The Impossible Network Kathryn Finney: Her Single Minded Path To Inspiring and Funding Brilliant Black and LatinX Founders
Dec 14, 2021
01:19:18
Guest overview
Kathryn Finney defies norms, conventions, and stereotypes. For this powerhouse of a human, there is no glass ceiling. From epidemiologist to entrepreneur, to investor, author, and mentor, Kathryn is changing what is considered possible for a generation of marginalized and underrepresented Black and LatinX entrepreneurs.
In this episode, recorded in two parts, we cover
- The impact of her parents and extended family
- Her father’s life pivot from brewing to coding in his 30’s which led her at aged eight to move from Milwaukee to Minneapolis.
- The early experiences of racism.
- Her grandmother's role in nurturing her entrepreneurial spirit and exposure to fashion.
- Her educational journey and impact
- The serendipity of illness in Ghana that led her to epidemiology at Yale
- The life transition in her mid-twenties and setting up her fashion blog Budget Fashionista in 2004
- Being the first blogger invited to New York fashion week
- How her blogging opened the path to her first book deal
- Becoming a correspondent for the Today Show.
- The shift that occurred in fashion blogging as the category grew in 2008/9.
- Joining an incubator program and confronting racial prejudice.
- Creating a Women’s Entrepreneurs Event Focus 100
- Exiting her business in 2013.
- Creating the Project Diane a database of Black and LatinX women startups
- The genesis of her Digital Undivided
- How Covid accelerated a life transition and the creation of her micro grant Doonie Fund
- Receiving funding from Pivotal Ventures for the creation of Genius Guild
- Building a coalition of like-minded change agents
- Creating her Podcast and Book Build The Damn Thing, her ‘a battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has excluded’
- Her 2030 vision
- Who we interview next?
Social Links
Show Links
Build the Damn Thing - How to start a successful business if you are not a rich white guy
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