Philly Tech Week 2019

Ben DiCandilo is the Marketing Manager for the Philadelphia Flyers. In his role,he oversees the team’s digital advertising strategys well as coordinates promotions, branding projects,and marketing initiatives. DiCandilo joined the Flyers organization in March,2018. He previously worked with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and ECHL’s Greenville Road Warriors.DiCandilo grew up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania and graduated from Boston University with a degree in Journalism. In his spare time, DiCandilo enjoys hiking, reading about history,and playing with his dog,Parker.

YaYa owns and operates Tiny Room for Elephants, a network of creatives that produces art and music experiences year round.

She is an Experience Producer and Partnership Expert who specializes in linking creatives with opportunity and brands with culture.

Her portfolio is diverse and contains a wide range of work for lifestyle brands like Champion, Sony, Live Nation and Red Bull.

YaYa's favorite past time is perusing the city in search of her latest "art crush"

David Dylan Thomas serves as Principal, Content Strategy at Think Company and is the creator and host of the Cognitive Bias Podcast. He has developed digital strategies for major clients in entertainment, healthcare, publishing, finance, and retail. A co-organizer of Content Strategy Philly, he previously consulted at the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy and is the creator, director, and co-producer of Developing Philly, a web series about the rise of the Philadelphia tech community. He has given standing-room-only presentations at TEDNYC, SXSW Interactive, UX Copenhagen, and the Wharton Web Conference on content strategy and emerging content trends.

Erika Guadalupe is a community organizer for immigrant rights and racial justice. Originally from Mexico, she has worked on local and national campaigns to end deportations and detentions since 2011. As the resident artist at Juntos, her work focuses on utilizing art as a tool for social change and leading art-based civic engagement projects to produce community owned images for rallies and campaigns. She has received numerous grants to support Juntos’ budding art program, including a fellowship through the Knight Foundation and the 2017 Leeway Transformation Award. Erika Guadalupe is currently the Manager of Community Programs at Fleisher Art Memorial and graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in Fine Arts. She joined the board in the summer of 2014.

Michelai Graham is a creative investigative and multimedia reporter. She completed her M.A. in journalism and public affairs with an investigative journalism focus in July 2018. Prior to graduate school, Michelai acquired a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in media & information from Michigan State University, where she served as co-writer during a study abroad program to India. She also serves as the chapter journalist for the Washington DC Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she is also an active member.

Owner of Family Tree Entertainment

“I’m passionate about getting my clients a fair shot at achieving their dreams. I work diligently to ensuremy rap artist get the same chances as any country artist and my R&B artist have access to the same tools and opportunities as a rock band”.

Michael “Blue” Williams, without a doubt, is an entertainment industry game-changer. With a management career spanning more than two decades, Blue has guided the careers of some of the biggest names in entertainment; Outkast, Nick Cannon, Eric Benet, Ceelo Green, Macy Gray, Nas, Faith Evans, Big Sean, just to name a few. He is also credited for helping to discover and launch the career of teen sensation Cody Simpson.

With Blue at the helm, artists have sold more than 50 million albums combined. Beyond music, Blue has created business opportunities that many artists only dream of. Whether it is helping to develop lucrative portfolios or expanding their influence across industries like television, film, fashion, and technology, Blue has earned the moniker, The Best Manager. His success, loyalty and out-the-box solutions are what make him the manager to call when artists are ready to take their career to the next level.

Success did not come easy for Blue and a career in entertainment wasn’t something he considered as a young man. He grew up on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, an area otherwise known as the birthplace of Hip Hop. It was a place where hanging in the park also meant watching Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh battle. While music was a natural part of his life, it wasn't where Blue saw his future. Instead, he attended Central State University with a goal of becoming a lawyer or working in law enforcement.

Blue didn't choose the music business; the music business chose him.

A chance meeting with Jodeci changed the trajectory of his life. He recalls, “We clicked so they invited me to come hang with them in Chicago and Detroit. Being backstage at the concerts, hanging in the hotel, all the excitement and energy got me hooked.” Being “hooked” turned into an opportunity to work as a “roadie” for Jodeci. That opportunity coupled with his persistence and dedication, landed him a series of promotions. He quickly rose through the ranks from “roadie” to road manager. Blue’s hard work also got him noticed by Queen Latifah’s manager and owner of Flavor Unit Management, Shakim Comper who hired him as manager. In that capacity, Blue worked with a variety of artists, managing their careers, creating partnership opportunities and developing tours. In an industry built on reputations and relationships, Blue created a name for himself and was promoted to President of Flavor Unit Management.

In 1995, while he was still with Flavor Unit Management, LA Reid urged him to meet Outkast, the meeting that eventually led to music industry history. Under Blue’s management, the once unknown southern rap group experienced a meteoric rise. He recalls, “With Outkast, I wanted to make them one of the best rap groups of all time. Then, I wanted to make them one of the best bands of all time. When they became the best rap group to receivea Grammy for Best Album, as well as the first to achieved Diamond status with the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, I knew Iachieved my goal.”

The success of OutKast led to his desire to branch out on his own. In 1998, he amicably parted ways with Flavor Unit Managementto create Family Tree Entertainment, a management company with an independent record label, as well as a film and TV division. In January of 2010, Blue forged a management deal with Primary Wave Music that allowed both companies to leverage the assets of the other. This partnership allowed Blue to expand the reach and effectiveness of his brand while creating additional revenue streams for Primary Wave Music. In September of 2011, Blue orchestrated the lucrative deal that merged Primary Wave Musicand Violator Records, creating Primary/Violator.

Blue partnered with Nick Cannon, the one-man entertainment mogul to create Ncredible Management & Brand Solutions, a full service management company with a record label and marketingarm. They are poised to make major waves and cause a seismic shift in the industry.

Passion mixed with the ability to make the impossible possible, means there are great things to come with Michael “Blue” Williams’ name on it.

As Director of Innovation at Independence Blue Cross, Michelle uses Design Thinking to help internal and external customers creatively solve challenging business issues. She is also an Assistant Professor at Temple University, where she teaches creativity and innovation in the Fox School of Business, and is the Associate Director of the Flinders project, leading an initiative to develop the innovation curriculum at Flinders University in South Australia. She loves helping people realize their creative potential and develop new ideas. She has her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and her master’s in Writing Studies from St. Joseph’s University, and will begin her Ph.D. in Creativity & Innovation this summer at University of the Arts.

When she’s not drawing flip charts and ideating, Michelle spends her time in South Philadelphia with her husband and three amazing boys, who do their best to exhaust her tireless energy.

Miracle Olatunji is an entrepreneur, student at Northeastern University, and forthcoming author of Purpose: How To Live and Lead With Impact. In high school, she founded OpportuniMe, an education startup that connects high school youth to summer experiential learning opportunities for passion, career, and self discovery. Through OpportuniMe, Miracle has helped hundreds of youth to find and apply to opportunities and is working to expand OpportuniMe's impact nationally. Miracle believes in the power of experiential learning and empowering youth to gain life skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, leadership experiences, and build their network. She is also the Director of Innovation at Thrive, an organization that empowers college students through financial literacy education and supports student-led entrepreneurial ventures in personal finance and financial technology. Miracle has been honored as a Young Global Leadership Scholar, Youth Entrepreneur Of The Year, a 40 Under 40 Woman To Watch, and a grand prize winner of the World Series of Entrepreneurship. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Thrive Global, Technical.ly, The Female Lead, and other publications. She previously served on the student advisory board of the Diamond Challenge, one of the world's largest entrepreneurship competitions for high school students and she continues to work with other organizations that empower future innovators and world-changers.