The People Behind the People
at the Founders Circle Family
Take a sneak peak behind the people who invest in people.
Every month we will be highlighting a different team member. This month it’s Audrey Vallen!
Audrey Vallen
Meet Audrey Vallen – indispensable CFO here at Founders Circle Capital.
Audrey started playing with fabric around 1995. She took an art quilt class with Therese May and made a small pictorial wall quilt. Then she purchased The Joy of Quilting by Hansen & Hickey and made her first very traditional quilt – for her best friend from business school expecting her first baby.
From there, she just kept making quilts. Exploring different patterns – sometimes traditional and sometimes free cut – and different fabric styles, from 19th-century reproductions to tropical batiks, whatever satisfied her creative mood. Sometimes she makes a quilt with a particular person in mind, and other times it is made just for the fun of creating. A friend may come over and fall in love with one, so it goes home with them.
“Fabric is very patient. It waits for you until you can carve out a few moments from a busy life of mom and CFO, to stop for a little creativity.”
“Fabric is very patient. It waits for you until you can carve out a few moments from a busy life of mom and CFO, to stop for a little creativity.” Long ago, she used to do etchings and paintings, but those creative processes are not forgiving to inattention – ink and paint dries, your work and brushes are ruined, while you step away to help with homework respond to a GPs late-night email. For Audrey, playing with fabric is the perfect creative outlet.
Charles Shannon
Meet Charles Shannon – rockstar Associate here at Founders Circle Capital.
Charles has been playing the violin for over two decades – can you believe it?! He started playing in grade school and has played in orchestras, symphonies, and chamber groups.
In high school, Charles’ teacher mistakenly listed him under viola, which is another string instrument with a lower and deeper sound.
Charles does roll with the punches because when presented with this challenge, he learned a new clef, prepared a solo on the viola, and prepared to sight-read a piece in alto clef – in ONLY three weeks!
He was determined, which ultimately led him to get one of the 12 slots for viola out of the 100 who auditioned! A true story of perseverance and hard work.
As Charles got older, he found himself teaching middle school math in his hometown of Memphis through Teach for America. He used his violinist background to teach about fractions, counting, speed, and time!
Charles is not only a valuable team member but a wonderful musical artist. If you ever have the pleasure of catching him with his violin, be sure to ask him to play one of his favorite pieces – Brahms Piano Trio in B Flat Major.
