A Bit About The Founders
Deborah and Frank spent six years abroad consulting American companies on how to develop productive and sustainable workforce in the emerging market like India, Pakistan, South Asia and Central America. As a policy lawyer, and corporate communications lawyer, respectively, Deborah and Frank were uniquely equipping themselves for the digitally enhanced environment the world was heading.
As workforce development consultants they were often witness to marginalization and productivity limiters caused by disintegrated access to resources and mentorship. They designed programs and technology to successfully bridge these gaps. Upon returning to the US in 2012, they were equally disturbed by how underserved populations who could be highly productive, were allowed to fail in a resource rich country like America.
In 2016, they embarked on a proof of concept research mission where HeroBridge received its first technical grants from the National Mentor Resource Center. The findings were clear: building a human-centered media technology community for peer mentorship and career technical education (CTE) would result in reliable predictive models for sustainable, productive and employable people. Just like it did overseas. They hired a tech development team to build a media technology platform that communicates the way the world does. The design premise was simple - connect people to positive relationship and empowering resources and a productivity will grow.
In 2019 HeroBridge was launched as a white label subscription enterprise software product, available on Apple and Google stores, connecting mentors and mentees to each other, life readiness media resources, career technical education (CTE) and social enrichment programs for businesses, organizations and communities. It was an incredible success with its flagship client growing 100x service area and 1029% revenue growth in three years. Now in 2025, HeroBridge Media Technology serves businesses address Future of Work AI adoption challenges, brands who seek to create meaningful culture and communities, nonprofit mentor organizations, even faith communities seeking ways and means of deeper formation and communion.
Frank and Deborah live in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Their son (pictured) is a recent Loyola HS grad and college freshman who enjoys tennis, sailing, writing music and over COVID launched his own tech-for-good platform, Anavo.)
Deborah Connelly, Co-Founder, CEO
Deborah is a graduate of William & Mary, where she received a department honorable mention for her thesis Technology: Key to a Better America. After law school, she became a policy lawyer and during her decade long tenure on Capitol Hill, was instrumental in passing and funding critical legislation that invested in education, labor, law, agriculture, technology and her signature initiative with the White House, bridging the DIGITAL DIVIDE.
As a Legislative Assistant and Of Counsel to three United States Senators, on both sides of the aisle and a senior L.A on Appropriations, Labor, Education and Judicial subcommittees. Deborah gained valuable insight into how to build innovative coalitions and develop stakeholder solutions. She also formed a vision for the future of work and education based on human relationship aided by technology.
As a lawyer, Deborah brings to Hero Bridge the executive know-how required to keep Hero Bridge a vibrant and successful organization. Her deep faith, leadership and vision of the future of work in America is the company’s north star.
Deborah is also a servant, highly involved as a Spiritual Services Minister at UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital, a Lector Minister and frequently donates her time to relief services for the homeless and marginalized communities through St Vincent de Paul, Habitat for Humanity, Knights of Columbus and Homeboy Industries.
Frank Connelly, Co-Founder CTO
Frank is a former corporate communications lawyer and expert at internal and external stakeholder communications. Early in his career, while in India, he determined oversea business could benefit from investment in mentorship programs that blended vocation and socio emotional support as a means achieving sustainable productivity and workforce development.
In 2009, with three engineers from India Institute of Technology (IIT) he developed a simple IOT SMS technology that provided 24/7 access to resource-building and economic support for rural farmers. HeroBridge was born from this project and has improved over the years as a human-centered digital media technology that now represents the human-centered future of work.
Over the next decade, Frank became a driver and thought-leader of transformational change with the aim of heathy and productive healthy business cultures. As a communicator, Frank perfected the craft of stakeholder communications (ie. “storytelling”) where he remains at the cutting edge Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and the partnerships. This includes working with Al Roker Entertainment and IMDb executive producer credits for award winning Social Impact Entertainment (SIE) to amplify these programs and partnerships. As a writer, speaker, moderator and advisor, Frank uses story and media as powerful change agents for HeroBridge as a company, and its clients.
