Startups

Technical.ly DC Diaries: Amelia DeSorrento, people strategy lead at Capital One

In the latest episode of our video series, DeSorrento talks about transitioning to the corporate world after building a startup, Hatch, for a few years.

(Technical.ly image)

Amelia DeSorrento first came to the District to participate in the Georgetown-based Halcyon Incubator program in the spring of 2015. There, she met her business partner, Param Jaggi, and the pair went on to launch Hatch, a five-year-old company with a platform to help organizations build, launch and manage apps without needing to write code.

DeSorrento stunned the #dctech startup community when she decided to leave Hatch last year to pursue other career goals. She has since transitioned into the corporate world and joined Capital One as a people strategy lead, where she’s helping to support the company’s product managers while developing their careers: She’s part of a team that’s helping launch internal apprenticeship programs, building up product colleges and more.

DeSorrento said she is constantly pulling from her startup mindset to pour into this position.

“We are building a lot of things from the ground up,” she told Technical.ly.

I got the deets on some personal and professional moves DeSorrento has been making as she’s been working from home through the pandemic. She is the most recent honoree from Technical.ly DC’s RealLIST Connectors interviewed for our video series, which features interviews with local founders, technologists and startup leaders. The conversations are hosted by me, Market Editor Michelai Graham, and explore various topics including how these folks got their start in technology or entrepreneurship and what keeps them going. See more episodes here.

Some aspects of working in the corporate world that DeSorrento is enjoying is the fact that she gets off work at a set time each evening, usually around 5 or 6 p.m.; she takes vacations now; and most importantly, she feels like she can invest in herself and her family more.

“I’ve been trying to answer the question of ‘what do I want to be when I grow up’ for like, ever,” she said. “You know, I’m still figuring that out.”

To hear more about how DeSorrento is navigating corporate work life and building a family, check out our interview below:

Here’s the audio version:

Watch our conversation here:

Companies: Capital One / Hatch

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