Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Coleen Witt, and today have very special
Speaker 1: guests Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, founder and managing partner, co founder
Speaker 1: and managing partner of Emmiline venture Capital, which is amazing.
Speaker 1: We've never had a venture capitalists on the show, let
Speaker 1: alone a young woman, let alone woman a black woman.
Speaker 1: So this is going to be like a unique, very
Speaker 1: unique episode. We're going to be like all in your
Speaker 1: head today. You're going to teach us a lot. So
Speaker 1: we'll talk about your backstory, but we're also going to
Speaker 1: talk about the industry you're in and because it it
Speaker 1: definitely has a not fun reputation as far as women
Speaker 1: or people of color.
Speaker 2: Yeah, except it changes the world.
Speaker 1: Except it changes.
Speaker 2: It changes the world.
Speaker 3: It decides the direction that society goes, and so we
Speaker 3: need more of us there for sure.
Speaker 1: Exactly. So before I get into the weed, yes, we
Speaker 1: got to get into what we're eating for breakfast. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you have breakfast. Hi, I am so
Speaker 1: excited to this for you. Okay, I am.
Speaker 2: So excited colleing.
Speaker 3: So we're going back to two thousand, We're going back
Speaker 3: to two thy twelve, okay, and I'm in grad school
Speaker 3: and I'm really hungry, and I'm my Columbian roommate. And
Speaker 3: she said, girl, we're about to We're about to have
Speaker 3: some coconut rice.
Speaker 2: So this is a Columbian dish. So Columbian rice.
Speaker 3: Is superfun cooked for you today, and it's the basic
Speaker 3: ingredients are coconut milk, raisins and white rice.
Speaker 1: Wow. On this show, the broker to dish, the better
Speaker 1: the story. For all y'all that don't know, this dish
Speaker 1: was ten dollars in inflation market, which means that twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: this is probably like a three dollars dish. And it
Speaker 1: makes multiple servings.
Speaker 3: Multiple servings like when we're done, you can have something
Speaker 3: for lunch and for dinner, which is what we used
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: So shout out. She's not she's now back in.
Speaker 1: But are you guys still good friends?
Speaker 3: We're still in touch? Like she's it's we don't. We
Speaker 3: haven't seen each other a lot and so love each other.
Speaker 1: When when this episode comes out, I would love it
Speaker 1: to see her reaction that this is the this.
Speaker 2: That yes, oh I should absolutely figure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the you went to school? Where were
Speaker 1: you at school at Harvard. At Harvard, Yes.
Speaker 2: So Harvard. We lived in Cambridge, but still broke.
Speaker 1: Let's be clear.
Speaker 3: I think people assume that because you work really hard
Speaker 3: to get to a top school. No one in my
Speaker 3: I was breaking ground for my family. No one had
Speaker 3: done that.
Speaker 2: Am I supposed to talk about what I'm making.
Speaker 1: How to do it or no guys on nar rate?
Speaker 1: She just I put hot water in the pot. I
Speaker 1: didn't realize that she was going to add a whole
Speaker 1: can of coconut water, but she did. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: make a lot of ice today. But yes, she did. Added,
Speaker 1: she boiled, She started heating up the water. She added
Speaker 1: a can of Lakeisha, added a can of coconut water.
Speaker 1: And now she's adding rice.
Speaker 3: I'm gonta let it boil just a little bit, okay,
Speaker 3: and then we'll put the rice in the that's it.
Speaker 1: Wow, you didn't put any raisins in yet. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you start with you know what, you narrate your dish,
Speaker 1: tell us how you make it.
Speaker 3: So you start with the raisins, right the because you
Speaker 3: want the raisins to be like soft and when you
Speaker 3: bite into them, they're just like really soft into if
Speaker 3: you don't cook them first.
Speaker 1: They still are like hard, they're still.
Speaker 3: Hard, Whereas when you boil them in that coconut milk,
Speaker 3: it completely changes the flavor and it tastes like dessert. Really, yes,
Speaker 3: so step one, Okay, I saw her put the raisins
Speaker 3: in the first.
Speaker 1: So raisins go first.
Speaker 3: Raisins go first, And typically we're gonna do an accelerated
Speaker 3: version with high speed version. But typically you let the
Speaker 3: raisins just hang out for about ten minutes in the water,
Speaker 3: and the water by itself. Yeah, I typically put the
Speaker 3: coconut milk. Uh huh, and you just let that boil.
Speaker 1: Were we supposed to have water in there at all? No,
Speaker 1: we weren't.
Speaker 2: You just boil the coconu milk.
Speaker 1: That's fine because we can throw that out all.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean we're having more.
Speaker 1: Look, tell tell Trevor.
Speaker 2: He's about to have some coconut rice next door.
Speaker 1: This rice is good, guys, I'm doging it. But typically
Speaker 1: when you do it back in the day, you just
Speaker 1: did just straight coconut milk, coconu milk.
Speaker 2: And then we put a little bit water if you
Speaker 2: dry whatever you just need.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're learning, and then it's boiling.
Speaker 3: So this is this.
Speaker 1: You just add the rice, and when was the last
Speaker 1: time you made this dish?
Speaker 2: So you're ready for this. My kids love it.
Speaker 1: That's hilarious.
Speaker 3: So I'll be making it tomorrow because we're coming up
Speaker 3: on the holidays.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of rice. Are we supposed to use
Speaker 1: that much rice? Yeah, you're like, I make this all
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: But this is a little different. But it's just.
Speaker 1: Rising to the top. Yeah, okay, my bad. Let me
Speaker 1: stay out of your key.
Speaker 2: You stay in my kitchen. That's all the questions.
Speaker 1: So the kids, your kids in this dish, they love it.
Speaker 2: They love it.
Speaker 3: They ask for Coconue writes all the time. And so
Speaker 3: we have just a multicultural home, which is amazing.
Speaker 1: So they're what's your husband.
Speaker 2: My husband's family's from Haiti Oka, and so there are
Speaker 2: lots of Caribbean food. And then we have someone who.
Speaker 3: Lives in the home with us who's proving she's Feru
Speaker 3: and so we pervem food and then all my influences.
Speaker 2: I can cook African.
Speaker 3: Food, Caribbean food, proving food, Columbian food, and so we
Speaker 3: just throw down and soul food.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go to and soul, your house for food.
Speaker 1: Oh we're listen, Christy, say you pull up. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be different flavors. It's gonna be planting.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we're gonna bring this down because it looks
Speaker 1: like okay, yeah, it looks like it's about to boil over.
Speaker 2: It is over.
Speaker 1: Does this happen with you?
Speaker 2: Because I make it with actual fire?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, do you have a toe?
Speaker 2: No, because we're a studio.
Speaker 1: No, we're in studio. That's let it burn. Let it
Speaker 1: don't burn your hands. Insurance. I love to tell people
Speaker 1: about our fake insurance.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's keep going. Yeah, this is good.
Speaker 3: I'll put us back on once it school's down. But
Speaker 3: we put the ingredients in and this is our cocada rice.
Speaker 1: Yes, before we got into Harvard, because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of tea on Harvard that I want to get into.
Speaker 1: But what did you go to school for? Initially?
Speaker 3: So my undergraduate focus was finance. Oh you always liked
Speaker 3: your money. I've always liked money. My my grandfather owned
Speaker 3: a grocery store, he owned a church, he owned the cleaners,
Speaker 3: and he owned something else. My grandmother, my aunt was
Speaker 3: one of the first black millionaires of real estimilatiers here
Speaker 3: in l A great great I think she had my
Speaker 3: great great aunt and then my great great aunt during
Speaker 3: those times, yeah, exactly. And then wasn't that during like
Speaker 3: the red lining and all that. Yes, this was in
Speaker 3: the hold on in La, Yes, exactly La.
Speaker 1: If you see the original deeds in La. I remember
Speaker 1: going to this place and they say it'll say no,
Speaker 1: it's word no Latin. Yeah, because it's literally if you
Speaker 1: look at the history of somebody, it's explicit on there.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking A And I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: you could be living in a house and you look
Speaker 1: at the depending on how far back the house goes,
Speaker 1: it actually says it. I think it's crazy. But she
Speaker 1: was a millionaire during that time in real.
Speaker 3: Estate and so and then my aunt, so my mom's sister,
Speaker 3: I had her own real estate brokerage firm, and I
Speaker 3: so I entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1: That was and I haven't feel you also got to
Speaker 1: see like successful black people right in your family.
Speaker 3: I got to see I got to see successful black people.
Speaker 3: I got to see people hustle. That's what I got
Speaker 3: to see. Genuine commitment to the work, Wow, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean calling the work because it's a lot
Speaker 3: of work, and I think people forget that, Yes, we
Speaker 3: are broke, but everyone, particularly if you're a person of color,
Speaker 3: you're typically not coming from generations of.
Speaker 1: Life, generational wealth.
Speaker 3: Typically you're not come from that. So even if your
Speaker 3: mama did okay, or your parents did okay, or your
Speaker 3: grandparents did okay, it's not like comparable right here. So
Speaker 3: you still have to put in work. Yeah, and so
Speaker 3: seeing people growing up around people who put in work.
Speaker 1: You saw them like blood, sweat and tears. Did you
Speaker 1: see them ever cry or go through the emotions of it.
Speaker 3: I saw them get mad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get mad.
Speaker 3: So imagine, so we're talking of real estate, and there
Speaker 3: was a lot of research that came out about this,
Speaker 3: calling like a lot of research. Yeah, when in two
Speaker 3: thousand and eight, when the real estate crash has black wealth,
Speaker 3: white got wiped out. Imagine just like a thirty foot
Speaker 3: wave just wiping out black wealth. I didn't know that
Speaker 3: it was a huge impact to black wealth, including to
Speaker 3: my family because we owned a lot of real estate.
Speaker 3: And so there's that sort of there's that trickle down effect.
Speaker 3: People lose their jobs, they're not paying their rent. That's
Speaker 3: fine if one isn't paying their yeah, but if everybody
Speaker 3: stops paying their rent, how are you paying the mortgage?
Speaker 3: Now you're covering multiple people media and how long can
Speaker 3: you keep doing that? And then you start to offload
Speaker 3: and offload. Next thing, all of the assets that you
Speaker 3: had looked very different than they did before the crash. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So anyway, so they went through that and you got
Speaker 1: to watched it. Geez, how old were you at the time.
Speaker 3: That's a good question. I don't know, because time is
Speaker 3: a blur since COVID, I can't tell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you were probably like in your twenties.
Speaker 3: I would say two thousand and eight. Were you gonna
Speaker 3: date me? Okay, date two thousand and I was young.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I know in two thousand and nine, I
Speaker 1: remember I had just moved to La I was like eighteen,
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, and I remember watching I remember not knowing
Speaker 1: anything about finance, but I remember going, something is very
Speaker 1: wrong with this picture of what's happening in real estate.
Speaker 1: I remember thinking that I worked for country Wide Home
Speaker 1: Loans and people were literally lying and saying. All we
Speaker 1: had to do is say, hey, do you work such
Speaker 1: and such, did they make one hundred thousand a year?
Speaker 1: And if someone said yes, we'd hang up approved it
Speaker 1: long and the drama that happened around countrywide was really
Speaker 1: oh yeah, but it was people like me that kind
Speaker 1: of But then I had a company and I remember
Speaker 1: another loan officer in the company, and they were giving
Speaker 1: people that were like super poor half million dollar homes
Speaker 1: interest only loans, which was another lesson. I was like, Ooh,
Speaker 1: this is bad, not knowing anything bad against it or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I remember going, this is a bad situation. And
Speaker 1: then I would see when it flipped. I would see
Speaker 1: families coming in crying because they're losing their homes, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I knew this was going to happen.
Speaker 3: It was a recipe for it was for devastation, right.
Speaker 1: Yes, when I was young, I didn't know what you
Speaker 1: could do with that. If I had the education, if
Speaker 1: I only had the education, I would know you could
Speaker 1: do something with the information. But there were people that
Speaker 1: bet against.
Speaker 3: The house and made a killing. Yeah, made a killing
Speaker 3: off of the backs of these folks who had no clue.
Speaker 1: Had no clue, And a lot of people that were
Speaker 1: in the industry made a lot of money, ripping off.
Speaker 3: People, ripping people off lifting, right, And that's we don't
Speaker 3: have to go there too much calling education right.
Speaker 2: Education.
Speaker 3: Oh, if we're talking about ancestors and my grandfather, what
Speaker 3: was I thirteen when he passed, But again we're not
Speaker 3: talking about how old I am now, but when that happened,
Speaker 3: and when I was thirteen, he told me the one
Speaker 3: thing you always want to get at your education. No
Speaker 3: one can take that from you. And so much of
Speaker 3: what robs us as entrepreneurs because remember starting a VC firm,
Speaker 3: I'm an entrepreneur, raised millions and millions of dollars to
Speaker 3: get people to and trust me to write checks under
Speaker 3: early stage founders. Same thing entrepreneurship. But you have to
Speaker 3: have education. You have to even know this industry exists. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then once you get here, you have to know
Speaker 3: how to navigate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That takes access to him to information. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So not only do you have to believe in yourself,
Speaker 1: but the Okay, so let's go back your mom. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about your mom for a second. Two parent household,
Speaker 1: one parent household. It sounds like you had a really great,
Speaker 1: robust entrepreneur relatives. Well, let's just do a little of
Speaker 1: your your growing up household, growing.
Speaker 3: Up house, just a snapshot, snapshot. Mom and dad didn't
Speaker 3: make it as a couple. My mom and her, I
Speaker 3: don't know what's a before high school sweetheart, neighborhood sweetheart.
Speaker 3: He had always wanted to marry her, and so they
Speaker 3: got together when I was two, and that's today my stepdad, who's.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, so middle class, upper middle.
Speaker 3: I would say, started middle class, but then they hustled,
Speaker 3: so we got better, it got better. They started out
Speaker 3: of Compton. Wow, they started. I don't know how far
Speaker 3: that is from where we are where the studio.
Speaker 1: Right, like an hour. But your whole family's.
Speaker 3: L native, my mom's gin but my grandparents are all
Speaker 3: from Texas. So they all moved from Texas here and
Speaker 3: so we still like own property in Texas and still
Speaker 3: have a connection to Texas.
Speaker 1: Wow. Now, education was in still pretty early that it
Speaker 1: was important, very important. So throughout your academia it was
Speaker 1: it like straight a student BC. Okay, yes, Now did a.
Speaker 3: School international baccalaureate. Yes, that was always required.
Speaker 1: And were you I'm just curious, were you one of
Speaker 1: those people that had to study, study, and like work
Speaker 1: really hard at education or did it come naturally easier?
Speaker 1: Because I do believe some people are question or natural.
Speaker 3: Love that question, I'd say both. I was more introverted.
Speaker 3: I wanted to sit with my books and journal and
Speaker 3: write and learn. So that's what I did for sure.
Speaker 3: But I still also put in the work. So I
Speaker 3: was with both that was natural and I was just
Speaker 3: and I was also naturally inclined to do it. And
Speaker 3: so like my husband, for example, who's brilliant Harvard Business School,
Speaker 3: runs a peek of private equity firm, a billion dollar
Speaker 3: private ecuy firm here in LA, he didn't work hard.
Speaker 3: He was just really smart, oh okay, and just got
Speaker 3: straight a's because he was just right.
Speaker 1: But that is because there were some people that, like
Speaker 1: I have an older brother, and like he would get
Speaker 1: one hundred a plus or on anything find math related.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, he's just like naturally gifted.
Speaker 1: And I'm always curious with someone of your status, did
Speaker 1: you have to work? Because not all like they used
Speaker 1: to say. I don't know if you've ever heard this,
Speaker 1: but A and B students typically work for C students.
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard that? Yes?
Speaker 3: So interesting, Now.
Speaker 1: Don't quote me on that okay, I'm a college dropout. Okay,
Speaker 1: but they would say that to say it. Sometimes entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: they definitely color outside the lines, right, and A and
Speaker 1: B student they follow the rules a little bit better,
Speaker 1: so they say an A student is almost better and
Speaker 1: obviously not in.
Speaker 3: Your okay, okay, okay, okay, because the A and B
Speaker 3: students they're taught, they're raised to follow the rules. So
Speaker 3: you get a's and b's if you follow the rules.
Speaker 3: You do not get a's and b's if you do
Speaker 3: not listen.
Speaker 1: To Yeah, if you color outside the lines and you
Speaker 1: do it your own way, typically you would be more
Speaker 1: I would think that a lot of entrepreneurs are definitely
Speaker 1: more in the C length. Now you're a triple threat
Speaker 1: or you're unique in the sense that you're you're an
Speaker 1: A student, but you're also running a venture capital firm.
Speaker 1: You're also a founder, you're a creator, but you also
Speaker 1: come from a line of entrepreneurs, so you're exposed to
Speaker 1: a lot that's crazy, right.
Speaker 3: Maybe, Yeah, I love the way you see it. I
Speaker 3: love that. Yeah, yeah, I thought of it that way,
Speaker 3: But I love the way you say it, like your
Speaker 3: perspective on this is fire.
Speaker 1: Oh thanks all right, So education is a staple. Hard work,
Speaker 1: it's a staple when you were little. Again, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go back because I'm curious. Was discipline like rooted early, Hey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna sit here and you're gonna do this homework
Speaker 1: before you get up and play or was it just
Speaker 1: naturally you were like I'm gonna do my homework, and
Speaker 1: my daughter's just like that. Which one first?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I just wanted to go sit down and
Speaker 3: do my homework and read and write and read. Oh
Speaker 3: I loved it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that means there's no hope for Mike now.
Speaker 3: And then I have but remember, so then you have
Speaker 3: the people like my husband Mark, who I'm giving a
Speaker 3: shout out to, so I love him so much, So
Speaker 3: he is totally different. He was just naturally talented. So
Speaker 3: I was naturally talented and also love to do the work.
Speaker 3: But then you have those who are naturally talented and
Speaker 3: don't necessarily want to spend five hours reading books and
Speaker 3: doing your husband. Yeah, I mean there's and there should
Speaker 3: be a place on this planet or every style to thrive,
Speaker 3: and I believe there is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and they all can work together.
Speaker 3: It's like you need the ecosystem. If everyone's like me,
Speaker 3: the whole thing falls apart.
Speaker 1: But do you get a little bit jealous of This
Speaker 1: is just a sidebar, but do you get jealousy? If
Speaker 1: I was around your husband and he could read a
Speaker 1: book fully understand it within two seconds and I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there like reading your does it get a little bit
Speaker 1: frustrating or a little bit of jealousy?
Speaker 3: Oh whatever, it's a superpower. So I just think it's
Speaker 3: and that's why he always told joke and say, you're
Speaker 3: married a winner. So it's like it's his superpower. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I think especially entrepreneurs where you invest your time.
Speaker 3: We're not going to go here, but you invest your
Speaker 3: so much time with your partner so ever that is
Speaker 3: you want them to be a winner. You tell all
Speaker 3: of that. So, yes, that was what drew me to him.
Speaker 3: Like he's such he just all always like one. It's
Speaker 3: just such a you know, like just but I like
Speaker 3: his cockiness too. Yeah, he's pretty confident.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that you guys are I
Speaker 1: love that you guys sound like a really fun paer
Speaker 1: to be around too. Might be it sounds like it
Speaker 1: and a lot of food. Okay, so you go through food,
Speaker 1: You go to school, you leave high school. What's the
Speaker 1: first step you want to go to school for?
Speaker 3: Okay, you we're going after high school?
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, graduating school?
Speaker 3: Okay, So then I studied finance, so business?
Speaker 1: Wait all right in high school, when did you just
Speaker 1: discovering that you wanted to get into finance?
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't discover I wanted to get into finance.
Speaker 1: Okay, what did you want to go to school for?
Speaker 1: Initially theology? Theology? Oh, like like church.
Speaker 3: Theology is actually, ironically sorry, ironically theology is not church
Speaker 3: at all. It's understanding the belief systems of the planet
Speaker 3: across the world. So you understand what do Buddhists think?
Speaker 3: What do you? Oh, that lasted for lesson a semester?
Speaker 3: People everybody else?
Speaker 1: But what made you want to do that? Because of
Speaker 1: your grandfather?
Speaker 2: Probably my grandfather.
Speaker 3: He was a minister, an incredible entrepreneur and understood the
Speaker 3: power of community. And so also like the economic there's
Speaker 3: an economic component to community thriving. If there's not enough
Speaker 3: money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. And what
Speaker 3: I mean by fellows, they don't have money to pay
Speaker 3: for food, they cannot feed their kids. They cannot feed.
Speaker 3: They do not have homes, they cannot Communities don't work
Speaker 3: unless there's money flowing through them. Okay, and you need
Speaker 3: money to flow through them. So for me, it was
Speaker 3: like I was interested in the way he used he
Speaker 3: the way he used the part of this plant that
Speaker 3: we cannot see but we can feel, to power the
Speaker 3: community that he was a part of.
Speaker 1: Wow. And you saw that very early on, because even
Speaker 1: as a young person to even pick that up.
Speaker 3: Is yeah, that's unique.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you may have some of your husband's superpower, because
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would pick up like that,
Speaker 1: like how he used the invisible. Because I say the
Speaker 1: most valuable things on earth, I say, you you can't
Speaker 1: see air, can't see technically, I mean, I'm not that
Speaker 1: college smart, but you know what I'm saying. You can't
Speaker 1: see air, love, believe, faith, all these things. You can't
Speaker 1: see it, but they're the most spirit spirit spirits you
Speaker 1: die tomorrow. It's the spirit that we're losing that you
Speaker 1: can never see.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: So I always say the most valuable things are invisible.
Speaker 1: For you as a young person to say, okay, this,
Speaker 1: my grandfather has this huge ecosystem of real estate, church
Speaker 1: and all these things. But the thing that gelled it
Speaker 1: all together was this thing, this intangible and you went
Speaker 1: and chose theology, which now we know theology is not
Speaker 1: about because I just think Christian. I'm like, I can
Speaker 1: tell you these.
Speaker 3: Things about Zoroastrianism. I don't even if I said that
Speaker 3: correctly anymore because I'm so far removed. But Buddhism it
Speaker 3: was everything, every belief system and face system on the planet.
Speaker 1: You study.
Speaker 3: It was a semester and then I pivoted.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was gonna say, why did you pivot out
Speaker 1: of it?
Speaker 3: Though? My dad he said, you need a marketable skill.
Speaker 3: Theology sounds great, but that will you will be eating.
Speaker 1: Well with.
Speaker 3: Actually my dad, yeah, my stepdad, but he's also in
Speaker 3: LA and he said, listen, unless you want to eat
Speaker 3: well broke for the rest of your life. Theology is
Speaker 3: interesting and we can go get you some books, but
Speaker 3: we're not paying all this money.
Speaker 1: Where were you going to school? Okay? Okay, yeah, And.
Speaker 3: So Wed wed a marketable skill, and so that's why
Speaker 3: then I pivoted and study business a business okay?
Speaker 1: And then what was one of the things. I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: what was one of the things that you did or
Speaker 1: did not like from theology?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: I loved it, really, Oh I loved it. I think
Speaker 3: more of the world needs to understand we're at a
Speaker 3: unique moment where everybody's like going off into their pockets
Speaker 3: calling everybody. Okay, if you're Conservative Christian, you're over here.
Speaker 3: If you're Buddhist, you're over here. If you're here, everybody
Speaker 3: just going. If you don't believe in anything, you're over there.
Speaker 3: No one's talking to each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: If you the beauty of theology was, you're like, oh man,
Speaker 3: they all believe the same thing. They just believe it
Speaker 3: in different ways. Because you have to remember, this was
Speaker 3: a time where there are no cell phones, no internet.
Speaker 3: If you were out in that pocket way in India,
Speaker 3: you couldn't talk to somebody in Los Angeles. So they
Speaker 3: the faith system was unique to that location. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: yet at the same time, it's the same across the planet.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I realized that when I went to Israel. Israel,
Speaker 1: it was funny because you see everyone is praying. It's
Speaker 1: almost like everyone's fighting to pray to the same God,
Speaker 1: but they're like literally micro nicheing it. You're praying to
Speaker 1: this one and you're praying to this one. But in
Speaker 1: Israel you literally go to the same place, and it's
Speaker 1: like a It's like, this section is for this religion,
Speaker 1: this section is for this religion section.
Speaker 2: And you're like, but.
Speaker 1: I'm right here in the middle, and all y'all are
Speaker 1: basically praying to the same god. You're all trying to
Speaker 1: you're on the same mission, but you're wearing like almost
Speaker 1: like if it was a game, and you're wearing this
Speaker 1: red bag. And I remember just seeing that in Israel. Okay,
Speaker 1: so your hearts are in the right place, but you're
Speaker 1: really beefing over who has it right, and no one
Speaker 1: is ever gonna really know.
Speaker 3: None of you guys are gonna find it because God
Speaker 3: is on both sides, right YEAHU God isn't there to
Speaker 3: your point, they're praying to the same God. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's yeah for sure. So that's what I took.
Speaker 1: Away, Okay, And you love that. I thought it was.
Speaker 1: I was at the time, like what we are even
Speaker 1: over we all love the same you know, But but
Speaker 1: I get it. I remember just watching that. I remember
Speaker 1: watching like the Hasidic Jews get on the plane, and
Speaker 1: I thought they were going to crash the plane because
Speaker 1: they're all like praying really hard on the flight, and
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, this is serious. But just
Speaker 1: seeing the different religious fights so hard to love God
Speaker 1: or whatever, it was interesting. Okay, so hey, you get
Speaker 1: into business and then were you fascinated by it? Was
Speaker 1: it boring in school? What could you tell me about
Speaker 1: that whole experience?
Speaker 3: It was amazing. I loved it. I loved it. But
Speaker 3: the reason I loved it, and the reason I think
Speaker 3: we all should love business, is because I had this
Speaker 3: aha moment that business is just the functioning of people.
Speaker 3: It's just people. I need something to wear. Can you
Speaker 3: give me something to wear? Okay? How much y'all have
Speaker 3: to pay for that? Or I can make it myself.
Speaker 3: But I don't make it myself. It's gonna take too
Speaker 3: much time, and my time is pressure. So I would
Speaker 3: rather how about you just make all the clothes for
Speaker 3: all of us and they will all chip in. Okay,
Speaker 3: It's just life. It's a functioning of people. And so
Speaker 3: when I began to understand that it's just us moving
Speaker 3: this water bottle, Aquafina just got some money, or I
Speaker 3: think it's Coca Cola that downs a Cauafina now. But
Speaker 3: my point is, like I began to just understand business
Speaker 3: is just the functioning of the every day and who
Speaker 3: gets to make the things that everyone needs? So when
Speaker 3: do I get to make? What? Am I gonna make?
Speaker 3: What am I gonna put out in this space that
Speaker 3: everyone needs that they can then pay me for? Yea
Speaker 3: our rice is doing by the.
Speaker 1: Way, Yeah, I love business because it's like you a
Speaker 1: lot of times, there's so many cute says that you
Speaker 1: hear in the world. Like one of the things and
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna tear it more to venture capital is
Speaker 1: that I thought was one of the top two. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say two quotes that I heard that I think
Speaker 1: changed my perspective on business was. I think it was
Speaker 1: Ashton Cuture years ago. He said time is the most
Speaker 1: valuable thing on earth. And I tell people this all
Speaker 1: the time. There's two types of people. There's people that
Speaker 1: work hard, and it's a person that works smart, okay,
Speaker 1: and the person that works hard is they're both great,
Speaker 1: but the problem is there's only so much time. So
Speaker 1: the person that works smart can get more done the
Speaker 1: same amount of time. But Ashton Cutcher, I remember him
Speaker 1: saying that this was this, and I think he was
Speaker 1: doing he was investing in venture Capital's BC but he
Speaker 1: said time. But he looks for his things that could
Speaker 1: save time. And when you look at everything you spend
Speaker 1: money on to date, it oil boils down to your
Speaker 1: buying time and whenever. This sounds really weird, but when
Speaker 1: I'm in the nail shop and I see a girl
Speaker 1: getting her nails on, it's like hundred dollars and say
Speaker 1: she works at McDonald's, I'm always like, ooh, that's weird.
