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May 11, 13 & 26
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What is Spark?
An event for marketing leaders in multifamily to share ideas, learn from respected business pioneers, and brainstorm new solutions to persistent challenges in the rental industry.
Speaker Highlights
Check out our lineup of innovative speakers who will be joining us to share their industry-relevant thoughts, ideas and inspirations.
2019 Speakers & Notes2020 Speakers & Notes
2021 Speakers & Notes
Debbie Sorkin
Debbie is the Senior Director of Design and User Research at Apartment List. She is passionate about making people’s lives easier, solving real renter pain points with clarity and delight. When not working, Debbie can be spotted with her two children and husband on “the island” (Alameda), typically drinking boba tea and biking to the nearest brewery spot.
Leo Gong
Leo is the Head of Product at Apartment List, where he leads the Product and Design teams in helping to connect renters with their future homes. Leo brings extensive experience in launching and scaling products that appeal to both businesses and consumers - his work includes Dropbox for Business, Evernote for Business, and Predictive Lead Scoring & Lead Generation at Everstring. Prior to Product Management, Leo was a management consultant at Bain & Company, founder of his own startup, and earned his B.A. at Dartmouth College.
Igor Popov, Ph.D.
Igor is the Chief Economist at Apartment List, where he leads the Research team in publishing original insights and analysis on housing markets. He designed and taught an undergraduate seminar titled “Housing, Neighborhoods, and Homelessness” at Stanford University. Igor’s research has been published in the American Economic Review and profiled in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, Marketplace, and Bloomberg. Prior to joining Apartment List, Igor worked as an economist and data scientist at Airbnb and earned his Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford University. Igor can be reached at ipopov@apartmentlist.com
Bob Holobinko
Prior to joining Rebel Gail, Bob spent two years as vice president of brand marketing at Gap where he led a world class global marketing team.
Prior to Gap, Bob spent 10 years at American Eagle creating omni-channel traffic and commerce generating campaigns. His depth of knowledge lies in the creation of immersive, 360-degree brand experiences that resonate with the target audience to cut through the highly fragmented digital space.
Bob takes a data driven marketing approach to be able to execute holistic, results-driven brand communications while maintaining the highest level of brand standards & consistency. He has personally overseen award-winning work that has been recognized by The Cassandra Report, Several Clio Awards and has been featured by The Today Show.
Grace Perry
Grace is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. She writes about about pop culture, LGBTQ+ issues, food and drink, health/wellness, and lots of other things. Her first book, THE 2000s MADE ME GAY, is due out in June 2021. It’s a humor-driven essay collection that interweaves personal anecdotes about growing up as a closeted Midwestern Catholic with reflections on 2000s pop culture. You can pre-order her book here!
Her work has been all over the internet, and she is a longtime contributor to The Onion, Reductress, The Takeout and Chicago magazine.
Andre Iguodala
Andre Iguodala, a 15-year veteran of the NBA, has made his mark as one of the league’s premier players. A three-time NBA Champion with the Golden State Warriors and one of the leaders of the Miami Heat team that played in the 2020 NBA Finals, Andre has also found success in the business world with entrepreneurial ventures in technology and e-commerce.
Known for his savvy business instincts, Andre has been at the forefront of venture capital and technology. He has invested in more than 50 companies through his firm F9 Strategies, including Zoom, Robinhood, Datadog, HIMS, Cloudflare, PagerDuty and Allbirds. Andre is an investor and a member of the Board of Directors for Jumia Technologies (NYSE: JMIA), a leading e-commerce platform widely considered the “Amazon of Africa.” He also serves as a Board Advisor at enterprise software company Zuora.
Andre is currently a Venture Partner at the Catalyst Fund, the venture capital affiliate of Comcast Corporation, which supports startups with founders from diverse backgrounds. He focuses on investments in companies founded by African American, Latinx and female entrepreneurs.
Andre has earned the reputation as a thought leader in sports, business and venture capital. He has been a featured speaker at events at Harvard Business School, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Pager Duty, AirBNB and Salesforce. Andre has served on the National Basketball Players Association executive committee since 2015, and currently acts as its First Vice President.
In 2017 Andre partnered with Bloomberg on the creation of The Players Technology Summit. The annual summit convenes top executives and leaders in the technology, venture capital and sports communities to exchange ideas and share expertise in an educational and empowering forum.
Andre’s memoir, “The Sixth Man,” was published by Penguin Random House in June 2019 and debuted at #6 on the New York Times Best Sellers Nonfiction list.
Drafted into the NBA in 2004, Andre has played for the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. During the 2017 championship run with Golden State, he established his legacy as a standout defensive force and indomitable “sixth man.” In 2015 Andre received the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. He was an NBA All-Star in 2012 and has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Team twice. Andre was also a member of the United States national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal both times. Andre played college basketball with the University of Arizona Wildcats.
Andre Iguodala and his wife and three children live in California.
