Melissa Fensterstock aspires to help shape the future of human and planetary health. She has interests in frontier technology, helping early-stage companies translate innovations from academic settings to commercial scale.

At Material Impact Fund, Melissa brings a unique mix of scientific and business acumen applicable at both the strategic and tactical levels and has a passion for developing and commercializing early-stage scientific innovations. Most recently led MI’s investment in Ripple Foods and has joined the board. Melissa has enjoyed an extensive career as an operator. As CEO of Landsdowne Labs, a spin out from MIT co-founded with Robert Langer, Melissa transformed an academic concept to market-ready status that included executing a global partnership with one of the world’s largest metal and mining companies, received an NSF grant, raised venture capital investment, and was involved with developing legislation around child-safety. Previously, Melissa worked across the life science sector ranging from running corporate development for a publicly traded biotechnology company, to consumer product leader, to spinning out therapeutics companies from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University.

 

As an XIR at Digitalis Commons, Melissa advises innovators working on early-stage health technologies to ensure discoveries are best aligned to make it from bench to bedside. She is an and active advisor to ARPA-H of >$150M of BREATHE funding. She is currently working to advise ARPA-H on how to translate their programs into health solutions for all. Beyond serving as an XIR at Digitalis Commons, she has held executive in residence positions at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Yale University, and Climate Haven. She is a Trustee of Connecticut Public.

 

In her free time, Melissa enjoys reading, painting, blind wine tasting, and culinary travel adventures. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.

 Jaja joined 25madison in February 2022 to invest in early stage companies for the 25madison Ventures Fund. She is looking for obsessive founders who are building products that customers are obsessed with.

She studied Molecular Biology at Yale, but found her true passion in tech. Before 25madison, she was an early stage investor at Headline (fka e.ventures) in San Francisco, where she led investments in primarily healthcare, consumer, and SaaS. Jaja started her career at Google and has also worked at Clover Health, Rainfall Ventures, and TikTok, where she was the 10th US employee.

Jaja was born in Taiwan, but grew up in the US. She is very passionate about protecting democracy, freedom of speech, and human rights. 

Elise is a Managing Director at American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Venture Fund, a Series A/B fund investing in companies addressing healthcare for women. Prior to joining AHA, she spent four years at Human Ventures—a pre-seed and seed-stage fund—where she worked in the venture studio and investment team. Elise started her business career at Oxeon working in both its venture studio and executive search divisions. 

Elise’s first career was a professional dancer for the modern dance company Jennifer Muller/The Works. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, and is actively involved in the organization for women in VC–All Raise.

Heather Hartnett is Co-Founder and General Partner of Human Ventures, a leading New York-based venture studio and early-stage fund, where she has driven investments in over 65 companies across Digital Health, Future of Work, and AI, including Current, Headspace, and Tia Health. As one of NYC’s first female VC fund managers, she pioneered women’s health investing—helping catalyze what is now a $2.5T industry.

Under her leadership, Human Ventures has capitalized on overlooked market opportunities and built category-defining companies through deep network connectivity and operational support. She believes human-driven capital generates outsized returns by backing founders building technology that serves humanity.

A Kauffman Fellow named among Entrepreneur’s 100 Women of Influence, Heather serves on the David Lynch Foundation board and advises leading global family offices on human-centered investing strategies. She is a frequent speaker at conferences including TechCrunch Disrupt and Fortune Brainstorm Tech, and regularly contributes thought leadership to Forbes and Fast Company on the future of venture capital.

Ashley Ryder is a Partner at VamosVentures, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in diverse teams across Healthcare, FinTech, Future of Work, and Sustainability. She’s led some of the fund’s top deals including Fundamental Research Labs, Clarity Pediatrics, and Handspring Health. 
 
Ashley began her career at Morgan Stanley in Capital Markets before taking on strategic roles at Y Combinator startup Shoptiques.com, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Estée Lauder where she helped build innovative consumer technologies. Before joining VamosVentures, Ashley worked at funds such as Brand Foundry Ventures, Founders Factory, and Dorm Room Fund where she focused on the Commerce, FinTech, and Healthcare verticals. 
 
She’s driven by the conviction that investing in overlooked founders isn’t only socially imperative – it’s financially astute. She’s passionate about building a more inclusive tech ecosystem and, given her work in the space, has won many accolades including NYC Fintech Women’s Inspiring Money Mover FinTech Female (2022), NextGen’s VC Rising Star (2022), Alpha Partner’s VC Rising Star (2022), Negocios Now’s NY Latinos 40 Under 40 (2023), and Forum Ventures’ Top Founder-First Investors (2024). 
 
She’s a proud Puerto Rican Turk, immigrant daughter, and native New Yorker. She holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.