Nicholas Brathwaite is a Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital, a global deep tech venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. Nic has decades of experience in technology development, business building, and investment. Prior to Celesta, Nic co-founded Riverwood Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments in high growth technology and related companies. Nic has spent over 25 years as a technology operating executive, most recently as the Chairman and CEO of Aptina Imaging, a semiconductor industry leader in
developing CMOS image sensors for mobile phones, automotive applications, medical devices, and industrial applications.
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Nic served as the Chief Technology Officer at Flextronics for more than a decade, where he oversaw the launch and growth of several of Flextronics’ largest business units, including an innovative push into product development. He started his career at Intel before leaving to become a founding member of nChip where he was responsible for the development of industry-leading advanced multi-chip module assembly processes. Currently Nic serves as a Board Director at several public and privately held companies, including Northwestern Mutual, Power Integrations, Atonarp, ParkourSC, and others. Nic earned a M.Sc. Degree in Polymer Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada and a B.Sc. (Honors) Degree in Applied Chemistry from McMaster University, Canada.

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He was granted honorary doctorates by McMaster University and The University of the West Indies and was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Waterloo.

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Dr. Shanté Williams is currently the CEO of Black Pearl Global Investments, a healthcare venture capital firm. She is a distinguished Venture Capitalist, business owner, Inventor, Intellectual Property Strategist, Author, and Private Investor. In her career years, she has used her wealth of scientific knowledge as well as her passion for innovation to solve multiple complex problems across the industries of health, finance, and real estate.

Dr. Williams continues to break barriers with Black Pearl’s fund focused on reducing health disparities across the globe. Black Pearl is an advocate for those that continue to experience inferior outcomes and reduced access. Black Pearl’s tag line “Be Well. Do Well.” captures the firm’s mission to invest in transformative companies around the world. Dr. Williams and her partners are seeking to change healthcare worldwide.

Gueshly is the Founder of ChreativeGaming. He's been in the gaming environment for over 10 years now as he's playedcompetitive gaming for a big part of his younger age.
He has also always been into arts and now he's combining both passions by making games and directing projects under ChreativeGaming. His creative mind really allows him to find out of the box ideas when it comes to making games as well as ways to solve problems.
In the recent years, he's opened his craft past gaming and is now well-versed in programming in general using the newer technologies. ie. Blockchain, AI, etc.
Gueshly thinks that learning really starts after you come out of school and made it a lifelong goal to keep perfecting his craft.

Uzair Ahmed is a Solutions Consultant at Cottonwood Automation, a home-service business process automation and outsourcing firm mainly for plumbing and HVAC systems. After graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta, he started his career in a hybrid sales and technical role at Baker Hughes. Now, he works with business clients to reduce their costs by up to 60% through automating workflows and building an offshore team.

Bold, inspiring, and visionary. It takes a true leader to inspire positive change in the world. These traits define the successful Christine E. Ntouba Dikonguè, who is determined to make a meaningful difference in her communities via the digital economy.” York University Christine is a multilingual impact investment professional, leader, entrepreneur, community builder, investor, and business consultant. She worked in various industries from Investment services, Tech, Remittance Market, and banking to media; which makes her an avid and informed global consultant & strategist. At 21, she was selected to join the Canadian Prime Minister's project to promote the leadership of young Francophone women across Canada. At 22, she was elected as the youngest member of the Board of the United Nations Association in Canada. Her impact has earned her multiple accolades; in 2018, she was named one of Canada's Top 100 Black Women to Watch, and in 2019 she was listed as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world at the United Nations General Assembly. In 2020, she was invited as a leader to meet with Barack Obama and brought her delegation of 100 young leaders. In 2021, she was named one of York University's Top 30 Changemakers Under 30.In 2020, she co-founded AfricaHacks, a digital incubator and business case platform empowering over10,000 African entrepreneurs in finding product fit, scale their startups &get funded. She began her career at one of Canada's largest investment management firms, executing award-winning market penetration plans and marketing strategies. Over the span of her career, she has raised over $7million dollars to build and implement capacity-building programs; built several ecosystems, and funded startups and entrepreneurs across Canada and Africa. Most recently, she initiated monoasisnumerique.ca, the first immersive platform to demystify emerging technologies and secure digital learning space for young Francophone girls in Ontario. This platform was funded by the Government of Canada. She strongly believes in open innovation via building thriving ecosystems. Ms. Dikonguè holds a master's degree in management, innovation, and entrepreneurship from the Smith School of Business at Queen's University. She focused her research thesis on the evolution of our civilization in the era of digitization.

Brandon is a visionary technology leader, former Staff Engineer at Google AI, former Senior Engineer at Apple and founder of music technology company FORMLESS. FORMLESS has developed a Web3 protocol called SHARE designed to revolutionize content distribution using blockchain technology. In the music industry, Brandon has worked with industry legends such as Timbaland and Song Writers Hall of Fame inductee Dallas Austin. Brandon's story as both a signed artist and innovator at the highest levels of big tech has led to his unique insight into the future that’s emerging at the intersections of technology, culture, and creativity.

Rebecca is a business strategy professional who operates at the intersection of people, processes, and technology to help companies advance to their next level of growth. Her experience spans strategy development, operational finance, organizational structure, startup funding, mergers and acquisitions, and stakeholder management.

She is currently an Investment and Operations Associate at BKR Capital, the first institutional black-led VC fund in Canada - where she oversees the fund’s portfolio and post-investment functions. She began her career in a startup and over the years has supported several early-stage companies in different capacities across financial, operational, and strategic roles. Beyond creating magic at work, you will find her exploring her creative side through singing, designing, and cooking.