Frank also sits on the Faith Coalition Board of Directors ( and swings a hammer for) Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, focusing on fundraising; and is a Board of Directors Member for the Social Impact Entertainment Society, and is head of CSR for the Society.
Frank holds a Juris Doctor degree from Northern University, as well as two bachelors in Behavioral Psychology and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh.
Meet the Team
Jose Roberto Pena
Media Director/Producer/Editor
New York - LA transplant, Jose is an all-in-one tool filmmaker. Brilliant director of photography who can script, shoot, direct, or co direct. When it’s a wrap his archival science and editing skills from rough to finish are unparalleled. Crazy about visual and sound quality. No wonder his work can be seen around the world including on Amazon’s biopic of Val Kilmer Val and Netflix’s This Is It documentary about Michael Jackson. He is HeroBridge’s head of production.
OUR TECH DREAM TEAM
We have an incredibly versatile team that spans the entire media and technology spectrum. It’s taken years to become a one-stop-shop for story inspiration-to-activation and real time predictive modelling for the communities we help our clients build on web, mobile, small and big screens. Below are the core heroes of HeroBridge
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Bringing missions to life, Patricia is a web & graphic designer that specializes in creating one-of-a-kind designs that are modern, clean and beautiful. As Gold Circle Squarespace members we primarily like to design on Squarespace, but Patricia is equally as skilled on Wix and Webflow. Our goals are:
→ A clean, responsive and unique website that will help you grow your brand whether story, business or mission.
→ A uniform brand story across all social media platforms and website ie- Landing Page Design - Responsive Web Design - Website Copywriting - Website Design - Portfolio
Website Design Design Platforms: -Squarespace -Webflow -Wix Web Programming: - CSS, HTML and JavaScript
Tools: - Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom) - Figma
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Adil is a swiss army knife of website and AI development with over 7 years of experience.
Fullstack Website Developer - MERN Stack (MongoDB, ReactJS, ExpressJS, NodeJS) - LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP) - Laravel / Blade - Wix / Velo Coding - Wordpress / Custom Plugin / Custom Themes - Webflow - Shopify / Liquid - Javascript - HTML5 / CSS3 / Tailwand / Bootstrap /Jquery - Api Development Artificial Intelligence: AI Agent & Chatbot Developer - AI VoiceBot & Generative AI Specialist - Expert in AI-Driven Workflow Automation - 80+ Projects Successfully Completed - Serving Clients Across North America, Europe, & Oceania - Deepseek - Chatgpt
Core Skills: - AI Integration: OpenAI API, GPT-4, Generative AI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, NLP - Full-Stack Development: React, Node, Laravel, Php - Database Expertise: Firebase, MySQL, MongoDB - API Integration: Twilio, Facebook, Google, Twitter 🌟 Tools & Technologies: - Visual Studio Code | Jira | Trello | GitHub | BitBucket - AWS Solutions (EC2, S3, Route53, Lambda) 🌥️ - Postman | Vercel | NextAuth.js
INDUSTRY SERVED- ✔ Healthcare ✔ E-commerce ✔ Transportation ✔ Education ✔ Fintech ✔ Enterprise Solutions ✔ Real Estate ✔ Astrology ✔ Logistics ✔ Social Media
As an experienced AI Expert with 7+ years of expertise, Adil specializes in AI integration, OpenAI API, Machine Learning, MERN Stack, LAMP Stack and custom chatbot development. Skills include fine-tuning AI models for custom solutions and leveraging OpenAI’s API and Copilot Studio for advanced functionalities. Development:
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With a Masters in Data Science, Ayaz is one half of our two part real time data pooling-to-resource delivery on our apps. We are one of a handful of companies that can do this.