Natasha Gaffoglio
Natasha leads global employee communication and engagement at Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, Calif. For more than a decade, Natasha has been driving business objectives and culture through inventive storytelling, innovative channels, and enriching engagement programs.With her team, Natasha is constantly coming up with ways to break through the noise and stay relevant by designing experiences and communication carefully crafted to deliver an on-brand experience. From the team members who cook and serve Taco Bell’s craveable food in restaurants, to corporate employees, to the300+ franchise organizations that own and operate Taco Bell restaurants, Natasha’s team is passionate about meeting all of their stakeholders where they’re at to make their jobs easier, fun, and unique.
Prior to Taco Bell, Natasha managed internal communications for Sprint’s prepaid division. She also taught at theCollege of Liberal Arts at California State University, Long Beach.
Anjula Acharia
Anjula Acharia is the founder and CEO of A-Series Investments and Management. Acharia works as a talent strategist and strategic investor and advisor to a multitude of consumer tech and CPG startups, including two early stage investments which have grown into billion-dollar unicorns: ClassPass and Bumble. Her extensive portfolio includes The Muse, Hooked, Cue, Thrive Causemetics, Health-Ade Kombucha, Skinny Dipped, Mayvenn, Yumi, Bulletproof Coffee, FounderMade, Gobble, Pop & Bottle and, most recently, The Well.
An entrepreneur herself, Anjula co-founded DesiHits!, a digital entertainment platform in which she pioneered the merging of global cultures by introducing artists like Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and 50 Cent into India and returning the favor by launching Priyanka Chopra’s career in America. She is still Chopra’s manager to this day.
Luke Marklin
Luke is the Chief Executive Officer of Bellhop, a venture-backed startup revolutionizing the traditionally low-quality moving industry through outstanding efficiency and customer care. He is a passionate leader dedicated to utilizing technology to build great businesses and teams.
Previously, he was a General Manager at Uber overseeing the operational success of the Southeast markets. Before Uber, he held positions in strategic planning at Emerson Electric Company and in project management at Barton Malow Company.
Luke received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor in Construction Engineering Management from Purdue University. His family is his primary passion, and he currently resides in Atlanta with his wife, Tara, and their sons, August, Victor, and Theodore. However, he also passionately rides the emotional rollercoaster of Boilermaker athletics every football and basketball season - Boiler Up!
Desiree Gruber
Peabody Award-winner Desiree Gruber founded Full Picture, a brand accelerator, content production, communications, and consulting services company now in its 21st year, with a passion to help her clients more effectively tell their stories and launch new ideas into the world. Gruber continues to evolve her mission of shaping zeitgeist-defining moments and reimagining how brands delight and engage global audiences in her work as an entrepreneur, business strategist, and venture capitalist.
Through Diagonal Ventures (DGNL), Gruber has embraced a preeminent role in developing and supporting female founders and C-suite executives. With a goal of creating real opportunities for women to achieve measurable success, DGNL invests in and architects transformational deals across the consumer, technology, and media spectrum in order to establish a legacy of female empowerment.
Among Gruber’s many accomplishments to date is co-founding the Project Runway television series. In addition to her Peabody Award, as executive producer of the groundbreaking show for 16 seasons, she received a GLAAD Media Award and earned 14 Emmy nominations.
A lifelong advocate for a more equitable and inclusive world, she proudly serves on the boards of UNICEF USA, Tech:NYC, and God's Love We Deliver, and was the recipient of UNICEF’s 2018 Spirit of Compassion Award. She is a member of the HydraFacial public Board and an advisor to leading organizations such as Anthos Capital, Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water, and Chegg.
Gruber lives with her husband, Kyle MacLachlan, and their son.
Brigette Muller
Bio Coming Soon
Tom Chomiak
Tom is a Chicago-based technologist and leader in Virtual Reality (VR). He is currently the CTO of LCP360, one of the largest Google photography agencies in the world. He is also the creator and co-founder of Panoskin, a premier virtual tour platform approved by Google Street View and responsible for creating over 10,000 virtual tours of businesses per month. To date, Panoskin has a network of 30,000 VR photographers in over 100 countries and has published more than 270 million scenes to Google Maps.
Tom has given talks at multiple Google Street View and MongoDB conferences. Prior to LCP360, Tom was the Application Architect at Hall & Partners and has had over 15 years of engineering experience across many industries.
In his spare time, Tom enjoys playing the guitar and biking with his wife and two daughters.
India Morgan Little
India Little is the Sr. Director of Social Media & Fan Engagement at ViacomCBS. Her team of producers, editors & platform managers creates all of the original content you see on the @MTV & @VH1 social handles.
Previously at Complex, she's also worked as a digital content consultant for brands like Nike & Adobe.
She lives in Brooklyn & likes to read YA novels.
Evelyn Rusli
Evelyn Rusli, is the President and Co-Founder of Yumi, a new venture-backed nutrition and wellness company for babies. Evelyn has spent more than a decade as a journalist, previously on staff at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times covering startups and innovation.
