Meet Our Team
Blackstone LaunchPad’s professional staff, venture coaches, students and volunteers make up a talented team whose expertise and cross-disciplinary knowledge will help you set your ideas in motion.
Professional Staff
Gabriella Cilento
Operations and Programming Lead
Nora Patwell
Marketing Grad. Assistant
Venture Coaches
Mirka Arevalo
Mirka serves as the lead venture coach in Blackstone, in essence, she provides one-on-one mentoring to entrepreneurs in our start-up community. Her undergraduate academic background is in aerospace and mechanical engineering while she currently is pursuing her master's in engineering management. Mirka describes herself as a creative problem solver, so if you have any concerns from pitching, prototyping, marketing, or anything else, she is here to help however she can.
Arnav Matta
Arnav is an individual whose worn many hats from his professional experiences, to his educational explorations. As a venture coach he comes from an engineering heavy background and brings his passion to learn all things to help students from a diverse field of interest and operations. His love to help others and passion to bring new technology and ideas in this world is what lead him to pursue an entrepreneurial journey himself as he has co-founded multiple ventures and enjoyed successes in Competitions events through Blackstone. He will be graduating this year and wishes to continue working with startups and help them scale and impact people.
Sirawar Matin
Hi! I'm a first year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) student here at UB. I love helping students with their pitch decks and helping them craft the perfect story. I'm also interested in real estate development, and hope to contribute to my community through a combination of my interests/skills.
Venture Coaches
Our venture coaches are ready to help you with one-on-one mentoring and support to help move your idea forward.
Student Assistants
Hi, I am a senior who is currently Director of Recruitment for UBMA, a Freelance DJ, and a Writer for The Spectrum. When I graduate I want to work in music, entertainment, media, politics, activism, humanitarianism, investment, real estate, journalism and start my own business(es).
I am a junior student at UB, majoring in Fine Arts, with a communication minor. Currently, I am a graphic designer for Blackstone LaunchPad at UB, and I am also involved in the Honors College. I am a College of Arts and Sciences Ambassador and a Honors College Ambassador, as well.
Experts In-Residence
Experts In-Residence
Schedule a meeting with one of our Experts In-Residence. These individuals are representatives of businesses specializing in software design, e-commerce, digital marketing and more!