WHO WE ARE

Todd Khozein is the co-founder and CEO of SecondMuse, an impact and innovation company working with communities focused on climate, equity, and tech to build resilient economies that benefit people and protect the planet. Under his leadership, the company has designed and implemented programs on all 7 continents with over 600 organizations such as NASA, The World Bank, Nike, USAID, The World Health Organization, and The Rockefeller Foundation. Since its founding, SecondMuse has reached over 160 countries and territories, prototyped 11,000 ideas for innovative solutions, and funded more that 18 million to directly support over 1,200 portfolio companies. These supported ventures have in turn raised over 850 million in additional funding, during their involvement with SecondMuse programs.

The company is a manifestation of Todd’s impassioned belief that economic and social systems can be built inclusively and not at the expense of human dignity or the health of the planet. To test his theories and gain a deeper understanding of how to build and execute better systems, Todd earned a medical degree from the University of New Mexico, spent years developing a range of businesses, and co-founded SecondMuse in 2008. He is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of TechSoup Global.

Todd regularly advises corporate executives, senior governmental leaders and heads of foundations around the world. He has delivered keynote presentations to leading organizations and government bodies about building resilient economies and the roles of communities and entrepreneurship in that process. Some of Todd’s most notable presentations were delivered to the United Nations General Assembly, Bolivia's Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the World Bank, and the US Bank.

Chad is the co-founder and COO of SecondMuse, an impact and innovation company working with communities focused on climate, equity, and tech to build resilient economies that benefit people and protect the planet. He is also Managing Director of SecondMuse Capital, the impact investing arm of SecondMuse, which designs and manages investments to finance economies of the future.

With 30 years of experience in entrepreneurship, finance and technology, Chad believes collaboration is fundamental in understanding and addressing the complex problems facing humanity. He is responsible for the company’s operations, which includes program delivery, finance, technology, HR and legal, and co-manages SecondMuse’s capital arm.

Prior to founding SecondMuse in 2008, Chad worked in Mexico as executive director of a public foundation, served on the startup team of an online university in Iran, founded a DVD production company, and ran a knowledge management company in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chad is based out of Portland, Oregon. He holds a BA from Purdue University and MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

As the Head of Business Development at SecondMuse, Jeremy brings extensive experience in the creation and oversight of complex economic development and innovation initiatives. His expertise encompasses the design and management of various projects, such as open innovation programs, incubators, accelerators, and ecosystem development projects, across many geographies and industries. In this role, he leads a team that works to understand complex challenges, bringing the best from across SecondMuse, our partners and our communities to design solutions to these challenges, and secure the resources required to implement these projects. He is particularly motivated to mobilize resources for entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities and to address global climate challenges at scale.

Prior to this role, Jeremy's experience spanned both private and public clients, including managing LAUNCH.org - a pioneering innovation program with NASA - Nike, IKEA, USAID, Walmart and many other partners. He also launched the Solar Decathlon program in China with Applied Materials, and developed early education markets in the US with the Kellogg and Packard Foundations, among many others. Prior to his position at SecondMuse, he led programs at UK Trade and Investment and the UK's Science and Innovation Network, a board member at INCLUDED.org and managed projects across China, Italy, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Japan, Australia, and Indonesia. All of these projects have allowed Jeremy to dedicate his time to work that matters, in partnership with remarkable individuals who continually inspire and push him to grow.

Jeremy is a father of two, and lives in Alameda, CA with his wife. He is always trying to convince friends and family to join him on his next camping trip or at a barbeque on the beach.

Dr Stuart Gill is the Global Head of Impact at SecondMuse. Stuart is a pioneer in applying a relational lens to economic development through partnership, finance and the acceleration of entrepreneurs and their businesses.

This approach is motivated by a belief that all big challenges, from climate change to gun violence, are, at their core, relational problems and can not be solved within our current paradigm. While we might live in a material world, he is most definitely a relational boy - a hard-fought realization and one that he works daily to hold on to.

Before coming to SecondMuse, Stuart founded the first innovation group at the World Bank and built public-private partnerships across a spectrum of global challenges. Before the Bank, Stuart taught and researched in the Department of Astrophysics at Columbia University in the City of New York.

Stuart’s true home is Wilsons Promontory National Park, at the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, where he spent nearly two years of his life camping. He is a mad supporter of the Hawthorn Football Club and an even madder supporter of his wife and three kids. To his kids, Stuart is still the funniest person in the world, and he is enjoying every minute of that while it lasts.

