Jenna Chambers

Founder Rashaan Everett has launched Growing Talent, a social equity incubator dedicated to training those affected by the war on drugs to run a successful cannabis business. Growing Talent aims to educate people of color about the cannabis industry through a curriculum that emphasizes applying for a medical and adult-use license, federal and state laws, policy, horticulture, business development, and financial literacy. The Los-Angeles-based incubator is working in partnership with cannabis compliance software developer, Simplifya, and plans to train participants on the platform. Participants who complete the program can receive investment capital and financing from Good Tree, a luxury cannabis delivery service, and Good Tree Capital. The money will used to launch a Good Tree franchise. “Risk mitigation has been our focal point. We’re clearing the hurdles that social equity applicants face when they’re looking to raise capital to launch their businesses,” Everett told financial...

This piece originally published on November 6, 2018. As a child, Sheena Allen noticed that people in her community were either unbanked or underbanked. She would follow her grandmother to check cashing centers and her great-grandmother never even had a bank account. When she got older, she set out to find a technological solution to a problem affecting approximately half of Black households . Allen built CapWay, a mobile-first financial technology company focusing on building healthy financial practices for future generations. The fintech company is designed to address the financial needs of Millennials and Generation Z by delivering access to financial services to prevent negative generational cycles. AfroTech spoke to Allen about how she founded CapWay and how what she’s building will have an impact on underserved communities for generations to come. AfroTech: What is your background? Sheena Allen: I’m originally from a really small town in Mississippi. I double majored in...

This piece originally published on November 19, 2018. The future of work looks like freelancers, creatives, and entrepreneurs designing and innovating in shared spaces that offer reliable WiFi, networking and events on how to drive growth and revenue for your business. There are more than 4,000 coworking spaces (and growing) in the United States and overall membership is expected to increase by 5.1 million by 2022. Despite this rapid growth in shared working spaces, only a handful of co-working spaces are black-owned and cater to black professionals. Black entrepreneurs across the country are stepping up to create workspaces offering a safe haven for a community of Black creatives and freelancers who seek shared community spaces built around the idea of inclusion. Check out a list of five innovative Black-owned co-working spaces: Femology — Detroit This co-working space catering to Black female entrepreneurs was founded by Detroit native Meagan Ward last year. Over 100 women-owned...

This article was originally published on 02/11/2019 Mimconnect was founded on accident. A GroupMe chat called “Minorities in Media” inadvertently led co-founders Netta Dobbins & Bianca Jeanty to launch the career resource platform empowering underrepresented media professionals. “I moved to New York and I didn’t really have a network,” said Dobbins, who relocated to pursue a career in public relations. Dobbins started the Groupme to network and gain connections and w ithin three weeks, the group had grown to roughly 300 people. The pair of founders knew they were on to something. “They were all talking about how they were isolated at work and how they couldn’t get their foot in the door at companies,” Dobbins said. “That sparked something bigger. Everybody was having these same experiences.” Across the media industry, people of color are grossly underrepresented. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that only 10.7 percent of public relations professionals in 2018 were Black. Of...

Google Pixel users can now add an interactive Playmoji of music artist, Childish Gambino to Playground mode, a feature that incorporates AR stickers into photos or videos. Simply point the Pixel device, drop Childish Gambino into the scene and have him dance to “Redbone,” “Summertime Magic,” and “This is America.” The Playmoji can also respond to facial expressions in real time. “We worked closely with Childish Gambino and his music video choreographer, Sherrie Silver, to make sure the Playmoji’s dance moves rival those of Childish Gambino himself,” Google said in a blog announcement. Check it out below:

John Henry is a hustler. The entrepreneur has been in hustle mode since he founded and sold his first company in 2014, and launched Harlem Capital, a diversity-focused investment firm, where he currently serves as a partner. Now, the 26-year-old is taking his entrepreneurial prowess to Viceland with his new show, appropriately named Hustle. The eight-episode docu-series, which is executive produced by Alicia Keys, follows Henry as he challenges New York City-based entrepreneurs to push their boundaries and scale their businesses. “I set out to dispel myths and demystify the actual arc of being an entrepreneur,” he said. “The whole show is about the drive to make it. We want to capture ordinary people who had the bravery to do extraordinary things.” The series is only one part of Henry’s quest to change the face of entrepreneurship and build generational wealth in communities of color. Harlem Capital has raised $2 million of a targeted $25 million fund for underrepresented...

Harlem Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, yesterday announced its investment in Sudu , a logistics technology startup founded by Amari Ruff in 2015. The Georgia Tech engineering grad launched the company to connect smaller trucking companies to large corporations that ship goods. The Atlanta-based startup now supports a broader network of 300,000 carriers. “Amari embodies the type of founder that Harlem Capital wants to invest in,” Jarrid Tingle, managing partner at Harlem Capital said in a statement. “He is solving an important problem and tackling a massive market opportunity while helping to create more wealth for women and minority business owners.” Sudu leverages machine learning and voice technology to helps customers like Walmart and UPS increase supply-chain efficiency and lower carbon footprints. The company previously raised $1 million in seed round funding led by Plug and Play and Engage Ventures. Other investors include Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund,...

Black Women Talk Tech (BWTT)—a collective of Black women tech founders—is collaborating with Richelieu Dennis of Essence Ventures to host a $100,000 pitch competition at the Roadmap to Billions 2019 Conference in New York City. With the mission to uplift Black women entrepreneurs, the three-day conference is geared toward founders with scalable tech companies. It features workshops and panels to help entrepreneurs build billion dollar companies. The line up includes speakers such as founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital, Arlan Hamilton and award-winning author and digital strategist, Luvvie Ajayi. The first two days of the conference are for founders only while the final day is open to all attendees. To be eligible for the founders’ days, entrepreneurs must identify as a Black woman and have a scalable company. Visit the website to purchase tickets for the conference which takes place February 27–March 1.

