2022 GEA Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards

Daina Trout co-founded Health-Ade Kombucha in 2012 alongside her husband, Justin Trout, and best friend, Vanessa Dew to brew the best tasting and highest quality kombucha on the market.

Trout first learned how to make kombucha during her tenure at Tufts University, where she earned Masters’ degrees both in Nutrition and Public Health after receiving her BS from Georgetown University. During that time, she developed her personal philosophy that health is less about science, and more about what makes you feel good and happy.

Today, Trout taps into that philosophy as Chief Mission Officer where she leads Health-Ade’s mission-based initiatives and inspires employees and customers alike to tap into the power of their gut.

Ryan Wilson (C’12, L’15) is the co-founder and CEO of The Gathering Spot, a private membership network that serves as a hub for collaboration, connections and experiences; the Chief Community officer of Greenwood, a digital banking services platform for Black and minority individuals and businesses; and a principal at A3C, a music, tech and film conference and festival.

At the age of 24, with a mission to create a world where opportunity is the byproduct of community and collaboration, Ryan and his business partner raised capital to open their first Gathering Spot location in Atlanta. The club has since established itself nationally as a home for creatives, business professionals, and entrepreneurs, and regularly hosts notable and culturally impactful events. Responsible for the company’s overall management and strategic vision, Ryan has led the club’s physical expansion with location openings in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, and launching of membership communities in New York City, Detroit, Charlotte, Houston, and Chicago; as well as the digital expansion of the company’s platform TGS Connect.

In 2022, The Gathering Spot was acquired by Greenwood, Inc, creating the largest fintech and community platform for Blacks and minorities with a combined community of over 1 million people. The companies share a mission of closing the wealth gap for minorities through community building, entrepreneurship, group economics and wealth building. This partnership represents a historic move as one of the few black-on-black M&A transactions at scale.

Ryan has been honored as the Small Business Person of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, was selected as one of the 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 under Forty honorees and one of their 100 Most Powerful leaders, was named one of Goldman Sach’s Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2021, and was selected for the inaugural class of Shea Moisture's Social Justice Coalition. The Mayor of Atlanta honored Ryan and his business partner with the prestigious Phoenix Award, the city’s highest honor. Atlanta Magazine named him one of “Atlanta’s 500 most powerful leaders'' and he has also been named one of the country’s most influential African-Americans in The Root 100 and the Ebony Power 100.

Ryan has been featured in notable national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, Inc, The New York Times, Revolt, Black Enterprise, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Huffington Post, and USA Today. He is a trusted speaker and regularly moderates conversations with thought leaders and notable individuals ranging from political figures like President Joe Biden and Leader Stacey Abrams, to business pioneers like Thasunda Duckett and Ben Chestnut, as well as leaders in the entertainment industry including Will Packer, Gunna, Kelly Rowland, and Gabrielle Union. His work has led to several keynote presentations for various companies including Goldman Sachs, Delta, Google, Meta, Ford Motor Company, and Nike.

A native to Atlanta, Ryan is currently an active participant in several Atlanta civic and community organizations. He proudly serves on the boards of Usher's New Look, The Woodruff Arts Center, The Atlanta Business League, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Peace Preparatory Academy and The Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the 100 Black Men, Atlanta Rotary Club and has previously served as Co-Chair for Black Men Count Initiative of Fair Count. Ryan graduated from Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center where he proudly serves on the Board of Regents. He currently resides happily in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and two children.

Since joining Battery Ventures in 1998, Michael has made, or managed, multiple investments spanning the enterprise software, financial-services and technology-enabled business-services markets. Currently, Michael serves on the boards of AuditBoard, CarNow, Cube Software, Diametric Capital, Hummingbird, Istra Research, Joor, KeyMe, Kojo, Mews, MX, Newforma, Nitro Software (ASX: NTO), Obie, Quinyx, ServiceTitan, Shippeo and Vidyard. Michael is also a board observer for GetYourGuide, NorthOne, Next Insurance and Xenex. Michael has also made seed investments in Fulcrumpro, LMX Labs (acquired by Coinbase) and Check Technologies since 2020.

Michael was previously involved with Battery’s investments in Bonfire (merged into GTY Technology, NASDAQ: GTYH); Digby (NASDAQ: PHUN); ExactTarget (NYSE: ET, acquired by Salesforce.com); IDI Direct Insurance (TASE: IDIN); J. Hilburn; JAMF (acquired by Vista Equity Partners); Mendix (acquired by Siemens); MRU Holdings (NASDAQ: UNCL); Neolane (acquired by Adobe); Panjiva (acquired by S&P); Precidian Investments; Q2 Holdings, or Q2ebanking (NYSE: QTWO); RiskIQ (acquired by Microsoft), TradeKing (acquired by Ally Financial) and VNDLY (acquired by Workday).

From 1996 to 1998, Michael was a member of the high-technology group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked on debt and equity financings as well as mergers and acquisitions. Previously, he was a financial analyst within Goldman’s financial-institutions group. There, he focused on mergers and acquisitions within asset management, insurance, specialty finance and retail/mortgage banking. Michael graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a dual BS in finance and international business. Michael also served as the chair of the National Venture Capital Association for the 2021-2022 term.