Speaker 1: It's a weird thought. That's such a judgment. But I'm like,
Speaker 1: you work five hours for this nails or what. I
Speaker 1: just look at things like the trade off. But anyways,
Speaker 1: time is the most valuable thing on earth. And if
Speaker 1: you can do something that saves time like uber are, Airbnb,
Speaker 1: all these things that can save time, maximize what you
Speaker 1: currently have, a AI craft upon us.
Speaker 3: But if you talk time the way it collapses times crazy.
Speaker 1: But time is the most valuable thing on earth, and
Speaker 1: I just don't think people fully understand that. Even today.
Speaker 1: It's most important thing, most important thing. And then I
Speaker 1: think Airbnb was one of the things. I think one
Speaker 1: of the owners had said once was like, you create
Speaker 1: the world that you want to see, Like kind of
Speaker 1: you create the you live in a world, You create
Speaker 1: the world you want to see versus just living in
Speaker 1: the world that you are.
Speaker 3: You can create the world you want to see, but
Speaker 3: that takes work.
Speaker 1: That takes work, It takes a lot of venture capitals.
Speaker 3: Right, it's deep, right, if you you for sure can
Speaker 3: create the world you want to see, but most of
Speaker 3: what we're living is the world that meta wants us
Speaker 3: to see, the world that IG wants us to see.
Speaker 3: If we're going to create the world that we want
Speaker 3: to see, it's almost like you have to set that
Speaker 3: stuff to the side and actually say, what is the
Speaker 3: world that I want to see as an entrepreneur, what
Speaker 3: is the thing that I'm going to build? And then
Speaker 3: and then keep eating your coconut rice.
Speaker 1: And the unfortunate thing is if you're bringing change, real change,
Speaker 1: you're the crazy one. So you're sitting over your pot
Speaker 1: of rice and everyone's just like, wow, what idiot, Go
Speaker 1: get a job? Like really, day three of this, Oh
Speaker 1: your phone is cut off? Really and you're like, and
Speaker 1: you gotta live in that turmoil, which is I think,
Speaker 1: really you.
Speaker 3: Need a headline. You need like a mantra. You need
Speaker 3: a sentence that you tell yourself so that when people
Speaker 3: start telling you that you don't let that voice, all
Speaker 3: those naysayers, that you don't let their voices become louder
Speaker 3: than your own. So anyway, as you're talking, I kept
Speaker 3: thinking about Jeff Bezos.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So he's got there's this picture of him, and it's
Speaker 3: over ten years ago, and he's sitting in a small
Speaker 3: office building Amazon, right, and no one would have thought
Speaker 3: that today Amazon would be what it is. And so
Speaker 3: I almost feel like that's part of your right of passage. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you're like supposed to go through that process where no
Speaker 3: one believes in you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're no.
Speaker 3: Everybody thinks you're crazy. Why are you doing this? You
Speaker 3: shouldn't be here, You're not good enough to be here.
Speaker 3: Do we want to talk about how many people own
Speaker 3: their own venture capital firms? Do we want to talk
Speaker 3: about how many women own their own venture capital firms?
Speaker 3: We could go there. There are all of the reasons
Speaker 3: why what I'm doing should be impossible. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 3: what it is for any entrepreneur. What you're doing should
Speaker 3: be impossible.
Speaker 2: Why are you here?
Speaker 1: But I'm sure it's challenging. I think it like Jessica Alba,
Speaker 1: you heard her story was of course nuts. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know how she's cute girl. You would think that would
Speaker 1: help her in some capacity to being access but she
Speaker 1: had to do the door knock and begging. Took one
Speaker 1: one person, and thank god, it was I think it
Speaker 1: was his wife. I don't know if you heard the
Speaker 1: real story about her, but she was going through the
Speaker 1: allergy situation. Ventura Capro kept it turning her down and
Speaker 1: turned out his wife was going through the same issue.
Speaker 1: And then I think she kept knocking at that door
Speaker 1: and eventually he was like, there may be something there,
Speaker 1: and they invested in her. But but anyways, let's go
Speaker 1: back to your huh Okay, no, I love that.
Speaker 3: Can I pull something out of what you said? That's
Speaker 3: a little secret. It was the VC's wife that had
Speaker 3: the problem. I think it was a v So that's
Speaker 3: a thing. So because we need more folks of color
Speaker 3: and more women to be vcs, and so that it's
Speaker 3: the VC's lived experience, so they know it's a thing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's because it was his wife.
Speaker 3: If that woman was a VC this, she wouldn't be
Speaker 3: knocking on so many doors. Yeah, do you say, yeah,
Speaker 3: if she was, If the wife was a VC, she'd
Speaker 3: be like, I'm writing you a check today.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But because the people writing checks don't they have a
Speaker 3: very specific thing that they understand. They don't understand. Oh,
Speaker 3: the only reasons, Oh I think my wife was dealing
Speaker 3: with that. But if his wife was a VC, she
Speaker 3: wouldn't have to knock on so many doors. That's why
Speaker 3: I'm doing what I'm doing. So they're so that entrepreneurs
Speaker 3: do not have to knock on so many doors to
Speaker 3: hear so many no's. Wow, that's you just hit a
Speaker 3: big thing. That's crazy. Yeah, it's deep.
Speaker 1: That was deep. That's crazy. How that just so, that's
Speaker 1: why you're That's why I'm wow. Now, do you only
Speaker 1: cater to women owned businesses or businesses that cater to women?
Speaker 3: Excellent question. So our next fund will cater to the latter.
Speaker 3: This fund focuses on women let businesses because Jessica Albastory
Speaker 3: is like one of way too many. Yeah, there are
Speaker 3: billion dollar businesses. There are unicorns waiting to exist. They're
Speaker 3: literally waiting. But the reason they don't exist is because
Speaker 3: they don't have capital. Because Jessica albas story which is
Speaker 3: the VC didn't get it, but it just so happened.
Speaker 3: And his wife had just mentioned the thing. What if
Speaker 3: we put more people like her who get it in
Speaker 3: the position to write checks.
Speaker 1: Yep. And another good story is Canva. A lot of
Speaker 1: people don't know Campbell that's created by a woman. Is
Speaker 1: she's got denied, denied, denied, and over. You gotta think
Speaker 1: a woman has to encounter so many bearers to entry,
Speaker 1: truthfully speaking on so many bearers. But imagine being a
Speaker 1: woman that has, say, the bearers to entry, and then
Speaker 1: on top of it, you're fighting for your mission on
Speaker 1: top of being broke. That's a hard battle.
Speaker 3: It's a hard battle. And that's why you have to
Speaker 3: be You have to have your own like I said,
Speaker 3: like mantra or sentence or like thing that you tell yourself.
Speaker 3: It's like the battle shield that you wear before you
Speaker 3: go out into the world, and you like look yourself
Speaker 3: in the mirror and say, I'm changing the world, regardless
Speaker 3: whatever your sentences, because the moment you step out into
Speaker 3: the world, you will have a million people that want
Speaker 3: you to win and a million people that don't even
Speaker 3: think you should be there, and you have to be
Speaker 3: like armored up mentally to be able to navigate that
Speaker 3: because it's hard. Just like you said, yeah.
Speaker 1: I saw this clip about DMX.
Speaker 3: You heard DMX obviously right, my husband's from Brooklyn. But
Speaker 3: that's not why, because I know what it is like.
Speaker 1: You have this Harvard background, your venture capitalist, and it's
Speaker 1: like when I hear these things. When I heard about you,
Speaker 1: it's like you envision this sue perfect almost at least
Speaker 1: from my standpoint. Imagine if I'm not a college graduate
Speaker 1: or I'm a college dropout and my bank account says
Speaker 1: X amount of dollars or whatever, and then and I
Speaker 1: envision this unapproachable person. It's nice to see you and go, oh,
Speaker 1: this feels familiar though you've accomplished so much likewise, but
Speaker 1: to be able to say I could touch you and
Speaker 1: go oh, I can relate to her hair and her makeup,
Speaker 1: or you were doing your makeup and I was just
Speaker 1: like a little embarrassed. I'm like, oh, I sit on
Speaker 1: the floor when I do my makeup kind of get up,
Speaker 1: and you were like, yeah, we're gonna do this right here,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, she's normal.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, and so is everybody else, everyone else. When
Speaker 3: they put on these facades, they're just as normal as
Speaker 3: you are, and just as normal as I am. Even
Speaker 3: if they hustle, they're still just as normal, even if
Speaker 3: they like to think that they aren't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are.
Speaker 3: They are.
Speaker 1: So when you're in school, you're going through school, you
Speaker 1: do business. You when you graduate from you're going to
Speaker 1: school for business. After you graduate, what's your next steps?
Speaker 3: This is crazy. Speaking of entrepreneurship, I become I'm twenty
Speaker 3: years old. There's an organization called EO entrepreneurs Organization. Shout
Speaker 3: out to Sean Tan, who I haven't seen in years.
Speaker 3: He brought together all of the young kids, all these
Speaker 3: college kids, to teach them about entrepreneurship. It's called the
Speaker 3: entrepreneur Mentor Society. And he pulled me to society said
Speaker 3: I want you to lead this thing. I'm like, huh,
Speaker 3: So I let it at twenty No, while I'm in school.
Speaker 3: So while I'm working with him, I've got a friend
Speaker 3: who needs someone to come run his business. Do you
Speaker 3: know that when I graduated, I was the chief operating
Speaker 3: officer of an e commerce startup that did ten million
Speaker 3: dollars an annual recurring revenue ten million dollars. At twenty
Speaker 3: years old, I had eighty people reporting to me. I
Speaker 3: had eight, Like, and you were still in school? Were
Speaker 3: just when I graduated.