Spotify is on a quest to build the world’s leading audio platform. The music streaming giant today announced it has acquired Gimlet Media, the podcast network behind featured shows like The Nod , and Anchor, a startup helping podcast creators record and distribute content. “There are endless ways to tell stories that serve to entertain, to educate, to challenge, to inspire, or to bring us together and break down cultural barriers,” Daniel Ek, Spotify co-founder, and CEO said in a statement. “The format is really evolving and while podcasting is still a relatively small business today, I see incredible growth potential for the space and for Spotify in particular.” The terms of the transactions were not disclosed, though Recode reports Spotify planned to purchase Gimlet for more than $200 million. With the acquisition, the company will focus on helping podcasters establish and grow their audience while leveraging Gimlet’s podcast studio with dedicated intellectual property...

Researchers looking at the global market for diversity and inclusion technology predict new software has the potential to disrupt patterns of bias and drive organizational change. “After years of spending time and money on diversity and inclusion, there is a palpable feeling of fatigue: the representation of historically underrepresented employees has not changed commensurate with those efforts and many organizations are still far from reaching their goals,” researchers wrote in the report. The report identified 105 diversity and inclusion tech firms and found the market size is roughly $100 million and growing. Forty-three percent of providers focus on software used in talent acquisition and management. Twenty-six percent of the market is geared toward analytics, followed by development and advancement (19%), and engagement and retention (12%). “We know that companies are renewing their focus on D&I,” said Stacia Garr, co-founder and principal analyst of RedThread Research in a...

Artist Fabian  Williams has set up a GoFundMe page in response to the demolition of Atlanta’s Colin Kaepernick mural. The mural of Kaepernick standing next to Muhammad Ali was created on the side of an abandoned building that was demolished ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Mural showed Kaepernick in an Atlanta Falcons Uniform. “I just happened to be driving by when they were doing it and it took a minute for me to mentally recognize that it was happening,” Williams told the AJC. “Symbols matter man. You destroyed the whole building it was on? If I were an interpreter of performance art, what message would you take from that?” Williams has created murals all over the city, including one of civil rights leader Hosea Williams . A former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick took a knee on during the National Anthem in 2016 in protest of police brutality and racial injustice, sparking controversy. Kaepernick hasn’t been signed by an NFL team since 2017, inspiring...

Amazon has added Starbucks executive Rosalind Brewer to its board of directors, making her the second Black woman on the tech company’s board. Brewer was also appointed to Amazon’s leadership development and compensation committee. Currently Starbucks’ chief operating officer, she’s previously served as chief executive officer of membership warehouse business Sam’s Club. She also served as a director of Lockheed Martin Corporation from April 2011 to October 2017. Last May, Amazon agreed to adopt a policy that requires women and people of color to be considered for all board openings. This came after the company was pressured by the Congressional Black Caucus to adopt a proposal to increase the diversity of its board. Myrtle Potter, former president and COO of Genentech, was the first Black woman to be appointed to the online retail giant’s board of directors. Potter began to serve in 2004 and stepped down in 2009. Brewer’s appointment brings the number of women on Amazon’s 10-person...

Grammy award-winning artist Chamillionaire kicked off Black History Month by announcing plans to invest $10,000 in a Black founder’s company. “In my circle of peers, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about better ways that we can support black founders and entrepreneurs and ways we can invest more money back into our communities,” Chamillionaire said in a video posted to Instagram and Twitter. Black startup founders only raised 1 percent of the U.S. venture capital funding in 2015, according to CB Insights . The median amount of funding raised by Black women is $0, just .0006 percent of all tech venture funding since 2009 . Interested founders must download the Convoz app and send a 15-second pitch video to Chamillionaire. “We’re doing this for the culture,” he says. “Because Black is beautiful.” The rapper will pick a winner on March 1.

Google has plans to announce the expansion of its Atlanta office. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the tech giant will lease 200,000 square feet on the top floors of a new Midtown Atlanta tower and will add 500 jobs to the city. This more than triples the space Google currently occupies in Midtown. “This is more evidence Atlanta is considered a pinnacle of software development talent,” John Yates, a partner in the technology practice at Morris Manning & Martin LLP told the Business Chronicle . Google’s Atlanta move is part of a larger growth plan in tech hubs across the nation. Last month, the company announced plans to expand its New York City campus. Google Hudson Square is reportedly a $1 billion project that will be 1.7 million square feet. The company also purchased Chelsea Market in Manhattan for $2.4 billion with plans to add 300,000 square feet to the location.  

Law firm, Burr & Forman LLP has named LaTesha Blair its new Chief Information Officer to oversee the company’s tech services and resources. She will continue to drive innovation and assess firm-wide technology strategy to ensure security and efficiency. “LaTesha’s leadership and vision will guide Burr & Forman’s next phase of development in the rapidly changing technology arena,” said Burr & Forman CEO Ed Christian in a press release. “Our goal is to improve service and functionality for not only our employees but also our clients.” Blair joins the firm from McNair Law Firm in Columbia, South Carolina where she served as the director of information technology. She has over 20 years of technology experience including IT roles at Lexington Medical Center and the South Carolina Department of Commerce. Blair earned her undergraduate degree in management information systems from the University of Charlotte Belk College of Business.