Sheila and Ron Marcelo: Building community in New York City
By Tricia J. Capistrano
Much has been written about how Sheila Lirio Marcelo raised $111 million in venture capital for Care.com, an online marketplace that connects families with caregivers for various needs. Many Filipino Americans are aware that Sheila then took Care.com public in 2014 and later sold it in 2020 for $500 million. What people don’t know is how Sheila and her husband, Ron Marcelo, after they moved to New York City in 2022, now often host interactive gatherings for many young entrepreneurs in their home.
In February, Ron and Sheila hosted a gathering with Yemi A.D., founder of the Moonshot Platform, a community for young, emerging leaders and changemakers addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
In mid-March, Sheila and Ron, assisted by Carissa Villacorta, community lead, and Diane Gotua, growth and strategy executive, hosted “Filipinos Care To Gather: Building Together” –a translation of the Tagalog word bayanihan–for 60 Filipino American entrepreneurs and executives. Attendees included Nicole Casperson of Fintech is Femme, John Dioso of Ad Age, Ane Guzman, founder of Pure Maven, Rumples Miranda of Kubo Home, and Ayesha Vera-Yu, co-founder of ARK Solves.
Appetizers and desserts were provided by Anton Dayrit of Tradisyon, Joel and Rachel Javier of FlipEats, and Diana Manalang of Little Chef NYC. Deirdre Levy, a Filipino American educator and community organizer who is running for Mayor of NYC, was also present.
John Dioso interviewed Sheila about her path from Care.com to now CEO of Ohai.ai. Sheila then showed attendees the latest release of the household virtual assistant. Ohai.ai assists parents in managing schedules, coordinating tasks, grocery shopping, even sending greeting cards to people in your digital address book. Ron is currently VP of Business Development at Ohai.ai.
Ron and Sheila also invited Pam Prather, Sheila’s personal performance coach, who provided attendees with pointers on public speaking and executive presence. Each attendee was also given a chance to introduce themselves and what they are working on to facilitate connections and conversations.
Creating spaces for caring and building together seems to be the theme of Sheila’s professional life, and it seems she and Ron continue this mission in their personal life as well.
Sign up on www.ohai.ai and use code FILIPINO to try the first month free.
Tricia J. Capistrano’s essays have appeared in The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and Newsweek. She is a regular contributor to TheFilam.net and also writes about Filipino American entrepreneurs for the TutongNewsletter.com.
