Get to know rasa.io

About Us

Core Purpose

At rasa.io our core purpose is: To Better Inform the World

The Core Purpose of an organization describes its “why” – the reason it exists. At a fundamental level, a Core Purpose must evoke a deeply and emotionally meaningful response across a broad swath of people far removed from the company. Check out our BHAG.

Core Values

Demand diversity in thought

We demand all of our team members seek out ideas beyond their own. Diverse ideas often come from diverse people and sources. We are creative and seek to turn over stones and solicit ideas from people who may not always be first to share them.

Simpler is better

Find the simplest possible way to solve each problem. Unnecessary steps, features, or processes must be cut with extreme discipline.

Tell it like it is

No matter what, say what you mean and mean what you say. Do this while practicing empathetic listening.

Learn by doing

We are not afraid to start things with little information or insight, experiment, fail, iterate and try again. We strive to find the best way to solve hard problems with a bias towards action. We work hard to share our learning along the way so that we can get better as individuals and as a team.

Measure it

If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Measure everything that you are shooting for and tell it like it is along the way.

Own it

As a team and as individuals, we own our individual outcomes end to end. When we sign up for something, we get it done. As a team, there is no “they,” there is only “us” and “we,” and we all own our success together. We vigorously debate our goals once we set them; even if we don’t all agree, we all own them together.

Celebrate success

Celebrating success means celebrating success and the steps that lead to the success. We embrace failures along the way and the need to start from a position of inexperience.

Company Culture

We’re a results-driven, goal-oriented company comprised of a collaborative, creative, and passionate team. We value employee growth, work-life balance, and each other — we share appreciation between team members regularly and enthusiastically.

Meet The Team

CEO Amith Nagarajan

Amith Nagarajan

Executive Chairman and Founder

Amith has successfully started and scaled a number of technology companies over the past 3 decades. He is an entrepreneur who believes in the principles of Conscious Capitalism. Amith founded rasa.io to partner with brands to better inform the world using conscious business practices and cutting edge technology. Now, alongside our team at rasa.io, Amith works on developing AI to drive meaningful daily engagement between brands and their audiences via personalized content curation. For many years Amith has also been an active early stage investor in technology companies.

EricaSalmRench_DirectorCustomerSuccess

Erica Salm Rench

Chief Operating Officer

After working in enrollment management where she focused on recruitment strategy and marketing, Erica managed a team of online marketers at the largest digital marketing company in the Gulf South. There, she supported the web development, SEO, online advertising, and content marketing teams in executing strategies which elevated organizations to stand out and be seen amongst the chaos of the online marketplace. Now, as the COO at rasa.io, she gets to blend her love of digital marketing technology and email in order to support the incredible community of rasa.io customers.

PaulChristmann_ChiefSoftwareArchitect

Paul Christmann

Chief Innovation Officer

Building teams and building products. Paul Christmann started down the path of software development nearly 30 years ago, delivering solutions for the scheduling of aircraft maintenance for one of the largest US Airlines. He has since brought that same passion for solving problems to many different platforms and industries. Over the years, he has discovered an equally important passion: building software teams by creating environments that foster collaboration, and innovation. At rasa.io, Paul is blessed to work with a great group of developers who consistently challenge each other to never rest on our laurels, and always find new paths to further develop our skills and improve our ability to solve the problems of our users.

PaulChristmann_ChiefSoftwareArchitect

Chandra Bhushan

Director of Engineering

Software and Technology are the heart and blood of Chandra’s life. After working in Educational Services for 5 Years, he started down the path of software development. And that was nearly 20 years ago. Building new products and learning new technologies are two of his favorite hobbies. Over the years, he has built several products and led numerous teams. At rasa.io, Chandra is blessed to work with a truly fantastic group of developers. They consistently challenge each other to never rest on their laurels, always find new paths to develop their skills and consistently improve their ability to solve our users’ problems.

Molly Phayer of rasa.io

Molly Phayer

Customer Success Manager

Molly is originally from New Orleans, LA. She went to the University of Georgia in Athens and majored in Art History. After college, she worked for a furniture company as a Sales Manager and Showroom Coordinator. In that position, she learned many transferable skills that she was able to bring to rasa.io. Her favorite parts of managing customer success at rasa.io include setting goals with clients and seeing those goals be exceeded. She loves when a client is even more surprised with what rasa.io can do for them than they originally thought. She is also a key player on the product development team. She loves to vacation in Chicago (especially in the summer!) and North Carolina.

