[Editor: This is a guest post from Cami Kaos, who served as the host of the “Where are they now…?” event.]
On Tuesday evening a bunch of us gathered in the beautiful atrium space at Instrument to listen to and learn from some amazing women who have been involved with one or more of the following programs: PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), Pitch Black, Pitch Latino, Latino Founders, Vanport Studio, and Built Oregon. Through a stroke of good fortune, I was fortunate enough to be the one to sit down with each of them and chat a bit about where they are now as founders, as humans, and as women.
I could have spoken with each of these women for hours, but alas, we only had 90 minutes to share their journeys this time. Because such brief conversations rarely leave room for context and catchup. Luckily, we have blog posts to fix that kind of thing. Even if it is after the fact.
And more luckily for those of you who missed it, we also recorded it.
Before we began with our primary content, we had the amazing opportunity to sit with Laurel Burton, CEO, and Tessa Baston, CPO of Instrument to chat a bit with them about Instrument’s all-woman C-Suite and ways that they show up in the world.
And then we were joined by…
Sylvia Salazar
PIE, Pitch Latino
You’re most likely to know Sylvia for her brand Tono Latino, breaking down U.S. politics to increase Latino voter turnout. If you’d like to follow along with Sylvia, the best place to go is tono.latino on Instagram. Or you can join her Substack here!
Hazel Valdez
PIE
You’re most likely to know Hazel Valdez from her role as the Executive Director of the now shuttered PDXWIT (PDX Women in Tech), but with that shuttered, she’s decided to tackle the world of words. Literary Arts is “A nonprofit literary center in Portland, OR dedicated to engaging readers, supporting writers, & inspiring the next generation with great literature.” You can learn more about their story at literaryarts on Instagram.
Kat Miller
PIE
You’re most likely to know Kat Miller as the founder of Foxbox. She founded Foxbox as a response to her own experience of living in the hospital with her infant son. Foxbox is “Creating a world where every hospitalized baby thrives.” To follow along with Foxbox and their impact you can follow them at foxboxbaby on Instagram
As luck would have it, there’s a fundraiser happening for Foxbox through this Sunday. As of writing this up they’re $400 away from their goal.
Winta Yohannes
Pitch Black
You’re most likely to know Winta as the Executive Director of Albina Vision Trust. AVT is “The largest restorative redevelopment effort in America. Rebuilding a diverse & radically abundant district in the heart of historic Black Portland.” To stay up to date with the amazing work Winta and Albina Vision Trust are doing, you can follow them at albinavisiontrust on Instagram.
Ada Nikolaidis
PIE
You’re most likely to know Ada as a co-founder of Cloneless. To stay up to date with what she does next, you can follow her on LinkedIn.
Jocelyn Rice
Pitch Black
You’re most likely to know Jocelyn Rice as the founder of Black Earth United. “Locally crafted clothing, inspired by tradition, designed for harmony with nature.” You can shop/follow her site or follow her at jocelyn.rice on Instagram.
Katharine Reinhold
Built Oregon
You’re most likely to know Katharine as the new Executive Director of Built Oregon. You can follow her on LinkedIn to stay up to date with her and follow builtoregon on Instagram.
Julia Niiro
PIE
You’re most likely to know Julia as the founder of MilkRun. You can follow her on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date with her next moves.
Where would we be without sponsors? A big thanks to Prosper Portland for always supporting these endeavors, and thanks to Instrument — including a conversation with CEO Laurel Burton and CPO Tess Baston — for making us feel right at home in their home.
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