As the Global Head of HR and General Counsel at SecondMuse, Stephanie manages all HR and legal matters, including overseeing the employee lifecycle from hiring, onboarding, and offboarding to performance management, benefits, compliance, complaints and investigations, and ensuring that DEI priorities are implemented, in addition to her responsibilities as General Counsel. As General Counsel, Stephanie is responsible for policy development, insurance, compliance issues, and contracts. She also provides legal advice and support to all SecondMuse teams across the company. Stephanie is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience practicing law and managing HR in diverse settings across the U.S., Costa Rica, Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Europe.

Starting her career at NASA, Stephanie became a member of the Arizona Bar in 2003. She has served as a lawyer, legal advisor, or HR manager in the U.S., Costa Rica, Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Europe. Stephanie has also taught master’s students at the UN Mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica and was a Fulbright Scholar in Kazakhstan, where she taught business and international law. In 2009, Stephanie also founded an LLM in International Business Law, requiring significant collaboration within the complex post-Soviet educational structure.

Beyond academia, Stephanie has experience in commercial and non-commercial sectors. She has founded and managed several non-profit organizations and served as legal counsel and operations manager for an internet technology company. In Sudan, Stephanie was the coordinator of the Darfur Programs of the International Organization for Migration. She has also managed HR for a variety of teams in non-profit and for-profit settings, often internationally and remotely.

Stephanie holds degrees from Arizona State University College of Law, the UN University for Peace, and King's College London. Her rich professional journey has instilled in her a deep understanding of the values uniting all peoples. She is driven by helping diverse individuals understand one another and is dedicated to fostering a more equitable society led by truth, justice, and purpose.

Outside of work, Stephanie is a mother to four children and enjoys spending quiet moments outdoors. Her unique blend of legal, finance, and HR expertise, coupled with her global perspective and commitment to equity, make her an invaluable asset to the SecondMuse team.

As the Senior Vice President (Asia Pacific) at SecondMuse, Simon oversees business strategy and growth, client management, practice development, program delivery and operations. This includes a portfolio of programs focused on strengthening circular and regenerative economic systems. This work currently includes projects aimed at reducing ocean plastic pollution as well as working with multi-sectoral alliances to build nature positive economies across Asia.

The approach is designed around the outcomes of past programs such as The Incubation Network in South and Southeast Asia, and the Ocean Plastic Pollution Accelerator (OPPA) in Indonesia.

Simon is a systems architect, researcher, and entrepreneur who is committed to foregrounding communities in developing solutions that tackle today's most complex and pressing social and environmental challenges. His experience extends through the private, government, non-government and UN sectors in more than a dozen countries. His insights and research has been published widely and across multiple platforms.

Simon lives in Singapore with his wife and two children.

Marie is responsible for the management and implementation of client facing projects including NIST’s Public Safety Communication Research program.

Prior to joining SecondMuse, Marie worked for the largest college honor society, The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, for seven years as the Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships & Programs. In this role, she found her passion for leading and executing engaging events while also bringing shared value through forming community partnerships.

Marie is an avid runner, yogi, and hiker. She’s also a lover of international travel with her family residing in Madrid, Spain. When she’s not cheering for favorite sports teams, the Washington Caps or Nats, you can find Marie volunteering with several DC based non-profits such as Back On My Feet, LearnServe International, and LadiesDC.

Bridgette is a Program Manager for Technology Programs at SecondMuse based in Portland, Oregon. As a Senior Associate, Bridgette manages projects, people and research. She supports incredible programs through their entire lifecycle: research, design, launch, and implementation and evaluation. She manages large communities and mentor networks that engage in our programs across the globe. Her work has included supporting a global food vision accelerator funded by The Rockefeller Foundation - The Food System Vision Prize - and NASA Space Apps Challenge, a global hackathon. She designed and led Headstream’s Digital Delta: a free, crowdsourced research tool that identifies the most fundamental contributors to adolescent wellbeing in digital spaces.

Bridgette believes in collective action and community driven approaches as a force of change. With a background in academic research, she works to distill complex problems so that that the communities she works with can improve systems that perpetuate inequities. She works to understand how individuals and communities can thrive and create impact that is co-created, lasting and outlives our involvement.

When Bridgette isn’t at work, she loves to be outside whether it is walking, biking, camping, or backpacking. She is most at home on a walk with her dog Yuki listening to a good audio book. She enjoys cooking a shared meal with good company and dancing to ABBA.

Allison James is a Senior Program Manager for NASA Space Apps based in Chicago, Illinois. She is responsible for the training and community management of participants in the largest global annual hackathon.

Prior to joining SecondMuse, Allison was a Senior Program Manager at SecondMuse Foundation for GET Cities (Gender Equality in Tech), where she designed and led data-driven workforce and entrepreneurial development projects to accelerate opportunities for historically marginalized technologists. Her background in tech partnerships, strategy, and program implementation spans from key innovation nonprofits (Illinois Science and Technology Coalition - STEM Challenge and Chicago Innovation - Invention Convention) to the University of Illinois at Chicago where she taught and advised undergraduate students. A former Peace Corps volunteer based in Nicaragua, she excels in community-designed, cross-functional collaboration.

