Fearless Fund has filed an appeal against a court ruling that temporarily blocked their grant program for Black women entrepreneurs. The ruling came amid an ongoing lawsuit by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), which alleged the fund’s grant program was racially discriminatory. The Racial Bias Lawsuit Black-woman-owned venture capital fund Fearless Fund invests in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level, or series A financing. The AAER brought a lawsuit against them in August 2023. Notably, AAER founder Edward Blum is the conservative activist behind the Supreme Court’s affirmative
From dealmakers at significant funds to founding partners of new firms and industry-changing nonprofits, Forbes 30 Under 30 listed young leaders helping to shape venture capital’s future. The list spotlights funders and founders aged 29 or younger as of December 31, 2023. We have compiled a list of some people of color founders who are helping the venture capital industry. Sesana Allen – Associate Investor, Smash Capital Allen is an investor at Smash Capital, a late-stage venture firm backed by former Disney executives and investors from Insight Partners. She sourced the firm’s investment in
People from historically underrepresented groups are securing more roles at Fortune 500 companies. Nevertheless, a new report has found that they are overrepresented as diversity and inclusion officers and unrepresented in the C-Suite. Fortune 500 C-Suite Snapshot The executive search firm Spencer Stuart reported on its Fortune 500 C-Suite Snapshot, asking how leadership teams of Fortune 500 companies are evolving in response to changing demands. The report mapped leader profiles for 11 roles commonly included in the C-Suite to develop a snapshot of executives in these positions. C-suite executives commonly include the
Mother-daughter duo Claudia and London Walker are set to release “The ABCs of Cybersecurity,” an adventure book and mobile game to equip children with the tools needed to navigate the digital world. Meet Claudia Walker Claudia Walker is an educator who paved the way to ensure financial literacy is accessible to children. Before Walker entered the education field, she worked on Wall Street as a financial analyst. Walk then shared her experiences with students about the money capital and attending a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) after noticing many weren’t
Women with dark skin tones are getting more screen time and speaking time in US scripted television, a new study using advanced AI models has revealed. Despite improvements over the past 12 years, the study found that men with light skin tones still get the most screen and speaking time. See It, Be It See It, Be It: What Families Are Seeing on TV is a new study that analyzes trends in the screen and speaking time of the visually presenting attributes of characters. This includes gender, skin tone, and
CB Insights released its latest list of the world’s most promising startups, including a number of companies founded by people of color. CB Insights collected the company’s investors, headcount growth, and commercial relationships to identify 345 of the most promising private startups from their database of 1 million companies. The industries include fintech, AI, insurtech, generative AI, and retail tech. We have compiled a list of some people of color-owned startups featured. Airbase – Thejo Kote Thejo Kote founded Airbase in 2017 and has been its CEO since then. Airbase develops a modern
Nicki Minaj fans, Barbz, have created an AI kingdom, Gag City, ahead of the release of the artist’s Pink Friday 2 album. The impressive pink creations have been trending across social media. Barbz turn to AI Gag City is an AI-generated kingdom created by Barbz. The pink alternative universe’s name is a wordplay for “gagged,” a slang to describe something amazing or stunning. After Nicki shared the cover art on her album – with her standing on a pink subway in a pink-tinted city – fans came up with the
Reshma Saujani has debuted PaidLeave.AI, her GPT-powered chatbot that helps parents navigate all Paid Family Leave options available to them in New York State, maximizing their benefits. Saujani is the founder of Moms First and Girls Who Code, who recently spoke about her concerns surrounding affordable childcare and paid leave in the US. “Applying for paid leave can mean an avalanche of paperwork, bureaucracy, and tons of confusing questions,” Saunjani wrote on LinkedIn. “I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard moms say: “I wish I had someone to walk me through this.” According to
Blac Chyna, who reportedly made millions per month on OnlyFans, quit earlier this year and has now announced joining the subscription-based creator platform Passes. Chyna – whose real name is Angela White – was among the highest earners on OnlyFans but quit at the time, saying it was a dead end for her, and she wanted to set an example for her two kids in the future. Unlike OnlyFans, Passes doesn’t allow nudity or sexual content. Passes Miami-based creator platform Passes was founded in 2022 by Lucy Guo, who formerly co-founded Scale
Tech company Mozilla has added four members from diverse backgrounds to the board of its parent organization, the Mozilla Foundation. The New Board Members Mozilla’s new board members include Armenian-American Raffi Krikorian, CTO at the Emerson Collective, a social impact firm focusing on education, the environment, immigration, and social justice issues. He is also the former CTO of the Democratic National Committee, where he worked to make technology a focus for the Democrats, ensuring every campaign could have industry-quality technology. Alondra Nelson, professor of social science at the Institute for
