UrbanGeekz 50: Venture Capital
December 11, 2023
UrbanGeekz 50: Fintech
December 11, 2023
Kelly Burton, founder – Black Innovation Alliance
With a Ph.D. in Political Science from Emory University, Kelly Burton is the CEO of the Black Innovation Alliance (BIA), a nationwide coalition of 116 member organizations closing the racial wealth gap by building pathways that provide equitable access to resources, knowledge, and opportunities to Black entrepreneurs, tech founders, and creative technologists.
Burton who refers to herself as ‘an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur’ has launched 3 businesses in 10 years, which includes Founders of Color where the sole mission is to help entrepreneurs of color to scale and grow their businesses
With nearly 80k followers on LinkedIn, she is something of a “super user”, and the author of “Mastering LinkedIn: How I Used the World’s Largest Network to Build a Nationally Recognized Brand”. Earlier in 2023, the Black Innovation Alliance received a $ 3 million commitment from UBS to directly support BIA’s Decade of Black Innovation – an initiative that aims to empower one million black entrepreneurs and innovators.
Burton also describes herself as a recovering academic interested in big ideas, applied to the real world. She is an avid writer and speaks on issues related to everything from brand building to racial justice and economic inclusion.
Joey Womack, Founder and CEO – Goodie Nation
Joey Womack is the founder and CEO of non-profit Goodie Nation, whose initiatives are designed to close the relationship gap for tech-focused social entrepreneurs and diverse founders.
Womack received multiple industry accolades for his commitment to and work in bridging socioeconomic disparities. He is the recipient of awards from SOCAP Global, the Technology Association of Georgia, and Startup Atlanta. He was included in Atlanta Magazine’s list of 500 Most Influential Business Leaders and Huffington Post’s Top 20 Innovators in the Atlanta Tech Startup Scene.
Womack first caught the entrepreneurial bug in 2002 when he launched digitalguestlist.com as a graduate student at Florida A&M. The site grew to 80,000 users and advertised thousands of events for Fortune 500 companies. In 2014 he founded Goodie Nation, which has partnered with Google, Ford Motor Company, and the White House HBCU Initiative amongst other prestigious partners.
Womack is a key player in Atlanta’s tech scene. He serves on the boards for Startup Atlanta, Venture Atlanta, and the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative as well as advisory boards for SXSW and SOCAP’s Spectrum Conference.
Esosa Johnson, Co-founder – Black Women Talk Tech
Esosa Johnson is the co-founder of Black Women Talk Tech.
Black Women Talk Tech (BWTT) is a community of 50,000+ global Black women scalable entrepreneurs. In the last five years, BWTT has supported female entrepreneurs through the annual Roadmap to Billions Conference, over ten local chapters (including London), providing access to real funding opportunities, an informative podcast, eLearning webinars, year-round live events, and more.
The community has a unique understanding of the challenges Black women founders face and the advantages they bring to the industry. The goal is to identify, support, and encourage Black women to build the next billion-dollar business.
“We’re unapologetic in our support because we believe Black is worth the investment. It’s time we are heard and seen because we know different perspectives bring new opportunities. We’re building community and profitable, scalable businesses for self-identified Black women in tech, together.”
Johnson is also the founder of AcceleratorCON, a leading place for startups and accelerators to meet. The community provides startups with the resources, access to capital, and networks that help them grow; and provides a pipeline to investors and accelerators.
Jay Bailey, President and CEO – Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE)
Jay Bailey is a dynamic force dedicated to his unwavering motto, “Build As We Climb.” With a transformative vision, he embodies the essence of a change agent, thought leader, entrepreneur, and emerging philanthropist, channeling his life’s mission toward uplifting others.
As President and CEO of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, he leads the world’s largest entrepreneurial hub dedicated to empowering Black businesses. In just four years, under James’s visionary leadership, RICE supports over 360 entrepreneurs full-time, generating an impressive $114 million in annual revenues, sustaining 1,400 jobs in the community, and sparking a staggering $450 million of new economic impact in the Metro Atlanta area. James and his team have transformed RICE into an economic empowerment and innovation powerhouse.
An Atlanta native and die-hard Georgia Bulldog, James has a track record of success. His exceptional leadership and commitment to the community have been recognized by three U.S. Presidents. In 2012, he was one of eight Americans honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change: Following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”. In 2016, President Barack Obama bestowed upon him the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his dedicated volunteer service.
Omi Bell – Black Girl Ventures
Born in Durham, NC, she received a degree in Computer Science and began her career as a K-12 teacher. In 2016 she founded Black Girl Vision, which started as a meetup group of 30 women, before Bell rebranded the organization as Black Girl Ventures (BGV).
Black Girl Ventures is a social enterprise dedicated to creating access to capital for Black and Brown women entrepreneurs. Its initiatives include crowdfunded pitch competitions, 1:1 funding assessments, consultations, and introductions to help entrepreneurs gain access to social and financial capital.
The model fuses business development and triage to support Black women-owned ventures at various stages of development. Our ultimate goal is to close the funding gap experienced by women entrepreneurs in general, and Black women entrepreneurs specifically.
She was named one of the Top 100 Powerful Women in Business by Entrepreneur Mag, Entrepreneur of the Year by Technically DC, and acknowledged as A Rising Brand Star by Adweek. She is among the nation’s most sought-after inspirational speakers in the DC Metro area. Press coverage also includes features in Forbes, The Washington Business Journal, NewsOne, The Afro, People of Color in Tech, and Politico Live.
