Philly Made: Entrepreneur Roundtable

Founder, Executive Producer & Publisher with Love Now Media, an empathy-centered media company that uses storytelling to amplify acts of love at the intersection of social justice, wellness, and equity. She uses her voice and platforms to empower diverse communities to create and tell their own stories. A thoughtful, creative business leader with a demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and social justice. An authentic communicator who cares deeply about people and the human experience. An empathy-focused, design-thinker and story generator with the ability to synthesize and contextualize information to solve problems. With a background in technology, software testing, and media production, she leverages over 15 years as an entrepreneur to tell stories, analyze and evaluate processes, and implement changes to produce viable outcomes. She holds a Masters of Fine Art (MFA) from the City College of New York and a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA), with a concentration in Information Technology, from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.

Charisse’s introduction into the local food industry came through a suburban Philadelphia Farmers' Market, where she served as the Market Manager for 7 seasons. During that time she grew the market to be second largest in the Philadelphia area and had the unique opportunity to work with local independent food producers. The experience led Charisse to start Lokal Artisan Foods.

In 2018, Charisse opened her French Toast Bites stand in Philadelphia, and in 2020, became the first Black woman to own and operate a food establishment in Spruce Street Harbor Park and Cherry Street Pier on Penn's Landing. Additionally, Charisse became the first black woman in Pennsylvania with a signature craft beer, "French Toast Bites Ale.” Additional products brought to market include French Toast Bites Spice and French Toast Bites Coffee. Charisse earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and in 2018, she enrolled in the MBA Food Marketing program at Saint Joseph's University.

Ahmed Nimale is a former product leader with 10+ years  experience in building innovative and disruptive solutions at companies like VividSeats, Yelp, Ticketmaster, and Live Nation.  He is currently the CEO and founder of KYD Labs, a comcast portfolio company which is the world’s largest and most comprehensive web3 ticketing platform that is making artists and venues 2x more profitable on their events.

Since joining the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, Michael has been building entrepreneurial programs for the university. He currently manages PCI Ventures, which includes UPstart, UPadvisors, and Venture WarmUP, while also providing incubation services at Penn’s incubator, The Pennovation Center. As part of these programs, he has participated in the founding of over 250 companies, which have gone on to raise over $500 million in funding.

Prior to Penn, Michael made investments in enterprise software and business services for NewSpring Capital, Apax Partners and GE Capital spanning more than ten years in private equity. He began his career in manufacturing operations for General Electric/Lockheed Martin and participated in the successful completion of several commercial and government satellite programs. 

Michael graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from The Moore School of Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania, and has an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurial management from The Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.