Support for Local Manufacturers

Megan Fister joins SFMade as an Engagement Manager. She is a business operations and design expert with over twenty years of experience with startups and retail management, including numerous business expansions, new locations, and office layout designs and operations systems. She has also been a contract designer for nearly a decade.

In her spare time, Megan is a fine art painter and is included in private collections across the U.S. and in Europe.

Alix joins SFMade as Engagement Manager. He has over a decade of experience working in manufacturing, people management, and retail in Reno, Concord, Oakland, and currently lives in San Francisco. He is a specialist in the areas of account management, customer service, and IT.

Outside of work, Alix is a musician, enjoys puzzles, and loves bird watching.

Ryan De La Hoz joins SFMade as an Engagement Manager with over a decade of experience in soft and hard good development and production, administration, makerspace studio management, art education, and creative direction. He lives in San Francisco. Ryan is also an accomplished artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide and published by Juxtapoz, IdN, Tunica, Gestalten, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times.

Matt is an Engagement Manager for Manufacture: San Jose. As a San Jose native, Matt has a deep appreciation for the people, places, and businesses that make San Jose special. Leveraging his years of community engagement, account management, and sales experience, Matt finds joy building relationships that lead to mutual growth within the manufacturing community.

Outside of work, a music nerd, part-time maker, and lover of processes.

Patents are specialty, anyone who is inventing a new product or service that is not out there yet. Patent preparation, patent prosecution, patent procurements, trademarks, and copyright advice.

Gina offers her experience to manufacturers with issues such as: finding new/expanded production space, lease negotiations, subleasing, buying production space, construction, and help with the City’s zoning policies and Planning Department. Gina formerly worked at SFMade as the Director of Real Estate and worked on construction projects and real estate reports for San Francisco and other cities around the larger Bay Area, as well as advising U.S. and international cities on revitalizing urban manufacturing. Gina also provided direct assistance to local manufacturers through SFMade’s Places to Make program, which helps companies find or improve their manufacturing space.

Retail and E-Commerce

Legally protecting, enforcing, and defending intellectual property rights in the US and internationally. Also advising on effectively leveraging intellectual property rights in licensing agreements and in obtaining financing. Specifically focused on trademarks (brands) and copyrights (artistic works).

I help companies protect and leverage their brands by identifying what is protectable as a trademark, whether others are wrongfully using a confusingly similar trademark and what to do about it. Primary expertise with food/beverage, apparel, and technology brands, although my field is industry-agnostic.

Generating content on social media platforms, such as, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Specializing in Social Media Marketing to generate more leads and exposure for businesses. Capture and edit videos and photos through Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Premiere Pro. Engage and grow followers to promote growth of business. Produce captivating and creative captions and hashtags for social media posts. Creative and engaging copywriting for businesses.

CLIENTS: MMBFilms, The City Eats, Vivas, Inc., Ink and Wrap, San Bruno Chamber of Commerce, ImageTech, LLC and Project PEARLS, Flight SF

Experienced in working with manufacturers across industries and sizes around digital marketing strategy development and implementation, including planning and research, budget and performance optimization, analytics and metrics reporting, from lead acquisition to conversion. Happy to help with web development and digital marketing, including organic SEO and paid search (Google Ads), email marketing and automation, and social media marketing (Meta/Insta Ads).

Can consult on patent Law, both for utility and design patents, trademarks, copyrights, and IP strategy. Sam specializes in electrical engineering and computer software, but has experience in a wide variety of technologies, including mechanical devices and biomedical engineering.

Sam has recently worked on preparing and prosecuting patents in fields such as cloud computing architecture and technology, database and application software, AI and machine learning, speech, and sound recognition, and blockchain technologies.

Experienced in merchandising, product assortment, building a seasonal product line. 11 years merchandising at Levi's. Planning: financial targets yearly and 3-5 year financial planning, targets around sustainability, product sales by unit, consumer research, consumer journey, product naming and packaging, product descriptions

Helping small business think big, and big business think small, always with a consumer-centric approach. Daniel can help with ideation, consumer research, product development, branding, and even help with operational and financial strategy.

Gwendolyn Wright is the Managing Consultant of The Wright Consultants where she helps to start and grow businesses, increase entrepreneurs’ access to capital and improve their financial acumen. Her social responsibility goals are to make a difference in the lives of entrepreneurs of color and micro- enterprises by partnering with non-profit organizations that share her mission. She has extensive experience, over twenty-five years, consulting, and coaching small and medium size business owners.

Gwendolyn has earned a reputation for having an astute, contemporary management style with vision and discernment. She works with various types of companies ranging from ecommerce, service, retail, and wholesale to manufacturing and distribution. Sweet spots of focus include the food industry, fashion design, personal care, and product makers. Clients are located nationwide. International projects include Italy, Cambodia, Australia, and Mexico City. Continuous market research, industry tradeshows, and trend analysis projects has taken her around the globe to London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Panama, Johannesburg, Accra, Paris, and Tokyo. Gwendolyn serves on the review and approval board for the San Francisco Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund focusing on providing grants to microenterprises across the city. She was awarded the Small Business Finance Advocate of the Year Award by the Small Business Administration and participated in a congressional trade mission to South Africa and Ghana with Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Education includes Bachelor of Arts, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, Graduate study, Business Administration, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, Commercial Lending Graduate School, Corporate Banking Division, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. She recently completed a certification program at Wharton focused on the Economics of Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets.