Freedom 250 Investor Mixer : 🏎️ Races. 💰 Riches. 🤝 Relationships
FREEDOM 250 Pre Investor Event:
RACES, RICHES & RELATIONSHIPS
Rhythm Investor™ × Konnex Networking Mixer
An elevated Friday evening networking experience on the Georgetown Waterfront, bringing together an exceptional group of investors, founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, creators, developers, and innovators during Freedom 250 Grand Prix weekend.
Against the backdrop of the Potomac River, guests will connect for an evening of meaningful introductions, high-level conversations, and new opportunities centered around investing, entrepreneurship, technology, real estate, business growth, leadership, and building wealth.
The Evening Includes
Networking on the Georgetown Waterfront
Investor & founder connections
Featured speakers & special guests
Conversations around capital, AI, real estate, entrepreneurship & wealth creation
Freedom 250 Grand Prix weekend energy
SCHEDULE
6pm-7:15pm Networking Overlooking the Potomac
7:15pm-8:30pm State Room Panels & Presentations
8:30pm-10pm Networking Overlooking the Potomac
Panels
🤖 THE AI RACE
Intelligence, Security & the Future of Wealth
Moderator: Lee Edward Smith Jr
Panelists:
Bryan Talebi: CEO & Co-Founder, Ahura AI | AI, education, workforce transformation, human potential
Mike Davis: AIOS Blueprint | AI agents, business automation and practical AI deployment
Bill Inman: Dectec | AI, data, digital ownership, blockchain and emerging technology
Major General Paul Knapp, USAF (Ret.): Cybersecurity, national security, risk, crisis leadership and strategic transformation
Auran Shereef: Tech entrepreneur, former NASA engineer, angel & real estate investor | Innovation, entrepreneurship, investing and business strategy
👩 RICHES, RELATIONSHIPS & REINVENTION
Women Building Brands, Businesses & Legacies
Moderator: Lee Edward Smith Jr
Panelists:
Kat Aguilar-Smith: Investing, entrepreneurship, relationship-driven business development, hospitality, real estate and building opportunities through strategic connections.
Leticia Fernández de Mesa: Founder of UNA Vodka | Brand building, creativity, entrepreneurship, motherhood and turning an unconventional idea into a growing consumer business.
Mio Melucci: Developer, designer and entrepreneur | Real estate, design, community building, relationships and transforming creativity into economic opportunity.
Freedom 250 Grand Prix weekend energy
YOUR HOSTS
🚀 Auran Shereef
Konnex | Tech Entrepreneur | Former NASA Engineer | Angel & Real Estate Investor
Auran Shereef brings together an extraordinary background spanning technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, investing, media, and business strategy.
A former NASA engineer, Auran went on to become a successful technology entrepreneur, founding his own company and developing innovative products and services. His experience extends into real estate investing and angel investing, where he has identified opportunities and supported emerging ventures.
Auran has also hosted an online television show and advised entrepreneurs preparing to pitch investors and television programs such as Shark Tank.
His journey as both an entrepreneur and heart attack survivor adds a powerful personal dimension to his story of innovation, resilience, opportunity, and reinvention.
💼 Lee & Kat Aguilar Smith
Rhythm Investor™ | ASIRE Partners
Entrepreneurs, investors, strategic connectors, and producers Lee & Kat Aguilar-Smith operate at the intersection of capital, commercial real estate, hospitality, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and relationship-driven business development.
Through Rhythm Investor™ and ASIRE Partners, they bring together investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and emerging opportunities through strategic relationships, investment initiatives, conferences, and high-level experiences.
Their work is built around a simple philosophy: great opportunities begin with great relationships.
FEATURED SPEAKERS & SPECIAL GUESTS
💰 Tony Holland
Billionaire Entrepreneur & Investor | Baltimore Orioles Ownership Group
Tony Holland is a billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and member of the Baltimore Orioles ownership group.
