Founders
Catherine Man
Catherine began her career advocating for quality public education in a New York City-based organization. Growing up in a working class, immigrant family in the Lower East Side, she is an alumnus of the public school system. Despite cycling through different roles throughout her career, Catherine’s sight never veers far from education, and the motivation for her work comes from an enduring belief in the power of education to change lives. More recently, Catherine was a researcher for 6 years, evaluating the effectiveness of more than 30 youth development programs in high need populations, and has a graduate degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She is currently an Instructional Designer with experience creating educational resources in higher education, and designing for virtual reality.
Claire Igot
Since moving to the USA from the Philippines in 2002, Claire has been in search of mentors AKA her personal board of directors. She joined the Project Management Institute NYC Chapter Mentoring Program and was paired with a mentor who today continues to be both a friend and mentor. In 2015, Claire gave back to the program by volunteering and eventually managed the Mentoring Program. She successfully doubled the number of matched mentor-mentee pairs while organizing activities that further supported the participants. Claire earned her MBA degree from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. A true believer of continuous improvement, she is proud to have helped many people navigate systems, processes and projects. Currently she is assisting non-profit organizations in their financial audit contract compliance with rules set by the City of New York.
Michelle Ng
A native of Hong Kong, Michelle is a first-generation immigrant and grew up in a single-parent low-income household. She was the first in her family to attend college and funded her own education. Due to this early personal experience, she is passionate about helping other people from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds pave their own paths and craft their own stories. Michelle has a degree in Computer Science from Boston College and for the past 10 years, has worked for companies in different industries including the financial sector (Goldman Sachs), advertising (R/GA), and journalism (The New York Times). She is now running her own design consulting business helping clients build their apps and websites, and building a FemTech startup Neuemoon Health helping women suffering from debilitating reproductive disorders like endometriosis and fibroids.