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After months of building a concept into a plan for a full-fledged project to help Philly millennials get healthy, the Well City Challenge finalists finally got to pitch their ideas to the judges.
Who are these people separating the candidates from $10,000 to achieve their idea? Judges were chosen for their expertise in each of the three challenge categories: Community and Social Connection; Food and Nutrition; and Mind and Body.
Most of these judges have been in the position the finalists’ now find themselves — that of having to raise funds to get an idea of the ground. They’re CEOs and entrepreneurs, founders and community leaders.
Below, meet the judges who’ll decide which groups will score $10,000 and proceed into the accelerator phase of the challenge, which will provide hands-on advice to help get these projects off the ground.
Community and Social Connection Judges
Tiffany Newmuis, Senior Manager of Corporate Administration and Local Media Development at Comcast
Tiffany Newmuis has been working in community engagement and diversity for over a decade. In 2010, the Temple hospitality graduate became the program developer for the African American Chamber of Commerce, overseeing multiple programs, and then became the Director of Diversity at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. In 2015, she led local diversity and engagement work for the Democratic National Convention. In addition to her role with Comcast, she’s an adjunct professor at Montgomery County Community College.
Rakia Reynolds, Founder of Skai Blue Media
Rakia Reynolds is a producer-turned-entrepreneur who helped break the mold as communications entered the digital age. Before founding Skai Blue Media in 2011, Reynolds was an associate producer at Sri & Company, where she did work for MTV and the N. Now that she’s her own boss, she’s added many more titles to her resume. She’s a founding board member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Women in Film and Technology, and on The Arts and Business Council of Philadelphia and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications. We’re not done yet: Reynolds is also on the advisory board for Project Explorer and Tech Girls and is a contributing writer/editor for Marie Claire and Forbes.
Food and Nutrition Judges
Sue Daugherty, CEO at MANNA
After graduating from Immaculata University with a degree in nutrition science, Sue Daugherty started working at MANNA in 1999 as a registered dietician and nutritionist. Thirteen years later, she was appointed CEO, having helped shift the organization from providing help to AIDS patients specifically to assisting people with over 85 illnesses. She earned widespread recognition in 2015, when she co-authored a study that impacts nutrition policies nationwide. Daugherty serves as a co-Vice Chair of the national Food Is Medicine Coalition. She.
Kim Carter, Vice President of Partnerships at The Enterprise Center
Philadelphia is at the center of Kim Carter’s heart, and she strives to use her experience in financial matters to help others achieve. After graduating as an accounting major from Temple, she earned a master’s in business administration and management from Drexel, and went on to serve as a managing partner at Disasters Planning & Recovery, LLC. As VP at The Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia, her responsibilities include managing multiple programs, including community and small business initiatives related to the food industry.
Khoran Horn, Founder and CEO of Stripp’d Juice and Blvck
Khoran Horn graduated with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, but before he put it to use, he spent eight years working for Apple. In 2015, he achieved his dream of opening a restaurant with Old City’s Stripp’d Juice, which then expanded to Wilmington, Del.. In 2017, Horn co-founded Blvck, described as “a culinary collective for the culture combining food, design, visual arts and education to encourage dialogue and inclusion in our everyday worlds.”
Mind and Body Judges
Dr. Thea Gallagher, Assistant Professor and Director of Outpatient Clinic at UPenn
Thea Gallagher joined the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) at UPenn in 2014 after completing a clinical internship. At CTSA, she coordinates the OCD treatment study and serves as a study therapist and media coordinator. Her clinical specialties include Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD, Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention for OCD, and cognitive-behavioral treatments for social and general anxieties, panic disorder, and specific phobias. Gallagher completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Yasmine Mustafa, Co-Founder and CEO of ROAR for Good
After graduating with a degree in entrepreneurship from Temple, Yasmine Mustafa became a partner in the Philly marketing company Team and a Dream. She then founded 123LinkIt.com — and sold it to NetLine Corporation. Her knack for starting new organizations didn’t stop there; shortly after her first startup was acquired by NetLine, she founded Girl Develop It Philly. In 2014, she founded her current business, ROAR for Good, a women-led and mission-driven technology company.
Lauren Nestler, Chief Communication and Strategy Officer at PHMC
Lauren Nestler has over 15 years of experience working with corporate, non-profit, and start-up environments. Before joining the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, she was a founding member of the Take Care Health System. Her specializations are in mergers and acquisitions, internal communications and cultural integration. Nestler is also a Philadelphia Futures mentor, helping provide high school students from families with lower incomes the tools and resources to attend and graduate from college. She’s also the board president at The Caring Center, a West Philadelphia early childhood education center.
