Recording Academy co-president, Valeisha Butterfield Jones, has moved on from her role to join Google’s diversity team, where previously worked as the global head of inclusion. Butterfield Jones has been a part of the Academy for over two years and played a vital role in the organization’s leadership team as a chief diversity officer. She oversaw and managed the business culture, membership, awards, and people. After working alongside Google’s inclusion team, Butterfield Jones is expected to re-join the tech giant in October as VP of partnerships on the diversity team, according
The pre-seed fund, Visible Hands, has officially launched the second cohort of its “Visionaries Accelerator” program. The initiative, which aims to support overlooked and underrepresented founders, welcomed 51 new founders to its flagship program. The program, which will take place from September to December, will see each company work full-time towards building their business, with financial support from the Visible Hands team. Each founder will receive a starting investment of $25,000. Throughout the program, they will have the chance to earn additional assets of up to $150,000 as they progress.
Talent x Opportunity has announced the launch of its third cohort. The initiative, designed to support artistic geniuses with the tools they need to scale and grow, welcomed a new set of founders for this year’s program. The TxO program, founded by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (known as “a16z”), works to help accelerate the growth and impact of upcoming tech companies. They select elite entrepreneurs and prepare them with the ideal tools to build and expand their companies. Here are five founders joining the TxO community in Fall 2022.
The Judee von Seldenec (JVS) Philadelphia Fund for Women has invested $500,000 in Black-owned hair product line, Naturaz. The investment fund, which marks JvS’ commitment to investing $2 million in women entrepreneurs, will financially support nine technology-based ventures based in Philadelphia. The extra funding aims to help close the funding gap, disproportionally impacting Black and Hispanic women founders. Naturaz, founded in 2017 by Mumbi Dunjwa, is a hair product line based in Philadelphia that manufactures and sells vegan hair products for curly hair. Dunjwa uses her experience in chemistry, health,
Working in venture capital after business school, Kelly Ifill has seen how difficult it can be for Black entrepreneurs to raise money through the earliest rounds of fundraising, known as the friends and family round, designed to help fledgling startups get off the ground. As the cozy term suggests, founders are expected to secure investments ranging from $10,000 to $150,000 from trusted, well-heeled contacts to serve as seed money before moving on to more significant investments from angel and institutional investors. But it’s not always easy for some groups to
Rusty and River Fields, two brothers born and raised in Brooklyn, have started the first hacker house for young Black tech entrepreneurs. The house, nicknamed “R-House,” brings tech enthusiasts together to live and work alongside each other for four weeks as they build their own Web-3.0 startups. Speaking to Bronx.news, Rusty Fields, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a neuroscience degree, said: “Black builders, they face unique challenges when they go to launch companies.” “We really wanted to create the space and experience for them to build deep and authentic
Billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith recently announced the launch of the Student Freedom Initiative, a program designed to provide paid internships to HBCU students. Robert F. Smith will launch the Student Freedom Initiative’s HELPS Program in partnership with financial regulation company Prudential Finance. The partnership will address Black students’ disproportionate financial loan burden, which often hinders their career progression. The program aims to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) HBCU students with $1.8 million in microgrants, which will act as a contingent fund alongside their traditional college loans. Robert F. Smith, famously known
“I got my job through Twitter 🎉” I never thought that I’d be the one saying those words. I’ve always seen posts of people from tech Twitter who have shared that they got a job on Twitter or that online presence helped them secure a job. Little did I know that I would be a witness to this too. Welcome to all, and thank you for taking your time to read about my journey of how I got into tech, the challenges I’ve faced, the resources I’ve used, how I
If you feel lost and overwhelmed and have been looking for a guide or a little pick me up, this post is for you, and I hope it gives you the clarity and answers you need. Before you continue reading this, I want you to close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath. You have come too far to give up now. I recently started talking to newbies for 30 minutes on weekends and doing design reviews, sharing my knowledge and tricks. It’s my way of giving back and
Financial giant, Mastercard, has officially announced the class of this year’s Start Path program, an award-winning engagement program aimed at providing global support and mentorship to the brightest late-stage startups. According to a press release, Mastercard selected three early-stage startups led by underrepresented founders and four late-stage fintech innovators looking to scale their businesses for this year’s program. “As we continue our eight-year legacy of successful collaboration with startups around the world through Start Path,” said Blake Rosenthal, executive vice president, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard. “The companies we selected are on
