Joshua Varela, Director of Revenue at NeuroMaker

Joshua is a proud son of two diasporas, born to a Puerto Rican father and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother raised in New York City. Early in his life, Joshua understood the value of technology and the limited access to it within his communities. Joshua worked as a student advocate and was a member of the New York City Department of Education Panel for Educational Policy in 2010. Joshua is a first-generation equal opportunity student receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from University at Buffalo. Joshua then received his Masters’s Degree in International Affairs from the New School in 2017..

Joshua went on to work for Samsung Electronics America. He created educational technology certificate programs for under-resourced communities for Samsung’s corporate responsibility division. Joshua supported innovative launches at Samsung, such as the launch of Samsung 837 and bringing Samsung Care into the North American marketplace. Joshua then joined BrainCo, a brain-machine interface technology company, and is now the Director of Partnership and Revenue. Joshua is a co-founding team member of NeuroMaker, the educational division of BrainCo. In addition, Joshua works directly with district leaders across the Eastern United States to develop STEM programs leveraging emerging technology. Joshua’s mission is to democratize STEM/CTE/CS, which calls for these solutions to be accessible, equitable, and inclusive throughout the country.

Joshua has worked with school districts such as Boston Public Schools, Worcester Public Schools, Somerville Public Schools, and Salem Publics Schools to create innovative STEM programs within secondary schools. Joshua has partnered with organizations such as Masshire and Boston PIC to create after-school programs for students to gain career awareness and access to STEM internships. Joshua has developed Stragetic Partners with corporate partners such as Pepsi R&D to create national education programs and partnerships within New York City, Chicago, and Dallas schools. The program’s primary focus is to ensure BIPOC students have access to and awareness of STEM careers in the broader technology field by working directly with BIPOC STEM professionals.