Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was born and raised in Brooklyn. Aronofsky heads Protozoa Pictures based in Chinatown NYC. His credits include π, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE FOUNTAIN, THE WRESTLER, BLACK SWAN, NOAH, mother! and THE WHALE. As a producer he is responsible for JACKIE, ONE STRANGE ROCK, SOME KIND OF HEAVEN, PACIFIED, CATCH THE FAIR ONE, ONE STRANGE ROCK, WELCOME TO EARTH, THE GOOD NURSE, KINDRED, LIMITLESS WITH CHRIS HEMSWORTH, and THE TERRITORY. He released a middle school book MONSTER CLUB last fall, the sequel is coming out in 2024.

Molecular Attraction – new method of mosquito population control which is controlling mosquito behavior with smell molecules- feeding and sex pheromones.

Lech Ignatowicz, PhD: CEO

Founder, investor and father – in chronological order.

Lech is a scientist turned entrepreneur with over 15 years in infectious disease prevention, global health and biotech.

Lech is focusing his efforts on early stage ventures where he’s aiming to bring cutting edge academic discoveries to the “real world”. Co-founded Biopromic – a point of care diagnostics for TB and Malaria, Moligo Technologies – single stranded DNA manufacturer and in 2017 together with Noushin Emami and Johan Paleovrachas he co-founded Molecular Attraction to develop, implement and scale new mosquito-specific population control methods discovered by Noushin during her academic career.

Simon has devoted his professional life to help build the Help Others industry.

He envisions a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are, and end the day ful lled by the work they do. Simon is an unshakeable optimist who believes in our ability to build this world together.

A trained ethnographer, Simon is fascinated by the people and organizations that make the greatest and longest lasting impact. Over the years, he has discovered some remarkable patterns about how they think, act, and communicate, as well as the environments in which people operate at their natural best.

Simon may be best known for his TED Talk on the concept of WHY, or his viral video on millennials in the workplace—each of which has garnered 80+ million views. He continues to share inspiration through his bestselling books, his podcast, A Bit of Optimism, and his publishing partnership with Penguin Random House: Optimism Press.

His unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention, and he has met with a broad array of leaders and organizations in nearly every industry. He frequently works with different branches of the US Armed Forces and agencies of the US government, and is an adjunct sta  member with the RAND Corporation—one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world.

Simon is also active in the arts and in what he likes to call the for-impact sector. In 2021, he founded The Curve: a diverse group of forward-thinking chiefs and sheri s committed to advancing his vision for modern policing. Their aim is to build a profession dedicated to protecting the vulnerable from harm. They are finding new ways to develop leaders and reinvigorate community relations.

Every day, Simon pursues his WHY: to inspire people to do what inspires them so that, together, we can change our world for the better.

Ashley Smith is Co-Owner of Fame Lady Squad, the first all-female generative PFP NFT collection with an epic origin story highlighting the drama, community, and optimism of NFT’s early days. As Co-Host of From The Blockchain podcast, she aims to empower women seeking professional advancement and business innovation via web3. Also known as “Bored Becky”, Ashley runs around the internet as her Bored Ape cartoon character, and looks to leverage its cultural relevance and IP in unprecedented ways (check your cereal aisle). As a 14-year Realtor pre-NFTs in Vancouver, Canada, Ashley was heavily involved in the governance and leadership side of the profession. Exploration of the inevitable impact of blockchain and smart contract technology on the industry was her gateway into this crazy world of web3.

Bola Bardet is the founder and CEO of Susu, a startup with the mission to make healthcare accessible and affordable for every African. Susu offers personalized healthcare services to vulnerable patients (chronic care patients, pregnant women) based in Africa, financed by their relatives from the African diaspora.

Bola is an Executive MBA graduate from HEC in Paris, a Chartered Financial Analyst® from the CFA institute. She is also a graduate from the Entrepreneurship program at Babson college in San Francisco.

Michelle Kennedy is founder and CEO of Peanut, one of the fastest-growing social networking apps for women focusing on fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and menopause, which has raised $23m to date. Michelle was formerly Deputy CEO of dating behemoth Badoo, and during her tenure was integral to and inaugural board member of Bumble, (which IPOd last year at a $13bn valuation).

Having worked in social discovery for ten years, Michelle has unprecedented experience and understanding of the safety and growth components of building a social network for women and continues to execute on her mission to make Peanut the leading network to connect women when they need each other most. She is also a strategic investor in several early and late stage startups, and institutional venture capital funds.

Dawn Ostroff is the Chief Content & Advertising Business Officer at Spotify, the leading global music streaming service, joining the company in August 2018. As Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer, Ostroff leads all aspects of content, advertising and distribution operations, including all original content, and industry and creator relationships globally while driving partnerships with brands and marketers worldwide to deliver impact for their businesses and Spotify alike. She oversees Music, Studios, which includes podcasts and video, Content Business & Strategy, Ad Sales, Revenue Product Development, and Ads Business Marketing departments at Spotify.

Prior to her role at Spotify, Ostroff served as President of Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE), a studio and digital distribution network with entertainment content across film, television, premium digital video, social, and virtual reality. Ostroff helped found Conde Nast Entertainment in 2011.

Ostroff was previously the president of entertainment for The CW broadcast network – a joint venture of CBS and Warner Bros. that she helped found and launch in January 2006.  As president, she developed several groundbreaking hit series, including “Gossip Girl” and “The Vampire Diaries.”

From 2002 to 2006, Ostroff served as president of the UPN Network, a subsidiary of CBS, and before that, served as executive vice president of entertainment at Lifetime Television.

Darnell Strom is a Partner & Head of the Culture and Commerce Division at premiere entertainment agency, UTA. Strom represents the most transformative figures, brands, and organizations across entertainment, media, sports, fashion, the arts, entrepreneurship, politics, and thought leadership. He works with pioneers whose creative vision shapes culture and recalibrates the ways we see the world.

Prior to UTA, Darnell Strom was an Agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) working with clients such as Dwyane Wade, Will Smith, will.i.am, Trevor Noah, Vice President Joe Biden, and Gayle King. Strom also advised top global brands like Google, YouTube, Salesforce, Target and Nike on talent partnerships and marketing campaigns.

In 2005, Strom was named Deputy Director of Scheduling to President Bill Clinton, working in the former President’s Harlem offices. He served in this role until 2006, when he was asked to create a program that reflected President Clinton’s vision of engaging the next generation of leaders, philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs in the work of the William J. Clinton Foundation. Strom formally launched this program in 2007 as the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network. The Millennium Network has been recognized by President Clinton as an essential fundraising component to the future of the Clinton Foundation.

Peter McIndoe is a performance artist, filmmaker, and founder of the “Birds Aren’t Real” movement – a satirical conspiracy theory which posits that birds don’t exist and are really drone replicas installed by the U.S. government to spy on Americans. For his first 18 years, Peter grew up in a deeply conservative and religious community in rural Arkansas. After dropping out of college in 2018, he spent 4 years in-character with journalists and the world, using conspiracy theorist cosplay by way of Andy Kaufman to rally a community around the absurdity. A real parody movement grew around this character, with hundreds of people mobilizing in real life to protest the “bird drone agenda” and embodying the character along with Peter. The movement has amassed millions of followers on social media, and hundreds of official chapters have popped up at colleges all across the nation.

Sara Baumann is the artist and founder behind the Women and Weapons NFT collection.  She dreamed of being a full-time artist since she was a young girl, but until NFTs, she worked as a full-time Occupational Therapist in the hospital system and sold her art on the side.  Through the power of digital art, NFTs, and Web 3.0, she can finally pursue her dream of being a full-time artist.