Ryan Wilson, co-founder and CEO - The Gathering Spot
The idea was born in a Washington, DC apartment by co-founders Wilson and Peterson. frustrated with an inability to find “space and community”, the two partners came up with a concept that would “gather” people from all walks of life under one roof. The Gathering Spot is a community that caters to
Now CEO of The Gathering Spot, the concept has evolved into an innovative, private, members-only business and social club that brings together a motivated and diverse community of professionals, creators, and entrepreneurs. Members will benefit from a 24/7 alternative work and social environment, complete with engaging events, an on-site full-service restaurant and bar, concierge services, and integrated technology
.The community now has phyicial locations in Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, and Houston and over 12,000 members. TGS also exists through the company’s digital platform TGS Connect. In 2022, it was acquired by Greenwood, Inc, creating the largest fintech and community platform with over 1 million Black and minority users.
Felecia Hatcher, CEO - Black Ambition
Felecia Hatcher is the CEO of Pharrell William’s Black Ambition Opportunity Fund which invests in diverse entrepreneurs with capital, mentorship, and uninterrupted access to resources and opportunities. Through her work over the past 8 years, she has helped entrepreneurs connect to over 100M in funding by shaping the way individuals show up, are valued, and financially benefit from playing full out in the innovation economy.
Hatcher’s transformational work has been honored as a 2014 Obama White House Champion of Change for STEM Access and Diversity, Harvard Young American Leader, 2017 Comcast/Nationswell Tech Impact Allstar, Echoing Green Fellow, BME Vanguard Fellow, a Black Enterprise 2017 TechConnect Game Changer, and 2016 Innovator of the Week, Essence Magazine Tech Master. She has also been featured on the Today Show, Forbes, Bloomberg, MSNBC, and Grio’s 100 African Americans Making History.
Prior to Black Ambition, Felecia Co-Founded Black Tech Week conference and The Center for Black Innovation. Hatcher’s expansive corporate career includes roles as a marketing executive for the Minnesota Lynx/Timberwolves, and as an experiential marketing/brand manager for Sony, Nintendo, and McKee Foods.
David Parker, Co-CEO - Culture Shift Labs
Culture Shift Labs hosts the invite-only Culture Shifting Summits. The annual invite-only series of deal-making events take place in Silicon Valley, New York, Miami, and London. These are the only events of their kind that unite accomplished Black & Latinx tech executives, entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and social impact leaders to enable deals, collaborations, and wealth creation.
Parker is responsible for the day-to-day operational execution of the business needs for Culture Shift Labs. This incorporates sales, marketing, product, and finance.
Parker is an experienced IT professional specializing in business development, operational excellence, and sales management. He has held various senior executive positions in major industries that include Industrial Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Distribution, Financial Services, CPG, Retail, Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, and Academic institutions, providing architectural solutions and consultative services for cloud/hybrid deployments of digital transformation solutions for analytics, mobility, ML & AI and data warehouse products.
In early 2000, Parker joined the senior executive management team of Aleri as a founder to drive forward its Complex Event Processing product into fresh new markets domestically and later moved to New York to help grow the company over a ten period, until such time that Aleri was acquired by Sybase, and subsequently SAP in 2010, where he was the Senior Global Vice President of Big Data and Internet of Things (IOT).
Mandela SH Dixon - Sequoia Capital
Mandela SH Dixon has a knack for helping part-time hustlers to full-time founders accelerate their businesses and achieve their dreams.
Dixon’s career in the tech industry began when she dropped out of her Ph.D. program at the age of 25 to start her own company. Tioki (formerly DemoLesson) was an online professional network exclusively for the education community. In 2017, Mandela launched her second company, Founder Gym, which became the #1 training program teaching underrepresented founders how to raise venture capital. Dixon became one of the first Black women to raise capital in Silicon Valley.
Other roles include Portfolio Services Director at Kapor Capital and the Global Director of Startup Weekend Education (acq. by Techstars). Mandela is an active angel investor, limited partner, and Sequoia Capital Scout. More recently Dixon served as Mandela as CEO of All Raise, a non-profit on a mission to accelerate the success of female and nonbinary investors, founders, and operators in tech.
Dixon is currently an active angel investor and limited partner at Sequoia Capital Scout and an inaugural member of First Round Capital’s Angel Track program.
Dixon has appeared on more than 150 stages and in more than 100 publications and was recognized as one of Entrepreneur magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women, a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee, and LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Venture Capital and Startups. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Intercultural Communications from Pepperdine University, a Masters Degree in Education and Administration & Policy, and was a PhD candidate in Urban Schooling at UCLA.
Lakeysha Hallman - The Village Market
Recognized as one of the most brilliant minds in education and business, Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon has transformed the lives of thousands of Black entrepreneurs across the world. Her love of community, paired with her mantra, “Support Is A Verb,” inspires and educates African Americans to create generational health and wealth.
Her business, The Village Market, is empowering the Black community through cooperative economics. Through programming, campaigns, and marketplaces, the Village has become a staple in the city of Atlanta. A direct pipeline for Black businesses, the Market connects Black-owned businesses to engaged consumers, impactful resources, and dedicated community partners. The thriving Village reaches small businesses in 38 states and 4 countries, with an official partnership with The Bahamas.
More recently Hallman launched Our Village United a program that supports the growth of Black solopreneurs and microbusinesses by delivering targeted technical assistance and shared professional services that empower business owners to grow their operations and scale their businesses
Dr. Hallmon has been featured in Forbes, Essence, Black Enterprise, CNN/ HLN, the Today Show, NOW THIS, the Source, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Inc. Magazine, the Root, Forbes for the Culture, and the Breakfast Club. She was inducted into Atlanta Business Chronicle, 40 Under 40, recognized in 2021 by the Root 100 as one of the most successful African Americans and listed in the inaugural Forbes 50 Champions.
