Grant "G.E." Loveless (they/them) |Co-Founder & Executive Director of Elevate Your Essence
G.E. Loveless is the Co-Founder and Executive Director for Elevate Your Essence, a social enterprise dedicated to cultivating and empowering the brand, influence and voice of young people across Central Texas, more specifically their hometown Manor, Texas in Travis County.
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Grant E. Loveless (G.E), has dedicated themselves to understanding the art of entrepreneurship, storytelling, and youth empowerment; assisting youth-led or focused organizations to turn their stories into action.
Loveless started their journey of activism and social entrepreneurship in 2016 on their high school campus, Manor High School. Since then, they continue to impact their communities by pushing for equity, visibility and opportunity for young people in the organizations they serve. Currently, Loveless serves as a Board Member for MEASURE Austin.
Azubuike "Zuby" Onwuta (he/him)|Founder & CEO of Think & Zoom |AstroAccess Flight 1 Ambassador
Sir Zuby Onwuta is a Harvard-MIT trained innovator, Astronaut-in-Training, US Presidential Service Award recipient, US Army Veteran, patented inventor of “Brain control for Blind Assistive Tech” and
founder of “Think and Zoom”, “Future of Disability” and “Inclusive Innovation Venture Studio”
Hardships from losing his medical studies, US Army and engineering careers to legal blindness disability, inspired him to invent and patent a solution that reads and responds to human brain waves, to provide hands-free vision augmentation and reading assistance.
He is the founder of “Think and Zoom”, a startup that is "creating a world where visual impairment no longer steals dreams or kills careers", “Future of Disability”, a digital publication celebrating Disabled Tech Innovators, and Inclusive Innovation Venture Studio, a startup studio supporting disabled tech founders and disability innovations. For his work as a Global Disability Advocate, he has appeared multiple times at the US Congress and the United Nations, and as a Global Accessibility Evangelist, he has appeared on many high profile stages including 7 countries, TEDx, SXSW, Johns Hopkins, USC Medicine, American Academy of Ophthalmologists, Singularity University, and many more. As a global mentor impacting over 1,000 STEM students, he was awarded the US Presidential Service Award for STEM mentoring by President Barack Obama.
At AstroAccess, he is one of 12 Disabled researchers selected to be Inclusive Space Travel ambassadors, and Astronauts-in-Training, helping make space travel accessible to the disabled. Their historic zero-gravity parabolic flight was announced LIVE during 2021 UN General Assembly, and congratulations came from Richard Branson of Virgin Group, UN President General, President of
Mauritius, Emperor of Japan, and the news has been featured globally on BBC, New York Times, NASA, Space.com, ABC and more.
Previous work experience include software engineering roles at Lucent, Goldman Sachs & Co and IBM. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from University of Illinois and Innovation certificates from MIT, Harvard Business, Harvard Medical and NSF.
Dana Bolles (she/her) | Astro Access Flight 1 Ambassador
Dana grew up in Norwalk, CA. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 and began her career in the space industry over 25 years ago. In her first 13 years, she worked in regulatory compliance, first as a payload safety engineer and then, in environmental compliance. Another job she enjoyed was with a program that focuses on minimizing risks to human exploration of space. She managed risks and learned a lot about what we need to consider as we go further into space. Now, she works in science communications, managing the day-to-day operations of a website focused on getting science out to the widest possible audience.
Dana learned that in almost any type of job, more and more people are realizing the importance of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. She lives her life outside of the status quo on almost every level, as a Queer, Disabled, Woman of Color, ½ Asian and ½ Latina. Although she has lots of intersectionalities, people respond most to her disability, making assumptions about what she can’t do. Being an AstroAccess Ambassador is a step forward for all in her community, highlighting the abilities of ALL for mission success!!!
Eric Shear (he/him) | AstroAccess Flight 1 Ambassador
Eric Shear is currently a graduate student in chemical engineering at the University of Florida and his studies have taken him all over North America. Before Florida, Shear obtained degrees in physics and planetary science from York University in Toronto, Canada. As a student of Tacoma Community College in Washington State, Eric led an experiment on the Weightless Wonder aircraft in 2011 as part of NASA’s Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program.
In 2018, Eric served as part of Crew 194 at the Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert. He also interned at Tethers Unlimited on a water electrolysis thruster that is now being tested in orbit. His previous work at York University led to two peer-reviewed, first-author academic publications in space mission design. He is currently serving as a patent research intern at UFInnovate Tech Licensing. As a crew member of the inaugural AstroAccess ZERO-G flight, Eric investigated microgravity accessibility for future Deaf astronauts.
Mary Cooper (she/her) | AstroAccess Flight 1 Ambassador
Mary Cooper is a student at Stanford University pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering & Computer Science. She is a champion athlete and a below-the-knee amputee. At Stanford, Mary is a member of the D1 reigning National Champion Rowing team and is leading the effort to bring para athlete inclusion policy to the Pac-12 conference. She is also a 2020 Brooke Owens Fellow, 2020 Lime Connect Fellow, and most recently a 2021 Matthew Isakowtiz Fellow. Mary was incredibly honored to be able to fly on Mission AstroAccess’ inaugural zeroGravity flight and is now working to identify suborbital flight opportunities. She is currently a proud owner of several high-performance, light-weight carbon fiber legs and has developed quite a unique life perspective, a curiosity for engineering, and phenomenal problem-solving skills from her experience with disability. Mary’s mission in life is to become an Astronaut while making the world more accessible to all!
