It all started with my mom, Thelma Bataille, who worked in Silicon Valley for 30 years. To me, she was one of those ‘Hidden Figures’. I grew up when I saw women working with technology and science and computers. They were the women in our kitchen, chatting and laughing and complaining about things at work. Over the years, I have heard the stories of innovative black women in technology.
How did you get started in finance?
After school at the University of Michigan and time in Israel and Singapore, I moved to Wall Street. I wanted to participate in the game and be part of the world.
What motivated you to launch the WOCstar Fund?
I was working in my office [at JPMorgan Chase & Company] when I got the news that I had cancer, and I thought, ‘I can not die in this chair and at this desk without really making an impact like the pioneers before and those women like my mother.’
After overcoming my fear of dying, I gained the courage to live. And in that moment, I became courageous and fearless to be a champion for the women I knew – women who looked like me.
You have worked on mergers and acquisitions at JPMorgan. How was it useful?
The bulk of the investment is not only the selection of companies and the necessary research, but it also helps them to build so that we can make money and return capital to investors.
I am now a middle-aged black woman and have achieved a lot in my career. I am now at an age where I can give it authentically to the beginners.
Where are things now?
I do not live in fear of where my next salary will come from, how my mortgage will be paid. I am at a point in my life where I can take everything I have done and direct it to those who I think are worth investing in.
My sister and I do not always have a seat at the table, and we are not always invited into the room, but I have become really comfortable being a party breaker.
And just a little secret … the party is always better when my sister and I show up.
What is the economic background that drives the demand for venture capital of female founders in the future, and what can be done to improve it?
The fundamentals have not changed: people like winners. Markets like winners. Money follows winners.
People need to put money where their mouth is. What is happening these days is that there are too many press releases being issued by people and large corporations declaring their financial commitment to black businesses or racial equity, but the dollars appear as marketing, sponsorship dollars or loans.
We need more black businesses and new black venture capitalists who invest in black, women-led, diverse companies and have fewer headlines about people’s intentions.
What advice do you give to other female color entrepreneurs?
I always tell them to be bold, to be brave and to double your number. Whatever you ask for, it doubles. You have choices, so look for investors who will build with you.
Be a problem solver. Entrepreneurship is about being a problem solver. Build things that are great ideas, that will change how we work and how we live and consume.
What has been the biggest challenge in your career?
I get no every day. What’s worse is the silence, or the nice “let’s keep in touch” and knock on the head. Those cut deeper than the no. At least with a no, you know where you stand. My mother always said, ‘Go ask. No one has yet died from the word no. ”
And really should not tell my mother, but I stopped asking. Now I invite and invite only those who really get it. Women and women of color are crushing it in the tech world, and too many are going to miss out on sharing in our success.
What was your biggest reward?
My biggest reward is the people who have flocked to the fund since its inception. I’m not alone in this. The fund is a network of allies and mentors. I like how we raised the money. JPMorgan contributed the initial funding to the current WOCstar Fund.
Two of our initial investors were white men living in my New York City neighborhood. It’s based on the fact that I know I can see them in the grocery store or in the gym, and that they are not shared like me, or that I look like me, but trust me that I know the best investments of people of color. .
Ultimately, it’s the conversations with the founders. This is the mentorship. This is the hard love. This is where I get my joy and energy.
What else interests you?
I like film and media and getting more women and coloreds in the media.
I have been building the next generation of diverse storytellers and filmmakers for many years. In the past I was on the advisory board of the Ghetto Film School and I am still involved with them and the creative content house in Bronx by its alumni called Digital Bodega. And now I’m very lucky to have creative stores like Southbox Entertainment, a film and television content studio where I combine creativity and capital, and serve on the board of the Nantucket Project Academy, a community of change makers. and powerful storytellers.
This conversation has been edited and summarized.