Speaker 1: From which school?
Speaker 3: Loyal loyla?
Speaker 1: This is a holy cow.
Speaker 3: It's a holy cow because I still look at her like, ma'am,
Speaker 3: who even says yes to anything like that? Let alone
Speaker 3: does it? Anyway, I've been off way more than I
Speaker 3: could chew Colleen it, so I couldn't. I ended up.
Speaker 3: I think, I don't know if I stay for a year.
Speaker 3: But then the owner of the business was like, this
Speaker 3: is like a little much, right, this is a little much,
Speaker 3: and so I ultimately rolled off, but still kept in touch.
Speaker 1: Well, what did you learn from that experience?
Speaker 3: If I could go back to her, this twenty year
Speaker 3: old coo of a ten million dollar business in this
Speaker 3: big office and all these people reporting to her and
Speaker 3: running meetings with eighty pos insane.
Speaker 1: I love it. They gave me a shot. I lie
Speaker 1: but gone, I would.
Speaker 3: Say, just be yourself. So I was like, I don't
Speaker 3: know what does the coo wear? So I when with
Speaker 3: me and my mom, like went in her closet, like
Speaker 3: I got some suits like these I get there, I
Speaker 3: like the only person wearing a suit. But still I'm like,
Speaker 3: what does a business person wear? You know? Yeah, I
Speaker 3: should have just been myself. Yeah, And so I think
Speaker 3: that's what I would say. And then the other thing
Speaker 3: that I would say that I took away from that
Speaker 3: is I put in the work to nurture relationships that
Speaker 3: would give me a chance that didn't just happen. And
Speaker 3: I'm so grateful that I nurtured relationships because when I
Speaker 3: took that role, about seven people wrapped themselves around me
Speaker 3: and said, I'll come meet you every single week to
Speaker 3: see how the business is going and help you. And
Speaker 3: they did, Oh wow, every single week.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: It's insane. In fact, I should reach out to them
Speaker 3: and say thank you.
Speaker 1: Wow. And then when you had to when you parted ways,
Speaker 1: how was it? How do you feel in spirit?
Speaker 3: Oh? Fine?
Speaker 1: Were you like relieved or were you did you feel relieved?
Speaker 3: Relieved? But also so incredibly grateful.
Speaker 1: It's really you left grateful?
Speaker 3: Are you kidding? Who gives a twenty year old a
Speaker 3: ten million dollar business to run? And eight people reporting
Speaker 3: to me they just to say how old are you?
Speaker 3: Because I'm their boss?
Speaker 1: Were they ever disrespectful to you. Some of the staff.
Speaker 3: I would never tell them my age because I knew
Speaker 3: they would be because I would be, yeah, I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: I'm reporting to it.
Speaker 1: Like black people, we always look younger than we are.
Speaker 3: You probably I probably looked like I was.
Speaker 1: To see we were like, oh, we're being punked, right,
Speaker 1: it's a joke.
Speaker 3: But then again I was like, okay, how am I
Speaker 3: supposed to stand? Like?
Speaker 1: How do I And you're making good money? Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: It was also just fresh out of college. It was
Speaker 3: making more than I knew what to do with.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, okay, but you spent majority of your time working.
Speaker 1: So what did you do after that? You went back
Speaker 1: to college?
Speaker 3: Not yet? So then I will, I'll fast forward it
Speaker 3: for you. So then I after I did that, then
Speaker 3: I just stayed around entrepreneurs. So then I worked with
Speaker 3: another entrepren who's incredible, Chris Hoskins, who is an incredible human.
Speaker 3: He's in Newport Beach or no, it was yeah, Newport
Speaker 3: Newport Beach in California. And he again we talked about
Speaker 3: what's cool about business. You find a thing that people
Speaker 3: needing you and it's just meeting people's needs. So he
Speaker 3: created a self storage business of boats because people needed
Speaker 3: to store their boats so they didn't always have to
Speaker 3: pay for it to be docked. And so he started
Speaker 3: that and then that became that blew up. And then
Speaker 3: after he started that, he then created storage for wine wineries.
Speaker 3: So basically he's Okay, all these small like mom and
Speaker 3: pop wineries don't have the ability to store their wine.
Speaker 3: I'll bring them all together, put them under one shop,
Speaker 3: and then they can store it with in. This guy's brilliant.
Speaker 3: My old boss love him today, and so I'll work
Speaker 3: for him to next. I again like relationship management. There's
Speaker 3: no I even know. That job never gets posted. Where
Speaker 3: would you post? That job would never get posted. It's
Speaker 3: through relationships. So worked for Chris and then that's when
Speaker 3: the real estate, Yeah, I was starting to happen and
Speaker 3: was affecting my family and just everyone, and I was like,
Speaker 3: I want to get out of here, and I want
Speaker 3: to do what I'm actually passionate about, which is writing
Speaker 3: and journalism and storytelling. And so that took me to
Speaker 3: actually I did. I was sent to do a program
Speaker 3: just like a summer finance program at Harvard, and when
Speaker 3: I was there, I was like, oh, I belong here.
Speaker 3: Like that we go back to being a kid, but
Speaker 3: just being a kid, and you're just like, oh man,
Speaker 3: these people are so brilliant and they're so smart, and
Speaker 3: they're so talented, and I'm like, oh, I got it.
Speaker 3: This is I belong here. And so I went home,
Speaker 3: I tell my mom, and I went back and actually
Speaker 3: worked for the mayor of Cambridge. So M, I T
Speaker 3: and Harvard are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I worked for
Speaker 3: the mayor. I pitched her and I was like, I
Speaker 3: want to work for you. And it was through that
Speaker 3: experience that I got all the inroads needed to I guess.
Speaker 3: A big threat in my story, which is a story
Speaker 3: for everyone listening, is relationships. You hear that, but it
Speaker 3: actually means nurturing relationships, nearly caring about people, where you
Speaker 3: care about their well being and you give to them authentically, Hey,
Speaker 3: I love here's this just just being genuine. And so
Speaker 3: that led to opening up doors for me to do
Speaker 3: my graduate work at Harvard, which I did. I did
Speaker 3: my journalism program at Harvard, and then it's actually a
Speaker 3: great story because of the time I met my husband.
Speaker 3: Because Harvard has a bunch of various publications, most people
Speaker 3: know the Crimson for Harvard Business School, they have something
Speaker 3: called the Harvest. So I was working there as a
Speaker 3: general manager while I was in school.
Speaker 1: And when you're working, you're doing these things. It's for free,
Speaker 1: right or do you get paid?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: When I work for the Mayor, I got paid.
Speaker 1: No, Mayor. But like when you're doing the journal.
Speaker 3: Oh no, you get paid.
Speaker 1: Oh you yeah, but it's not scared.
Speaker 3: It's paid. Yeah, you get paid. It's not gonna do
Speaker 3: a lot, but no, I was just scared. I didn't
Speaker 3: know if you were an interne yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 3: like they do. They're still paid, but I think, like
Speaker 3: internship pay okay. And then in fact yeah, and then
Speaker 3: I ran that publication, which is a perfect segue because
Speaker 3: then that when I was there, I had this aha
Speaker 3: moment Colleen. I was like, Harvard is good. Harvard does
Speaker 3: not need my talent or my money. They had just
Speaker 3: raised like billions of dollars, and I said, I want
Speaker 3: to take my talent for what I would call impact
Speaker 3: in the world storytelling media journalism and take it for
Speaker 3: the continent and like actually helped build an Africa focused
Speaker 3: African owned and that was a big part for me.
Speaker 3: Media house and that's time. No at that time, no.
Speaker 3: And so then boyfriend at the time, we he's if
Speaker 3: you he's a few and I wanted to go to
Speaker 3: I thought I wanted to go then to business school.
Speaker 3: So anyway, so he and I drive up to New
Speaker 3: York City. We go to Columbia's having this conference called
Speaker 3: the African Economic Forum. At this conference and I hear
Speaker 3: this guy talk about this media company that he's building.
Speaker 3: It's a digital ad tech media, a business focused on
Speaker 3: the continent. And he's talking about it and talking about it.
Speaker 3: I'm like, but if this is going to exist and
Speaker 3: compete against CNN and compete against the New York Times,
Speaker 3: what's your business model? Like, what's the business?
Speaker 2: Oh no?
Speaker 3: I raised my hand and I raised my head about
Speaker 3: three times, and he looked at me, like who is
Speaker 3: this person? Heckily my I'm on this panel. And that
Speaker 3: began a lifelong friendship. So I became his COO. Holy Free, Yeah,
Speaker 3: and we built one of the largest international media companies
Speaker 3: focused on the continent. It was Fire, So that was
Speaker 3: what that's what were you there? I'm still there. I'm
Speaker 3: the chairwoman. You're still There're the chairwoman. So there, I
Speaker 3: was the CEO. I was, Yeah, it's about as high
Speaker 3: as it gets. Yeah, that's the president of the president
Speaker 3: of the President's Okay.
Speaker 1: Just listening to the story, I love that there's like
Speaker 1: an air of confidence, like I see it, I achieve it,
Speaker 1: I go for It's just a decision I'm making, and
Speaker 1: that's the decision. I don't really hear. A lot of
Speaker 1: it was doubt.
Speaker 3: It goes back to that in visit thing that we're
Speaker 3: talking about. The very beginning, the invisible piece, there has
Speaker 3: been an awareness that there's something way bigger than all
Speaker 3: of this in my stomach in a good way.
