VENDEV13
September 1, 2017
Tessa completed her own Fellowship in 2021 before starting as the Fellowship Program’s Coaching Design Specialist and taking on an international community-led development role with the Chain Collaborative. As the Chain Collaborative’s Program Manager reporting to the Executive Director, Tessa supports coffee growers as they design and execute sustainable development projects in their own communities and they improve the value chain as a whole from crop to cup.
Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tessa has believed in social media’s ability to empower local businesses since first working with Venly as a Research Associate during her senior year at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. Tessa continued to develop for-profit and nonprofit social media strategies for organizations that support their communities both locally and internationally. Her Spanish fluency has helped her work on best practices for local businesses as Fellowship Applied Learning Partners in over 100 Community Commerce Market Categories. Tessa graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from Barnard College with a double major in Political Science / Spanish & Latin American Cultures. In addition to her other roles, Tessa is completing an online M.S. in Community and Organizational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin.
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Amy Sauber comes to Venly as a consultant and manager for small businesses with roots in the Carolinas and New England. She also draws on her experience as an award-winning (PEN America) writer and an educator for seaport operators. Amy loves working at the intersection of these passions to help local businesses grow. At Venly, her focus is sparking new ways for online and in-person applied learning to best serve the goals of each client and Fellow. Amy earned a B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from the College of Charleston, and an M.F.A. in writing from the University of New Hampshire.
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VENDEV13
November 18, 2016
Born and raised in Stoneham, Massachusetts, Tim has been interested in local business since he first started working at a small ice cream parlor at the age of 16. Since then Tim has worked for a variety of local businesses, including interning at two startups. His experience ranges from leading social media marketing for one of the biggest Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns to assisting in donor relations and coordinating activities for colleges and students around the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. Tim graduated in 2016 from Emmanuel College with a B.A. in English Communications and Political Science, receiving a Distinction for his thesis on participation of terrorist organizations in electoral politics. Tim also spent a semester abroad at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey.
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VENDEV13
January 19, 2016
Growing up in Everett, Massachusetts, Teonna began helping local businesses grow as her way of working through high school and then college. Teonna graduated from Suffolk University in Boston with a BS in Public Relations with a double minor in Marketing and Broadcast Journalism. During that time, she had been an applied learning and teaching role model for Peake as a young leader in the U.S. Credit Union movement.
During her second two years at Suffolk, Teonna began mentoring with longtime Peake Pilot Program Applied Learning Partner, Ron Draper, CEO of the Somerville Municipal Federal Credit Union and Board Member of the Cooperative Credit Union Association. The 5,000+ non-profit credit unions across the U.S. serve as member organizations for their depositors. In turn, the credit unions themselves are members of regional associations like the Cooperative Credit Union Association which serves credit unions across four states.
As a Marketing and Financial Education Specialist at Somerville’s Credit Union, Teonna worked with a Peake Fellow on outreach and engagement. Teonna’s role included establishment and oversight of the credit union’s website and digital marketing presence as well as implementation of press, digital strategies and campaigns that increased membership. Teonna also conducted internal trainings on new programs, promotions, policies, and procedures.
Based on her leadership at the credit union, Ron Draper nominated Teonna for the Peake Fellowship a few months after her college graduation. Teonna’s contributions led to a series of national credit union initiatives with longtime U.S. credit union executive and Cooperative Credit Union Association (CCUA) President/CEO Ron McLean and CCUA Vice President Bonnie Doolin. Her experience laid the groundwork for Peake’s ongoing development of a nationwide strategy for credit unions to grow with the help of Networked AI & Big Data. Beyond progress with individual credit unions, Peake analytics now include over 50 benchmarks on every credit union in the U.S.
After her Fellowship, Teonna went on to leadership roles at PBS (Public Broadcasting System) and is now at global semiconductor manufacturer AMD. As AMD’s Partner Enablement Project Manager, Teonna collaborates with subject matter experts across the computer industry worldwide.
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See below for a client perspective on Kanisha’s Fellowship year.
Kanisha is now a Media Planner/Buyer after coaching CEO business teams internationally across the range of major industries as a 2015-2016 Peake Fellow. Peake selected her as an outstanding 2015 Boston University graduate with a BA in Political Science and minor in Public Health. Originally from Pennsylvania, Kanisha chose Boston University to deepen her experience in women’s health advocacy, community building, and research. Her professional background spans from constituent services for a member of Parliament in a neighborhood of London to social media outreach to improve women’s healthcare access in the U.S. She honed her project management skills as a research lab assistant at the Boston University School of Medicine and her interpersonal skills as a nursing assistant at Mercy Hospital outside Philadelphia. Kanisha served as assistant manager in charge of social media for the successful campaign of Cheryl Austin, a retired Navy captain and local prosecutor to win her first election as a common court judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Kanisha is conversationally fluent in French, fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and a certified doula. Supported by all her experiences to date, Kanisha coaches strategic and multi-site clients to connect with customers, suppliers, and employees more effectively through social media. Her clients benefit from measurable improvements in outreach that create more revenue at a lower cost.
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