In her free time, Allison enjoys rolling dice with friends in board games or tabletop roleplaying games. She also loves cooking, traveling, biking Chicago’s forest preserves, and taking walks with her dogs.

David Ball is the Head of Well-Being at SecondMuse, which includes the Headstream Accelerator, Rooted and Rising Collective, and Youth 2 Innovator programs. These programs focus on supporting the well-being of LGBTQIA+ teens and youth of color by catalyzing digital solutions in the ed-tech, social tech, and digital health systems. Over the last five years, David has driven this portfolio of initiatives focused on working with changemakers and industry leaders to create digital places and experiences where young people can thrive, reaching over 3 million youth.
Previously, David has led education, economic development, and social entrepreneurship programs around the world. These programs have ranged from an education initiative with Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic to the development of a commercialization and conservation strategy for the US National Park Service.

Santi brings over a decade of experience leading teams in high-growth environments across startup, Edtech, nonprofit, and positive youth development. At SecondMuse, she focuses on strategy, scalability, and delivery in support of the suite of innovative programming at Headstream. Prior to Headstream, Santi utilized her cofounder knowledge to consult for startup leadership teams in the areas of product strategy, operations, and impact. As the founding employee and member of the leadership team at a VC-backed startup, she guided growth to 50+ employees and led operations and program delivery to scale from pre-seed through multiple funding rounds.

Scaling teams and tools that are reflective of the populations they serve while increasing access to growth opportunities is core to her mission. At Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester, Santi led education programming for 4,000+ members and built partnerships with organizations such as the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, MIT Media Lab, PBS NOVA, and Google Code Corps. Santi's credentials include an Ed.M. in Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she focused on edtech and startup

McKenna is the Headstream Senior Operations Manager at SecondMuse based in Portland, Oregon. As an Events and Operations Manager, McKenna leads process implementation across the Headstream program. She helps to track progress, define goals and milestones, and ensure communication between teams and projects. She is also coordinating in-person and digital events within the Headstream program and working closely with the team to align goals, expectations, and workflows.

McKenna believes that our youth are our leaders. And elevating their voices, providing them with wellness tools, and bringing them into the action that impacts them is the best way to make social change. Prior to SecondMuse, McKenna had her own start-up building a mental health platform for adolescents and brings in her knowledge of mental health technology and love of spreadsheets to the Headstream team.

When McKenna isn't at work, she loves hanging out with friends, going on hikes, rock climbing, and camping. She has two cats, Kevin and Sophie, who frequently join the Zoom calls, and she loves a good cozy day on the couch reading a book with them.

Sidrah Durrani is a Senior Program Associate at SecondMuse, where her expertise in research shines. She plays a pivotal role in supporting the Accelerator and Youth programs at Headstream, where diverse entrepreneurs and youth professionals come together to develop innovative solutions to support adolescent mental well-being. Sidrah received her masters in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and uses her interdisciplinary experience to drive positive impact for systemically excluded communities. She has also published research highlighting the impact of social technologies on adolescent wellbeing and development with the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab at Wellesley College. Sidrah hopes to shape the future of social impact technologies for youth, alongside youth.

When Sidrah isn’t advocating for tech & wellbeing, she is off reading, cooking, going out on walks, or playing the New York Times word games. She considers herself a budding globe trotter, being currently based in New York City while being born and raised in Saudi Arabia and India.

Viviana is a passionate Marketing and Communications Manager at SecondMuse, located in sunny San Diego, California. In her role, she supports the Headstream team by crafting and executing innovative marketing and communication strategies that help to meet program goals and increase Headstream's visibility. Viviana is passionate about using her skills, creativity, and expertise in marketing and communications to make a positive impact on vulnerable communities and promote SecondMuse's contributions to society.
With over seven years of experience in the marketing and communications industry, including roles at well-respected companies such as L'Oréal Mexico and New Ventures Mexico, Viviana brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the SecondMuse team. Her passion for mission-driven projects and commitment to creating a better world are a true asset to any organization.
When she's not working, Viviana loves to explore the great outdoors and enjoy the stunning sunsets in San Diego. On rainy days, she can be found indulging in her other hobbies, including reading, dancing, and practicing her watercolor painting skills.

Lara Croushore is Senior Director of Climate at SecondMuse. She has nearly 20 years of experience developing innovative policies and programs to advance climate solutions that benefit people and protect the planet.

