Our Team
Alexandra Bacchus | Consultant
Alexandra has spent her career working in partnerships and business development for venture studios and early stage startups. She has worked with innovation executives at Fortune 500 companies in the energy, mobility and materials spaces, using skills in research, strategy, and sales to help them achieve their innovation agendas.
In addition to consulting with Gray Ink, Alexandra works at Co-Created, a New York City-based venture studio that brings large companies looking to innovate together with experienced entrepreneurs and operators who are ready to start their next venture. She previously lived in Nashville through the Venture For America fellowship, which is focused on growing startup ecosystems in mid-size American cities.
Alexandra has lived in NYC, SF, Nashville, Paris and Connecticut… but NYC currently feels the most like home.
Sarah Cottee | Director of Consulting Services
Sarah Cottee has spent the past eight years in the philanthropic sector as a funder, a founder, and most recently at a tech4good non-profit focused on the Global Health space. Based in South East Asia for seven years, she worked at a private foundation and funded nonprofits working on healthcare and education; co-designing projects with grantee partners ranging from $500,000 to $3M and measuring long-term impact. She went on to run a multi-million dollar Global Awards Programme for a UK investment bank focused on finding high-impact social enterprises addressing SDG5.
More recently, Sarah founded a FemTech startup which successfully raised capital and is currently working in four countries with a multitude of partners, most notably UNFPA. Having had experience fundraising and creating partnerships on the non-profit side too, she has a holistic view of how the sector operates and how to design for inclusivity and success, and execute to ensure systemic change.
Sydney Gray, CFRE | Principal
Sydney Gray is an internationally recognized social entrepreneur and fundraiser. Over the last 15 years, she has honed her expertise in business development, systems engineering, impact investing and advancement, design thinking, and lean data. Sydney has raised $150 million in institutional and government funding with a proposal success rate of 65 percent.
Sydney has also built partnerships and launched joint annual events with key stakeholders in both local and international ventures including the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Small Business Association, MIT D-Lab, Harvard, Tulane, Nairobi University, Ashoka, the National Women's Business Council, the Delta Regional Authority, and Case Foundation. Sydney has taken the stage to speak on innovation in nonprofits and entrepreneurship for the World Water Forum in Brazil, SOCAP, universities in Pakistan, and at the United Nations.
Bridgette Ryan-Ortiz | Consultant
Bridgette is a communications and development strategist with a passion for empowering mission-driven organizations. With a focus on public health, Bridgette has worked with NGOs, nonprofits, and social impact groups for over eight years, helping them elevate their impact and tell the stories of their most vulnerable stakeholders. Armed with a degree in English Literature and expertise in human-centered design and community engagement, she is committed to building community-driven solutions.
Steffani Bangel, MPH | Senior Consultant
Steffani Bangel is a strategist, community organizer, and leader with a passion for resource mobilization. For over fifteen years, Steffani has worked to advance reproductive and social justice in New Orleans, with work that has spanned fundraising, radical movement building, meaningful community engagement, capacity building, nonprofit leadership, and strategic storytelling for change. As a lifelong advocate and creative writer, she is skilled at connecting organizations to opportunities, and perfecting the stories we tell to illustrate impact.
Steffani holds a master of public health in health behavior from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health, where she has also served as an adjunct instructor in the Public Health Leadership Program, and a bachelor of arts from Tulane University.
Tina El Gamal | Senior Consultant
Tina is Chicago born, raised, and based fundraising professional and artist. They have years of experience in the nonprofit arts sector as a development professional, educator, community organizer and executive leader. In her time as an arts administrator and community organizer she has overseen strategic planning, governance design, prospect development and analysis, revenue generation, individual fundraising and grant writing for organizations of various sizes and life stages.
In addition to her work as a fundraiser, she works as an actor and director in Chicago and across the US. She understands the infinite power of meaningful storytelling and relationship-building, which is the core of her work as a theatre artist and informs her approach as a consultant. She graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Theatre. Tina was featured in New City Mag’s Player’s 50, 2022.
LaTierra Piphus | Consultant
LaTierra Piphus is a self-identified Womanist-Marxist with a decade worth of advocacy and grant writing experience. A Midwest-native, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin with her B.A. in Communication, minor in Women, Gender & Sexuality studies and acquired dual certificates in Community Based-Learning and Media Literacy.