Speaker 1: I'm hungry, ok right, no, no, no, no, tell all right,
Speaker 1: but tell the story about this invisible thing.
Speaker 3: That there has been an invisible call it faith because
Speaker 3: we can't see that, call it thoughts because we can't
Speaker 3: see those emotions. We can't see. But there's been a
Speaker 3: deep conviction that I'm here for a reason. And every
Speaker 3: entrepreneur has to have that feeling and that knowing that
Speaker 3: they're but and what they're building is like here for
Speaker 3: it's not just any reason. It's it's a big deal.
Speaker 3: And so when I meet this guy's names Almagela Shore
Speaker 3: this is a part of some big thing we're meant
Speaker 3: to do, and so I think it's that part. It's
Speaker 3: because I'm gonna be carefous about like confidence or swag
Speaker 3: or whatever, or maybe it is that too, but it's
Speaker 3: really like I am I have a deep sense of purpose,
Speaker 3: like deep and if you imagine that this planet is
Speaker 3: existed for billions of years, what's seventy years? That's not
Speaker 3: even a blink.
Speaker 1: We remember how you said that there's something like an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur should say to themselves, ye mantra, I low key
Speaker 1: feel like that would be the perfect mantra. And I've
Speaker 1: never heard someone say this, but saying to yourself like
Speaker 1: I'm here for a reason while you're on this pursuit
Speaker 1: can actually be the thing that triggers because I'm like,
Speaker 1: maybe you could say vision and persistence, but I think
Speaker 1: I'm here for a reason, knowing that, Okay, I'm here
Speaker 1: on a mission.
Speaker 3: On a mission.
Speaker 1: I think that. But was there ever any part of
Speaker 1: you that had those because it doesn't seem and I'm
Speaker 1: just curious. It doesn't seem like you have a lot
Speaker 1: of negative self talk in your head.
Speaker 3: Everyone does, so you do have, oh for sure, But
Speaker 3: it's a I had it, it's a job to away
Speaker 3: because negative self talk is extremely powerful. Like negative self talk,
Speaker 3: I can't do it, then you're right, you can't. This
Speaker 3: isn't gonna work out. This is too hard. You're right,
Speaker 3: it's not gonna work out, and it will be too
Speaker 3: hard for you. Every entrepreneur, I think, and I hope
Speaker 3: knows this. You can't let the self dealt You can't
Speaker 3: literally let it like fester. It will work, it will
Speaker 3: throw you off. It's part of the reason why in
Speaker 3: the world that we're in right now. I make a
Speaker 3: point to understand what's going on in the world and
Speaker 3: I leave it at that, because it's like in venture
Speaker 3: for entrepreneurs, if you just constantly hear that money is
Speaker 3: not being given to you, Yeah, he's not gonna be
Speaker 3: given to you. So what I'm saying is like from
Speaker 3: a mantra standpoint, yes it is hard, but I will
Speaker 3: still find that money, or if it's not for VC,
Speaker 3: I'll get it elsewhere. But like that negative self talk,
Speaker 3: I used to let it run the day and realized
Speaker 3: that has just as much power as me. You wiring
Speaker 3: my brain to talk about different things, to talk about
Speaker 3: things that actually empower me and support me. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: it's critical. It's mental health, Like my mental health will
Speaker 3: not be I will not be okay if I constantly
Speaker 3: tell myself this is too hard. You do not have
Speaker 3: what it takes. And so the second those thoughts come in,
Speaker 3: it's like a workout. It's really it's like.
Speaker 1: When you're doing it, though, what are you doing? Are you?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Shut up?
Speaker 3: I replace it. It's a whole thing. It's a whole
Speaker 3: mental I was just recently so fortunate calling to be
Speaker 3: an inter room with Michelle Obama.
Speaker 1: And she just you feel like.
Speaker 3: I was just with her last week.
Speaker 1: She but you have that like likable poison about.
Speaker 3: You're ever going. I'm gonna take you with We're going
Speaker 3: together everywhere.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I'm in this room with her, and I just like
Speaker 3: a little thought of like why are you? But I
Speaker 3: don't let them finish. I don't let the thoughts finish.
Speaker 3: I'm here. I am here because I am supposed to
Speaker 3: be here, even if I don't know why I am
Speaker 3: in this room, because I should be in this room.
Speaker 3: I deserve and I will have these conversations in your
Speaker 3: head like okay, and we all have to do that
Speaker 3: otherwise that negative self talk runs the show, and if
Speaker 3: it runs the show, it shows up in our lives.
Speaker 3: It shows up as deals not working out. It shows
Speaker 3: up as not getting the work that you need to
Speaker 3: get done on time. It shows up as you don't
Speaker 3: go after that opportunity because you don't know. Yes, I
Speaker 3: don't think I'm good enough. Yes, sure, fine, and I'm
Speaker 3: still going anyway. Yeah, and I'm still going. You want
Speaker 3: to know how much self doubt I had at starting
Speaker 3: a venture capital firm?
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, I didn't even know your husband's in private equity,
Speaker 1: so did he?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he went to Harvard Business School. I didn't
Speaker 3: go to business school. So that's an important distinction. And
Speaker 3: I could say to myself, I, yes, I've studied finance,
Speaker 3: I've been an entrepreneur, I've been an operator, But I
Speaker 3: could I would get the thoughts around why it shouldn't
Speaker 3: be me starting a firm.
Speaker 1: Did you, And just going back before we get into that,
Speaker 1: did you ever have imposter syndrome, especially like some of
Speaker 1: those careers.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, but I think I had imposter syndrome. We
Speaker 3: all have imposter syndrome. What's that movie? Nobody watches movies anymore.
Speaker 3: Russell Crowe, what's that movie? You're not gonna remember it.
Speaker 3: No one's gonna remember it anyway, it doesn't matter. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna tell you the scene. So the scene in the
Speaker 3: movie is this Skuy schizophrenic beautiful mind. He's schizophrenic. He
Speaker 3: thinks his whole life since college, he met these three
Speaker 3: people and they became his best friends, and he discovers
Speaker 3: they're not real people. He had conversations with the coffee
Speaker 3: when I'm talked to all his favorite college memories. He's schizophrenic.
Speaker 3: He thought these are his college roommates. They're not real people,
Speaker 3: and that rocks his world, right, And so when he
Speaker 3: realizes they're not real people, they start going hard, like
Speaker 3: yelling at him. But he has to remember, like he
Speaker 3: sees them like they're right here. So these are real
Speaker 3: people that he's fabricated in his mind. They're as real
Speaker 3: as you and me, except they're actual don't exist. And
Speaker 3: so there's the movie goes through and he's like having
Speaker 3: this realization like, oh wait, they don't exist. And at
Speaker 3: the end of the movie. Throughout the movie, they're like
Speaker 3: saying negative things to him. So those are the negative
Speaker 3: voices in his head that he's made actual. But at
Speaker 3: the end of the movie, he gets in the Nobel
Speaker 3: Peace Press, I believe, and he looks over and those
Speaker 3: are those same three people that have been his best friends.
Speaker 3: But they're off in the corner and they do not
Speaker 3: have power anymore to tell him all these things that
Speaker 3: they used to tell him. And that is like what
Speaker 3: I say about those negative thoughts, the imposter syndrome. You
Speaker 3: might feel it, you might think those thoughts go put
Speaker 3: in the corner. Yes, fine, I get it, But you're
Speaker 3: not gonna be front and center like you used to be.
Speaker 3: You're not gonna be the main thought that I think.
Speaker 3: I get it. Sure, yes, there might be reasons I
Speaker 3: shouldn't be here. I can give you a million. Wise
Speaker 3: I should And even if you think so, those become
Speaker 3: the dominant. That's what takes front and center. Y'all go
Speaker 3: off into the corner or in the closet, honestly, And
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: That is like, yeah, critical, So you've learned how to
Speaker 1: manage and work out.
Speaker 3: And it is a mental work. Yeah, it is a
Speaker 3: mental It is a mental workout, Yeah it is. The
Speaker 3: physical health is the way we like have to put
Speaker 3: in work for physical health. I think we got to
Speaker 3: appreciate how much work we need to put in our
Speaker 3: mental health, like a mental workout. No, won't think that
Speaker 3: their mind is the most powerful tool.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is.
Speaker 3: It's the most powerful tool, the most Okay, and you're
Speaker 3: ready to eat.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's see now, I gotta watch the time.
Speaker 2: Oh no, okay, ask me the last question. What do
Speaker 2: we I don't want you to leave.
Speaker 3: I know you're like, wait, do you do a take two?
Speaker 3: I don't want you to leave.
Speaker 2: I'm so I'm sad about this.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna be clear. This ain't it. Okay, we're
Speaker 3: gonna eat it because we're having a good time. But
Speaker 3: the way this is supposed to work is it's.
Speaker 1: On a electrics it's fine with your story an electric
Speaker 1: inspired It's okay, y'all, it's electric stoves. You're eating this too.
Speaker 2: I get to eat it with you.
Speaker 1: Yes, Okay. I know we're cutting it close on time. Okay,
Speaker 1: so walk me closer into Emmaline.
Speaker 3: I got your perfect segue. I've got your perfect segway.
Speaker 3: So remember where the guy who started this media company.
Speaker 3: He's on a panel. He's trying to talk. I won't
Speaker 3: let him I'm raising my hand.
Speaker 2: Over and over again.
Speaker 3: He's like, who's this woman whos tackling me? And then
Speaker 3: he's actually, do you want to come work with me?
