In this month\'s episode of \"Venturseed Partner Insights,\" our partners dive deep into the world of investments and startup ventures. Join us as we explore the latest trends, share our experiences, and discuss the strategies that are shaping the future of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Maya Ghosn is an early-stage, purpose-driven investor focused on aspects of health that are especially stigmatized - mental health, women's health, sexual health and addiction. She is an active angel investor with a portfolio of 30 companies where she invests directly and as a scout for Sequoia, and is a Principal at Bridge Builders Collaborative, an investment vehicle focused on mental health. She sits on the board of various nonprofits and is passionate about advancing refugee economic empowerment. She is Lebanese/Brazilian originally, grew up in France and Japan, and is based in London.

Dr. Navin Goyal spends most of his time running LOUD Capital, a venture capital firm that is purpose-driven in positively impacting people’s lives. He educates new and existing investors, builds and invests in people-centric companies, and offers opportunities to grow their capital. 

In his first career as a practicing anesthesiologist, he learned how to take care of people and how to work with other leaders as a medical director, but he also realized he wanted to impact people more broadly. To marry this new passion for venture capital with his skills as a medical professional, he founded a mobile healthcare company that has scaled to 5 states and has raised multiple rounds of capital from various investors.

From there he wrote a book on venture capital, leadership, and his transition from a clinical career to running a venture capital firm.

Overall, he is committed to bringing daily value (positivity, experience, and motivation) to his community.

Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a 25+ year investment professional whose career has included high level executive roles in banking, asset management, alternative investments, and entrepreneurship. As General Partner of Include Venture Partners, Eldridge has built a longstanding career with expertise in the fields of fintech, media, energy, transportation, and the circular economy. Eldridge is also one of the 70 Black Investors in Bevy.com - a $325 million virtual conference platform as noted in AfroTech. 

He has been named one of the 53 Investors to Watch in 2021 by Pitchbook & 101 Black Titans in Tech while nurturing and building a team of investment activists. 

Eldridge began his career as a banker and economist with Wells Fargo Bank, UBS Investment Bank, and TRW Investments. He has also been a Founder, Board Member, and Investor in companies such as ILTG Media, Boswell Official Apparel, Voter, Xtopoly, Rookielook, iListen, KYC Hospitality, KIGT, Majira Project, CleanTek Capital and ConCreates.

He also serves on the Climate Finance Advisory Team of the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP), the Executive Board of the Homeboy Industries Ventures Fund, and The Majira Project - a Boston Consulting Group Venture Studio.

He has been profiled in publications such as Impact Alpha, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pitchbook, Forbes, GreenBiz, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more regarding his tireless efforts on achieving alpha while also advancing equity. 

At LACI, he established both the LACI Impact Fund I (LIF I) and the LACI Debt Fund to allow cleantech companies to grow with diverse capital. These funds utilize an equity impact lens to encourage invested companies to have environmental, economic, and social impact - particularly on increasing the number of underrepresented voices in the cleantech industry. In addition, Eldridge created programs such as LACI Investor Talks (LIT), the LACI Investor in Residence program, and the Player to CEO Athlete-Investor Impact Summit Series with JP Morgan Chase. 

Prior to LACI, Eldridge was the Director for the Incubator at the University of California in Riverside, California. During his tenure as Director, his team brought a $10M venture fund (Highlander Fund) to the Inland Empire - the first for the region. Because of Eldridge’s focus on blending entertainment, policy, and entrepreneurship, the region was named the #4 city in the United States for Diverse Entrepreneurs via Entrepreneur Magazine. 

Eldridge has a BA degree in poetry & literature from Texas A&M University-Commerce, an MBA degree in International Business from Pepperdine University, and studied geopolitical economics at Claremont Graduate University as a PhD. He also studied abroad at The Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago, Chile, The Universidad Do Porto in Porto, Portugal, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in Hong Kong, China. 

Mr. Eldridge is an avid audiobook bibliophile and a lover of music of all genres.

Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne is a doctor, a mother, a CEO, a leader and a woman of color. 

She was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She attended Duke University as an undergraduate where she designed her own major in Medical Ethics and Religion. Prior to medical school she completed a two-year research fellowship at National Institutes of Health in the Social and Behavioral Research Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute with a research focus on race, ethnicity and genetics. Dr. Clayborne attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University where she completed a dual MD/MA Bioethics degree in 4 years. She went on to complete residency in Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University Hospital and served as Chief Resident in her fourth year.

Dr. Clayborne is currently a faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine with an academic focus on ethics, health policy, end of life care and innovation/entrepreneurship.

She developed a novel nosebleed device, NasaClip, as a resident and in 2015 was awarded the NSF I-Corps grant which helped to launch her company Emergency Medical Innovation, LLC. She participated in the TEDCO Builder Fund in 2020 and has raised $1.1M in funding as of December of 2022. Dr. Clayborne was also awarded a NSF SBIR Phase I grant for $256K to assist with the development of a medicated version of her device. Her company will be launching the Class I version of her device into the market in 2023. 

Dr. Clayborne is the former Chair of the MedChi Committee on Ethics and Judicial Affairs, serves on the Ethics Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is a member of multiple academic and professional organizations. She has been featured on several national interviews on networks such as CNN, MSNBC and CBSN discussing COVID-19 and health equity and ethics issues. She also did a TEDx talk on advance care planning entitled: “How to protect your body and your doctor\'s soul during Covid-19”. Dr. Clayborne looks forward to continuing her career as a practicing emergency physician, innovator and leader in health care policy and reform. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @DrElizPC.

Ayman Mukerji is a mindfulness-based therapist and a neuroimmunology researcher

based at New York University. She has several first-author scientific publications about

the neurobiological effects of mindfulness and has authored book chapters on brain

changes in autism and most recently on the effects of stress and mindfulness on

epigenetics.

Ayman is the Founder of Jivika, a program that teaches mindfulness through micro-

habits via a series of 5 one-hour virtual workshops and a daily app-based micro-habit

trainer. She also successfully raised 10K in capital via the NYU Startup Launchpad Accelerator Program 

Dawn Dobras is focused on three sectors of leadership: Board Membership & Consulting, CEO consulting and Start-up advising. She is a recognized retail CEO and entrepreneur, who has built consumer businesses from start-up to private equity backed and public companies. After a successful corporate career, including 13 years at Gap Inc, Dawn built consumer brands in beauty, fashion and home with a deep focus on retail, DTC and omni-channel in settings.

As former CEO of Credo Beauty (largest clean beauty retailer in the US), Dawn led a high growth and innovation culture which FastCo recognized as the “World’s Most Innovative Beauty Company” in 2021. In addition to growing the company by 4x, she led the launch of private label brands, a BIPOC accelerator program for clean beauty and strategic partnership with Ulta Beauty.

She has a unique ability to be the champion for the customer, unlocking revenue growth, customer loyalty, and amplifying the brand story. Her long track record of achieving high growth through innovation and creating fast moving “test and learn” culture, results in businesses that outpace the industry. Dawn is passionate about building high performance teams through coaching and has a leadership style that energizes others around collaboration and genuine enthusiasm for building business together.

Ms. Dobras is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship with a focus of supporting female and BIPOC founders. She has served on the Stocker Foundation Board for 20 years including 8 years as Investment Chair, which funds early childhood STEM literacy for economically disadvantaged populations. She speaks on topics including female leadership, ESG and entrepreneurship. Dawn is an active angel investor and engaged start-up advisor in the sustainability, consumer and supply chain space.