Before joining SecondMuse, Lara served as Chief Strategy Officer for Climate and Sustainability in the New York City Mayor’s Office. During her time at City Hall, Lara led citywide climate action planning — such as the development of New York City’s Green New Deal, OneNYC 2050 — and also managed New York City’s global partnerships to scale climate action efforts worldwide. Prior to the NYC Mayor’s Office, Lara was Vice President and head of Smart & Sustainable Cities at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In this role, Lara led a multidisciplinary team to grow the green economy in New York City by working with local entrepreneurs and global business leaders to develop technologies and sustainable business strategies to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. Most recently, Lara served as the founding employee and Managing Director of Urban Ocean Lab, a non-profit policy think tank developing ocean-climate solutions for the future of coastal cities.

Lara has an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University’s Climate School, and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from Boston University.
Lara is based in Brooklyn, NY. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, and spending time outdoors. She also volunteers with community groups and environmental and social justice organizations.

Naya is the Program Manager for the Scale for ClimateTech team at SecondMuse and based in New York City. She oversees the design, execution, and continuous improvement of the Scale for ClimateTech program and other entrepreneur support initiatives. Her role includes managing program teams, timelines, resources, and stakeholder relationships to ensure successful program delivery.

Naya holds a Master’s in Climate and Society from the inaugural class of Columbia Climate School. Since graduation, she has focused on supporting early-stage climate-tech entrepreneurs and passionate for scaling carbon management solutions and advancing a just energy transition. Prior to joining SecondMuse, Naya spent over two years at Activate, where she played a key role in building and implementing programs to support climate-tech startups.

In her freetime, Naya enjoys spending time outdoors whether it's going on walks with her goldendoodle Dyno, horseback riding, or hiking. She’s also an avid host and loves cooking and baking for friends.

Neisan Massarrat is the Senior Director of Strategic Programs at SecondMuse, with over 13 years of experience in business innovation and international development. Neisan has worked with Fortune 100 corporations, governments and Multilateral Development Banks, including Intel Corporation, NASA, Nike, NYCEDC, DFAT, USAID and the World Bank Group. His expertise covers open innovation, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, ESG investing, AI/big data and public-private partnerships. Neisan has worked across multiple sectors, from economic resilience to climate change, disaster risk management, high tech and data innovation. He has developed and executed over 60 projects across more than 30 countries, including the global platform NASA International Space Apps Challenge and the World Bank’s big data strategy. Neisan is passionate about addressing complex development challenges through collaboration, human-centered design and technology. Prior to SecondMuse, Neisan was a senior consultant on corporate strategy at Germany’s development agency GIZ. He is based in Washington, DC.

Sam Letscher (she/her) is a Senior Project Manager for the consulting team at SecondMuse based in Los Angeles, CA. On the consulting team, she partners with clients to co-create dynamic projects that uncover important insights and develop new solutions leading to social, environmental, and economic impact.

In this role, she implements and refines SecondMuse methodologies including research, design, strategy, and pilot development and delivery. Sam brings expertise from 8+ years as a design strategist and ethnographic researcher helping teams launch products, services, and programs that are positioned for success. Her work has spanned multiple sectors, including climate tech, digital healthcare, and equity-driven economic development.

Rachael is a Senior Program Manager of Consulting at SecondMuse based in Boston, MA. On the consulting team, she works with purpose-driven client organizations to co-create solutions and realize impact goals through the research, strategy, design, and implementation phases that SecondMuse offers.

Rachael brings experience as project manager and 'expert generalist' to her work. Prior to SecondMuse, spent 8 years at MIT Solve running global social impact challenge competitions focused on financial inclusion, economic prosperity, healthcare, workforce development, US issues, and more. She also led the launch and pilot years of Solve's Indigenous Communities Fellowship program.

Raised in Boise, Idaho, she spent summers in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho. When not looking at screens, she enjoys the outdoors, reading memoirs, and deep cleaning. Rachael holds an MA in Global & International Studies from UC Santa Barbara.

Elissa Bozhkov is a Program Manager at SecondMuse's Consulting team and is based in Brooklyn, NY. She delivers program planning and strategy, execution, and communications support, which includes managing stakeholders and supporting innovators in achieving their goals to scale up production. She provides support for founders to better navigate the manufacturing process so that they have the knowledge and confidence to accelerate their innovations, ultimately delivering substantial climate benefits for New York State and beyond.

Elissa is passionate about ensuring a globally diverse and gender balanced
perspective in promoting a just energy transition. With a background in environmental science and international management, her purpose is to bridge gaps between technology, business, and global policy to contribute to effective and positive long-term societal change. She believes in the importance of uniting government, NGOs, academic institutions, civil society, and the private sector to foster sustainable and inclusive development opportunities that benefit both people and the planet.

