CHELSEA BROWNRIDGE, Chief Executive Officer
Born and raised in Charlotte, NC, Chelsea attended UNC at Chapel Hill, where she earned a BA in Economics and co-founded the Carolina Microfinance Initiative. In 2011, she relocated to New York City where she earned her Masters of Public Administration from NYU. Prior to founding DogSpot, she worked in operations and project management at Ashoka and SYPartners, whose missions orient around social impact, innovation and entrepreneurship. Then, in partnership with The Huffington Post, Chelsea co-founded Ignite Good, a nonprofit focused on grassroots movement-building. While attending graduate school and working at Ignite Good, Chelsea rescued her terrier-mix Winston. With Winston as their inspiration, Chelsea and her partner Todd Schechter dreamed up DogSpot together in 2015. They won financial support from several pitch competitions, including the Brooklyn Public Library PowerUp! Business Plan Competition, the Frontier Tech Startup Showdown, and the National Hardware Cup. They also received support from the NYCEDC Futureworks program and the Urban Tech Hub program at New Lab. Chelsea currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner, Todd, and her muse, Winston. She is an advocate for rescuing dogs, a secret fan of country music, and a frequent visitor to Prospect Park with her family.
TODD SCHECHTER, Chief Operations Officer
A born-and-bred New Yorker, Todd grew up on the Upper East Side and attended Horace Mann through high school. He has two BS degrees from the University of Wisconsin - one in Communication Arts with a focus on Radio, TV & Film and the other in Theater & Drama. Returning to NYC in 2003, Todd worked as a television documentary producer on independent projects exploring diversity, reconciliation, and global issues. His interest in culture and social change led him to NYU Wagner earning a Masters in Public Administration. Todd’s career ventured more and more into the nonprofit world, leading to projects with Criterion Ventures, New American Tavern, PurposeFuel, until his path crossed with Chelsea Brownridge at Ignite Good… The rest is history. In addition to his work at DogSpot, Todd enjoys spending quality time with friends, taking long walks around the city with his dogs, and hanging with his nephews.
ALEX TOSTI, Chief Design Officer
Originally from Seattle, WA, Alex first left home to earn a BA in Philosophy from Santa Clara University. Post-college, she traveled and volunteered throughout Ireland, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Once back in Seattle, she started a photography and branding consulting firm that she ran for 5 years, focusing the last couple of years on providing design work to international non-profit Construction for Change. In 2012, Alex moved to NYC where she attended the Parsons School of Design and earned an MFA in Design & Technology. Post-graduation, she continued as an adjunct faculty member at Parsons while co-founding Blink Blink, a tech company focused on getting more girls interested in engineering. Alex is passionate about the intersections of philosophy and technology, especially how people interact with technology, and finds herself drawn to companies where she can bring her creative problem solving skills and Design Thinking approach to complicated user experiences. Outside of work, Alex enjoys painting, cooking, and biking around Brooklyn.