How All Raise’s Ceo Is Tackling Tech’s Diversity Problem

speaking just a few months after you took the reigns of allrays congratulations thank you and what a three months it's been what three months it's been we've had a rocking and rolling economy and market and we'll get into all of that but i just want to rewind what made you want to take this job what made me want to take the job oh that's a good question you know um what made me want to take the job was number one the people i think i'm at a state in my life in my career where the people are priority in terms of how i make decisions and what are their belief systems their values where do they put their money in their mouth and where does it collide but really being in a group of powerful women who walk their talk is so inspiring to me and i wanted to be a part of that so that was a big reason and then also the track record they have it's an organization that's been in existence and growing and scaling for four years and i believe that my background as an entrepreneur an operator an investor in lp i could really come into this community with a level of empathy and compassion and network and allyship that i thought i could take it to the next level and i think i can let's talk about that background you've worked with hundreds of founders you you've really helped scale and a lot of underrepresented founders is that correct that's absolutely correct yeah can you talk a little bit about that and what experience do you want to bring to all race yeah so i myself was one of the first black women in silicon valley to raise venture capital this was back in 2012 so about a decade ago believe it or not and i had a lived experience that was really challenging isolating where i had to figure out what the playbook was what the unwritten rules are who i should be talking to what i should say what i shouldn't say and when it came time for me to use my privilege and power navigating silicon valley years later i decided i wanted to create a space and a program for other underrepresented founders where they would never have to go through what i did they would never have to figure this out alone and so i also am a teacher and so i'm pretty good at building curriculum so i worked with the end in mind if my goal is to help historically underrepresented underestimated underfunded under-resourced under-mentored you keep going in that realm if my vision is to help them get access to capital get access to mentorship and branding and insider knowledge how do i do that right so i built out a program worked backwards and i went on in my founder gym company to train over 650 entrepreneurs around the world and many of them were the first in their communities even in their states to ever raise millions of dollars now it's been a rock and roll in three months as as we alluded at the top of the conversation i've heard from some people that they're worried that this economic environment means there will be a pullback a lot of the diversity commitments that companies founders investors made two years ago three years ago that that'll be the first thing to go if financials get tighter yeah do you share that fear fear um i think it's a possibility i think it's a possibility because like you said it's rooted in fear when the money dries up people aren't willing to experiment as much and to use different patterns to make new decisions right so we talk about the pattern of the past and how people currently identify who's the talent what type of companies do they build if it worked for them i'm going to use that same playbook and what diversity equity inclusion means is honoring a different pattern this person may not have gone to that school this person may not have worked at that tech company this person may not have this track record that these other founders do but i'm willing to take a bold bet on them because their distance traveled and where they started and everything they had to do to even get in the room to pitch me the investor that counts for something so to answer your question do i share that fear i think it's a real possibility but i think it's a bigger opportunity i think the people and positions of power those who are the check writers those who are deciding which companies which founders get funded i would really encourage them to check in with themselves and understand this opportunity they have to retreat and go back to what feels safe and proven um or to continue to boldly move forward and make bets give opportunities to people who have not had that opportunity so that we don't lose all the progress that's been made