Bradford “Chip” Malt (C’10), Co-Founder and CEO of Austin-based cookware darling Made In, was drawn to the industry from an early age, admiring the restaurants and chefs that made his childhood home in Boston so memorable.

After starting his own web design company in college, Chip, a business mastermind, moved to NYC to work the trade floor for an investment bank but soon realized his passion toward taking a more entrepreneurial direction with his career. In 2017, Chip teamed up with his longtime best friend, Jake Kalick, to combine their expertise in business and hospitality to launch Made In. Chip and Jake’s shared passion for premium cookware led the duo to travel the world going everywhere from rural Tennessee, to the picturesque French countryside in search of the world’s most talented artisans to craft their products.

Now, Made In products are relied upon by some of the country’s most notable restaurants, purchased by top-tier chefs, and can be found in Michelin-star restaurants Alinea, Le Bernardin, Osteria Mozza, as well as Fairmont Hotels, Wynn Casinos, and many more. Their nimble direct-to-consumer (DTC) model allows Made In to provide the most enjoyable and high-quality experience to consumers and chefs alike.

Chip graduated from Georgetown University in 2010 with a dual major in computer science and economics where he participated in the Baker Scholars Program and was a four-year letter winner on the baseball team.

Melissa L. Bradley is Founder of 1863 Ventures, a business development program that accelerates New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. Melissa serves as General Partner of 1863 Venture Fund, Venture Partner at NextGen Ventures and serves as an advisor to Reign Ventures, New Voices Foundation, as well as the Halcyon Fund. She is also a member of the Milken Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Asset Management Initiative, Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women Advisory Council, Launch with GS Advisory Council, Fast Company Executive Board, Square & Forbes Small Business Advisory Team, as well as the Target Accelerators Entrepreneurs Advisory Council. Melissa is former Co-Chair of the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was named one of The Most Entrepreneurial Women Investors in 2018.

Melissa is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies, and innovation. Over the last two years, she was commended with the Peter W. Gonzalez, Jr. Award for Excellence in Adjunct Faculty Teaching and The Ideas Worth Teaching Award which celebrates exceptional courses that are preparing future business leaders to tackle society’s largest challenges and create a more inclusive, just, and sustainable version of capitalism.

Melissa's educational background includes graduation from Georgetown University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the School of Business and a Master’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing from American University in 1993.

Joe Baker (C’98)

Joe Baker is the founder of Ole Smoky Distillery, the largest craft distillery in the U.S. He began the company in 2010 in his hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee using family recipes passed down from his ancestors who were among the earliest settlers of the area, now known as the Great Smoky Mountains.

In 2015, Joe expanded his interest in the beverage industry with the creation of Yee-Haw Brewing Company. During its short history, Yee-Haw Brewing Company has grown from a micro-brewery to a regional player in the craft beer world. Its flagship beer Yee-Haw Dunkel (Dark Lager) has been recognized as a winner of the prestigious World Beer Cup medal.

Prior to his career in the beverage industry, Baker served as an Assistant District Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. He also served as a United States Air Force JAG Officer assigned to the 134th Air Refueling Wing of Tennessee’s Air National Guard.

Best described as a serial entrepreneur, he currently runs a family office with interests in commercial real estate, hospitality, and entertainment. He is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Joe lives in Nashville, TN with his wife and high school sweetheart, Jessi, and their 3 children.

Jessi Baker (C’00)

Jessi Baker grew up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a small mountain community that serves as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and where her grandparents started Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen in 1950. Jessi recalls during her elementary school days, she would walk to the Candy Kitchen to work for her grandmother packing taffy and dreaming of running her own business one day.

After graduating from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Jessi returned home to Tennessee for law school and married her high school sweetheart, Joe Baker. She graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law and worked as assistant district attorney in Sevierville, TN.

In 2009, when the Tennessee legislature passed a bill that legalized distilling spirits, Joe & Jessi decided to follow his family's 230-year history of East Tennesseans and make moonshine. They launched Ole Smoky Distillery in 2010, and Jessi then stepped further into the distilling industry through founding the Gatlinburg Barrelhouse and its signature line of Davy Crockett’s Tennessee Whiskey. Ole Smoky acquired it as a logical step to broaden the brand to include an aged and flavored whiskey component. Their line of moonshine and whiskeys are now sold in all 50 states and 53 countries around the world.

Jessi embraced the many ways moonshine could spice up everything from canning pickles and okra to making cupcakes and cobblers a little bit naughty, and she authored Shining, the Ole Smoky Moonshine Family Cookbook. The book blends craft moonshine and Appalachia history with 65 family recipes (not all of them boozy) that have fed her family for generations.

Jessi lives in Nashville, TN with her husband Joe and their 3 children.

Sina Chehrazi (B’13, L’17) is an entrepreneur and business executive with experience across the various stages of the entrepreneurial process. Sina serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nayya, a platform that uses AI and data science to personalize the way people choose and use their benefits. Nayya’s patented employee guidance solution serves leading employers and HR platforms across the United States. Nayya has raised over $100M in funding, and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Sina is a graduate of Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, where he currently serves as a Member of the Board, and an alum of Georgetown Law. Sina began his career as an attorney and member of the New York State Bar. Thereafter, Sina has been actively involved in building and scaling healthcare data technology businesses in New York. He currently services as a Mentor for the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York City, where he was formerly an Entrepreneur in Residence.