Dozens of Sacramento’s women innovators and entrepreneurs filled the second floor restaurant of VEG Cafe & Bar at the corner of J and 24th last evening, along with a handful of men, to celebrate the launch of FourthWave’s first cohort of female founders. The energy and spirit of collaboration, camaraderie, and community was palpable in the small, intimate setting as people mingled and got to know each other.
FourthWave, originally known as Elevate Project, is the brainchild of LA’s Nancy Perlman, who brought the idea to Sacramento as a RAILS grant project to catalyze the growth of women-led technology companies in the Sacramento region. Their focus is “capital readiness,” developing conscious leaders, and aligning their programs with the unique needs of entrepreneurs and their communities, as well as with the emerging technology sectors of the regional economy.
After some initial networking, founder Nancy Perlman along with Tracy Saville, Sacramento program co-founder and entrepreneur-in-residence, welcomed the first cohort of FourthWave Sacramento.
Following this warm welcome, each member of the first cohort was invited to share a motivational or inspirational story with the group. Here are the first fabulous seven of FourthWave Sacramento.
Beth Dodson, Homezada
Beth Dodson is the co-founder of HomeZada, an online and mobile application that provides homeowners with the ability to track their home’s inventory, maintenance, checklists, home repairs, design and remodel projects and home finances – making any homeowner more efficient and in control of her/his home’s management.
Beth Dodson shares her story
Chiara Cecchini, Feat
Chiara is the founder and CEO of Feat, a company which aims to make wellness accessible and fun. Feat’s signature technology is a fitness tracking solution for corporate consumer wellness programs.
Chiara Cecchini shares her story
Dr. Angela Gelli, NanoCERE Technologies
Dr. Angela Gelli is the president of NanoCERE Technologies, which was created to find solutions to increasing threats of neurological diseases in the aging population and our inability to treat them. Their unconventional approach aims to harness the inherent molecular mechanisms that microorganisms use to breach the blood-brain barrier and develop ground-breaking platform technologies that eradicate neurological diseases.
Venita Sivamni, Dermveda
Venita is the co-founder of Dermveda and describes her startup as an integrated educational skin care resource like “WebMD meets Consumer Reports.”
Dr. Le Vuong, Fishrock
Dr. Le Vuong is the founder and president of Fishrock Laboratories, a startup company poised to make a significant impact on decreasing hunger by creating a patented superfood focused on targeting nutrient deficiencies in under-served nations.
Dr. Le Vuong shares her story
Janine Yancey, Emtrain
Janine is the founder and CEO of Emtrain, an online education company targeting workplace focus areas to increase organizational health through online compliance training solutions and analytics. Emtrain’s LMS was recognized as a top 50 compliance learning platform by learning analyst Craig Weiss.
Janine Yancey shares her story
Kim Box, Gatekeep Innovation
Kim Box is the president and CEO at Gatekeeper Innovation, providing portable containers securing prescription medications for safekeeping: Safer Lock. Unfortunately, Kim was not able to attend the dinner.
Also attending the evening was Lisa Randall and her crew from Dynasty Video to document the occasion for their upcoming web series on innovation in Sacramento (check out their teaser), so even if you weren’t in attendance you’ll have the opportunity to catch some of the cool vibe and energy that FourthWave is kicking off in the Sacramento startup and innovation community.
From where I sit, FourthWave has put together an impressive first cohort for it’s Sacramento program. Sacramento is very fortunate that these seven women entrepreneurs call our region home and I’m excited to see how this cohort gels and works together to not only help each other grow, but to help our community grow as well. Congratulations to all of the female-founded startup companies selected for this cohort as well as to the FourthWave team for a fine job in helping to catalyze and grow the Sacramento innovation ecosystem.
Here’s a few more photos from the evening.
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