Elizabeth Crosby of rasa.io

Elizabeth Crosby

Partnership Manager

Elizabeth Crosby grew up in New Orleans, LA. She studied Communications Sciences at the University of Mississippi. She loves working with organizations that have a profound impact on the world, hence her role at rasa.io. She also loves helping clients to improve their workflow, she’s a master of efficiency and multi-tasking. Her love of client work has previously had her working with law firms. But she found her way into the startup world by co-founding a social media based coupon app with now patented technology. There are many things to love about New Orleans, but one of Elizabeth’s favorites is the food, particularly, the deep fried food. 

Elizabeth Crosby of rasa.io

Carly Greenbaum

Customer Success Specialist

Carly Greenbaum was raised in Houston, Texas. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Education at Tulane University. After graduating, she has followed her passion for helping others in social services and education. Carly continues to feed this passion, working on the Customer Success team at rasa.io. She enjoys problem-solving and is rewarded by the experience of making clients’ lives better through the innovative use of our service and AI-generated newsletters. Other passions of hers include traveling, trying new foods, event planning, and dancing.

Emily Dowd of rasa.io

Michelangelo Bustamante

Business Development Representative

Michelangelo grew up in the Denver Metro Area. He studied marketing and management at the University of Colorado. His first job after college was as a Lending Officer at FirstBank, which is a local Colorado bank. He was there for four and a half years and worked his way up to become an Assistant Vice President before joining rasa.io. His favorite part of his job is introducing new clients to rasa.io and helping them stay in the flow and be top of mind with their customers and members. Michelangelo is your typical Coloradoan who loves hiking, skiing, biking, rafting, running, and anything else outdoors. 

Molly Phayer of rasa.io

Katie Donahue

Account Executive

Katie happily settled in New Orleans after graduating from Tulane University. She worked in politics and government until deciding to explore the growing local tech scene. Katie’s love for public service landed her at rasa.io, where she delights in providing customers with a service that can improve their quality of life. Her favorite thing about working at rasa.io is helping people easily connect with their audiences on a personalized level. In her spare time, Katie loves reading books and taking care of her betta fish.

Molly Phayer of rasa.io

Ariana Sunjura

Business Development Representative

Ariana grew up in San Pedro, California. She studied Experience Industry Management and Marketing at Cal Poly, SLO. During her time in school, she gained practical experience as an Events Assistant, executing successful events both locally and abroad. After graduation, Ariana joined rasa.io, driven by her love for travel and building new connections. She is energized by the fast-paced and dynamic environment of startups, where she has the opportunity to connect with clients and help them improve their workforce efficiency. 

kolton profile

Kolton Xie

Marketing Associate

Kolton grew up in Hawaii on the Big Island. He studied Marketing at the University of San Francisco. After college, he landed his first role here at rasa.io and got right into the nitty-gritty of everything rasa.io had to offer. He has a passion for trying new things and is always on the lookout for unique experiences. In his free time, Kolton can be found trying new foods, traveling to different destinations (when he can), and pushing himself out of his comfort zone. With a curious mind, he is always seeking to broaden his horizons and create new memories.

Jared Loftus

Jared Loftus

Strategic Advisor

Jared has been an entrepreneur his entire life. Whether in the world of artificial intelligence, education, or apparel, he’s always had an eye out for what’s coming next. He disrupted his own brick and mortar business in 2010 by selling it to focus on e-commerce. A year later, Forbes named him College Football’s Biggest Entrepreneur. In 2014, states around the country made a massive shift in secondary education accountability by making the ACT mandatory for all juniors. Three years later, he was helping lead the fastest growing ACT test prep company, and the organization was on the Inc 500 list twice. Today, Jared brings that same level of disruption to newsletters by applying artificial intelligence to the content curation process and delivering a truly unique newsletter to each subscriber.

Blue Cypress Logo

rasa.io was developed with support from Louisiana Economic Development’s Office of Entertainment Industry Development.