Sensei Gilliland

Founder of Black Belt Investor

A serial entrepreneur, martial arts master, and real estate powerhouse, Sensei Gilliland has built a thriving business empire across multiple industries. Ranked among the top martial artists in the U.S. for five consecutive years, he launched his first academy right out of school, growing it into a network of training academies still flourishing today.

In 1995, Sensei expanded into real estate investing, applying his discipline and strategy to build a coast-to-coast real estate empire—flipping houses, wholesaling for cash, and accumulating wealth through rental properties.

As demand for his expertise grew, he founded Black Belt Investors in 2002, establishing himself as a top consultant, educator, and keynote speaker in the real estate space. Over 17 years, he operated four investment clubs, wrote for leading investment magazines, and appeared on hundreds of podcasts, sharing his wealth-building strategies.

Sensei has been featured on Fox News, The Boston Globe, ABC, and CBS News, and landed on the cover of Real Estate Wealth Magazine. Today, he continues to mentor investors, entrepreneurs, and business owners, helping them achieve financial freedom through smart investments and creative financing.

Jenniffer Maldonado-Cintrón

Founder of Catch Her Spark

Jenniffer Maldonado is the founder of Catch Her Spark—a movement at the intersection of wealth, leadership, and generational transformation. Her story doesn’t begin in boardrooms—it begins in a Puerto Rican kitchen, where her abuela stretched every dollar and her mother sacrificed dreams for stability. Jenniffer followed the expected path: earning an engineering degree, thriving in Fortune 500 companies, and generating millions through operational strategy. But at 32, she walked away from corporate life with one clear conviction:

“Women don’t just deserve wealth. They deserve to lead it.”

Since then, Jenniffer has raised and deployed over $150 million in capital, championed women-led ventures, and built real estate portfolios that deliver strong returns and lasting social impact. Her proprietary SPARK™ Framework evaluates each investment through the lens of performance, purpose, and positive change—producing track records of 2–3x equity multiples within 3–5 years. She’s created housing for homeless individuals, immigrants, formerly incarcerated people, and families in transition, transforming extended-stay motels into launching pads for new beginnings. In Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, she’s actively developing 1–4 unit residential properties rooted in sustainable design, equity-driven access, and long-term community value.

Now, she’s preparing to launch a $50 million fund to scale access for women leading in innovation, ownership, and impact. Jenniffer is also a published author, dynamic speaker, and mentor to women ready to move from earning to owning. For her, wealth isn’t a status symbol—it’s a journey that transforms identity, amplifies values, and creates abundance by lifting others.

Mike Simmons

Real Estate Investor, Entrepreneur, and Business Coach

Mike Simmons has shared the stage with entrepreneurial powerhouses like Gary Vaynerchuk, Ryan Serhant, Jocko Willink, Russell Brunsson, Walter Bond, Andy Frisella, and Tom Ferry. He’s been featured in Business Insider Magazine and interviewed multiple times on the BiggerPockets Podcast, one of the most respected platforms in the real estate world. Mike is also the author of Level Jumping, a game-changing book that reveals how he scaled his business to over $1 million in one year. As the producer and host of the popular podcast Investor Cheat Code, Mike has interviewed more than 500 entrepreneurs who make 6, 7, and 8 figures, pulling back the curtain on their secrets to success.

But Mike’s expertise goes way beyond interviews and insights. As the owner of a highly profitable real estate investing company—consistently generating seven figures for over a decade—and a key partner in 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, one of the country’s top real estate mentorship programs, His latest venture, Express Hard Money, a hard money lender that has quickly become the gold standard in lending In the world of fix and flip.

Mike is a master at creating systems, processes, and automations that help entrepreneurs scale without getting trapped in the grind. He’s personally worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, helping them unlock true growth and transform their businesses.