She was also formerly an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Social Capital Partnership, a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm.
Ms. Rusli graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English.
Lacey Hoff
Lacey fell in love with the idea of transporting guests into other worlds through physical spaces during her first job as a scrappy production assistant and later project manager with a museum-design firm where she learned everything from AutoCad to how to use a Hilti bolt.
After gaining international marketing and branding experience through stints with both Universal Studios’ Creative and Warner Bros., she combined her skillsets in Experiential Design. She went on to spend five years as the Design Director for an event agency in LA and NYC executing national events. With an intense passion to be back in the studio and to be “making,” she started Crush Studio in 2016 so that she could build a team focused on the design & production process.
During Covid, Crush has pivoted to include experiential gifting as well as set design and interior design into their portfolio. Crush has executed design projects for the Grammy's, Google Home, Dropbox, Marriott Bonvoy, as well as her favorite client, Apartment List.
When she isn’t rearranging the office, you can find her practicing Spanish, south of the border, preferably somewhere with salty air and big waves.
Boris Henriot
Boris holds a Master's in computer science and software engineering from France. Prior to ApartmentList, he helped technology companies from series B startups to multinationales in various ways, starting as a software engineer and quickly moving into Product Management working primarily on scaling marketplaces.
Most recently, he helped TripAdvisor build and grow their Experiences marketplace, growing supply 13X.
At ApartmentList, he leads efforts to grow and improve the Property sides of the marketplace while helping scale our internal systems.
Mary Dillon
Mary Dillon is currently a graduate student at Relay Graduate School of Education and a teacher resident at one of the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter schools in New Orleans. Mary Dillon graduated from Dillard University, a historically black college with a degree in Biology in 2019. She was the first in her family to graduate from college. In addition to her honor roll student status, she was also a research assistant for the Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation, a research program that encourages STEM students to explore their interests with professors, where she worked to address food deserts in New Orleans.
She has won a number of accolades, including The Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program scholarship, a generous scholarship awarded to students who show exceptional promise. The state of Louisiana named Mary All-State Honor Band on the saxophone. She is passionate about improving race relations in this country and believes her story can help contribute to the national dialogue.
Mike Magpayo
Mike Magpayo was named head coach of the UC Riverside men's basketball team on July 1, 2020 after being an assistant since the start of the 2017-18 season.
UCR's 57-42 win over Washington marked a number of firsts for Magpayo, including his first over a signature Power-5 opponent. It was his first win as a head coach, his first game coached on the sideline, and further, the first game coached by a Division I head coach of Asian American descent.
For his efforts, Magpayo was named the 2021 Joe B. Hall Award recipient, given annually to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.
He was promoted to Associate Head Coach after a 2019-20 season when he helped lead the program to a record-tying 17 wins. As defensive coordinator, Magpayo was able to push the 2019-20 Highlanders to the top of multiple national rankings defensively, including ranking in the top 10 in scoring defense, field goal percentage and defensive rebounding on their way to invitations to both the CBI and CIT.
Magpayo has also found tremendous success off the court, both as the CEO of a multi-million dollar real estate firm in Southern California for seven years, and as the founder and president of the Asian Coaches Association. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in business economics in 2001. He was also a Southern California High School basketball coach from 2001-2010 before starting his college coaching career.
Magpayo resides in Riverside with his wife Caroline, who is a UC Riverside alumna, class of 2011.
Kelis
Kelis is an American singer, songwriter, and chef. She has released six studio albums and studied as a saucier at the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu. Kelis has been recognized at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. Her musical output, both as a lead and featured artist, encompasses various genres—she has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including everyone from Pharrell Williams, Busta Rhymes and Pusha T, to electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Timo Maas, and Richard X, pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias and No Doubt and indie and alternative musicians including Björk and Dave Sitek. She has sold over six million records worldwide. Kelis' first cookbook, My Life on A Plate was released on September 28, 2015; Kelis describes it as "an exploration of tastes and cultures, and my experience as a chef, musician, mother, and wife". She is also the creator of a line of Bounty and Full, a line of sauces made with love and integrity.
Since January 2020, Kelis has been living on a working farm outside Los Angeles that she manages with her husband, when not performing around the world.
Tyrone Pool
Tyrone Poole, founder of NoAppFee.com, didn’t develop his concept in a sleek Silicon Valley incubator. He developed it in a Portland homeless shelter, as a resident. Nine years ago, while training to become a fireman, Tyrone suffered a serious leg injury that put him in a hospital bed for nine months and on crutches for nearly a year. Upon his release, he had lost everything. He was evicted, his car had been repossessed, and he had incurred over twenty thousand dollars in medical debt. After months of couch-surfing he found himself checked in to the YWCA homeless shelter. This is where NoAppFee was founded. He worked as a housing advocate for the shelter, whilst being a resident, to find low-income and homeless families’ places to live.
2021 Agenda & Speakers
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