Since her relocation to the South, her primary focus has been accessing and redistributing resources to grassroots organizers and creating opportunities for cooperative development in alignment with Social and Solidarity Economy values. She currently honors her calling through her work with the Womxnist Liberation Collaborative, The Womanist Working Collective and her grant writing.
Lauren Schwartz | Senior Consultant
Lauren brings over a decade of expertise in the nonprofit sector, specializing in strategic fundraising, donor engagement, and organizational leadership. With a proven track record at organizations like University of Pennsylvania Hillel, UJA-Federation of New York, OneTable and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF), Lauren has spearheaded comprehensive fundraising efforts that resulted in increase in revenue and diversified revenue sources. Her strategic acumen spans grants, major gifts, grants, and planned giving, ensuring sustainable funding streams for organizational growth.
Lauren excels in building collaborative, high-performing teams and nurturing donor relationships that create lasting impact. Passionate about creating equitable environments and inspiring change, Lauren continuously seeks innovative solutions to advance nonprofit goals. Lauren earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a specialization in Social Stratification. With a proficiency in various fundraising technologies, she offers a holistic, human-centered and data-driven approach to philanthropy.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys traveling with her partner, spending time with her Shih Tzu, hiking, reading, and the arts.
Marcia Brevard Wynn, PhD | Consultant
Dr. Wynn brings over 16 years of extensive experience in the nonprofit sector that includes leadership, major gifts acquisition, and grant writing, research, prospecting, reviewing, and management. She has also been deeply involved in program evaluation, design, and planning. Throughout her career, she has partnered as a consultant/contractor with a diverse array of nonprofit organizations, ranging from faith-based and educational institutions to hospitals, national organizations, and grassroots community groups. She has worked with these entities to raise $37 million. Marcia also has ten years of experience as an Assistant Professor of Human Services at Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL.
Originally from Camden, South Carolina, Marcia is now based in Riverview, Florida. She has a M.A. in Human Behavior & Conflict Management from Columbia College and a PhD in Human Services from Capella University. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and traveling.
Radhika Chadha, PhD | Consultant
Dr. Chadha is a scientist with over 10 years of experience in life sciences’ research. She is a seasoned grant writer and has spent over 8 years in writing, reviewing and submitting scientific proposals for academic researchers and pharmaceutical industry clients to government agencies and private foundations.
Radhika is based in Utah and graduated with a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She grew up in New Delhi, India and after completing her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology, she moved to London, UK to complete a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. She loves traveling, hiking and Bollywood dancing.
Phoebe Fox | Executive Assistant
Phoebe Fox is an arts professional with eight years’ experience as a casting associate, artistic agency assistant, writer, director, sexual health and violence educator, and performance artist. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Phoebe relocated to Chicago where she earned her B.A. in Theatre and Gender & Sexuality Studies from Northwestern University. Phoebe’s primary passion and work to date centers storytelling as a mode of connection and social change.
Shyla Rivera, SHRM-CP | Director of Finance & Operations
Shyla is a seasoned Professional with over 20 years of leadership experience in operations, human resources, finance, and administration across nonprofit, corporate, and small business sectors. She specializes in aligning people, processes, and performance to drive operational excellence, workplace culture, and organizational growth through change management initiatives, organizational development strategies, and leadership development planning. With a people-centric philosophy, Shy is passionate about fostering inclusive, equitable, high-performing teams that deliver impactful results. She is a career coach and youth mentor.
Shy holds a BS in Business, Management, and Economics from Empire State University and an Executive MS in Human Resource Management from Baruch College. She has certifications as SHRM-CP, Certified Diversity Professional, and Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional.
Born in Puerto Rico, Shy is fluent in Spanish and currently resides in Kissimmee, FL. She loves traveling with her sons, cooking, reading, and watching musicals.
Claire Siemietkowski | Senior Consultant
Claire is a nonprofit professional passionate about building partnerships to create a more equitable world. She has experience providing fundraising, operations, grants management, and executive support to impact-driven organizations. Claire's strategy and workstyle is informed by her experience across a variety of sectors, including healthcare, health equity, international peace and security, international development, the Sustainable Development Goals, arts and culture, and education.
Claire has worked with healthcare organizations to address social determinants of health needs and advance racial justice in maternal health and health equity in local communities. She has worked with UN agencies, private foundations, and government funders to support initiatives around energy and climate, global health, sustainable food solutions, equitable data access, disaster relief, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Claire has also fundraised for film and performing arts festivals, as well as youth education programs.
Claire is based in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Economics and French.