Brandon J. Middleton-Pratt is lending his law expertise to the tech ecosystem. He currently serves as a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and is a board member at DivInc, a nonprofit that empowers underrepresented founders. His trajectory was not a linear one. He initially pursued a finance and marketing degree at the University of Denver while playing on its basketball team, he says. Upon obtaining his bachelor’s in 2003, he decided to move to Los Angeles, CA, to pursue a career in entertainment instead. Though that did not pan out for long, he made appearances in the films “Coach Carter”, “Rebound,” and “The Longest Yard.” The pivots of life would then lead Middleton-Pratt to play basketball overseas in Spain and Cyprus after receiving an offer from a sports agent. He then experienced a crossroads, which would determine if he would return to Los Angeles. A call from a mentor with an opportunity in the energy field finally brought him back to the states. “A mentor of mine...

The growing number of Black and brown businesses in the United States goes hand-in-hand with the widening racial equity gap in the venture capital world. To combat this, Mitch Brooks and Tristan Wilkerson — general partners of High Street Equity Partners — are using their impact and expertise to close that gap for founders of underrepresented businesses across the country. According to theGrio, the duo has established a $15 million fund under the guise of principle and purpose to support businesses who have potential to thrive amid the pandemic. Brooks tells the outlet, “I just felt really moved to do something in the formal investment vehicle and I spoke to Tristan about that and we started to do our due diligence and here we are today.” theGrio shares that Brooks and Wilkerson — both long-time friends and angel investors in Black-owned businesses — named their fund after a historic street in Little Rock, AR to pay homage to what was once the center of business and innovation where...