When Elissa isn't at work, she loves to catch up with her friends, explore new coffee shops and restaurants, and check out events in the city.

Anne Dodge is a Business Development Director at SecondMuse, focusing on Responsible and Ethical Technology and working closely with the Headstream and GET Cities initiatives and the entire Growth team. Anne's work centers on developing partnerships and resources to extend and expand the company's current work, while also exploring new opportunities that advance SecondMuse's mission to create and foster just, inclusive economies.

Prior to joining SecondMuse, Anne served as the Executive Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at The University of Chicago. This work engaged data and theory about urban environments and processes, creating an evidence base for scalable change. She also served as an instructor in the Harris School of Public Policy, and prior to UChicago, she worked at the intersection of cultural and economic development planning, on a range of subjects, including place-based giving, affordable housing, historic preservation, and community safety through environmental design. She holds a BA from Harvard University with a joint concentration in visual and environmental studies and history and a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Anne grew up in Texas and loves to talk about data, visualizations, pop culture, and reckless ideas. She also loves learning new words every day from her two kids, Janie and Freddie, and she stans her adopted home city of Chicago.

Shai is the Director of Business Development based in Brooklyn, New York. As a Director of Business Development, Shai helps manage the implementation of program growth strategies, including proactively identifying and building relationships with existing and prospective private, nonprofit and public sector funders. He also supports the company’s global work to build partnerships with climate/cleantech/energy, workforce, entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development funders.

Shai believes it is important to engage critical stakeholders from government and corporations to start-ups and local communities to address ever-pressing climate and economic problems. Shai's professional, educational, and first-hand background in the international development and environmental sectors helps drive his efforts to create a more innovative, equitable, and responsible climate industry.

When Shai isn't at work, he enjoys being out and about in Brooklyn with his family and dog Layla. He likes to travel and vastly prefers trekking through a remote jungle to relaxing on a beach. He is a sports enthusiast, loves a good documentary, and has an eclectic taste in music from Joni Mitchell to Jay-Z.

Varsha is a Business Development Manager for SecondMuse. Her primary focus is on helping build the capacity needed within the company for growth and scaling. This includes engaging in conversation about the direction of our company’s growth strategy, supporting high priority opportunities across the company and leading the research, identification, and coordination of opportunities with teams across the company.

Varsha is passionate about utilizing economic sustainability and innovative partnerships to eliminate social inequities globally. Her past consulting analyst experience both globally and locally through her time as a Market Research Analyst at Second Harvest Food Bank and a consulting fellowship, which centered on using social entrepreneurship to help eradicate poverty for marginalized communities, made her believe that innovative solutions already exist in every community she has worked in. It is a lack of access to resources and tools that hinders these innovative solutions from changing the
world. She believes that bridging that gap means working with social enterprises all over the world get to market and lay the foundation for their local economies.

Varsha holds a BS in Public Health and BA in Economics from Santa Clara University. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new countries, exploring local food scenes, and dancing in the rain. Her joy and inspiration come from meeting new people all around the world and hearing their stories, which then motivates her to do the work she does at SecondMuse and beyond.

Garrison is the Chief of Staff - Growth at SecondMuse. In his role, Garrison assists the CEO for Growth with overall strategic decision making and execution of the company-wide growth strategy. This includes collaborating closely with the C-Suite, Leadership Team and Chief of Staff - Operations to drive forward the company’s strategic vision, as well as coordinating the intersection of the Business Development, Marketing and communications, and SecondMuse Capital team.

Garrison is passionate about his work because growth enables us to scale our impact. Impact can occur in a variety of ways, including providing direct support to entrepreneurs, building capacity in other organizations to provide such support, and bringing our cultural imperatives into every space we join. Prior to starting at SecondMuse, Garrison worked in KPMG’s Deal Advisory & Strategy practice where he helped companies develop and execute their strategic goals – often involving acquisitions or divestitures.

Outside of work, Garrison enjoys accompanying youth in his neighborhood to serve their community. He is also always working to get better at soccer and cooking.

Sanya Srivastava is a Senior Associate on the Business Development team at SecondMuse, based in Chicago, Illinois. In this role, she supports the Growth Team in expanding North America's Business Unit programs. Sanya collaborates closely with Development Directors to source and nurture opportunities with federal, philanthropic, and corporate funders. She plays an essential role in closing contracts with prospective funders, ensuring a seamless transition to the North American program teams for successful implementation. Sanya's dedication is pivotal in transforming opportunities into achievements, steering the Growth team from initial stages to successful conclusions.

