November 30, 2021

The 23-Year-Old Black Venture Capitalist In Charge Of Quality Control’s Investment Portfolio

Young people are the future, and one woman, 23-year-old Dazayah Walker, is the epitome of not letting age hold you back.

Walker is one of the youngest female venture capitalists, thanks to the impressive investment portfolio she manages and maintains for one of Atlanta’s most prominent entertainment labels, Quality Control.

What is Quality Control?

Quality Control Music is an American hip hop record label founded by Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas in March 2013. it’s responsible for groundbreaking acts that include Migos, Lil Baby, City Girls, Lil Yachty, and a host of other trailblazers in the music industry.

Since its launch, it has expanded its mission to sports with an extensive roster that includes NFL’s Alvin Kamara and D’Andre Swift.

How did she get into the sector?

Walker first joined the QC team as an intern while she was studying at Spelman College. Still, in a recent interview with Afrotech, she said she always volunteered in any capacity with different organizations to gain skills in the tech and music sector.

“I see the impact that music and culture have on tech, along with the different opportunities that come their way without necessarily having someone in the position to evaluate those opportunities,” she explained to Afrotech.

“It made me realize that we have all of this influence on what has been determined as cool and what’s not, but we don’t always have the opportunity to capitalize or really be represented in those spaces.”

Day to Day activities

As an operations manager, Walker says that everything office-related goes through her. But as the Investment portfolio manager, she wears the hat of working alongside QC’s portfolio companies to give them the value they seek through their partnership with the company. 

A portfolio manager is a person or group responsible for investing a fund’s assets, implementing the fund’s investment strategies, and managing day-to-day portfolio trading.

Challenges of the role

The 23-year-old has admitted that being the youngest in the room can come with its downsides and she can at times feel it’s “discouraging working as the youngest VC.”

“It is a bit scary being in a position to trailblaze and make a change and difference in this world,” she told AfroTech.

“Because aside from me just being so young, but being a Black woman in this space in what everyone knows is a white male-dominated industry has its own set of challenges.”

Walker said she also struggles with imposter syndrome, but she is determined to remain a student of life and not allow any doubts to take over.

“That’s one thing that I really always put at the forefront, to always be open to learning because you don’t know everything,” she told Afrotech. “They say you don’t want to be the smartest in the room, because if you are, then you’re in the wrong room. So, I’m just taking every opportunity as a learning opportunity,” Walker added.

Inspiring others

As you can imagine – being one of the youngest VCs can be a difficult path, but it’s one that many might also aspire to achieve.

She currently documents her journey to serve as a blueprint to others through her blog, The Black Sophisticate. She gives people a glimpse into her life as a businesswoman while also providing tips on personal development.

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Abbianca Makoni

Abbianca Makoni is a content executive and writer at POCIT! She has years of experience reporting on critical issues affecting diverse communities around the globe.

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