Speaker 3: And so that begins after you ask the question, please,
Speaker 3: I want you to come see my student. I'll want
Speaker 3: you to come see what I what I'm building, and
Speaker 3: so that began, and then and then I became a CEO,
Speaker 3: and then the rest is truly history, all right. So
Speaker 3: then a lot of crazy stuff was supporters Sahara report,
Speaker 3: Sahara reporters. Media grew. We became so powerful that this
Speaker 3: guy gets arrested by the President of Nigeria. Not just arrested,
Speaker 3: he gets kidnapped. Not just kidnapped, he's put in the
Speaker 3: President's private prison for those he really doesn't care for
Speaker 3: the heck. And so it's a movie for sure. And
Speaker 3: this happens August third. I'm expecting my baby. Baby's born
Speaker 3: in August eighth, So now I am my co conspirator
Speaker 3: is now in some hid in jail because we don't
Speaker 3: know where he is. When he got kidnapped at three
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning, he tried to tweet what was happening,
Speaker 3: and he got out a half tweet.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: This is back when Twitter was a thing. It was
Speaker 3: an X and all that. All right, so you know
Speaker 3: nobody's paying attention to X like that, but when.
Speaker 1: They were, and they did this all because of how.
Speaker 3: Powerful we become. Yeah, and so what that means is
Speaker 3: like we were able to tell stories. Imagine today if
Speaker 3: someone's the current president pocketed two billion dollars and we
Speaker 3: could prove it. Yeah, all his people are coming for
Speaker 3: you may not make it out the house alive. So
Speaker 3: what they wanted to do was kidnap them. But then
Speaker 3: once the problemise, he has the US connection, so he
Speaker 3: was in Nigeria when this was happening. So anyway, long
Speaker 3: story short, I become sitting CEO and run the business.
Speaker 3: Five days later, my daughter is born. And not only
Speaker 3: am I now running a bullion like the newborn, but
Speaker 3: not only doing that, oh, I need to get my
Speaker 3: coc and out of prison. So that's when we work
Speaker 3: with the Clooney Foundation. Shout out to a mall Clooney and.
Speaker 1: I didn't see that plot was coming. Okay.
Speaker 3: Oh, she's a human rights law attorney, so she cares
Speaker 3: deeply about journalists and journalism and freedom of expression. So
Speaker 3: she released statements and human rights cold all these things
Speaker 3: came together in the most magical way. The United States
Speaker 3: Ambassador to Nigeria, just people, just really incredible forces came together.
Speaker 3: And after Athantic I can't remember anymore, remember December. By
Speaker 3: December actually he was released, but released out of what
Speaker 3: you might call a torture zone. So he was like
Speaker 3: being torched. So out of that. Eat this food.
Speaker 1: Let's try this way. Let's try it.
Speaker 3: You're eating it, I get to eat it with you. Okay,
Speaker 3: you eat enough of this, you don't want to be broke. Right,
Speaker 3: there's the same It needs fire, not heat, and it needs.
Speaker 1: I feel like I was judging the raisins because I
Speaker 1: was like, no way, these raisins are gonna work. But
Speaker 1: the raisins absolutely are necessary in this.
Speaker 3: Also, so I'm actually making a dish red beans and
Speaker 3: rice with some red beans on top.
Speaker 1: It's fire with the raisin in it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the raisins, you were.
Speaker 1: Because I know red beans and rice coconut rice.
Speaker 3: I too like my twist, right, I really bring in
Speaker 3: like Caribbean flavor, ja Latin American flavor.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: So I love that. I love mixing, mixing all of
Speaker 3: the black and brown talent, culinary talent.
Speaker 1: This food is if you broke, this will get you through.
Speaker 1: I know that she lookija had a harder time because
Speaker 1: we gave her five minute rice and I've never actually
Speaker 1: made five minute rice. I usually use real rice. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure that affected your dish major. But the raisins plus,
Speaker 1: I would have added like a million more raisins because
Speaker 1: I really.
Speaker 3: Liked the raisins. You said you didn't.
Speaker 1: That's why I didn't. I didn't. I did not know
Speaker 1: I was gonna like the rains.
Speaker 3: Okay, I would have done it the way I do it.
Speaker 1: I was like, you were like raisin, dude, I like
Speaker 1: to think about when you said raisin. I was like,
Speaker 1: she like, that's something like but you hear about like
Speaker 1: white people with their potato salad or something. So all
Speaker 1: I was like, raisins and rice. This sounds nuts, but honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm like literally just picking the pieces with the raisins.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now you know, no, no raisins.
Speaker 3: It's a Colombian dishes.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the raisins.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great job.
Speaker 1: Back to your story because it's better than your dish. Respectfully.
Speaker 1: Oh no, it's so he gets out of jail. Did
Speaker 1: you have to watch him go through some kind of
Speaker 1: trauma experience to.
Speaker 3: It and we can reach him? No?
Speaker 1: After he got out.
Speaker 3: Oh, excellent question that he and I have never discussed,
Speaker 3: but I would if this might be the not be
Speaker 3: the place to talk about it. But what I will
Speaker 3: say is it was very hard on him, for sure.
Speaker 1: But did that also scary?
Speaker 3: Still scares me?
Speaker 1: Would do you still go back to Africa?
Speaker 3: No? I couldn't. So I had to miss one of
Speaker 3: my dear friend's weddings in Nigeria because I couldn't go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, today dangerous my name, like.
Speaker 3: I became more well known. But the way it works
Speaker 3: is like no one knew I existed. I was a coo.
Speaker 1: He had a very loud, visible face. But but then
Speaker 1: you had to step in.
Speaker 3: And they're like, wait, how's this thing still going because
Speaker 3: we thought we cut off the head. Yeah, and they're
Speaker 3: like huh. And that's when they started digging and realizing, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: there's someone that runs this thing that's not him still
Speaker 3: running and so that's yeah, I'll steer clear. But anyway,
Speaker 3: so during that period is when I realized this is
Speaker 3: too much on me, and so we looked for someone
Speaker 3: to take my seat to be the CEO. This is
Speaker 3: years later and then that's what I was like, what's
Speaker 3: going to be next? Ye? And that's when I said, okay.
Speaker 3: The founder of eBay was an investor in our in
Speaker 3: Sahara and via his vehicle called Omiti R. And so
Speaker 3: I said, what is next? I want to be on
Speaker 3: the other side because I bet if you could change
Speaker 3: who's writing checks, you would change what gets invested in.
Speaker 3: You got an idea for hair please very interested. So
Speaker 3: then that's what that was that flip for me, and
Speaker 3: so I switched and then I became I would turned
Speaker 3: out with the other side, not the operator, but the
Speaker 3: person writing checks into operators.
Speaker 1: But then in that person writing checks, you had to
Speaker 1: pitch the people the funds.
Speaker 3: No, I became the fund.
Speaker 1: You became the fund. But didn't you have to raise
Speaker 1: fund to become the Yes.
Speaker 3: So our first iteration and shout out to my co
Speaker 3: founders I was started buying myself. Nasim Saiani a zine
Speaker 3: Rats and Van Albek. We started our own fund. So
Speaker 3: we were like, man, these founders are amazing. What if
Speaker 3: we just take our own money and COVID was a
Speaker 3: good time to start because the bills were real different.
Speaker 2: Remember to eat.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we just combined our capital and invested into
Speaker 3: about fifteen female founders and are just our money.
Speaker 1: And that's very scary.
Speaker 3: No, it was fire. It was amazing. It's the most
Speaker 3: incredible thing in the world because we began to see
Speaker 3: that we're onto something that we could bring in, but
Speaker 3: we could meet really great founders that we could give
Speaker 3: them money and we would watch their businesses take off.
Speaker 1: And then I love that you. I was more scared
Speaker 1: about spending my own money that what I'm saying, But
Speaker 1: I love that you were, like, that's a little bit
Speaker 1: of nerve wrecking, right.
Speaker 3: I think that's a good point. That is why others
Speaker 3: invested with us, because we had the conviction to put
Speaker 3: our own capital on the line and not just say
Speaker 3: let me get some of your money and give it
Speaker 3: to these founders's. Now, we took our own money and
Speaker 3: put it into fifteen founders. I believe over a million
Speaker 3: dollars of our own money. And so what that means is,
Speaker 3: Okay that you all are serious.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, now when you're doing these exactly, I love that.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes when we are putting money into a business.
Speaker 1: I understand your position. Where like when I'm investing in
Speaker 1: my business, I actually I believe it so much I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not even I'm almost like, what is it high
Speaker 1: on the supply? I know I can do this, so
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about my personal investments. But I know
Speaker 1: even me as myself, if i invest in other companies
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, if I'm not a part of the company,
Speaker 1: I feel like and this is I just learned this
Speaker 1: about myself, like in the last year. So I can
Speaker 1: only invest in companies where I actually play a role
Speaker 1: in the company, because I noticed if I'm not playing
Speaker 1: over I did and no, I lost all my money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so angel investing is a little different, right, because
Speaker 3: you're passively writing a check into a business and you're
Speaker 3: not helping them. They have to return. I think we
Speaker 3: invest so we work very it's my full time job.
Speaker 1: So that would be cool to get you in the company, right,
Speaker 1: like you would come with the check.
Speaker 3: That's right. So that's why people want us to come
Speaker 3: in with our check, because it's not just a check,
Speaker 3: it's a whole.
Speaker 1: It's you.
