Whitney Johnson

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. We frequently spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Jenny Lefcourt, Venture Capitalist at Freestyle.  Jenny is innovating her field of work by investing in technology companies at the seed stage and works closely with her entrepreneurs to help them build their business, build their teams, and have the next round of financing done by top-tier VCs.

1) What was a pivotal moment of reinvention for you?

When fundraising for a start-up in the fall of 2013, I met with lots of VCs and almost all were men.  The CEO and I said to each other ‘where the hell are all the women VCs?!’  I soon learned that only 4-5% of VC checks are written by women.  A pivotal moment for me was recognizing that by becoming a VC, I can change the ratio, which can have a positive impact on the entire ecosystem.

2) Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?

The most valuable mentors to me in this reinvention have been my business partners at Freestyle, Josh Felser and Dave Samuel.  Josh and Dave recognized that they wanted another voice at the table and they wanted that voice to not be “another white dude.”  They respect the different lens that I bring to the partnership, and trust and support me.  They also have made the journey very fun!

3) What is your biggest goal right now?

My biggest work goal right now is to be a very successful VC.  I plan to continue to back amazing entrepreneurs and help them build big, valuable companies.  As I do this, I role model what is possible for other women and I make a dent in the gender bias that exists today.  The more of us there are, the more successful we will all be.

4) What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?

I graduated from Wharton undergrad and immediately went to work in New York City as an accountant.  I chose that path because it was easy and safe–I knew that I was not passionate about that job, nor I would I ever be.  After working two years to earn my CPA (yes, I am goal-oriented), I quit and took a year off to backpack around the world, not knowing what I would do when I returned.  I am proud of that decision because it was the beginning of me taking risks and having faith in myself.  By closing the door on what wasn’t making me happy to later find work that I was very passionate about, I learned that the greatest risk is not what I am leaving but rather, not pursuing that which I desire.  

5) What is your “keep me going” quote?

My children are watching.  Knowing that I am role modeling behavior for my children, I am acutely aware of how I attack life and share the journey with them.  I used to talk to my kids about Carol Dweck’s ‘growth mindset” and now I live it and discuss it actively with them.  Giving up doesn’t feel like an option as now the stakes are higher!   

6) What was the last business book you read?

Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine.  At the chance of sounding cheesy, it has changed my life and I have my dear friend and old business partner, Jessica Herrin, to thank for introducing it to me via her amazing book, Find Your Extraordinary (the book I read before Positive Intelligence).  Positive Intelligence is about mastering your mind to make you more productive and a lot happier along the way.

7) How did you feel on your 30th birthday? What were you doing at that time?

I felt great when I turned 30!  I was working around the clock at my first start-up when I turned 30 but luckily the team was made up of some of the smartest and funniest people I know.  Kit Codik was on my team and was disturbed that I was not throwing myself a party so he decided to plan one for me.  So, we celebrated at a fun bar in the Mission in San Francisco with everyone from the company and many of my friends.  

8) What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?

I typically wake up at 5:30 and drink coffee and do emails for about an hour.  I then exercise for 45 minutes.  After I return at 7:15, I spend the morning with my kids– hanging out, having breakfast and getting them to school.  Then I shower and take off for work.

9) What song can’t you get out of your head?

The entire Hamilton soundtrack!  Non-stop.

Check out Jenny Lefcourt’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. We frequently spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Jessica Flechtner, Business Leader and BioScience Pioneer in the Development of Novel Vaccines, Genocea Biosciences. Jessica is innovating her field of work by cultivating scientific growth of Genocea from formation through to IPO and setting the vision for development of the company’s T cell-directed vaccines.

1) What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?

I think that not being accepted to veterinary school was a pivotal time for me and for my professional growth. I was an animal science major in college and intended to go to veterinary school and become a theriogenologist. The beauty of reinvention truly is that we can change course at any time. More often than not, what we set out to do when we go to college does not always pan out the way we think it will. This event pushed me in a new direction, pursuing research, where I discovered my passion for immunology. After receiving my PhD, my post-doctoral work led me to a path of vaccine development and biotechnology that never even crossed my younger self’s mind. It’s one of the reasons that I have become interested in reinforcing STEM education for girls. Often when young people think of science, they think of two paths, teaching or medicine. There is so much more available to young women (and men) than just those paths, and so many opportunities that await those of us with a science degree.

2) Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?

My father has been an incredibly valuable mentor to me. He grew up on a farm in Iowa and got married just out of college. He started his career programming computers for the Apollo space mission (back in the day when they still had punch cards). He moved on to working in electrical equipment manufacturing followed by positions of increasing responsibility in Stouffer Corporation followed by Nestle Foods. He ultimately became the chief financial officer of Nestle UK and upon returning to the US was the SVP of Logistics for Nestle USA. He and my mom raised four daughters and taught us that we could be and do anything that we wanted to. We have each chosen diverse paths for our lives and careers, and they are incredibly proud of each of us. I think that my work ethic is modeled on his. More importantly, I strive to parent as he did. Despite his working long hours and traveling significantly for work, he still made time to spend with his daughters.

3) What is your biggest goal right now?

On a professional level, I’m very focused on leading Genocea’s research team in an effort to make the same impact in immuno-oncology as we have been making in our infectious disease immunotherapy program. The strength of our company’s ATLAS™ technology is that we can, on an individual basis, identify targets of immune responses that protect an individual from disease. The vision is to then take these protective targets and create novel vaccines with them to ultimately help people with hard-to- treat illnesses on a global level. We used ATLAS to identify the components that make up a novel immunotherapy for a chronic virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV). Early clinical trials testing this vaccine, called GEN-003, in HSV-2 infected individuals showed that this immunotherapy could reduce by more than half how often the virus reactivates and how often people have symptoms. This is the first time ever that a subunit vaccine hasshown an antiviral effect for a chronic virus in people. We are currently using the same ATLAS technology to find why some people can make immune responses that clear their cancers, and other people cannot. We hope to create novel immunotherapies using the targets of protective immunity that we discover with ATLAS to truly make a difference for those people suffering from cancer and for whom available therapies are insufficient.

4) How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?

My first job out of college was as a research technician in a laboratory at Cornell’s veterinary school. I had wanted to attend veterinary school after college and decided that the best way to get accepted the next time I applied was to work in a school and have the faculty get to know me – so much of the successes I have achieved throughout my career were based on establishing strong relationships with those I work with and mentors alike. I began looking for job listings in veterinary schools across the country, and saw a description for a research associate position in a veterinary school that stated that applicants needed to have experience with something called an ELISA assay. I had no idea what the assay was, but I wanted to apply for the job. During my tenure as an undergraduate, I had worked for a professor in Cornell’s veterinary school, taking care of his laboratory’s herd of horses, donkeys, mules and hinnys. Not knowing how to perform an ELISA, I wanted to head into the opportunity as prepared as possible. I called up his lab manager and told her that I wanted to apply for this job opening that I saw, but that I needed to learn how to do an ELISA before I did so. I asked if she would be willing to teach me so that I could apply. She called me back and told me that she had spoken with the head of the laboratory, and said that they were impressed by my request. She said that they would not only teach me, but given my initiative, wondered if I would consider taking a research associate position in their laboratory instead. I accepted the offer, learned the ELISA and many more assays, and ultimately ended up getting my doctoral degree in the same laboratory. I did my post-doctoral work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and our laboratory looked down into the children’s wing of the hospital, which was across the street. It struck me that, there I was, studying some basic pathway that made up an immune response, and that work would never (or not for a long time) be able to help those children who were suffering from cancer. It drove my decision to leave academia and perform research in the Biotechnology industry. To take this next step, I went to a job fair in Boston and met a representative there from a tiny start-up company named Mojave Therapeutics that was located in Westchester, NY. I will never forget my interview because the night before I arrived, their laboratories had been flooded due to rain. I showed up to wet floors, giant fans and the entire team cleaning up the mess. I was incredibly impressed; not only did they have great science and technology, but I had never seen that kind of team spirit…it didn’t matter what role you played in the company, you were all together solving a problem…in this case, a flood. I was hired and immediately hooked on the start-up culture!

