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The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute is excited to introduce our inaugural cohort of Innovation Ambassadors — a dynamic group of student and recent-alumni founders ready to welcome their peers into NYU’s entrepreneurial community.
Innovation Ambassadors are the first friendly faces new founders meet. Drawing on their own Accelerator experience, they:
- Host weekly office hours for idea-stage founders.
- Spotlight Institute programs and deadlines in their schools.
- Lead workshops and mixers that strengthen NYU’s startup ecosystem.
- Serve as approachable guides for anyone curious about entrepreneurship.
Meet the 2025-26 Innovation Ambassadors and learn why they’re the perfect peers to help you launch!
Anastasia Dor (Tisch ‘24)
Anastasia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mentivista, an edtech startup reimagining training for beauty and wellness businesses. With over 15 years of global experience in business and education, including five years managing a licensed vocational school, she combines deep industry knowledge with a commitment to using emerging/interactive technology for inclusive learning.
A trained social scientist, Anastasia’s past research (CBS, NYU Stern) focused on diversity, creativity, and innovation. She earned her master’s degree in interactive media and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship (2024–2025) at NYU Tisch, where she supported a global graduate program in interactive media research and thesis development. Anastasia is an NYU Female Founders Fellow. In addition to completing the Launchpad accelerator, she led a team to the finals of the 2025 NYU InnoVention Competition and received the NYU Tandon Prototyping Fund grant.
Participated In: Startup Coaching, Startup Accelerator Program, Female Founders Fellowship
Asser El Ashwah (Tandon ‘26)
Asser is the Founder of Vitalis Regenerative Materials, a Bioblend device that is a surgical platform combining PRP with plant-based biopolymers in real time, creating regenerative gel patches. These patches adhere to tissues, enhance healing, and improve orthopedic outcomes, lowering costs, and streamlining regenerative tech within surgical workflows.
B.S/M.S Biomolecular science and Biotech & entrepreneurship with research at NYU Langone’s Stem Cells, and startup experience in biotech competitions and accelerators. Expertise in biomaterials, and tissue engineering backed by industry advisors.
Participated In: Startup Coaching, Tech Venture Program, Startup Accelerator Program
Dario Anaya (Gallatin ‘26)
Dario is the Founder of Pupil is an identity-driven college guidance platform that helps high school students explore colleges and careers with relatable near-peer mentors. By blending AI with live mentorship, it goes beyond test scores to focus on community fit, identity, and early exposure. Families often lack authentic, experience-based guidance, and Pupil fills that gap with its mentors and proprietary AI tool, MentorGPT.
Dario has experience at L’ATTITUDE Ventures ($100M+ fund) and Lightbank ($700M AUM), where he reported directly to Managing Partners. He has analyzed funding for tech startups at MIT Sloan and has been recognized on top Latinx founder lists. Dario frequently speaks at major universities on startups, EdTech, and capital allocation, and has served as a judge for Google for Startups.
Participated In: Startup Coaching, Startup Accelerator Program
Vihaan Agarwal (Stern ‘28)
Vihaan is a Co-Founder of Clique, an AI platform for developer facing startups that finds and engages in relevant developer conversations on Reddit, X, and Hacker News - helping teams build authentic awareness and drive adoption without doing it all manually.
Vihaan previously built and scaled products for underserved communities - like Vikaas, an app used by 125,000 villagers, and FlexComm, a stroke rehab glove. I’ve led engineering for nonprofits, worked on sustainable tech, and built MVPs while talking to users to find what works.
Participated In: Startup Coaching, Startup Accelerator Program
