Our Story
SpeechifAI was born from a heartfelt desire and commitment to give people a voice.
SpeechifAI co-founder, Tudor Mihailescu, has experienced the discouragement of not being able to communicate his opinions, in his own way, to wider groups. Restricted to writing with only his right hand in school, childhood for left-handed Tudor was marked by an inability to properly express his mind.
Having researched the way in which U.S. Presidents’ speeches are written inside the White House for his PhD thesis, Tudor realized that new technologies could assist the public to express themselves in the same way that speechwriters do for the famous. So, Tudor reached out to Valentin Kassarning; the world’s first data scientist to have trained a robot to write speeches.
Tudor and Valentin connected over their passionate brainstorming for how AI could help people to write social media posts. In the summer of 2019, the duo joined Antler - a global startup generator and early-stage VC - as their first steps to launching SpeechifAI and shaping it into a viable business.
Today, SpeechifAI is the ever-growing result of their special ideas, some Antler magic, and a committed group of people who believe in technological advancements as a vector for human empowerment.
The whole SpeechifAI team has been able to relate to the experiences of those unable to voice themselves effectively on social media. While everyone has opinions, preferences, and beliefs that they want to share, we understand why not many do.
Reasons are as diverse as the public itself; lack of time, lack of creativity, lack of direction - each and all of these can cause people to feel incapable of writing and creating content. As a result, online channels lie dormant. Most people feel it’s a personal challenge to promote, support, and encourage others towards their chosen organizations and businesses.
SpeechifAI is on a mission to activate this silent online majority.
Our Team
TUDOR MIHAILESCU
CEO & Co-founder
Forbes Expert Contributor
Ph.D. in Speechwriting
National Press Club of Washington DC Member
Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe List
Previously: Cofounder at GovFaces, Visiting Fellow at George Washington University
CARLY GOTTORFF
Data Science Lead
MSc in Applied Social Data Science at LSE
Recipient of AFLSE scholarship; first political scientist admitted in MIT's summer research program
Previously: Data Scientist at Astroscreen, Research Assistant at MIT
IOANA ZBEREA
User Experience Lead
M.Sc. in Computer Software Engineering
B.A. in Fine Arts
Experience in software development and
UX Design
CHARLOTTE HINRICHS
Account Management Lead
Skilled in networking, marketing campaigns, and partnerships
Implemented global marketing campaigns, strategies, and partnerships in the STEM recruitment industries
Previously: Phaidon International
KIAYNA O'NEAL
Content & Communications Lead
M.S. in Global Strategic Communication
B.A. in Communication Studies
Previously: Jon Ossoff for U.S. Senate,
Biden for President,
The Center for American Progress
VALENTIN KASSARNIG
CTO & Co-founder
Doctoral Researcher in Applied AI
Natural Language Generation Engineer
Software Developer of Industrial Applications
Author of "Political Speech Generation"
Featured in Washington Post, Forbes, Vice, MIT Technology Review
ANDREI GHERGHE
Tech Lead
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42 - Born2Code Academy, Paris
Romanian C# & C++ Olympian
Previously: Mobile Developer at Kuende
LISA MORETTI
Business & Development Lead
Global Commercial Operations experience in $BN+ global pharmaceutical companies
Previously: Pfizer, Aristo Group, UBS, Nobel Biocare
ISAIAH FRANCOIS
Frontend Lead
Lambda School
Fullstack Web Developer
Previously: Eccalon Department of Defense,
Lambda School
Founders Featured In
Our Advisors
RICHARD TITUS
General Partner at ARK Fund
Titus is a tech-native executive and angel investor. He co-founded Razorfish and Schematic (two of the world’s largest digital advertising agencies) and is currently a Fellow at the Creative Destruction Lab, and serves as their board representative for the Libra Association. Titus has led a series of multiplatform technology and media businesses, from startups to global enterprises and has acted as advisor & board member to companies in growing technology industries, including AI, blockchain, mobile, robotics, information security, and quantum computing.
KEEGAN GOUDISS
Co-Founder of 1215
Goudiss has had a distinguished career in political online advertising. He founded Vox-P in 2008, where they created a way to track and collect data on social media campaigns easily. Goudiss, then joined Revolution Messaging to lead their online advertising efforts, eventually becoming CEO of one of the largest political agencies in history. As a result of his team’s innovative work, they received several awards. In 2015, Goudiss led the digital advertising campaign for Bernie Sanders. His team’s efforts helped Sanders raise record-breaking amounts and win more votes from young voters than any candidate during the Primary. The campaign was the first of its kind to have ads and sponsored content placed with Twitter, Buzzfeed, Instagram, Snapchat, and NYTimes.com. In recognition of his work, he was named 40 under 40 by AdAge.
TITUS CAPILNEAN
Director, Corporate Marketing at Appen
Capilnean is enthusiastic about brand marketing, tech and entrepreneurship, about how they are constantly changing the world. He is a seasoned marketer and entrepreneur in fintech, artificial intelligence, identity, and blockchain. At Appen, he tells stories about how cutting edge technology, expertise and access to global data talent is the right path to getting AI training data for global companies. His work has been instrumental in creating a data-driven marketing and communications culture, driving growth for cutting-edge tech scale-ups in the United States and Europe.
DONNOVAN ANDREWS
CEO at Overture Global
Donnovan has always worked towards improving the lives of humankind. Early on in his career, he built his own marketing and advertising agency, Performance Bridge. He then joined Tribal Fusion, where he served as the Vice President of Strategic Development. They became the leading site representation company, reaching over 230 million monthly users. Donnovan later became the Chief Advisor of Digital Media and Innovation at The American Association of Advertising Agencies. As an industry expert, he has given lectures at Columbia Business School about media and technology.