Photograph by Mark Seliger
The Force Is Female !
Via Vanity Fair:
Over the last two decades, black women have become the fastest-growing demographic of entrepreneurs, owning nearly 60 percent of all black businesses. And if current efforts to diversify the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workforce have their intended impact, the number and scope of founders should increase as well: more than 90 percent of founders of “unicorns”—companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more—previously worked at top tech firms.
That will mean more chances of finding “someone to identify with—someone to root for and aspire to be,” as Marla Blow, founder and C.E.O. of the credit-card venture FS Card, has put it. Representation matters, even in this rarefied air.
Imagine a problem, a product, and a market. But because the default founder in Silicon Valley is male, and white or Asian, a black woman must also “envision herself being the person creating the product or service that is in the world,” says Jessica O. Matthews, founder and C.E.O. of the renewable-energy start-up Uncharted Power —and then get funders to buy into that vision.
Each of the 26 founders shown here completed their $1 million or more in fund-raising before November 15, 2017 – reports digitalundivided .
They are:
Lisa Skeete Tatum, co-founder and C.E.O., Landit. Heather Hiles, founder and former C.E.O., Pathbrite (sold company to Cengage Learning in 2015). Marla Blow, founder and C.E.O., FS Card. Helen Adeosun, co-founder and C.E.O., Care Academy. Morgan DeBaun, founder and C.E.O., Blavity. Jean Brownhill, founder and C.E.O., Sweeten. Marah Lidey, co-founder and co-C.E.O., Shine. Kristina Jones, co-founder, CourtBuddy. Sherisse Hawkins, co-founder and C.E.O., Pagedip. Etosha Cave, founder, Opus 12. Tanisha Robinson, founder, Print Syndicate. Catherine Mahugu, founder, Soko. Alicia Thomas, co-founder and C.E.O., Dibs. Kellee James, founder and C.E.O., Mercaris. Viola Llewellyn, co-founder and president, Ovamba. Reham Fagiri, co-founder and C.E.O., AptDeco. Camille Hearst, co-founder and C.E.O., Kit. Alexandra Bernadotte, founder and C.E.O., Beyond 12. K. J. Miller, co-founder, Mented Cosmetics. Nicole Neal, co-founder and C.E.O., Noodle Markets. Amanda E. Johnson, co-founder, Mented Cosmetics. Cheryl Contee, co-founder and strategic adviser, Attentive.ly. Asmau Ahmed, founder, Plum Perfect. Star Cunningham, founder and C.E.O., 4D Healthware. Jewel Burks, co-founder and C.E.O., Partpic (sold company to Amazon in 2016). Jessica O. Matthews, founder and C.E.O., Uncharted Power.
One Love PLUMS!