Sanya is driven by her passion for unlocking resources for communities that need them most. Before joining SecondMuse, she worked in strategy and impact evaluation, focusing on strengthening social service delivery in developing countries. Sanya excels in utilizing strategic decision-making tools, robust data structures, and monitoring and evaluation systems to enhance impact. Her diverse experience spans small business development, health policy, social interventions, and impact investing in the international development sector.

Sanya graduated from the University of Chicago with a Master's in Public Policy, focusing on finance and international development, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Delhi. In her free time, Sanya enjoys exploring nature, hiking, and experimenting with food, finding joy and inspiration in her adventures.

Cindy is the Senior Manager for Marketing & Communications at SecondMuse, leading Brand Marketing & Communications globally. Based in Singapore, she previously developed and led execution of the communications strategy behind The Incubation Network, our three-year program to scale up innovation reducing ocean plastic and improving waste worker livelihoods in Asia.

Driven by the need to build connections between people and social causes, Cindy is a strong believer in the power of good storytelling and taps on her years of experience to ideate compelling strategies that foster positive brand outcomes. Prior to joining SecondMuse, Cindy has worked across a diverse range of private and public sectors, culminating in a desire to work closely in line with her personal goal to be socially conscious.

"Memento Mori" is one of Cindy's favourite expressions and reminds her of the inevitability of returning to earth, and the need to leave behind a better world for future generations. When she isn't delving into existential thoughts, Cindy enjoys baking, staying on top of internet culture, and spending time with her loved ones.

Elsa is a Senior Associate of Marketing & Communications at SecondMuse where she collaborates to develop and execute innovative marketing and communications strategies to build awareness for the international brand. Through strategy implementation and content creation, Elsa's work aims to promote the unique approach SecondMuse takes when solving the world's most complex issues.

Elsa is deeply interested in the power of storytelling and the ways it can help create a more just world. Driven by a desire to work in impact-oriented spaces, she began her career in the non-profit sector focused on branding and digital marketing. Elsa joined SecondMuse because she is passionate about creating economies and systems in which all humans have equitable opportunities to participate and thrive.

Elsa has a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Franklin & Marshall College. Outside of work Elsa enjoys reading, yoga and spending time with friends and family.

Marshawn is a seasoned business operator and entrepreneur with a passion for leading strategic initiatives, streamlining processes, and preparing organizations for scale and growth, she excels in driving efficiency and impactful results. Her belief that people are a company's greatest asset fuels her passion for helping individuals find their purpose and achieve excellence.

Marshawn's strength lies in her ability to diagnose operational issues and collaborate on innovative solutions, enabling her to build and lead strong teams through strategic hiring, promotions, professional development, and DEI initiatives.

Marshawn is passionate about streamlining processes to enhance efficiency, ensuring that both people and systems are operating at their best. My past experiences have reinforced my dedicated to fostering teamwork, health, and wellness, both in business and in the community

In addition to her corporate success, Marshawn is deeply committed to community initiatives and nonprofit work. She serves as a board member for Fit Kids, promoting youth health and wellness, and founded Outwork Basketball, a program dedicated to fostering teamwork and athletic development in young athletes. In her free time she enjoys playing basketball, traveling, volunteering, and gardening.

Torey Ueda is the Manager of IT at SecondMuse, where he blends over 15 years of technical expertise with a strong commitment to operational excellence and social impact. He specializes in streamlining systems, enhancing collaboration, and ensuring technology empowers both internal teams and the broader communities SecondMuse serves.

A passionate problem-solver and relationship-builder, Torey drives forward-thinking IT strategies that prioritize people, security, and scalability—while keeping customer experience at the forefront. His favorite work lives at the intersection of project management and optimization, with a strong focus on automation and AI implementation to elevate efficiency and impact.

Based in Las Vegas, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their pets, hanging by the pool, exploring local food spots and hidden gems around town, and heading back to family and theme parks in nearby SoCal.

Marinez (Ness) is SecondMuse's HR Specialist, based in Hollister, CA. As an HR Specialist, she supports the HR function as a whole, across HR Compliance, Onboarding, Performance Management and more. Ness also collaborates across business units to help streamline the onboarding process.

"Good Work with Good People" is what motivates Ness to do the work she does. Being part of something larger than herself and in a community that is all working toward a common goal, builds the passion in her to be even more involved and make a difference.

When Marinez isn't working, she has a busy life of cheer, water polo & basketball practices with her 17 year old and kickboxing with her 4 year old. She also loves to go wine tasting with her husband and take her 3 year old Doberman on a good run early in the morning!

As Director, Programs at SecondMuse, Laura oversees programs in the Asia Pacific region focused on strengthening circular and regenerative economic systems and processes. Most recently, she oversaw program activities across Indonesia, India, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. These included working with incubators and accelerators, entrepreneurs and innovators, investors, NGOs, and government leaders from across the region to develop and scale impactful solutions for waste management practices to combat plastic pollution.