Web Scraping & Automation Web scraping and automation aren’t just tasks for me—they’re passions. I’ve built highly efficient tools and scripts using BeautifulSoup, Scrapy, and Selenium (including undetected Chrome). I
Ayaz has successfully handled projects involving: Extracting product pricing, reviews, and stock availability from Amazon, eBay, and similar platforms. Collecting real estate listings from competitive sites while overcoming anti-bot measures like CAPTCHAs and rate-limiting. Automating processes such as data entry, form submissions, and workflow optimizations to save time and reduce costs. Delivering structured and clean data in formats like CSV, JSON, and Excel, ready for immediate use. No website is too complex—if it’s online, I can help you extract exactly what you need. 🛠️ Django, Flask, and FastAPI for Backend Development Building the backbone of web applications is where I truly shine. Whether you’re launching a new platform, integrating APIs, or need a fast and secure backend system, I’ve got you covered: Django:
Ayaz has developed full-scale web applications with intuitive interfaces, user authentication, admin panels, and integrated REST APIs. Flask: For lightweight, customized projects, Flask has been my go-to for creating flexible APIs and microservices.
FastAPI: Leveraging the power of asynchronous APIs, I build solutions optimized for speed and modern application needs. From startups to large-scale enterprises, I’ve delivered robust, secure, and scalable solutions tailored to individual requirements.
Data Analysis & Visualization: Turning Numbers into Stories Data is everywhere, and I specialize in turning it into actionable insights. My work includes: Cleaning and structuring messy datasets for better decision-making. Creating eye-catching charts, graphs, and dashboards with tools like Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, and Tableau. Finding trends and patterns using statistical models and analysis with Pandas and NumPy.
Automating data collection and reporting to saves time and increase accuracy.
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Sohana comes to HeroBridge Productions skilled with 10 years of experience in photo graphic art. She is a photo editing expert specializing in Photoshop, photo manipulation, and retouching and AI editing. Notable projects include brand e-commerce , enhancing lifestyle images and architectural image compositing with advanced editing techniques. As everyone on our team, Sohana is proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and image processing, delivering high-quality visuals tailored to client needs across diverse projects.
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Robert has his Masters in IT from MIT and is an expert in Email Campaign Strategy: Tailor-made campaigns that align with business goals, List Management & Segmentation: Organized for targeted, effective campaigns. • Email Design & Copywriting: Engaging, conversion-focused content that resonates with your audience • A/B Testing & Optimization: Improve open rates, click-through rates, and overall performance. • Analytics & Reporting: Actionable insights based on campaign performance to drive continuous improvement.
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With a strong foundation in video editing, sound design, and media production, Jordan brings a blend of creativity and technical expertise to every project. Whether you aim to enhance your social media presence, produce engaging YouTube content, or create professional corporate videos,
Comprehensive Skill Set: sound design, music production, and motion graphics ensures a polished and professional final product.
Diverse Experience: communications, educational institutions, corporate events, non-profits, and religious organizations.
Efficient Project Management: With a background in project management and organizational leadership, Jordan excels at delivering high-quality results on time and within budget.
Attention to Detail: From color correction and audio balancing to seamless transitions and visual effects, Jordan ensures that every element of your video is meticulously crafted. Services Offered: Video Editing: Proficient in Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve to edit and assemble raw footage into a compelling narrative.
Podcast & Audio Editing: Enhance your podcasts with clear video, audio, background music, sound effects, and voiceovers. Motion Graphics & Visual Effects: Add dynamic text, animations, and special effects to make your videos stand out. Color Correction & Grading: Adjust colors and lighting to create the desired mood and aesthetic for your project. Social
Media Video Content: Create optimized videos for platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
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Fahad makes brand ideas come to life. Whether seeking motion design for a marketing video, traditional 2D cartoon animation, some vector graphics for websites, storyboard illustrations, character design, video post-production or a new T-shirt design for your brand... he gets it done.