From growing up in a single-parent household in Maryland to becoming a highly successful business leader and ultimately joining the ownership group of the Major League Baseball team he followed as a child, Tony's journey is a compelling story of entrepreneurship, perseverance, ownership, investing, and wealth creation.
His perspective brings the evening's Races & Riches theme to life through a conversation about what it takes to build businesses, create wealth, and turn long-term ambition into ownership.
🤖 Bill Inman
Founder & CEO, Dectec | AI & Emerging Technology Entrepreneur
Bill Inman is a serial entrepreneur, technology leader, investor, and advisor with more than 20 years of experience launching and scaling businesses.
His career spans artificial intelligence, blockchain, data science, cloud ecosystems, advanced analytics, human capital, and emerging technology.
As Founder & CEO of Dectec, Bill is focused on the rapidly evolving AI economy and creating innovative solutions around AI, data, digital ownership, identity, and intellectual property.
A blockchain and AI patent holder, Bill has also advised companies and professional sports organizations on business strategy, finance, innovation, and fundraising.
His perspective sits squarely at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, capital, and the future of business.
🏗️ Mio Melucci
Developer | Designer | Entrepreneur | Community Builder
Mio Melucci brings a unique perspective shaped by her journey as an immigrant, developer, designer, entrepreneur, and relationship builder.
Her experience building businesses, developments, and an extensive professional network offers a compelling perspective on entrepreneurship, real estate, design, community, relationships, and creating opportunity.
Mio's story reflects one of the central themes of the evening: how relationships, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking can be transformed into lasting economic opportunity.
⭐ Major General Paul Knapp, USAF (Ret.)
Former Adjutant General of Wisconsin | Homeland & Cybersecurity Leader | C-Suite Strategist
Retired Major General Paul Knapp brings decades of senior leadership experience spanning national security, cybersecurity, crisis management, military operations, government, organizational transformation, and strategic leadership.
His leadership roles included serving as The Adjutant General of the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard, Homeland Security Advisor to the Governor, and leading Emergency Management, the Office of Emergency Communications, and the Department of Military Affairs.
As chair of the Wisconsin Homeland Security Council, he led development of the state's first cybersecurity strategy.
General Knapp also assumed crisis leadership during one of the most demanding periods of domestic operations in the Wisconsin National Guard's history, involving the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, election support, and other simultaneous high-stakes events.
His financial and operational responsibilities included risk management and oversight involving more than $550 million in federal and state resources.
He brings a leadership perspective forged in environments where strategy, trust, risk management, communication, and decision-making matter at the highest level.
🤖 Bryan Talebi
is the CEO and Co‐Founder of Ahura AI, an innovative AI leader who has developed a powerful platform that fosters true learning and skills knowledge, to positively impact the lives of companies and their workforces worldwide.
He was born in the southeastern desert of Iran in a home with no running water or electricity. His family fled to Turkey where they lived in a refugee camp for several years and eventually made their way to the United States.
Gifted beyond his years, he proceeded to teach himself quantum mechanics and differential equations at the age of 12 and became one of the youngest engineers working for the NASA-Goddard Space Center at the age of 16.
After college, a trip back to his childhood village in Iran reconnecting with childhood friends and observing that they had become illiterate sheepherders, he wondered, “How many people have been robbed of their potential to impact the world because they had not had access to education? Further, how do we make investments that create massive impact and affect billions of people to rapidly prepare for careers in the labor market of the future? We can start with innovation and machine learning.”
His leadership roles in startup endeavors including Southwestern, Zocdoc, Sols, Bizzabo, and Vestorly has equipped him to lead Ahura AI’s pioneering way to advance learning 3 x 5 times faster, recognizing that everyone learns at a different cadence and at their best with different formats of education.
Ahura AI’s vision is to embolden human purpose by creating technology to educate and position 10 times more of the world’s population to take on the most critical challenges in the 4th industrial revolution.