Laura's background in human-centered design and experience working on complex system challenges drive her to create positive change through collaboration. Prior to SecondMuse, Laura worked with the public, private and not-for-profit sectors across Asia and East Africa, leading design projects for organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Red Cross, Oxfam, Economic Development Board of Singapore and Singapore Family Justice Courts, to help solve problems that would create value for people and improve lives. Using human-centered design methods and tools to tackle complex challenges and innovating through a design-led approach, Laura has particular strengths in designing systems change, ethnographic research and strategy development.

Outside of the office, you’ll find Laura exploring different countries and cultures across Asia, FaceTiming her nieces or baking up a storm in the kitchen using old family recipes.

Alison is a Manager of Finance & Operations at SecondMuse based in Singapore. As a manager Alison actively manages the finances of the various programs in the Asia Pacific region through their entire lifecycle - from budget planning, forecast tracking, invoicing, to donor reporting. Alison also supports the team on the contracting process for end-to-end Master contracts and work orders for vendors. In addition, Alison looks at the overall finance and contracting processes, and finds creative ways to shape and streamline them so as to keep the finance management nimble.

With a background in Economics, Alison has always been interested in how industries and communities interact. Fast forward 11 years as a financial analyst working for the manufacturing and telecommunications industry, Alison is now putting her experience behind TIN to further push the vision of creating inclusive communities and creating a lasting impact that respects the original ecosystem.

When Alison is not working, she loves to be at the gym chipping away at the fine art of Muay Thai, in the kitchen testing out recipes, or walking around discovering the ever-evolving neighbourhoods of Singapore. She's at her most comfortable sipping a cup of tea with a book at a seat overlooking greenery.

Suen is a Program Manager at SecondMuse with a professional background in international development and social entrepreneurship. She manages SecondMuse’s Upstream Innovation portfolio, working with both demand and supply side actors to reduce plastics at the source, having previously led the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Challenge — which launched 91 pilots with foodservice companies across South and Southeast Asia to swap out single use plastics for alternative materials and reuse models.

Suen believes businesses are a strong force for good. From supporting ventures with unique solutions and models to forging alliances with companies looking to value-add their supply chains, Suen sees impact is most often sustained through meaningful partnerships, philanthropies and procurement.

Suen has academic and professional backgrounds in international development and social entrepreneurship, taking her to work with varied communities. Prior to SecondMuse, Suen has led social entrepreneurship projects at the Singapore Committee for UN Women and the Singapore International Foundation. She also continues to build personable and supportive communities through her venture that encourages corporate social procurement to benefit social causes in the Asia Pacific.

When Suen is outside of work, she can be found hanging with her cat Miwa or hitting the gym. Suen loves the combination of Netflix/video games with a cup of hot tea. She also enjoys cooking, writing, and going on food adventures with her friends and family.

Renni is a Program Manager at SecondMuse, where she manages accelerator programs in Indonesia. Her job involves program design, offering support for its implementation, and collaborating with partners to ensure that participants receive the essential support they need for their success. She is deeply committed to fostering innovation to address waste issues in Indonesia.

Outside her professional life, Renni enjoys a variety of hobbies and interests. She shares her home with three furry companions, loves watching movies and hitting the gym regularly.

Based in Bali, Inar Andrea is the Finance Manager for SecondMuse. Working with SecondMuse’s global team of finance, legal, HR, and operations, she implements company-wide policies and practices in Indonesia while accomodating the unique needs and perspectives of the Indonesian team and entity. She also assists financial functions of SecondMuse Global and associated entities in Australia, Singapore, and the US, helping to maintain and improve the financial systems as well as reporting processes for the company and its projects.

Passionate about organizing, Inar brings 7 years of experience in event management and 3 years in HR, finance, and accounting. Prior to joining SecondMuse, she worked at an International Festival and a Creative Hub in Bali, working closely to assist the director and took part in supporting local business incubation. Working largely with the creative community, Inar has a deep understanding of how to create impact with a diverse community and cater to their needs.

In her free time, Inar runs various community events mostly with the fashion and food community, including Pasar Jajan Sanur and Fashion Revolution in Bali. Equipped with new knowledge in financial management, Inar dreams to become a patron and voluntarily spread her knowledge to help youth entrepreneurs.

Suprayogi (Yogi) is the Senior Finance Associate at SecondMuse, based in Bali, Indonesia. His role is mainly focused on supporting the finance team in the Asia-Pacific region and helping with the daily administrative and operations for the Indonesian team. His work includes supporting the Asia-Pacific team to process all financial obligations in an accurate and timely manner, while also ensuring that the company operations are always adhering to respective local regulations.

