Ben Brachot is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at Dwight Funding, focusing on providing working capital support to early and growth-stage brands in food & beverage, beauty, personal care, apparel, and the broader consumer products space. Dwight provides flexible lines of credit designed to work alongside investor-backed businesses and to support the specific cash flow needs of growth-stage CPG and digitally native brands. Prior to Dwight, Ben has over 10 years of experience providing capital solutions to lower-middle market businesses.

Denise Lambertson is the founder & managing partner of Constellation Capital, a consumer marketing expert and an angel investor.

Best known for pioneering the pairing of celebrities with venture backed consumer startups beginning in 2009 with her agency LMS, Lambertson was at the forefront of the business model whereby celebrities earn sweat equity compensation for marketing services and capital investment.

Lambertson began her career in the entertainment world as Madonna’s right hand woman, where she
spent six years immersed in the superstars multi hyphenate career. During her tenure, Lambertson
oversaw the global release of three #1 albums, three sold-out and award-winning world tours, multiple live appearances, music videos, and countless commercial campaigns and brand extensions.

In 2009, Lambertson began “match-making” between startups and celebrities as a consultant. This
quickly gave way to influencer marketing services and the official launch of The LMS Agency. Applauded by Forbes as "changing the influencer marketing platform between celebrities and startups", LMS helped build some of the most successful companies in recent CPG history including Core Water, Thrive Market, Kite Hill, Rao's Homemade, Therabody, Toms and Daily Harvest, among others. LMS was affiliated with more than 40 successful startups that have been acquired.

In 2018 Lambertson launched the boutique venture fund Constellation Capital as a response to the
celebrity & influencer communities growing enthusiasm for investment into early stage CPG companies. With 30+ high profile investors, Constellation Capital has unparalleled ability to add value to investments. The portfolio includes brands such as Magic Spoon, poppi, Mad Rabbit, The New Primal, Repurpose and many more.

Lambertson closed the LMS at the end of 2023 to focus on the Constellation Capital portfolio and provide advisory services for early stage businesses across all of their needs. Lambertson resides in Boston, MA with her husband and dog.

Erin is a Vice President at L Catterton in the Growth fund, specifically focused on building and executing on a new investment platform, Frontier. Frontier writes $2 million to $10 million equity checks into early-stage health & wellness businesses. Since joining, Erin has led investments into four companies including WTHN, Cionic, Alice Mushrooms and Stripes. She serves in Board capacities on Stripes, Alice, WTHN, Tally Health and Yummers. Prior to joining L Catterton, Erin spent approximately 4 years at Blackstone. Most recently, Erin was a Senior Associate at Blackstone Growth where she was responsible for driving thematic sourcing efforts, executing on deals and related due diligence, and managing portfolio companies across the Consumer sector. Prior to that, Ms. Lambroza was an Associate with a generalist focus in Blackstone Capital Partners, the firm's flagship buyout fund. Before Blackstone, Erin was a Mergers & Acquisitions Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan.

Irina Sirota is a Senior Vice President and Market Executive with Bank of America managing a team that is responsible for acquiring, expanding and retaining a commercial banking portfolio, generating revenue from new and existing clients. She leads a group of experienced professionals delivering world class solutions to commercial clients in the lower middle market segment.

Irina’s mission is to support local businesses by providing holistic banking solutions and afford them the power to fuel continued growth.

Irina joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2002 via the predecessor Fleet National Bank which was acquired by Bank of America in 2004. She started her commercial banking career in Global Commercial Banking as a Credit Analyst in the Corporate Banking Development Program. She also served as a Senior Underwriter and Relationship Manager in Middle Market before taking on the role in Business Banking as a Senior Credit Officer in 2016. Irina began her banking career in the branches as a teller while she was a full time college student in the late 1990’s. It was then that she realized her passion to help make financials lives better through the power of every connection.

To help create a more sustainable future, Irina volunteers with several not-for-profit organizations focused on education, women empowerment and community development. From 2015 to 2018, Irina served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Mom-mentum, a non-profit organization providing leadership, education, and advocacy to support mothers in meeting today's personal and professional challenges. She continues to lend her expertise as a coach for participants in the Inner City Capital Connections Program as well as Vital Voices. She also enjoys rolling up her sleeves and volunteering with housing projects with Habitat for Humanities.

Irina holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from St. John’s University. Originally from the former Soviet Union, Irina immigrated to the United States in her early teens and settled in Queens, NY where she currently resides with her husband and two children.

Melissa Dolan is a Director at Emil Capital Partners. Prior to joining Emil Capital in 2020, Melissa spent five years in brand management at General Mills and Danone. She started her career in finance with roles at Ares Management in the Private Debt group and Wells Fargo Securities on the Leveraged Finance team. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Lee University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Outside of work she enjoys anything in the mountains. Additionally, her passion for the food and beverage industry extends to a love of craft beer, good wine, and new restaurants.

Stephen Plattman, CPA, CGMA, is an Accounting and Audit Partner at Anchin. He is Co-Leader of the Firm’s Private Equity Group and a key member of the Firm’s Food and Beverage and Cannabis Groups. He is also a member of Anchin’s Transaction Advisory and Public Company Services Group. Steve brings his clients over 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, including national accounting firm experience.

Steve works closely with multistate private companies on accounting and tax matters, as well as advising them on finance and business issues. His client roster includes domestic and international companies primarily focused on consumer products including food and beverage, fashion and beauty. His roster of clients also includes manufacturing, transportation and logistics, biotech, and life sciences companies.

Steve has played a major role in guiding his clients in the execution of growth strategies which include assisting with due diligence and transaction structuring as well as raising equity and debt financing. Steve also has substantial experience with public companies; he oversees SEC compliance requirements involving financial reporting in addition to advising CFOs and other top management on mergers and acquisitions and capital raises.

Steve is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) and the New Jersey State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSSCPA).