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After her first business failed, Carolyn Rodz is now making it her mission to help other entrepreneurs succeed. Rodz was an investment banker for JPMorgan Chase between 2001 and 2005, per her LinkedIn. After exiting her job, she ventured into entrepreneurship , but that did not fare well, leading her to reenter the workforce. Although this was a trying time, it did not deter her from entrepreneurship altogether — she launched Cake, a digital media company, in 2009 and exited in 2015 — and it paved a pathway of opportunity for a wider community. “I knew very little about starting a company and my first business failed,” Rodz said in an interview with the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “I went back to work, paid off debts, licked my wounds for a bit, started a second company that I ultimately sold, ran it very differently with the lessons that I learned and feel very fortunate that I got to start over again because many people don’t have that opportunity. I was young and single and...
Hello Alice’s steadfast commitment to supporting small businesses remained strong, even amid adversity. Founded in 2017 by Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz, Hello Alice is driven by a mission to support the growth and success of small businesses. This dedication was evident from the outset, especially when the company faced a financial setback due to the cancellation of South by Southwest (SXSW) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Instead of moving forward with a large marketing campaign as planned, Hello Alice redirected those funds to launch a grant program, offering critical support to small business owners in need during a challenging time. “It was the biggest amount of money we’d ever spent on anything at the time. And then the world shut down and there’s initially that moment of us saying, ‘Oh my gosh, like what’s gonna happen to us?’ And then we said, ‘If we’re dealing with this, and here we are that we had the luxury of having raised capital, we had investment...
Hello Alice can continue on its mission to support small businesses. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the company, created by Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz, was named in a class action lawsuit for awarding up to $25,000 in grants to 10 Black-owned businesses in partnership with Progressive Insurance Co. They were sued by Nathan Roberts, who owns an Ohio-based trucking dispatch company and claims he didn’t know Progressive Insurance’s Driving Small Business Forward fund was exclusively for Black-owned businesses. Progressive Preferred Insurance Co., Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., and Circular Board LLC — which operates Hello Alice — are listed as defendants in the lawsuit filed by America First Legal, Mitchell Law PLLC, and Ashbrook Byrne Kresge LLC. Now, a resolution has been reached. According to a news release, the case has been dismissed by a federal judge in Ohio. “This resolution marks a pivotal moment not only for our company but for the broader small business...
Amid the attack on venture capital investments to Black businesses, Hello Alice has come out on top. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the fintech platform — created by Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz — that has helped small businesses through capital, had been named in a class-action lawsuit filed by America First Legal, Mitchell Law PLLC, and Ashbrook Byrne Kresge LLC in October 2023. The company was targeted for partnering with Progressive Insurance Co. to offer up to $25,000 in grants to 10 Black-owned businesses. “We were founded on the principle of equality, with the aim of ensuring that everyone — women, men, people of color, U.S. Veterans, and more — have an equal opportunity to launch their businesses and pursue the American Dream,” Hello Alice shared at the time in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “From Texas to California to Florida to New York, small business owners are the most trusted voice in America and a critical engine of our economic growth. Today our...
Though Amazon reportedly experienced another record-setting holiday season , it also suffered its share of challenges. Among the holiday favorites for many Amazon shoppers was Wyze, the economical, smart home camera system launched by former Amazon staff. Though the top-selling item provided a major boost for Amazon’s holiday revenue, a new data breach may change that record success. A Wyze security breach confirmed in late December is said to have affected more than 2 million customers , according to Fortune. Though the full extent of the breach has yet to be revealed, it involved account information, such as email addresses, Wi-Fi information, and security tokens. According to Wyze, no financial data or passwords were compromised . The latest breach places Amazon at the epicenter of another security glitch. Wyze likely became a viable alternative for wary shoppers shying away from Amazon’s controversial Ring home camera system. Amazon and Ring were recently named in a class-action...
Amazon and Ring are now defendants in a class-action security lawsuit filed last week. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon could have done more to protect Ring customers from security breaches. The lawsuit is spearheaded by plaintiff John Orange, who hails from Alabama. Ring, a video security system founded by CEO Jamie Siminoff in 2013 and acquired by Amazon last year, provides customers with economic indoor and outdoor camera surveillance. That security was compromised, as evidenced by several widely-publicized instances of hackers communicating with startled children through home video systems. Orange’s family fell prey to one of these hacks. The lawsuit accuses Amazon and Ring of privacy violations and breach of contract , among other offenses. It also suggests that Ring could have safeguarded against attacks by offering multi-factor authentication, a security method requiring users to verify authenticity by providing more than one unique method of proving identity. While Ring has...