Welcoming StartLabs’ 2019 Exec Team
Dear friends, fans and followers of MIT StartLabs,
It’s the spring semester and we are proud to announce that StartLabs has a new Exec team! In the last semester, we have doubled the size of the club — we are now 35 members strong in the core team, with 400+ new members of our growing community. Hence, we have adopted a slightly different team structure to enable a larger team to be more effective. The club will continue to have two co-directors as well as a VP for each department. Before we introduce our new exec, we want to give a quick refresher of the club’s departments and their priorities:
Recurring Events:
They keep our community members engaged by hosting a variety of weekly recurring events like, speaker series, Boba and Business Ideas and Startup Case Studies! If you’re interested in speaking at a StartLabs event, or in general want to add events to our recurring events calendar, let us know here.
Large Events:
They organize the yearly international tech trek (last year, Israel; this year, Switzerland!) in the spring, as well as Entrepalooza in the fall!
Marketing:
They get the word out about all the exciting events and updates, and support all of the branding and design activities for the club! We invite you to send general opportunities to post on our newsletter here.
Finance:
They make sure we have money for operating the club: all the food (and boba) for our events, as well as funding for the large events, by securing both school funds and external sponsorships! Contact startlabs-finance@mit.edu if you’re interested in sponsoring our organization.
Web:
They are developing an up and coming dynamic website with features such as a job portal and more in the pipeline!
Internal Relations:
They make sure that the StartLabs core team remains sane and cohesive by organizing internal team bonding events and study breaks!
We will be recruiting for some of these departments. Interested undergraduate students can learn more and apply here! [Form closes Feb. 12].
Without further ado, the new exec:
Adit Abraham
Position: Co-Director
Year: 2021
Major: 6–14 (Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science)
“We want this to be an organization that people are proud to say that they’re a part of, because that excitement is contagious, and the more we can drive the internal team, the more we can spread our message, recruit cool people in the future, and increase our impact. Additionally, by frontloading planning work towards the beginning of the semester, we can more easily achieve our goals.”
Other Activities: Contrary Capital, PKT
Fun Fact: I can’t swim, hate tomato pieces, and use both Android and iOS.
Vaibhavi Shah
Position: Co-Director
Year: 2021
Major: 20 (Biological Engineering)
“I really want to place an emphasis on expanding our recurring events department, being very consistent in terms of scheduling and event themes so that we can gain a steady basis of attendees that we can grow as StartLabs becomes more well known. I think it’s important to make sure we’re continuing to increase entrepreneurship education and access to resources so we can remain the premier undergraduate entrepreneurship group on campus!”
Other Activities: SWE, GlobeMed, Ma5eeh
Fun Fact: I’ve been to 35 countries!
Amber Lu
Position: VP of Marketing
Year: 2021
Major: 18 and 14 (Mathematics; Economics)
“I want to find new ways to strengthen our presence on campus and beyond through four main initiatives: increasing transparency, generating content, streamlining brand, and growing the Marketing and Media Team.”
Other Activities: HackMIT, WBL, Academic Teaching Initiative, SK, C2
Fun Fact: I was once rank 1 on global Tetris leaderboard.
Christina Chen
Position: VP of Web
Year: 2020
Major: 6–3 (Computer Science and Engineering)
“The quality of a website adds to the legitimacy of a club, especially to people outside of the MIT campus. As one of the business clubs that actively hosts events for all undergraduates, I think StartLabs’ website should be the hub showcasing all of our events.”
Other Activities: TechX, Code for Good
Fun Fact: Ketchup is the best chip flavor. Also, does anyone want to join my spotify family plan?
Tingyue Li
Position: VP of Recurring Events
Year: 2021
Major: 15–1 (Management)
“I’ve really enjoyed helping organize events for the undergraduate entrepreneurship community on campus. We should focus on consistent and quality execution by first guiding our members to learn the entire business ideation and planning process, on top of networking at events.”
Other Activities: Model UN, SWE, and 10 hours of sleep a night
Fun Fact: I’m a crazy broke Azn and have lived “everywhere pretty much.”
Caleb Harris
Position: VP of Internal Relations
Year: 2022
Major: 6–3 and 9 (Computer Science and Engineering; Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
“In order to have a close team I think you need both personal and group connections, and a mix of coffee-chats and retreats can accomplish this if done correctly. I have high hopes for StartLabs over the next few years, and I think it starts with building a community.”
Other Activities: Varsity Track & Field (High Jumper), PKT
Fun Fact: I have a precise ranking for my top 175+ movies.
Brendan Ashworth
Position: VP of Large Events
Year: 2022
Major: 2A-6 and 8 (Mechanical Engineering with Robotics; Physics)
“My goals are pretty simple: create a lot of internal value for the club with a successful tech trek in the spring, and attract a lot of outsiders into StartLabs, as I was, through Entrepalooza, by setting goals and making small responsibilities clear”
Other Activities: PKT, Running, Writing
Fun Fact: I can read русский alphabet and built a boat once.
Bamlak Gessessew
Position: VP of Finance
Year: 2020
Major: 6–3 (Computer Science and Engineering)
“I will make sure StartLabs is financially prosperous enough to fund our Tech Treks and any large events we plan on hosting by leveraging connections with the MIT administration, Student Financial Board, and corporate relationships.”
Other Activities: UA Financial Board Chair, Chocolate City Co-Chair
Fun Fact: I play basketball, ping pong, and chess.
It’s been a fantastic time serving as 2018’s StartLabs Exec Team. We’ve undergone rapid growth, various management and team structure changes, and pulled off some crazy events and trips. With Adit and Vaibhavi leveling up as our new co-directors, and the new VPs to lead the way, we’re confident that StartLabs will have an amazing 2019.
Anthony Cheng, Co-Director ‘18
Adam Xing Liang Zhao, Co-Director ‘18
Matt Tung, VP Large Events ‘18
Leon Cheng, VP Web ‘18
Vaibhavi Shah, VP Finance/Internal Relations ‘18
Adit Abraham, VP InnovateEDU/Marketing ‘18
