MEET THE JUDGES
The following panel will be selecting the 4 small businesses to win this years Make it Awards:
anthony casalena
CEO, Squarespace
Anthony Casalena is the Founder and CEO of Squarespace, which he started from his dorm room in 2003. During the company’s early years, Anthony acted as the sole engineer, designer, and support representative for the entire Squarespace platform. In addition to running the company and setting overall product strategy, he remains actively involved in many departments of the company that he had previously run himself. Anthony holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.
Monica McNutt
Former Basketball Player & Sports Analyst
Monica McNutt, A former standout guard on the Georgetown women’s basketball team, joined MSG Networks in 2019 and currently serves as a Knicks Studio Analyst, contributing to the network’s Knicks pregame and postgame coverage for select games throughout the season. She also co-hosts the network’s weeknight talk show, MSG P.M.
McNutt has held on-air positions with FOX Sports 1 and Overtime as well, along with stops at WJLA ABC7/ News Channel 8 in Washington, D.C., American Sports Network, BeIN Sports and NBC Sports Washington. She also hosts “Buckets, Boards and Blocks,” a basketball podcast presented by Pure Hoops Media.
Josue De Paz
CEO & Co-Founder, First Tech Fund
Josue De Paz is the CEO & co-founder of First Tech Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to closing the digital divide by supporting students of underserved backgrounds in New York City with technology, practical skills, career exposure, and opportunities to succeed in the modern world.
Previously, he was a Community Partnerships & Outreach Manager at Girls Who Code, where he was responsible for all partnerships, outreach, and strategy across a portfolio of 9 states in the south of the US. Josue was also recently named as part of the inaugural 30 Under 30 class by NextGen Collective for his work in the nonprofit sector and was a 2021 recipient of the Make It Awards.
Jack settleman
Founder, Snapback Sports
Jack Settleman is an entrepreneur, creator, and investor founding both Snapback Sports and Snapback Agency. Snapback Sports is the largest sports Snapchat account in the world totaling over 1B+ views YTD and over 1MM total followers.
Jack is an avid sports fan, specifically a die-hard Knicks fan. Settleman is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and in his free time, enjoys attending sporting events, raising money for non-profit organizations such as the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, and giving back to his fan base by often sending followers to their first-ever sport games.
Andre D. Wagner
Photographer
Andre D. Wagner is a photographer living and working in Brooklyn, New York. He explores and chronicles the poetic and lyrical nuances of daily life, using city streets, neighborhoods, parades, public transportation and the youth of the twenty first century as his visual language. His work and practice fits into the lineage of street photography that investigates the American social landscape, often focusing his lens on themes of race, class, cultural identity and community. He develops his own black and white negatives and makes silver gelatin prints in his personal darkroom.
His photographs have been commissioned by The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Cut, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, WSJ, Time Magazine and Vogue, among other publications. For the movie Queen & Slim Andre photographed the iconic key art and the campaigns leading images. His photographs have appeared in a number of solo exhibitions and group shows in Los Angeles, New York and North Carolina.
REBECCA HaARLOW
Journalist & Sportscaster
Rebecca Haarlow joined MSG Networks’ Knicks telecasts in 2015 as a reporter handling all in-game as well as pre and post-game reporting.
Her experience as a sideline reporter, anchor and analyst includes the NBA on TNT, as well as the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Portland Trail Blazers. In addition, Haarlow has worked with FOX Sports Network, NFL Network, and Big Ten Network and has extensive experience covering college sports across major conferences, most notably the Pac-12 and Big Ten. She is a graduate of Princeton University where she won the Ivy League Heptathlon in Track & Field.
