinn for the work they’re doing at the digital health startup: reinventing eye care to enable those at home to be able to receive quality care.
During her time as Community Manager on Elpha, Quinn brought (and continues to bring!) amazing energy and support to other women at work. 💫
Felicity Tse
Felicity is a Sr. Graphic Designer at The Bay, a purpose-driven digital marketplace. She’s been a graphic designer for almost 10 years and has a passion for sharing art and culture with the people around her.
Josefina , Elpha’s Content Marketer, shares,
“Felicity creates beautiful illustrations demonstrating solidarity between Asian and Black communities. I love how she honors her heritage through her art and activism.”
Rose Punkunus
Rose is the founder, CEO, and CFO at Sudozi, a platform that helps finance teams drive business with real-time financials and streamlined spend approvals. She’s managed billions of dollars and built out technical systems to power real time decisions and revenue optimization for millions of users.
Rachel , who had the opportunity to work with Rose at Uber, said,
“She was always able to bring everyone together in the midst of significant chaos. I have always admired her leadership and her ability to bring an open (and sharp) mind to challenges.
Rose has led multiple high-growth finance teams and is now building a company, product, and culture of her own at Sudozi. She saw a gap in the market and knew she was someone well-positioned to close it.
If I had to identify a single superpower of Rose’s, it would be her ability to invest in the people around her. Whether it's surprising a new mom / customer with a thoughtful gift or spending time building trust and respect across her company, Rose is someone who cares for and connects people.” ⭐️
Madeline Darcy
Madeline is the founder of Kaya Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in companies that expand access to wellness for underserved populations. Her portfolio as a VC and angel investor includes 30+ companies.
She is actively involved in communities that support inclusion and diversity, education, and financial literacy, and serves on the boards of Synergist, Crimson Bikes, and the HBS Association of Boston.
Teresa Man
Teresa is the Lead Designer at Superhuman and the Community Lead here at Elpha. We are so grateful for everything she does to make Elpha a safe space for women to share their experiences at work and to also be met with insightful and thoughtful responses.
Iynna , a Community Manager at Elpha, said,
“I would like to nominate Teresa, who was first a coworker and quickly became a dear friend. She is such a beautiful human inside and out. She has taught me to be kind with both myself and others, and knows exactly what to say when things get a bit challenging both at work and personally. I feel incredibly lucky to be in her world!” ✨
Aytakin Aliyeva
Aytakin is the Project Manager, Marketing Operations at HTC VIVE, a virtual reality headset developer. She’s also built a diverse community of 7,000+ women immigrants and launched a social media platform called Femigrants. Her story has been featured on several news publications including Forbes, Intuit, and Businesswomen.
An Elpha member commended her for becoming a voice for immigrants by publishing immigrants’ stories and increasing visibility on their achievements and impact.
Her life mission is to help immigrant women of diverse backgrounds gain access to the resources to better adapt to a new community, culture, and workplace.
We hope you’ve also been inspired by these incredible women who are making an impact in their communities through their work. ❤️
