Sumia Shaikh

Corporate Vice President, Head of Platform

2024 - Current

Head of Platform at New York Life Ventures

Strategy and Marketing Consulting

2024 - 2024

Consulted for several startups and accelerators in between roles

Marketing Director

2022 - 2023

Spearheaded the development and evolution of Visible Hands' brand strategy, resulting in 25K+ active followers and media coverage in renowned publications such as NYTimes, Fortune, Forbes, Boston Globe, and more Developed the strategy of marketing campaigns, brand activations, and product marketing for Visible Hands’ programming products, resulting in thousands of applications for programs targeting underrepresented founders for investments with partners Managed Visible Hands' internal and external communications, including website content, social media, email marketing, crisis communications, media relations, and press releases while taking a data-driven approach to grow our presence Led a small brand and marketing team while also serving on the leadership team Provided hands-on support to and advising our Digital Health, Caregiving, and Wellness portfolio companies

Chief Of Staff & Investor

2021 - 2022

Founding Chief of Staff at Visible Hands to our three General Partners and Co-Founders Joined full-time in March 2021 and helped launch key functions/initiatives including our brand/marketing, platform, HR, firm operations, and portfolio resulting in a $10.55M Fund I and investments into 90+ portfolio companies

Advisor, Ecosystem & Platform

2020 - 2021

Strategy Consultant

2020 - 2020

Consulted for Fortune 500 clients like Blackboard, McGraw Hill Education, 1-800-Flowers.com, Coca-Cola, and more on a range of innovation, product marketing, communications, consumer research, growth, and brand projects (via market sizing, competitive analyses, customer journey mapping, and brand and product messaging, etc.)

Vertex Innovation and External Research Manager

2017 - 2019

Internal innovation consultant who leveraged innovation management frameworks to conduct user interviews, identify business pain points, facilitate ideation sessions, and use data to identify, co-create, and drive global solutions across departments with senior leadership Designed multi-channel marketing plans, communication materials, and engagement surveys for VOICE, Vertex’s global innovation tournament; supported program management for the internal accelerator Ran multiple cross-functional programs and initiatives including global departmental off-sites, workshop facilitation, hackathons, and innovation events Launched a program to foster multidisciplinary knowledge exchange, break down silos, and encourage collaboration from R&D to Business Development by training internal experts to present complex topics in simple terms that reached 1,500+ Vertexians

Partnerships Development and Account Coordinator

2015 - 2017

Partnerships and program management for our mini-accelerator programs, grants, events, and relationships with corporate innovation teams, foundations, NGO, university, and government partners