Yesterday, Google for Startups announced the 46 U.S. recipients of this year’s Black and Latino Founders Fund. The participants receive $150,000 in equity-free cash to help fuel their business, sales, and fundraising training, technical support from Google mentors, up to $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, and mental health coaching from a team of Black and Latino therapists. Over the past month, Google has welcomed 99 Black Founders Fund recipients in the U.S., Africa, Europe, and Brazil. Here are some of the recipients chosen from the U.S. Meet some of the
Former bankers Lyndsae’ Peele and Casey Ariel are turning to web3 to empower and uplift Black women entrepreneurs with Zubachee, their “metaverse ecosystem for Black women in business.” The pair plan to onboard one million Black women onto the metaverse by 2023. What is Zubachee? Zubachee aims to become the go-to space in the metaverse for Black women entrepreneurs to find the tools and support needed to scale their businesses. Zubachee is also developing a curriculum and planning events to educate Black women needed to run profitable business operations. While
Content creator and entrepreneur Ashley Grayson, formerly Ashley Massengill, is facing RICO charges of racketeering and murder alongside her husband, Joshua Grayson. Who is Ashely Grayson? Grayson is a content creator and entrepreneur who became widely known after claiming to have made $1 million within 40 minutes through her online platform, Digital Course Recipe. In a now-deleted Facebook post, she labeled herself a #MillionaireMentor and had become an inspiration for many young Black girls online. However, several TikTok users accused Grayson of scamming people through her online courses last year.
Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform which brings creative projects to life by directly connecting them with their communities, has hired Sindy Wilson as their new chief financial officer (CFO). Who is Sindy Wilson? Wilson has two decades of experience as a finance executive. She previously held leadership roles at Oldcastle Infrastructure, Ernst & Young, Cox Automotive, and, most recently, Lyft as their VP of finance transformation and analytics. Throughout her two decades in finance, Wilson told Forbes she never once worked for a Black female CFO, and most of the time, it wasn’t even
Over half of all LGBT+ ethnic minorities are actively seeking a new role at a more inclusive employer, according to new research by Deloitte Global. The LGBT+ Inclusion at Work report The Deloitte Global 2023 LGBT+ Inclusion at Work report explored the experiences of LGBT+ people in work worldwide through the lens of sexual orientation and gender identity. “The data from the survey shows how far there still is to go when it comes to embedding LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace,” said Emma Codd, Deloitte Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.
The concerns about AI and biases have been a topic of conversation for some time. Black artists are among the creators finding an issue with the inaccurate results produced by AI image generators. The Concerns with AI Bias and Artists Senegalese artist Linda Dounia Rebeiz explored whether AI can see people of color in her new exhibition “In/Visible” for Feral File, an NFT marketplace. Featuring ten artists with the same goal; to shed light on the biases of AI and representing people of color. “The biases of AI, the biases
Former Amazon manager Kayricka Wortham has been sentenced for stealing more than $9.4 million from the company. Wortham used the stolen funds to make several luxury purchases, including a million-dollar home, a Tesla, and a Lamborghini and had plans to open a hookah lounge. Seven other individuals have also been charged with the fraud scheme. What happened? According to US Attorney Ryan K Buchanan, Wortham abused her position at Amazon, submitting more than $10 million in fictitious invoices for fake vendors, leaving Amazon paying approximately $9.4 million to Wortham and
Founding President at Public Ventures, Zoey Dash McKenzie, has launched a $100 million impact fund to nurture the next generation of life science and climate tech startups emerging from academic research. TechCrunch reports that McKenzie is particularly keen to support Canada-based life science and clean tech startups that focus on improving health equity and supporting climate preparedness for underserved communities. Investing in climate equity According to UN Women, women and girls experience the most significant impacts of climate change, amplifying existing gender inequalities and posing unique threats to their livelihoods,
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has announced its 2024 convention will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, next year rather than in Orlando, Florida, where it was originally to be held. Under the rule of Gov Ron DeSantis, the state has seen several attacks on diversity and inclusion, leaving convention participants concerned about the state’s political climate and safety. What is the NSBE? The NSBE is one of the largest student-governed organizations in the United States and was formed in 1975, growing from six founding members to over 30,000
African Americans’ unemployment rate has jumped for a second consecutive month, with 267,000 more unemployed Black Americans since April, reports Bloomberg. This equates to about 90% of the 300,000 increase in overall joblessness during that period. Although the overall employment rate decreased this month to 3.6%, Black unemployment rose for the second straight month in June at 6%, almost double that of white workers. The economy and Black unemployment Historically, research on racial patterns of the labor market status shows that Black workers are often among the first to be fired as the