5 How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?

I love adventurous travel! Several years ago, my mother, one of my sisters and I traveled to Tanzania, camped among the wildlife in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro by the Machame route. I am also scuba certified and enjoy diving in St. Kitts and in Mexico, and I’ve been heli-skiing in Chile. This year I learned how to kite surf in the Dominican Republic, learned how to paddle board in Wisconsin, and rappelled 23 stories off the roof of the Hyatt hotel in San Francisco with my sisters to raise money for Outward Bound San Francisco. We encourage our children to be adventurous too. For family trips, we often go to Colorado to ski, mountain bike, zip line, bag jump and hike. We try to take a family trip at least twice a year; one for fun in the sun and one for fun in the snow.

6) What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?

Personally, I’m most proud of my amazing children. Professionally, I’m most proud of what we have achieved at Genocea. We have created an immunotherapy that, while still in early clinical development, is actually benefitting patients. This was my reason for entering the biotechnology industry in the first place – I wanted to translate science into medicines that would benefit patients.

7) What was the last business book you read? 

An oldie but goodie: “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton.

8) What cause do you most want to advance?

I’m passionate about extending STEM education awareness for girls. There are still too few women in these disciplines. Aside from the societal causes that have been posited, including gender identity and stereotypes, I think that part of the issue is a true lack of clarity about all of the career possibilities that can emerge as a result of STEM education. In addition, and this is not exclusively geared toward women, as scientists, we are often not taught many career essentials during our professional training, including mentorship and management and the art of negotiation. These are things that we need to reinforce earlier in education and especially for women, earlier in their careers.

9) What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

My dad always used to tell me “when you fall off your horse, you need to get back on and ride again.” This is powerful advice (and apropos since I loved horses) and my daily mantra. Also, the last time I saw my grandfather, he was suffering from advanced prostate cancer and was being wheeled out of the room to receive his radiation therapy. He made the person who was transporting him stop, and then he called me over to his bed and said “remember, you’re in charge.” I had no idea what he was talking about at the time, as it was not in the context of any discussion that we had been having or that he might have overheard; he may in fact have just been delirious. Nevertheless, those words have stuck with me and I have chosen to adopt that way of thinking for my life. I’m in charge of my own destiny and I have the power to affect change if things are not going as expected. This is something that I actively try to pay forward as I mentor employees and students.

10) What is your keep me going quote?

I have two favorites:

“Remember that a kick in the rear is a step forward” (I don’t know who this is attributed to), and “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them” – Henry David Thoreau

Check out Jessica Flechtner’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. We frequently spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Jill Van den Brule, Humanitarian & Social Entrepreneur at MPOWERD. Jill is innovating her field of work by devoting her life to social good and education as an international development expert with 15+ years experience in programming and policy related to human rights, education and emergency relief with a focus on strategic communications/partnership development.

1)  What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?

The pivotal momentum of reinvention for me was the time I spent living in Haiti.However, there were three deeply difficult and interconnected moments that led me on this new path. The first was the death of my dear friend Jan Olaf, a German diplomat, who died in the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 while working for the UN. The night of the quake, I was with my war photographer friend Chris Hondros, who was called there to cover the tragedy and died valiantly in Libya the following year. I went to Haiti as soon as UNICEF could deploy me just after the quake as a homage to my friend Jan Olof, spurred on by Chris’ hauntingly beautiful photos and compelling accounts. My 3 months in that magical country quickly turned into 2 pivotal years. Witnessing firsthand the entrepreneurial spirit of young people was key in launching me on a new path as an entrepreneur. I was driven to join my humanitarian experience with my desire to find disruptive solutions to global problems. Shortly after my return from Haiti, I lost another dear friend named Sasha. He was another major inspiration in my life. The memories of these three extraordinary human beings, who graced my life, have propelled me forward ever since. They are also constant reminders of Emerson’s eloquent words on success which resonate deeply, “To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of the intelligent people
and the affection of children.…to leave the world a bit better
 whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded.”

2)  Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?

One of my greatest mentors has been my dear friend Cristiana Falcone (Lady Sorrell) who is a leader in media, business and social development sectors, a Senior Adviser to the Chairman of the WEF, Board member of Viacom and Revlon and life-long humanitarian with whom I studied at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. When I first excitedly went to her with the Luci lantern to ask for her advice on creating an NGO, she immediately saw its potential and wrote out a cheque to field test the lantern in Haiti and advised me to turn this endeavor into a social business. Thus was born the B-Corps MPOWERD. None of this would have happened without her guidance, support and wisdom.

