It is amazing what happens when you dust yourself and get back in the arena. I had a few fun Zoom calls last week re: work and what will come next. One area I’ve wanted to head in with my career since dissolving The Mother Love is Venture Capital. The looks I get when I say this desire, or shall I say the comments, are entertainment!
Some people love the idea, “More women in venture means more women and underrepresented founders getting access to checks.” Some love to tell me all their beliefs about the evils of capitalism. I get it. VC is a relative of Private Equity and while I do not have a finance degree, it is all markets, economics, bets, and banking. Let’s talk sometime about what grosses us out about capitalism. Founders, especially founders with high-growth businesses and great ideas, need capital to launch businesses that will positively impact society, and the planet, and voila systems like HEALTHCARE.
As a founder of a few good ideas that made money, I believe in bettering the venture landscape and seeing more faces that look familiar. Not just a bunch of white dudes.
When I feel around about what stepping out to better the venture landscape or healthcare looks like, the first big change is my own education of being an antiracist, and building new systems of equity.
George Floyd’s murder occurred a few blocks from my house. It was the wake-up I needed, especially in the heat of COVID. In the months following Floyd’s murder and the uprisings in Minneapolis, B and I spoke regularly about what we were doing as two white women to address racism in our respective areas of healthcare. We agreed, stick with the discomfort of our biases and go through the discomfort to ensure change.
Still sticking with the discomfort, promise to stick with it.
The places I go to learn, grow, and check myself are The Center for Antiracist Research and The Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity. To understand black trauma, I read My Grandmother’s Hands by Minneapolis Resmaa Menakem and talked to my girlfriends about their lived experiences in healthcare. Listening and learning makes me face my biases and change the wiring in my brain-heart. It’s an active process until I see measurable progress.
Circling back to VC and antiracism. The same goes for my wiring, until I see active measurable progress and like 10% of VC funding going to black founders then I’m going to be checking myself. VC and antiracism are definitely being addressed in the media and venture landscape, however with less than 100, yes one-hundred, black women founders raising venture capital backing of $1 million dollars we still have so much work to do.
I don’t know if I have a clear ending to this piece, because there isn’t an end. This is something I am exploring and there will be a part II, II, and X. I read this quote in a TechCrunch article, “When the venture capital industry catches a cold, underrepresented founders catch pneumonia.” In an economic period where a lot of people and industries are catching colds, the impacts on funding allocated to black and underrepresented founders will not be a story until late 2023.
Reading, listening, + recommendations:
Online: On reproductive health, specifically abortion restrictions and reduction to accessing care, this piece on rural America and another way to stay up-to-date on restrictions, the criminalization of abortion, legislation at the state level. If you have other resources you follow, please share them in the comments. I want all the data!
Listening: I’ve become a bit of an economics lay student the past few years, and most recently Kyla has inspired me to learn faster. She did a quick lesson on Language, Loneliness, and AI. Read version.
Nightstand: Welp, The Book of Boundaries immediately sucked me in. You know 30 minutes right before bed, just wait for your subconscious to unleash the dreams.
Watched: Almost as beloved as Bad Sisters was Season 2 of White Lotus. Do it!
Digs + bits: The science of sleep is a self-study. Some joke and call me a biohacker, but I learn from neuroscientists and try practices until the right one works. Two things that helped hone this practice were using some device like an Oura Ring so that I could learn and implement going to bed during my sleep window (8:30 - 9:15p so if you text past those hours lights out sorry!) and the other, supplements. I’m a fan of Andrew Huberman and the protocols he teaches. I’m starting to test this protocol for a month or two. It is working magic for me, like sleep in one position for 8-9h with 2-3h of deep sleep. Oh yeah, if you take these 30 minutes before bed SIP your water do not gulp. He taught me that too, prevents wake-ups for peeing in the middle of the night.
Enjoy the holiday season and her spirits!
Becca
Notes:
https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/
https://www.ibramxkendi.com/
https://carhe.umn.edu/
https://www.rachelhardeman.com/
https://www.resmaa.com/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/21/black-startup-founders-raised-just-187-million-in-the-third-quarter/
https://www.rachelhardeman.com/_files/ugd/c11158_150b03cf5fbb484bbdf1a7e0aabc54fb.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/10/abortion-reproductive-rights-black-women/