These 25 Venture for America fellows just moved to Baltimore

Venture for America is kicking off its sixth cohort in Baltimore this fall.
The fellowship program connects recent college grads with entrepreneurial opportunities. Fellows work at local startups and companies for two years. Many also start something new, whether it’s a startup or an initiative to connect the community.
“Over the next two years, these Fellows will add value to their companies, connect with older Fellows and the larger Baltimore community and begin the process of launching their own ventures,” Josh Russakis, VFA’s Director of Baltimore, said in a statement.
This year’s class includes 25 fellows, which is up from 21 a year ago. It’s the second-largest local group so far. In all, VFA has placed 108 fellows in Baltimore since 2013, and more than half have stayed in the city. With the network effect playing out, the organization’s leaders frequently highlight the impact locally.
Before heading to Baltimore, members of the cohort participated in a monthlong startup bootcamp in Detroit, according to VFA.

Today we asked 200 recent grads from top US universities (Duke, Brown, Yale, Harvard, NYU, & more) in Detroit for a month of @venture4america training to raise their hand if access to public transit is vital when deciding where to live. Pic says it all.🙋🏼‍♀️ @CountyExecEvans pic.twitter.com/yc4VBGIJ9A

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) July 20, 2018

In the city, they help fill key roles at early-stage companies in the city. Members of this year’s class will be at early stage companies based in the city including Blispay, b.well, Balti Virtual, Protenus and PathSensors, among others.
VFA is holding an event to welcome the cohort members on Sept. 10 from 7-9 p.m. at Brown Advisory.
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Here’s a look at the new class, where they graduated and where they will work in Baltimore:

• Alison McShane, New York University, b.well
• Exia Burns, University of Pennsylvania, b.well
• Amir Patel, Cornell University, Blispay
• Shea Fallick, Emory University, Blispay
• Anand Macherla, University of New Mexico, T. Rowe Price
• Ben Boyd, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Greenspring Associates
• Charlie Beckman, Colby College, Greenspring Associates
• Cooper Temple, University of Arizona, PathSensors
• Serena Thomas, Johns Hopkins University, PathSensors
• Devin Ryan, Washington University in St Louis, Vigilant Medical
• Shawma Chun, Columbia University, Vigilant Medical
• Eric Zhang, University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Campus), Leverege
• Hannah Sloan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Leverege
• Marc Bielas, Yale University, Leverege
• Michael Wedd, Columbia University, Leverege
• Gabrielle Nair, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Protenus
• Lindsay Buckel, Boston College, Legends of Learning
• Mike Ong, Ohio State University (Columbus), Legends of Learning
• Monica Nimmagadda, Amherst College, Legends of Learning
• Micky Wolf, The University of Texas at Austin, Dent Education
• Hayden Cohen, College of William and Mary, Greenspring Associates
• Ollie Howie, Harvard University, Greenspring Associates
• Ralph Del Negro, University of Virginia, Sonavex
• Rebecca Lee, Cornell University, Rendia
• Yingying Yu, Brown University, BaltiVirtual