About

A sort of comprehensive overview of the things I’ve done.

Investing: I’m the Founding Partner and Managing Director at Cake Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in the future of technology being driven by major demographic changes including: an aging population, the shift to majority-minority, and the increased spending power of women.

I invest in companies with global ambitions who are creating technology products that meet the needs of tomorrow’s internet users.

Before starting Cake Ventures, I was a venture investor and angel, investing startup ecosystems across the US and Africa as Venture Partner at 500 Startups. Following my time at 500 Startups, I continued investing as a Venture Scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners. I also became a trusted advisor to foundations interested in increasing capital allocation to diverse fund managers and entrepreneurs; as well as venture capital firms like SoftBank where I was an Advisor on Emerge, their early stage pipeline program focused on companies led by underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurshit™: I started as an internet entrepreneur in the early aughts before I  even knew that venture capital was a thing and that Sand Hill Road was a place. I loved building things and figured out how to make them make money and get to profitability.

In 2008, I moved to San Francisco, immersed myself in Silicon Valley startup culture, and immediately noticed the lack of opportunity and visibility for underrepresented founders like myself. In 2011, I had a baby called Black Founders with 3 of my friends. We dedicated ourselves to increasing the number of successful black entrepreneurs in tech, not just in Silicon Valley, but nationally — with programming in NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and several HBCU campuses.

Along the way, I created Speak Chic – the mobile app that taught you how to correctly pronounce fashion brands and helped you discover new brands. Speak Chic was featured in numerous fashion publications including Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and InStyle.

Government Tech & Civic Innovation: I was one of San Francisco’s first Mayor’s Innovation Fellows and spent a year in the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation where I worked on innovation projects around open data, municipal wi-fi, and bridging the digital divide.

During my fellowship, I wrote the resolution on broadband and unlicensed spectrum which was adopted at the US Conference of Mayors and contributed to early strategy around municipal internet access and the availability of broadband in San Francisco’s most challenged neighborhoods.

Media & Public Speaking: I invest, speak, and write on areas of consumer technology and emerging demographic trends and have been interviewed on entrepreneurship and investing for CNBC, NPR, CNN, New York Times, Wired Magazine, and CNBC Africa.

See where I’m speaking now or book me for a speaking engagement.