2D Cartoonic Videos, Explainer Videos & Illustrations of the Storyboard! • Explainer 2D • Vector illustration, character, mascot & caricature design • Cartoon animation • Infographics Animation • Whiteboard Animation • Screencast Animation • Video post-production & effects
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The other half of the dynamic duo, Fiaz is able to implement Ayaz’s work in Python to make data available anywhere anytime in dynamic and seamless environment on HeroBridge app communities, webpages and CMS.
His passion lies in developing visually stunning and highly functional websites, prioritizing
Speed Optimization, enhanced website security, cache management, and malware removal to ensure website' performance and cutting-edge design and user-friendly experiences.
Designing on DIVI, Elementor, and other page builders /SEO Optimized Structure /WordPress Speed Optimization / WordPress Image Optimization /User-friendly and Fully Responsive Design/ Cutting-edge Design Techniques / Advanced Custom Fields (ACF Pro) /Custom Post Type (CPT) / Third Party API Integration / Server-to-Server Website Transfer/ Easy-to-maintain Admin Panel / ClickFunnels Integration/ Design Conversion/Migration Services / PSD / Figma / HTML / AI/ WebFlow/Squarespace
OUR ADVISOR PANEL
To do anything big takes partners. An African Proverb says ‘if you want to go fast, go alone - if you want to go far, go together. We’ve made such progress since 2018. It’s time to go far. Stay tuned for more details about our amazing advisors.
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Jeff is the Vice President of Finance at Digital Domain and on the executive board of the Social Impact Entertainment Society as head of finance. Jeff brings to HeroBridge fiscal strategic development and scaling expertise in emerging media and technology. His deep experience in managing complex projects, accounting and development funds has made him an invaluable asset to the development of Hero Bridge and HeroGive’s unique closed circuit model of impact.
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Dustianne is a Phd graduate of UCLA and a lead specialist nationwide in facilitating designing and operating mental health prevention and early intervention, AOD prevention, and mentor programs for children in foster placement, on probation, and in other forms of high distress and systems involvement. Individualized training and technical assistance; curriculum development and field publications; training delivery and facilitating collaborative program design; quality assurance review and compliance. Research-to-practice: synthesize and apply research findings about student mental health needs and programs, youth empowerment, youth development, and prevention issues to inform improved service provision, especially for high needs populations; consult with research community regarding research needs and build bridges between researchers and programs; conduct and consult (especially qualitative) evaluation of programs; build and maintain research clearinghouse website for cultural and linguistically appropriate alcohol and other drug (AOD) services. Our relationship with Dr North goes back to our first grant with the National Mentor Resource Institute.
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At the heart of solution-making around the veteran homeless crisis, you will find Tess Banko. Former head of the UCLA/VA Family Wellness Center she recently dove in as the project director of the first and only VA supportive housing program that will house thousands in West LA and will be integrated with VPAN. She is also the VA Veteran’s Advisory Commissioner to the 3d District CA. Having Tess on our advisory for the ReCivy build has been incredible as her knowledge of the nuanced issues faced by veterans and her trailblazing approach to paths to resources is unparalleled. Tess is also a social impact producer on our film Those Who Serve.
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Brad is an Actor/Writer/Producer who has appeared in Films (Sandtrap, The Distinguished Gentleman, Albino Alligator, Fright Night II), TV shows (Friends, Scrubs, ER, VIP) and in dozens of National Commercials. A Voiceover and On Camera Host/Spokesman for dozens of companies and the co-founder of SparkRise. Brad brings incredible film production and distribution experience and integration of media technology into SparkRise.
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Libby is a founder, strategist, and adventurer who creates businesses, tools, and teams designed for impact.
The value she brings to HeroBridge includes her experience in bootstrapping a remote hiring platform and is experienced with managing teams for the design-to-suit of fintech, blockchain and AI tools that make life more productive and enjoyable without losing the humanity that these technologies seek to serve. (Not the least of which the Beers2Buds app that allows remote friends stay connected while supporting local pubs through digital tokens.)