Pursuit Bash Annual Gala 2024

Monday, June 10, 2024
The Glasshouse | 660 12th Ave, NYC

Seventh Annual Bash

The Pursuit Bash returned after a six-year hiatus. The event highlighted the past decade of Pursuit’s impact and celebrated many members of our ‘One Big Team.’ Their work together creates a ripple effect of lasting change, not just in the lives of Fellows, but also in their families, communities, industries, and systems.

Watch the Event Recap

”My time at Pursuit was incredibly transformative…I went from “homeless” to “middle-class homeowner.” Business owner. Lead engineer. All because, at various stages in my life, people believed in me.” – Rook Soto

One Big Team. One Big Night.

Thank you to the Bash Committee, special guests, sponsors, and all of our attendees for making a meaningful evening even more special with their commitment.

Bash Committee

Chair: Zachary Smith, Partner at Humans of the Internet

Vice Chairs:

Margot Edelman, GM at Edelman NYC

Dan Teran, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Gutter Capital

Paul Vizcarrondo, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Host Committee:

Charles E. Schumer, Senate Majority Leader

Alex Atallah, Co-Founder at OpenRouter and OpenSea

Natalia Quintero, Former Head of Latin America at Silicon Valley Bank

Elias Roman, Senior Director of Product Management at Google Labs

Stuart Spodek, Managing Director at BlackRock

Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City

Planning Committee:

Alan Jones

Ritambhara Kumar, Managing Director at J.P. Morgan

Zohar Yardeni, Chief Product Officer at The Knot Worldwide

Sponsors
MC
Guest Chef

Bash MC: Jo Ling Kent

CBS News Senior Business & Tech Correspondent

Mads Refslund

Founder of Ilis, Co-Founder of Noma, Multi-Michelin Starred Chef

Bash Honorees

This year, we honored incredible leaders who continue to advance our values and pave the pathways forward for our community.

Tony Davis
Hope Knight
Rook Soto
Erica Stevens

Tony Davis

CEO & CIO of Inherent Group

Hope Knight

President, CEO and Commissioner of Empire State Development

Rook Soto

Pursuit Fellow and Senior Developer at United Parks & Resorts

Erica Stevens

Pursuit Fellow and Software Engineer at Dow Jones

Transformation Stories

Long-term Impact

During the evening, we celebrated the transformational journeys of Pursuit Fellows and this year’s honorees: Erica Stevens and Rook Soto.

Erica and Rook were Fellows of the very first training powered by the groundbreaking Pursuit Bond financing in 2016. They were also some of the first Fellows to complete their Bond contributions. What their transformation proves is that the Pursuit Bond can fuel good jobs to provide a long-lasting impact in the lives of Fellows, their families, and communities.

Watch the Video

"Pursuit carved a direct path for me to create the life for myself that I’ve always dreamed of. Through this new career that I have, I am able to provide a better life for me and my daughter June. We live in a beautiful apartment, I am able to drive her to and pick her up from school every day, and I feel I’ve found a passion that I can learn about forever." – Erica Stevens

About Pursuit

Our mission is to create economic transformation. By training low-income adults to launch and advance careers as software engineers, we help our Fellows go from earning $18,000 to over $90,000 starting salary on average, adding an estimated $2M in lifetime earnings.

Since 2013, Pursuit has created ~$1B in total lifetime wage gains, creating lasting economic mobility that spans generations.