3)  What is your biggest goal right now?

My biggest goal right now is to devote my energy to projects and people making a positive impact on the world, but also to make the time for my family, namely my two beautiful stepchildren who are my biggest drive and source of inspiration.

4)  How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?

I got my first job at the US Fund for UNICEF thanks to classmate who understood my passion for children’s rights and asked her mother, a notable Philippine diplomat, to share my CV. It was an absolute dream come true as I had wanted to work for the UN since I was a child attending the Lycée Français in New York where I had first been exposed to UNICEF’s work on the famines in Ethiopia and Uganda through films and that little orange “Trick or Treat for UNICEF Box” which first showed me how I learn to do my part to help. I was encouraged to apply for my second job as a contractor for the U.S Department of State through a dear friend and SIPA grad at Columbia. My year working on the international visitor program afforded me the incredible me to travel all around the U.S on cultural and political programs with dignitaries from all over the world. This year of travel, involved everything from briefings at the White House to home visits with local political leaders in the deep South.

5)  How did you feel on your 30th birthday? What were you doing at that time?

I went skydiving for the first time for my 30 th and celebrated my birthday on a “peniche,” a little barge on the Seine. I was living in Paris and working for UNESCO. At the time, I was traveling extensively for my work as an education specialist focused on inclusive education I was also following my passion of making documentary films on human rights issues. The culmination of one of these projects was a film I wrote called, “A World for Inclusion” which featured the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. At 30, I had already experienced the failure of divorce and thought I understood the world and my place in it. However, looking back I can say that I was only at the beginning of my own hero’s journey, which has humbly made me see the world through new, more authentic eyes.

6)  How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?

I unplug by being immersed in nature in my home in the Flemish countryside which is the perfect base for traveling around Europe as it’s just outside of Brussels but far enough from the big city to unplug. After having lived for long periods of time in Paris, New York as well as other metropolitan cities, I developed a longing and appreciation for being close to nature. Here I can also practice meditation in a quiet environment. I mediate at least once daily and try to do so twice when I am particularly motivated. Meditation is my most effective means of unplugging, but I also love to indulge in a good book or in an intense bikram yoga class.

7)  What is your keep me going quote?

I often turn to Plato’s words of wisdom, which are anchored in Greek mythology especially when I see the devastation we are doing to our planet and our fellow men. It allows me to rekindle my faith in humanity – reminding me also that darkness does not exist without light. “The souls of people, on their way to Earth-life, pass through a room full of lights; each takes a taper–often only a spark–to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls, by rare fortune, are detained longer–and have time to grab a handful of tapers, which they weave into a torch. These are the torch-bearers of humanity– it’s poets, seers, and saints, who lead and lift the race out of darkness, toward the light. They are the law- givers and saviors, the light-bringers, way-showers and truth -tellers, and without them, humanity would lose its way in the dark.” ~ Plato

8)  What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?

The achievement I am most proud of is co-founding MPOWERD – a B Corp that creates innovative and affordable solar lanterns. Founding this company was instrumental to many other achievements such as realizing my dream of speaking on a panel with the UN Secretary-General and Nobel Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus at the Rio Summit in 2012, but the lantern also led me to meeting the love of my life, Kito.

9)  What song can’t you get out of your head? 

The song I haven’t been able to get out of my head for the last few months is “River” by a French-Cuban duo of twin sisters who sing in English and Yoruba. Their late father was a member of Buena Vista Social Club. I discovered them a couple of years ago, as I love to explore the world through music and adore magical realism so present in Latin American culture. Their song reminds me of Brazil and of the Brazilian goddess of the sea, Yemenja whose legend came alive for me on my visit to Bahia. Brazil is a place where I feel very much at home because it is reflective of my own mixed Puerto-Rican/Iranian heritage.

10)  What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

The best piece of advice I ever received was to support other women as I advanced in my career. I forgot who shared these wise words with me but they stayed with me throughout my life. Thanks to this prudent advice, I always made an extra effort to look out for and nurture collaborative relationships with other women I worked with, mentoring them or trying to find ways for us to mutually reinforce one another’s goals. While sometimes things backfired for me, more often than not, lifting other women has helped me to soar and I am deeply thankful for all those who have helped me in one way or another along my path.

Check out Jill Van den Brule’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!