Team

our Team

Ayanna Lott-Pollard

Executive Director

Ayanna Lott-Pollard

Executive Director

Prior to joining the Resilient Coders team, Ayanna worked as an operations consultant at Virtua Health System for eight years, where she opened and managed the 54,000 sq/ft health and wellness center and led 130 members of staff across operations, programs, human resources, client service, sales and facility management. She is an intrapreneur with more than 20 years of experience developing and executing strategic initiatives, fostering high performing teams, and cultivating key partnerships with internal and external stakeholders for companies such as the Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, Beach Advertising and the White House.

Leon Noel

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

Leon Noel

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

Leon Noel is an internationally recognized software developer and entrepreneur. Before joining the Resilient Coders team, he co-founded SocialSci, a scientific surveying company relied on by over 4000 academic institutions and held an associate position at Harvard University. Besides his lecturing work at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Business, and General Assembly, Leon has also worked with major brands to help train their engineering teams and bring new technology to market. When not training our workforce, Leon oversees the development of future Resilient Coders by sitting on the advisory boards of both Urban Science Academy and Dearborn STEM.

STEPHANIE CASTAÑOS

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

STEPHANIE CASTAÑOS

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Stephanie supports students and alumni in their job search and their careers post-program by offering professional development classes, managing events, and maintaining relationships with employer partners. In 2014, she immersed herself in the world of startups and tech innovation and has never looked back. Most recently, she joined the Board at The Majira Project, a nonprofit working on enabling growth for companies led by founders of color. She is passionate about fighting the racial wealth gap and the inequalities faced in the tech workspace. Her personal mission is to use business and technology for social good.

Lexi Marsh

PARTNERSHIPS LEAD

Lexi Marsh

PARTNERSHIPS LEAD

Lexi works with the Executive Director on expanding Resilient Coders’ employer partnerships. Before joining Resilient Coders, Lexi received training and certification in project management framework and interned at Jones Lang LaSalle as a Project Coordinator. While interning, she was able to use her technical skills to supplement her continuous social activist leadership within her community. Lexi’s dedication lies within creating equity in the professional world. Outside of Resilient coders, you can find Lexi catching up on unfinished books or in the kitchen trying out a new recipe.

Atiya Byrom

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Atiya Byrom

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Atiya Byrom is a creative, a writer, and inclusivity activist dedicated to helping bridge the wealth gap encompassing people of color communities. Prior to joining Resilient Coders as a Development Associate, Atiya was a student at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, completing her bachelor’s degree in Economics. Throughout her matriculation, Atiya made social justice and activism a priority in her endeavors in and outside of her studies, founding a college preparatory program and participating in registering voters in Georgia during the 2020 elections. As a member of the Resilient Coders team, Atiya is committed to combining her interest in tech with building equity in communities to foster impactful change.

ALEX SOTO

Expert in Residence

ALEX SOTO

Expert in Residence

Alex Soto is an educator, activist, and engineer passionate about bridging technology and social justice. To this end, he's the founder of Modos, a company that's addressing the digital health problems that have risen from the prolonged use of displays and creating digital devices that support users' overall well-being by integrating e-ink technology. Before Resilient Coders, Alex was a Computer Science Teacher at the Margarita Muñiz Academy, a dual-language high school in Boston Public Schools, and a Worker's Rights Organizer for the state-wide grassroots organization Centro Presente.

VONDS DUBUISSON

Expert in Residence

VONDS DUBUISSON

Expert in Residence

Vonds supports our students’ and alumni’s learning. They are a former lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Boston, alumnus of Resilient Coders, and teacher. Vonds is a software engineer who is passionate about social justice, a creative who centers community empowerment in their work, a collector and teller of stories, an unrepentant bibliophile, an artist who loves deeply and unapologetically, a visionary who studies and listens to what was, sees and struggles to understand what is, and labors to build what can be. Their life's work is a commitment to an endless process of growth, learning, and sharing.

Ellie Nguyen

Expert in Residence

Ellie Nguyen

Expert in Residence

Ellie is a software engineer, healing artist, and organizer who merges technology and art to uplift Communities of Color. As a Resilient Coders graduate, they went on to lead an employee resource group at Wayfair, supporting engineers from non-traditional backgrounds, before returning to RC to assist students' learning. With a heart for storytelling, Ellie crafts work that authentically reflects the strength, divinity, and joy of the communities they work alongside.

Erica Mendez

Expert in Residence

Erica Mendez

Expert in Residence

Erica is a creative and software engineer. She is an Expert in Residence supporting students in the classroom and is passionate about making education accessible to empower communities. Prior to Resilient Coders she was a first gen college student studying Biology which is where she was introduced to computer science. She later graduated from RC and worked as a software engineer for two years before returning to RC to support other folx breaking into tech.

Seth Villavicencio

Alumni Expert in Residence

Seth Villavicencio

Alumni Expert in Residence

Seth Villavicencio is a Resilient Coders alumni, creative writer and software engineer that believes that growing digital literacy through coding, will uplift our communities and bridge the economic gap. After graduating the bootcamp program, Seth joined Wayfair and currently works there as a Software Engineer II. Seth has been volunteering with Resilient Coders, HackDiversity, Code for Boston, and has taught several intro courses to CS at Harvard and at Boston Public Schools. Finally, Seth is completing his master's in Computer Science from the University Of San Francisco with a focus in Machine Learning. Seth will be working with Resilient Coders on our post-graduation program, as well as provide support to our alumni community.

Ernest Pough

Community Fellow

Ernest Pough

Community Fellow

Ernest, a member of the 2021B cohort for Resilient Coders, brings a wealth of diverse experience to the table. He served in the US Army for 11 years before transitioning out in 2022, and has worked in various industries ranging from security to logistics management in certain regions of Massachusetts. Throughout his professional journey, Ernest has consistently demonstrated a strong passion for helping others succeed and excel in their roles. He continues to volunteer his time to support underrepresented communities in breaking into the tech industry through organizations such as Resilient Coders and 100Devs.