Bryan has spoken on many stages around the world as a keynote speaker, hosted events alongside change makers at Davos, and won awards for innovation in education.
Bryan is the founder of the Future of Humanity Summit, which brings together a community of high impact CEO’s, investors, global experts, ultra high net worth individuals to address global challenges.
🏘️ Stacey Thomas & Ja’el Thomas
Are the mother-daughter co-founders of Eminent Estates, the real estate arm of the Wanzer Family Office. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, they invest in and structure real estate opportunities across the U.S. and internationally, with a focus on creative acquisitions, assisted living, affordable and community-focused housing, and complex property situations.
Together, they have built a track record representing $25M+ in deal volume, $1M+ in private capital deployed, and 30+ acquisitions across two countries. Their investment philosophy combines profit with purpose, using real estate to create generational wealth while developing housing solutions that strengthen families and communities.
🌸 Leticia Fernández de Mesa
Founder, UNA Vodka | Entrepreneur | Art & Design Visionary
Spanish-born entrepreneur Leticia “Leti” Fernández de Mesa brings together the worlds of art, design, entrepreneurship, and spirits.
With a background in contemporary art, Leti worked with Sotheby’s in Madrid and New York before founding an auction house in Bogotá, Colombia. It was in Colombia, inspired by the region’s extraordinary floral and botanical richness, that she began experimenting at home with vodka infused with edible flower essences.
That creative pursuit became UNA Vodka.
Leti launched the company while pregnant with her second daughter, personally hand-delivering early batches with her first child riding alongside her. Today, she leads UNA Vodka with that same entrepreneurial energy and creative vision as the brand expands its presence across markets throughout the United States.
Her story brings a unique perspective to Races & Riches on building a brand, turning creativity into enterprise, entrepreneurship, motherhood, and bringing an unconventional idea to market.
“Only vodka can respect the essence of flowers, and only flowers can respect the purity of vodka.”
– Leti
Sponsored by
🤖 Mike Davis | AIOS Blueprint™
Entrepreneur | AI Innovator | Founder of SellFi
Mike Davis is an entrepreneur, real estate and creative-finance operator, and the creator of AIOS Blueprint™, an AI agent operating system designed to help entrepreneurs and businesses automate and execute real-world operations.
AIOS Blueprint brings AI directly into business workflows, with capabilities spanning lead generation, research, marketing, sales, deal analysis, contracts, invoicing, pipeline management, content creation, and business operations.
Mike is also the Founder of SellFi and creator of the T.O.P. Method. He developed AIOS while operating his own businesses, building a system designed to transform AI from a simple assistant into an operational business tool.
We are proud to welcome Mike Davis & AIOS Blueprint™ as an official sponsor.
🍸 Sponsored by UNA Vodka
Freedom 250: Sequoia Evening — Races & Riches is proudly sponsored by UNA Vodka, a premium floral-infused vodka born from founder Leticia Fernández de Mesa’s passion for art, botanicals, and extraordinary experiences.
From its beginnings in Colombia to its growing presence across the United States, UNA represents the same spirit celebrated throughout the evening: creativity, entrepreneurship, bold ideas, and turning vision into opportunity.
Raise a glass to Races, Riches & Relationships.
UNA VODKA
Official Sponsor of Freedom 250: Sequoia Evening — Races & Riches
RACES. RICHES. RELATIONSHIPS.
Capital. Connections. Opportunity.
This isn't simply another networking mixer.
It's an opportunity to spend an evening with accomplished entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and leaders while connecting with people shaping the future of wealth, technology, real estate, business, sports, and global leadership.
Come for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix weekend.
Stay for the relationships, conversations, and opportunities that could extend far beyond it.
Friday Evening
Georgetown Waterfront | Washington, D.C.
HOSTED BY
Auran Shereef • Lee & Kat Aguilar-Smith
PRESENTED BY
Rhythm Investor™ × Konnex