Sheila Lirio Marcelo Brings Her Story to Dent Santa Fe 2025

Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Founder and CEO of AI startup Ohai.ai to speak at the September 2025 Dent Conference

We are excited to announce that Sheila Lirio Marcelo, the visionary founder behind Care.com and current Founder and CEO of AI startup Ohai.ai will be speaking at Dent 2025 in Santa Fe. She will be joining tenured professor, author, and executive coach Pamela Prather onstage for a fireside chat titled “Your Story Matters: Mastering the Art of Authentic Communication.”

Sheila Lirio Marcelo: The 7th Woman to Take a Company Public on the NYSE

Sheila's journey began not in a garage or dorm room, but in a moment of crisis. In 2001, juggling a newborn son and caring for her ailing father after his heart attack, she found herself frantically searching through Yellow Pages for reliable care. Armed with Harvard MBA and JD degrees and working at a tech startup, she knew there had to be a better way and that millions of other families faced the same challenge.

But instead of rushing into entrepreneurship, Sheila waited five years, deliberately building her expertise while raising her family. “I had baseline things I needed to provide for,” she explains, “so I leveraged my goal and continued to learn by working at entrepreneurial companies until I was ready.”

That patience paid off spectacularly. From Care.com's founding in 2006 to its public debut in 2014, Sheila raised over $111 million in venture capital. No small feat for any entrepreneur, but especially remarkable for a female founder in an era when women received even less venture funding than today. The company eventually sold to IAC for $500 million.

Sheila's appearance at Dent Santa Fe continues our tradition of bringing together entrepreneurs who aren't just building companies, they're reshaping entire industries while staying true to themselves. Her story perfectly embodies Dent's ongoing focus on leadership, storytelling, and the courage to build something meaningful.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to learn from one of the few women to successfully navigate the complete entrepreneurial journey from startup to IPO to acquisition while maintaining her commitment to solving problems that matter.

Apply to join us at Dent Santa Fe 2025, September 14-16, where your story matters as much as your vision.