Zikre Haimanot

Community Fellow

Zikre Haimanot

Community Fellow

Zikre is a Software Engineer based out of Boston MA. He graduated Resilient Coders as part of the 2020A cohort and has been working at Drizly since June of 2020. Zikre mostly works on developing backend functionality but still does a little frontend JS here and there. He has a wild German Shepard named Ruby, who turned 2 in December, and who keeps him busy. Most recently, Zikre won the Git-Commit - m - Award, which recognizes an ally whose energy and wisdom make Resilient Coders coalition stronger and push the movement forward. When his not volunteering or taking care of Ruby, you can find Zikre reading, going to a comedy show or out into the city to grab a drink.

our board

Chiderah Okoye

board

Chiderah Okoye

board

Chiderah has spent her career at the intersections of technology and grassroots mobilization. She serves as the Executive Director of the Venly Institute, a for-profit social enterprise initiative that helps small businesses compete more effectively against global ecommerce giants. An engineer by background, Chiderah has been a long time leader with the National Society of Black Engineers and a proponent for the role the organization plays in transforming the demographics of technology in the United States. She is the founding Co-Chair of the Affinity Leadership Consortium (ALC), an initiative that brings together diverse demographic professional organizations to advance the talent development, education, and economic outcomes of its member organizations. In recognition for her ongoing community-based efforts, Chiderah was selected by the World Economic Forum to join the Boston Hub of the Global Shapers in 2015. In February 2017 Chiderah was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to serve on the then newly commissioned Black Advisory Commission for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She currently serves on the board of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts.

David Delmar

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David Delmar

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David is a professional designer and interface developer with experience working with award-winning startups, as well as established brands. Before founding Resilient Coders, he was at PayPal, leading a cross-disciplinary team of designers and coders. They designed and built first-to-market digital advertising concepts for brands like Starbucks, Coke, FedEx, and Pepsi. He helped set up PayPal's startup incubator, Start Tank, and served as its UX subject matter expert. David believes in technology as an opportunity for real meritocracy. And he believes in the resilience of Boston's youth.

David Mendels

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David Mendels

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David Mendels has helped build and lead several of the most innovative software companies of the last 25 years. Most recently, he was CEO of Brightcove, the leading software-as-a-service online video platform, delivering over 200 years of video every 24 hours for over 2000 customers in 75 countries. Brightcove was also named Best Place to Work in Boston by the Boston Globe. Prior to Brightcove, he held multiple leadership roles at Macromedia and Adobe over 16 years, including leading the business units for technologies that had a fundamental impact on our experience of the internet include Adobe Flash and PDF. David also has roles as Board Member at Witness.org, advisor/mentor with Our Generation Speaks and as a member of the steering committee of the Movement Voter Project. David has a Masters Degree in Japanese Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Dunia Goncalves

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Dunia Goncalves

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Dunia wants to live in a world where education is an opportunity available to everyone, books come bundled with extra dark chocolate, and with a glass of wine, and there is a force field around her keyboard that repels cats and sticky baby fingers. With nearly 9 years of ESL teaching behind her, she gracefully took a nose dive into the technology field via Resilient Coders Bootcamp. She landed a job as a Frontend Web Developer at Everquote in Cambridge. With these new-found skills, she devotes time to personal development and mentoring new coders, even if remotely, on a daily basis. Dunia is a born and raised Bostonian, and now that The Tech Hub has migrated here, she would love to see a range of diversity showcased in the field. And as a Resilient Coders alumna, it is now part of her mission to help make that happen. When she’s not writing code, you can find her whipping up a yummy treat, reading a book imprinted with baby drool or taking a much-needed nap.

Ester Peña

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Ester Peña

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Ester is an accomplished technologist and values-led business leader, with deep experience building and leading innovative products and technology organizations. She currently serves as VP, Software Engineering at Travelers, leading a technical organization building the customer-centric digital insurer of the future; and as a Board Member of Resilient Coders, a charitable organization working for equity in technology by enabling underserved youth with tech skills and job placement. Most recently, Es was US CEO at Simply Business, a digital insurance brokerage and a Travelers company. There, Es launched several digital offerings, including an end-to-end quote/bind/issue system, online new business and service customer journeys, customer solutions center and marketing data warehouse. Previously, Es held the position of Chief Technology Officer at Kitewheel, a marketing technology startup, where they led the product and technical organization to launch products named 'Visionary' and 'Leader' by Gartner and Forrester respectively. Earlier in her career, Es was VP Product/Chief Architect at 89 Degrees, a customer engagement agency, developing solutions for brands including IKEA, Jeep, Godiva and Tribune. Ester Peña is a proud of alum of Brown University and Phillips Andover Academy.

Susan Benford

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Susan Benford

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Susan has been consistently unable to decide what she wants to do. She worked in Washington, D.C. for a lobbying group representing the pet industry, and for Vice President Walter Mondale; earned an M.B.A. and worked as a financial analyst at Intel; hired and managed a sales force in the computer software industry; served on the Boston Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, on the Foundation Board of the Massachusetts College of Art, and is now President of The Philanthropy Connection, a women’s collective giving group that has awarded $1.1 million to Boston area non-profits since 2013 (including $50,000 to Resilient Coders!). She is married, has two adult sons, and one spoiled golden retriever.

the team

our Team

Executive Director

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

PARTNERSHIPS LEAD

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Expert in Residence

Expert in Residence

Expert in Residence

Expert in Residence

Alumni Expert in Residence

Community Fellow

Community Fellow

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