SecondMuse’s vision of building inclusive economies and their innovative implementation motivates Yogi to join the company as he strives to bring a positive impact to the community. Yogi has extensive experience as an accountant in multiple companies before joining SecondMuse.

Outside his work, Yogi enjoys learning new stuff such as software development & basic computer programming. He loves playing PC games, reading manga/comics, and watching movies.

Natalia leads the Future Economy Lab, a global research and design lab that innovates the financing and development of new economies. The lab takes a collaborative approach to designing financing mechanisms to create inclusive and resilient economies. She has worked with a wide variety of clients including Nike, NASA, USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank.

Prior to SecondMuse, Natalia was a strategy consultant with Deloitte in sustainability, shared value, and finance. Natalia began her career working in finance at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. She holds an MBA and a Master’s in International Development from American University and a Bachelor’s in Finance with a Minor in Entrepreneurship from the University of Florida.

Natalia is passionate about the power of business to be a driving force for good in our society. She believes that we must fundamentally rethink the role of capital in our society and create new mechanisms that take into account environmental and societal well-being.

Her worldview has been influenced by many cultures. She was born in Brazil to Iranian parents, educated in the United States, and now lives with her husband and two boys in Montreal, Canada.

In addition to fostering inclusive and resilient economies, Indra is passionate about community-driven, social impact innovations that holistically address communities’ needs and are ultimately designed by the communities themselves. As a Canadian citizen, born and raised in the Cayman Islands to parents with Southeast Indian heritage, Indra has always had a curiosity to explore the world, learn about cultures, and challenge her perspectives.

She is a trained international development professional who marries her human-centered design principles gained from over seven years of work in the architectural and building industry with over three years of cross-cultural, business development research.

Indra holds the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and has applied critical-thinking techniques to projects across multiple disciplines, sectors, and industries in Canada, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and the United States.

Melina is the Coaching and Development Manager at SecondMuse. With a mission to further cultivate an enriching and nourishing workplace, Melina sits at the intersection between teams – she crosses borders, builds bridges, and is always looking for ways for staff and community members to feel connected, supported, and joyful. Melina facilitates teams and programs, coaches individual team members, and loves initiatives that weave between groups and ecosystem players.
As a global citizen, social entrepreneur, and community organiser, Melina has a passion for facilitating groups and individuals to do great things. She is a proud member of the global communities of practice DSIL Global and Enspiral Network. Melina also served as Startup Ecosystem Adviser for the City of Melbourne, supporting startups to thrive and bring about a more vibrant and sustainable city. Prior to SecondMuse, Melina spent 5 years living in Battambang, Cambodia, where she co-founded the initiatives of Kinyei International: Kinyei Cafe, a vocational training espresso cafe and Soksabike Tours, a cultural heritage bicycle tour company.
Melina is a Third Culture Kid and member of the queer community who loves to roller skate and discovers nature trails. Recently, she moved to Campbell’s Creek, Australia, trying the country life and learning first-hand about sustainable living, from rainwater and greywater to composting. She’s enjoying her worm farm, veggie garden, and backyard view full of kangaroos.

Tony wears two hats with SecondMuse. The first being to help rationalize and guide all the various kinds of research we do in support of our programs and projects. The second is to actually do research work on certain projects. The former is a (mostly) internally facing project and the latter helps us and our clients frame the challenges as precisely as possible to provide the best chance of achieving desirable results.

One professional goal has been and continues to be using the social science for social good. Social science has been relegated to “the academy” for far too long, often by academics. But there’s a power there. In his past, he tried hard to focus his efforts on work where he believed tech could reduce human suffering and increase overall human welfare. Currently, he is very much interested in creative, progressive and positive projects that address seemingly intractable social problems or challenges.

Workwise: He love, love, loves fieldwork. Personally, he likes weather, especially wind. He likes to sleep outside if he can. He walks and runs (all weather), and rides bikes (fair weather). He does not like rock climbing or vertigo inducing heights. He appreciates a terrific cover song.

Owen is excited to support SecondMuse in their work with NiuNature, a social enterprise creating nature-positive economies with customary landholders in Papua New Guinea. Building from past work on the economics and institutions surrounding land conservation and rural livelihoods, he looks forward to co-producing research in the field that informs just transitions in PNG and around the world.

An environmental social scientist, Owen just wrapped up a postdoc at the Yale School of the Environment. He works closely with farmers, agriculture and forestry agencies, and NGOs to design projects with a mix of data and methods.

Research and projects ought to be in conversation with communities and should value knowledge from unexpected corners.

When not doing research or laughing at his cats, Owen is hiking, snowboarding, kayaking/SUP, reading, composting, or running.