Elisa Sepulveda|Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at MATH Venture Partners
Elisa is an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at MATH Venture Partners.
Elisa is an operational leader and community builder that has been involved in cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Austin and greater Texas for more than ten years. She is the Managing Director of Founder Institute Austin, an early stage accelerator program, where she has helped launch 70 companies over the last four years. Prior to that, Elisa was the Managing Director for the Riveter, a cowering space and community for women and the Evangelist for Galvanize, a learning community for technology. Elisa has won several awards for the communities she built for women and people of color in Austin and is launching a new community, LatinTX, for Latinx founders and finders in Texas. Elisa also sits on the board of Austin Technology Alliance and the SXSW Pitch Competition.
Lawton Cummings (she/her) | General Partner at Capital Factory
As General Partner, I source, negotiate & direct investments into technology startups. I manage Capital Factory's venture funds, oversee the venture team, advise our portfolio startups, and connect our portfolio startups with investors, employees, mentors, and customers.
Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2010. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas and Houston, we have built a startup ecosystem that provides support, resources & community for entrepreneurs to grow and run a successful company, including introducing them to their first investors, employees, mentors and customers. We add 100+ new startups to our portfolio per year and receive the right to invest in their first institutional VC round and & we invest in the best of those startups through our Capital Factory Texas Funds.
Tommaso Davi (he/him) | CEO of Neuro-sive
Tommaso is the founder and CEO of the Neuro-sive research project. He is a neurodivergent strategist and researcher, with 8+ years of international professional experience in innovation, technology, growth strategy and lead generation consulting in the field of urban and social innovation, inclusion and transformation.
Tommaso has been an independent consultant for the academia (Harvard Graduate School of Design) and the private sector prior to founding the Neuro-Sive project. He is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and of the General Management Program at ESCP Business School where he is about to complete his Executive M.B.A.
Sarah Cline (she/her) | Software Product Mgmt. Manager at Accenture
Sarah Cline, Software Product Mgmt. Manager, Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), U.S. Disability Employee Resource Group Lead
Sarah is on a mission to accelerate a culture of inclusion and empowerment for people of all abilities. She is an Accenture Manager with 13+ years of experience in the Health & Public Service software space and is an avid champion of accessibility and inclusive design. As Accenture’s U.S. Disability Employee Resource Group Lead, Sarah oversees the people, efforts, and budgets to drive the organization’s goals and strategies across 30 cities, 2100+ members, and 4 special-interest groups.
She speaks from her point of view as a woman in technology, person with a disability, member of a beautifully neurodivergent household, and with strong conviction that disability inclusion is a key contributor to unlocking innovation.
Anne Forrest, PhD (she/her) | Advocate, Speaker & Cognitive Accessibility Expert at A Plastic Brain
Anne Forrest, PhD, has put a female face on concussion after a so called “mild traumatic brain injury” ended her first career as a Senior Economist at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington DC and started a new one advocating for people with concussion getting the help they need to return to gainful employment and to their lives.
She has used her pre-injury skills and the help of countless health and accessibility professionals to learn to use her energy wisely to heal, learn about how to change her brain through various therapies, recover from cognitive fatigue, re-learn tech skills, and speak about her journey as a wife and mom.
Following her injury, she was unable to read. She studied with Dr. Amiel Franke in Washington DC who changed her life by teaching her how vision therapy could retrain her brain. She is also especially grateful for St. Davids Outpatient Rehab who accepted her for Speech Therapy after she returned to Austin. Liz Joiner identified public speaking as her transferable skill and she wrote her first speech. Anne began her first return to work with John Slatin PhD, then Director of the University of Texas’s Institute for Technology and Learning in 1997. Anne continues to speak on accessibility and the internet, as well as cognitive technological design for John Slatin Access U and SXSW.
Anne’s website aplasticbrain.com was developed with Cognitive Accessibility Pioneer Joseph Carr O'Connor, and a design team from Cognizant and her husband, Michael Crider, in the Open Air Contest sponsored by Knowbility. Anne is a leader of the Brain Injury Advisory Council at the Brain Injury Association of America a group of neurodiverse advocates with brain injury formed by CEO, Susan Connors. She is also a member of three National Advisory Councils regarding people with disabilities funded by the Federal Administration for Community Living.
Beth Patterson (she/her)|Chief of Staff, Ecosystems Alliances & Sales at Accenture
Beth is a manager in Accenture's Alliances & Sales Ecosystem organization, supporting C-Suite Executive Leadership projects and acting as a business advisor to Operations and Technology groups.Her primary focus aligns Ecosystem Leadership to prioritization of key initiatives, strategic planning, and broadening Accenture's thought leadership agenda. She has a robust background of more than 20 years experience covering IT Business Advisory management, Procurement and Supply Chain management, Finance and Wealth Management.
Beth supports the Austin community by serving as the Lead for the Accenture Disability Employee Resource Group, which focuses on education, awareness, and community support for People with Disabilities, as well as their families, friends and colleagues. Her passion for disability advocacy extends beyond Accenture as she serves with the Emerging Leaders of Marbridge group by offering direct resident support, corporate donation and fundraising, volunteer and event coordination, and legacy giving.
Beth is a proud alumni of the University of Pittsburgh, and while Pennsylvania will always have a place in her heart, she has adopted the great city of Austin, TX as her home for the past 10 years.
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