Speaker 3: It's like an army, right.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's oh, so then that's the difference between venture
Speaker 1: capital and angel exactly. Yeah. So I went through a
Speaker 1: bid where I lost enough to set me back a
Speaker 1: couple of years, but I had learned in that. I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe in the future, if I ever invest in a company,
Speaker 1: I have to play a role to have secure parameters
Speaker 1: like exactly maybe having the money in ESHCRO or maybe
Speaker 1: having two signatures on the checking account, just little things
Speaker 1: to like have a check and balance. But I learned
Speaker 1: that error.
Speaker 3: Would you say, yeah, exactly, Well you can imagine. That's
Speaker 3: so people said, I want to invest in female founders,
Speaker 3: but I don't have I'm doing something else. So I
Speaker 3: want you to do it because you're going to make
Speaker 3: sure you're going to dot the I and you're going
Speaker 3: to cross the t's.
Speaker 1: So it's smarter to invest in the mention capital firm.
Speaker 1: But now, how hard is it for say a smaller
Speaker 1: person like with micro money to invest in a venture
Speaker 1: capital firm. It's so hard.
Speaker 3: It's not hard. You can so the two secrets most
Speaker 3: people don't know. If you commit and say I want
Speaker 3: to invest one hundred thousand dollars to VC, it's over years.
Speaker 3: So that means it might be twenty K years, it
Speaker 3: might be thirty K years. If someone's oh I can
Speaker 3: only do twenty five K, great, twenty five Ok, there
Speaker 3: are VC firms that will take twenty five K. We
Speaker 3: have taken twenty five K checks, so that we've taken
Speaker 3: thirty K checks. So your first wire is seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: So I want to minimize that because an entrepreneur, seven
Speaker 3: thousand is real. But my point is, like most people
Speaker 3: don't know, you can begin to build your wealth and
Speaker 3: get access to these really incredible deals that will transform, yeah,
Speaker 3: your bottom line and how much money you have in
Speaker 3: your account with smaller checks.
Speaker 1: I love that better, in my opinion, than investing in stocks.
Speaker 1: If I had a choice, I would much rather invest
Speaker 1: in a VC. And I know venture capitalists do that
Speaker 1: due diligence because I've tried to picture venture capitals before
Speaker 1: and boyd they laugh you at the room real quick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't really know your stuff. Yeah, yeah, at
Speaker 1: least reminds me.
Speaker 3: I mean, well, I agree, I agree, and this is
Speaker 3: why I think we need more resources so that we
Speaker 3: know how to play the game. Yeah you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, So like they will laugh you out of
Speaker 3: the room just because you don't speak their language. But
Speaker 3: if you learn the game.
Speaker 1: You're anyway, and I also feel and you can do it.
Speaker 1: True false quickly, we're going over time?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 1: Do you want to check the time? What time is it?
Speaker 3: I tell you, Yeah, it's eleven thirty, it's eleven thirty.
Speaker 1: Oh no, don't break up with me? Sure or false?
Speaker 1: Venture capitalists. The difference between angel, angel capital and venture
Speaker 1: capital is it, like venture capitalists, you have to dream
Speaker 1: extremely large to take over the planet, like multimillion dollar
Speaker 1: company and an angel or the smaller investments are for
Speaker 1: companies that are like the false okay, false false, you
Speaker 1: can tell me the truth.
Speaker 3: Angels and vcs want you to change the world. They
Speaker 3: want you to have some big, disruptive, innovative idea. Typically,
Speaker 3: vcs will not invest if you don't, whereas angels might. Right,
Speaker 3: if you're doing something that needs to exist in the
Speaker 3: world and maybe it won't become a billion dollar business,
Speaker 3: an angel might look at it, vcs won't. But they
Speaker 3: both actually want to invest in the thing that's going
Speaker 3: to unlock like a billion dollar outcome. The difference is
Speaker 3: actually just the time that they write a check angels
Speaker 3: will write a check or we're just talking. Maybe have
Speaker 3: an idea. Vcs need to typic, please see a little
Speaker 3: bit more, or you have done this, you have a
Speaker 3: few reps, and so they'll just write you a check
Speaker 3: even if you have an idea. Typically these days you
Speaker 3: don't see a lot of that unless you are coming
Speaker 3: out of Stanford or it's coming out of some AI
Speaker 3: machine learning lab or something, then you can probably get
Speaker 3: money before you leave. Other than that, like setting those
Speaker 3: sort of exceptional examples to the side, angels and vcs,
Speaker 3: angels are just early vcs. The main difference about angels
Speaker 3: and vcs is angels typical people write a check. They
Speaker 3: are not making this their full time job.
Speaker 1: Oh so adventure capital is definitely a full time oh yeah,
Speaker 1: because they're trying to get to that.
Speaker 3: Billion, so they have to put in work, whereas angels
Speaker 3: are is a little bit more passive.
Speaker 1: I love everything about you, likewine, totally adore you, and guys,
Speaker 1: she's a mom, a wife, and a venture capital founder.
Speaker 1: Just before we close out, I just want to you
Speaker 1: to just tell us everything you can about emmy line. Yes,
Speaker 1: Emilin is Emilin. Sorry it's called It's fine, it's fine, Emily.
Speaker 3: What do you want to know? I want to know
Speaker 3: a VC fund. We're a VC fund. What we invest,
Speaker 3: So I'll simplify it. We write checks into entrepreneurs who
Speaker 3: need money to grow their businesses. What kind of businesses
Speaker 3: do we give do we write checks into when we
Speaker 3: take a percentage ownership of their company. We write checks
Speaker 3: into female founders, typically if they have a guy on
Speaker 3: the founding team. We love that. Research actually shows that
Speaker 3: mixed gender teams outperform, and we're writing checks. We're writing
Speaker 3: checks into their businesses to help them grow and to
Speaker 3: help them scale early. And so that means if you're
Speaker 3: if you've got to half a million in revenue or
Speaker 3: a million in revenue, will look at you before we
Speaker 3: would even write checks before there was any revenue. We
Speaker 3: think that the market is just really tough right now.
Speaker 3: So it's tough to write a check into a business
Speaker 3: and hope it takes off, right, Yeah, But that's what
Speaker 3: we do. And we're looking at solutions around health, so
Speaker 3: just healthcare, think maternal health. We invest in a maternal
Speaker 3: health start up, a lot of maternal health startups, but
Speaker 3: we care deeply about maternal health. Think like endometriosis. I
Speaker 3: don't know if you've heard of it. Yeah, of course
Speaker 3: everyone's got it, and so we're investing in solutions for
Speaker 3: better diagnostics and treatment.
Speaker 1: As someone else, I interviewed Melissa Ford and she said,
Speaker 1: what does this think that women menopause?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we invested in a lot of.
Speaker 1: There's not enough out there for it, and they say
Speaker 1: it's a multi billion dollars hundred percent.
Speaker 3: That's where we invest. We have some menopause startups shout
Speaker 3: out to women, asking a few others in our portfolio alloy. Okay,
Speaker 3: let me not speak on this multi broadcasted show about
Speaker 3: who's invested in alloy, but yes, we invest that's where
Speaker 3: we invest. Think menopause, think perimenopause, Think endometriosis, think fertility,
Speaker 3: think mental health, health, hormonal health, women for women Okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, women have been dying all over the world for
Speaker 1: this or what is opportunity?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Come so thank you?
Speaker 3: Yes needs to exist?
Speaker 1: Okay, And then how can people reach out to you? Guys?
Speaker 3: All the ways right, So if people really want to
Speaker 3: reach out to me, and I know I'm not sure
Speaker 3: if you if your audience is hanging out on LinkedIn
Speaker 3: like that, but if they are.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure they are.
Speaker 3: Lakisha, Lan and Pierre just picking me. I live there.
Speaker 3: I live on LinkedIn. That's like my digital home. I
Speaker 3: love it there. I love it there. Yeah. But ig
Speaker 3: you can ping us on IGVC Emmaline email me Lakeisha
Speaker 3: at Emily Ventures dot vc and then see me out
Speaker 3: in the world. We do a bunch of stuf during
Speaker 3: LA tech Week, San Francisco Tech Week, New York Tech Week. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then just one of the things I think you
Speaker 1: did it hit on, which I thought was very important
Speaker 1: that you mentioned throughout is that it's not just a
Speaker 1: check with venture capital. You get this team that has
Speaker 1: the experience, the support, and the relationships to really take
Speaker 1: your business there. And my grandfather, one of the first
Speaker 1: things he ever taught me in business was it's always
Speaker 1: better to have a piece of something than a piece
Speaker 1: of nothing. So when you're out there and you're valuing
Speaker 1: your companies, always keep that in the back of your mind.
Speaker 1: With a team, a team that has experienced, that's worth
Speaker 1: more than any amount of check. So I just want
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 3: That, yeah, dumbing dom Jing.
Speaker 1: And one of the other messages that I really want
Speaker 1: everyone to walk away with who deals with like imposter
Speaker 1: syndrome is no, You're here for a purpose, right, what
Speaker 1: did you say?
Speaker 3: That?
Speaker 1: So good? It was so good and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to break that at home on my dray
Speaker 1: race board. I'm here for a reason. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: And I think that will help drawn out that noise
Speaker 1: that we all seem to deal.
Speaker 3: With us, right, we all deal with the noise. I
Speaker 3: love that, but we have to like make our own noise.
Speaker 1: Make our own noise. I am so thankful that you
Speaker 1: took time out of your schedule. I blew past her
Speaker 1: time restraints, but I really adore her, and thank you guys,
Speaker 1: I really adore her. I hope you guys keep up
Speaker 1: with Lakeisha anywhere on any platform. I will be stalking
Speaker 1: her too. But thank you guys for tuning in piece