Pedro Night is the Chief of Operations and Music Director of ADOBO. A Nicaraguan DMV native, he is already a veteran in the DC music + nightlife industry, having served the area in several different capacities. Apart from assuming the day-to-day tasks of ADOBO, he is an open-format DJ, often seen performing at some of the area’s best parties. Pedro’s main goal is to put Latin culture on a pedestal in the United States, and looks poised to accomplish this through ADOBO.
Paul Lachelier is a sociologist, and founder and director of Learning Life, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit lab innovating education and citizen engagement. Learning Life’s flagship program, the Family Diplomacy Initiative, is developing a family form of citizen diplomacy to help democratize diplomacy. Paul holds a B.A. in sociology from Georgetown University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before founding Learning Life in 2012, he taught at Stetson, Harvard, Tufts and the University of Wisconsin. Paul’s writing, research and programmatic work focus on the intersection of democracy, culture and education. His writings have appeared in academic journals as well as popular media including the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Albuquerque Journal, and truthout.org. More at Paul’s Linkedin page and his website.
Patrick is a venture capitalist and the author of Fear of Missing Out: Practical Decision-Making in a World of Overwhelming Choice. Patrick coined the term FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), as well as the related term FOBO (Fear of a Better Option) in a 2004 article in the student newspaper of Harvard Business School. FOMO has since been added to the dictionary and FOBO has become an increasingly popular framework to describe choice paralysis. He has been featured in The New York Times, Politico, The Financial Times, The Guardian, and Inc, and gave a popular 2019 TED Talk on FOBO and decision-making that has surpassed 1.5 million views. Originally from Maine, he has visited 103 countries and now lives in NYC. More at patrickmcginnis.com.
Pam Hill, founder and CEO of My Smart Cousin, is a real estate investor who owns 25 properties and 31 units, all purchased for the price of a car, and in some cases, a bicycle, at $2,500 to $35,000. Pam began her real estate investment career ten years ago during the Great Recession, as a side hustle while working as an executive at an electric utility company. Since then Pam has become the ‘Smart Cousin’ to everyone in her family with personal finance and real estate advice, as well as a real estate investment coach, teaching others how to buy their first or 101st property for the price of a car. Pam received her Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College and her Masters degree from Harvard University. Pam coaches her clients in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, Chinese when required, as a graduate of Johns Hopkins’ Chinese studies program in Nanjing, China.
Philipp is the founder and CEO of cherrydeck.com, a marketplace for brands that need to find experienced photographers and videographers. Clients include companies like Google, Adobe and Four Seasons Hotels but also small brands around the world. His team is based in Hamburg, Berlin (Germany) and Ljubljana (Slovenia). Philipp has over 10 years of experience in investor backed startups and as a founder.
Paula Orezi is the Author of a motivational poetry book titled: From Me to You and Co-Author of the #1 International Best Selling book: Experts & Influencers: Women's Empowerment Edition. She earned a Master’s in Business Leadership from Huizenga School of Business at Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management from Palm Beach Atlantic University. She has a passion to speak and help people get inspired to make a change that will create a positive and win-win outcome. Her experience includes mentoring others and leadership development. Her messages are for business-minded professionals or anyone wishing to start their own business and need help to overcome mindset beliefs, being organized, and conducting sales through relationship-building.
Patrick Moran is a Yale-educated social entrepreneur who has committed himself to strengthen his community and fight climate change through business. Patrick owns and leads Tactical Land Care LLC (TLC) that provides stormwater management solutions and sustainable landscape improvements to residential and commercial properties throughout the DC-metro area. He is a dedicated community volunteer who is serving his second term as Chairman of the Alexandria Citizen Corps Council (CCC), where he spearheaded the unanimously adopted ResilientALX Charter by Alexandria City Council aimed at holistically improving the resiliency and preparedness of the City residents, businesses, and organization, in collaboration with its neighbors. He is a member of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and has supported the Alexandria Health Department's Covid Relief efforts. Patrick served on the Steering Committee for the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria where he has sought to address healthcare inequalities and social equity issues. Patrick is running for City Council in this upcoming June 8th election where he hopes to continue his efforts to strengthen communities and address gaps for all Alexandrians.
NoMan Hat Co. was founded by Raymond Metzger and Philip McNair after the two had a vision of expressing their creativity and love of art in the form of hat making. The two trained under a highly-skilled milliner in New York City before launching the company in October 2019. By trade, Ray is a Physical Therapist and Phil is an Engineer. The two are both close friends and brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
