A recent study conducted by LendingTree revealed that North Carolina is the best state to start a business in, but California is considered the worst. It’s important for founders – particularly those of color – to pick the right place to start their business as it can potentially make or break their startup. The Lending Tree study scored the 100 largest US metro areas by population based on factors like the proportion of residents who hold a bachelor’s degree, state corporate tax rates, and local housing costs. Of course –
B. Pagels-Minor was a program manager at Netflix before she was fired and accused of leaking internal numbers about Dave Chappelle’s show ‘The Closer’ to the media. Chappelle’s latest stand-up comedy special, which was released on Oct. 5, has been widely criticized for including anti-trans jokes and for “attacking” the LGBTQ community. But Pagels-Minor took it upon herself to help organize a protest to provoke change against attacks on the community. She claimed that by 4 pm on Oct. 14th a walkout protest was announced and around 7 p.m –
In the US, accelerators like Techstars and Y Combinator are the most active investors in Black founders, followed by early-stage investors like Backstage Capital and Kapor Capital that focus on diverse founders. As we already know, Black founders often get a small portion of the pie when it comes to investment – which is why it’s essential to highlight the VCs dedicated to investing in minority communities and those who have a history of supporting under-appreciated groups. We’ve sifted through a list created by the Black Founders list of VC firms across the US that
Clubhouse has added a new “music mode” on its app – giving musicians who play live on the social network their own special set of tools to optimize sound quality. The feature will hit iOS first before rolling out to Android. The company said the new feature would allow users to “broadcast with high quality and great stereo sound” — giving listeners a rich listening experience. It added that music mode will also make it possible to hook pro-level audio equipment like mixing boards and mics into Clubhouse. This is
Brandwatch is hiring on pocitjobs.com Having worked at digital consumer intelligence platform Brandwatch for six years, Tara Seney has been Global Workplace Planning Manager for the past 20 months. Her time in the role has coincided with the pandemic, and as such, a lot of her work has focused on the company’s transition to remote work. In this interview, Tara talks about how Brandwatch has maintained a sense of community within the context of hybrid working and how they’ve evolved their diversity and inclusion initiatives in this new reality. Hey
Award-winning Canadian choreographer, Laurieann Gibson, has joined forces with Los-Angeles based Cinedigm to launch the BOP (Born Out Of Passion) Network. BOP will be the only destination for 24/7 access to premier dance content, which includes documentaries, licensed movies, musicals, music videos and series. It will be the first multimedia streaming service offering an all-inclusive slate of global dance-related programming. The network will also feature scripted and non-scripted original content as well as dance tutorials led by Gibson, her peers, and other industry influencers. In an official statement – Chris McGurk, Chairman & CEO
Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners is adding spatial LABS, a metaverse and blockchain-based tech incubator, to its growing list of crypto investments, according to a report from Billboard. Founded by 24-year-old entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, next year, sLABS will launch its first product, “LNQ,” a blockchain-enabled hardware platform that helps onboard young creators to the metaverse, according to widely shared reports. “Iddris has a conscious world view and a youth-centric vision that is innovative and refreshing to witness,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “We share similar parallels in how we imagine impacting
Pinterest appointed Andrea Wishom, president of real estate company Skywalker Holdings and former Harpo Studios executive, to its board of directors back in August. The appointment made her Pinterest’s first Black board member and third female board member. Wishom’s appointment came following months of meetings with other potential candidates, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said in a statement at the time. He said Wishom stood out for several reasons. “She’s an expert in creating positive and inspirational content for global audiences and a passionate advocate for building a company culture of
BITCON 2021‘s virtual event kicks off this Wednesday and the conference will feature some of the Black community’s tech icons – from cryptocurrency to cybersecurity. Arlan Hamilton, Judy Smith, Sherell Dorsey, Simon T.Bailey, and Kanika Tolver are among the list of speakers lined up to give away gems to those keen on trailblazing in the industry. A total of 3% of workers at the top 75 technology companies identified as Black and Black founders received just 3% of all US venture capital in 2020. BITCON hopes to change these numbers. The
Fiverr — an Israeli online freelancer platform —has awarded five Black start-up firms $24K through its Future Collective Fellowship Program to help expand their business. The business accelerator is a fellowship for Black entrepreneurs, and five businesses were selected for the program’s inaugural class, and each will receive $24,000. The program is also backed up by 1863 Ventures, a Black-led and D.C.-based nonprofit organization, and Maestra, a women of color-owned business strategy firm, according to Afrotech. “Fiverr’s purpose is to provide anyone, no matter their race, religion, background or beliefs, the opportunity
