Behind the Money: Talking About Diversity In Venture Capital
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel called ‘Behind the Money’ at The Atlantic’s Inclusion In Tech Conference in San Francisco, CA. The focus of the panel was a discussion on diversity and inclusion (D&I) in venture capital. All of the panelists, excluding myself, are venture capitalists with varying experience. I participated in the panel as a non-profit founder working to increase the racial diversity in venture capital. The other exception between myself and other panelists was that I was the only woman who identified as a racial minority in tech, a black woman. These two characteristics allowed me to present a different and somewhat lonely perspective in the discussion.
As an advocate for leveraging tech entrepreneurship and venture capital to close the racial gap, discussing race is key to the mission. I also believe that an industry that is plagued with racial hiring biases and the inability to attract and retain black and brown talent, discussing race is important for change to begin. However, as media conversations and conferences on D&I has hit a new trending high, these conversations remain stuck on gender diversity with no intersections of race, sexuality, age, or disability. Translation — we’re still only talking about white cisgender straight females.
The panel was a short one in duration (30 minutes) and likely not the right platform to address all that ails tech and venture capital. However, at the conclusion of the panel, it became obvious the discussion was incomplete and far from inclusive. The only question from the audience directly addressed this.
“We’ve been talking a lot about gender and not enough about race…a lot of conversation about women, women, women…so, I want to make space for women [of color], non-binary people and men of color…Being that you are the only black woman on the panel, could you share some thoughts with the audience on what white and asian women can do to get more voices in vc and angel investing around the world” — NataliaObertiNoguera (paraphrased and condensed)
I answered Natalia’s question with rough thoughts about white and asian women becoming more intentional about inviting others into the room and sharing visibility with others. However, even this answer was incomplete, because it didn’t address the important role of capital in changing this industry. A complete answer — “Give Them Your Money.” [Them = blacks, latinx, indigenous, lgbtqia, and other traditional marginalized communities]
In our conversations on diversity and inclusion, its important that we don’t shy away from the uncomfortable topics, like race. It’s also important that we discuss measurable solutions. Until the tech and the venture capital industry, views D&I with the same priority as low financial returns (hint: the two are related), we will continue to be stuck in the current cycle of hopeful conversations with no results.
You can watch the ‘Behind the Money’ discussion here.
