Celebrating Women's History Month
Impact Experience
Impact Experience builds bridges between impact investors and community leaders and entrepreneurs
March 2024
Dear Impact Experience Community,
March marks Women's History Month, an annual celebration dedicated to recognizing the invaluable contributions of female entrepreneurs to our multicultural fabric. Despite historical examples of prominent entrepreneurs such as Mary Ellen Pleasant, the first self-made millionaire of African American heritage, women continue to face barriers that prevent them from accessing opportunities and recognition for advancement, especially in entrepreneurship.
Your support—whether through mentorship, investments, or merely amplifying the missions of female founders—can significantly impact women owned businesses and, by extension, redirect the flow of capital into the hands of more female entrepreneurs.
In this edition of our newsletter, you will find a link to access the last episode of our first season of the ImpactEXP podcast, featuring Eric Dozier, a cultural activist and thought leader on justice and racial reconciliation. We hope you will listen and share with your networks.
Also included below is a brief overview of our recent Impact Engagements in Montgomery, AL with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Illumen Capital community. Additionally, we have highlighted updates from our February Business Climate Finance webinar, along with changes to our website that include more information about the services we provide and the impact we have made and continue to make daily.
We invite you to join us in championing positive transformation. Every action you take, no matter its scale, contributes to a broader wave of change. Let's unite in our efforts to celebrate, educate, and contribute throughout the coming year. We couldn’t do our work without your partnership. Please see the link here to provide donations.
In solidarity,
Impact Experience Team
Exciting News: Announcing Our Rebranding and New Website Update!
Big changes are happening at Impact Experience! To better align with our mission and values, we have made some updates to our website.
Our revamped website, now live at www.impact-experience.com, is designed with clarity and convenience in mind. With its cleaner, user-friendly layout, it's now easier than ever for you to understand what we do and what we offer. From incubator services for new entrepreneurial ideas to curriculum creation to workshops, our updated service offerings are tailored to meet your diverse needs.
Why the change? As we evolve and grow, we are committed to maintaining a brand that is reflective of our values, and that means creating a platform that is both accessible and informative for our partners. This rebranding isn’t just a new look, it's a promise to deliver excellence at every step of your journey with us. We encourage you to visit our revamped website to explore our new services, insightful resources, and engaging content that aims to inspire and inform. Get involved—whether it’s subscribing to our newsletter, leaving a comment on our blog, or connecting with us on social media.
Illumen Capital and Impact Experience: Our Commitment to Directing More Capital to Women and People of Color Entrepreneurs
Illumen Capital and Impact Experience have brought multiple groups to Montgomery, Alabama to host leading asset managers, family offices, foundations, and entrepreneurs representing over $50 billion in assets under management to explore the ways in which the history of racial terror has affected the asset management industry, and how we can use this context to create ways to reduce bias and stop the underestimation of women and people of color within the asset management business. This video serves as a testament to what can be achieved when organizations come together with a shared mission to make a lasting impact. This video provides a snapshot of those initiatives in action. We're incredibly proud of what we've achieved so far in partnership with Illumen Capital and our Montgomery community partners. We invite you to watch the video and share it widely and visit our website to learn more about this and other impact engagements.
Uncovering Pathways to Healing: New Episode on ImpactEXP with Creative Director Eric Dozier
Dive into the transformative world of ImpactEXP with our latest episode featuring Eric Dozier. Eric discusses his inspiring journey of race, religion, and music and how that confluence has shaped him and his view of the world. This episode offers invaluable lessons on leveraging the power of music to promote healing and discovering ways to navigate the complexities of racial reconciliation. These engaging conversations are not just enlightening but essential for anyone committed to making a difference. Don't miss out on these inspiring stories. Subscribe and listen to ImpactEXP on all digital streaming platforms today and join us in shaping a better world.
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Illumen Capital Impact Experience: A Journey of Discovery
We are excited to share the collective experiences and insights gathered from our recent Illumen Capital Impact Experience in Montgomery, Alabama—a pivotal location in the Civil Rights Movement. This snapshot includes the participants of this engagement, made up of venture capitalists, founders, wealth managers, entrepreneurs, educators, and activists. The focus of this Engagement was rooted in exploring solutions to enhance access to capital for overlooked and underestimated entrepreneurs and our aspirations for the impact investment industry. Throughout our time together, we delved into reflections on addressing bottlenecks within firms and organizations, aiming to increase investments in communities of color. Paula Pretlow, a dedicated financial industry leader throughout her career, and provocateur for this Engagement, emphasized that the lack of diversity presents the greatest risk to any portfolio. Thus, the question arises: why isn't this fundamental principle also extended to address the absence of diversity among asset managers? We are looking forward to unpacking more with this cohort of participants and sharing insights on their commitments to change.
Annie E. Casey Foundation Impact Experience: Highlights from our January Engagement in Montgomery, AL
We are thrilled to have brought together a dynamic group of CDFI leaders, social impact entrepreneurs, and fund managers from the Annie E. Casey Foundation portfolio in Montgomery, AL. This engagement served as a collaborative platform for these leaders to connect and brainstorm, with a focused discussion on the essential changes needed to facilitate the flow of more capital into communities of color. Addressing the challenge of redirecting capital into these communities is daunting, with numerous firms and organizations tackling it head-on. The participants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation are among those leading the charge in this vital effort. Supporting this group in their quest to find innovative ways to collaborate and broaden their impact was truly rewarding.
Update From Our Business Climate Finance February Webinar: Corporate Finance & Climate Equity Nexus
Yejide Olutosin and Jenna Nicholas hosted a webinar this past February that delved into the effective implementation of equitable climate solutions. The event featured Patagonia's Treasury Director, Charlie Bischoff, who provided an in-depth view of his leadership in driving sustainable finance initiatives at Patagonia. Attendees gained valuable insights and strategies to promote climate action within their respective companies. The virtual gathering brought together professionals committed to social and climate impact, offering an enhanced understanding of how finance can play a pivotal role in uplifting communities during the transition to a sustainable future. Please refer to the BCF website for updates on joining any of our future BCF Webinars.
Quarter Recap: Our Activities and Achievements
Here are some of the key events and discussions we've engaged in this quarter:
If you are interested in joining our team and being part of a company that is committed to innovation, sustainability, and generating a positive social impact, we encourage you to apply for any of our open positions. To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter to hello@impact-experience.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Support our Work
Support us in our efforts to help amplify community voices. We're actively fundraising for our nonprofit, Impact Experience Institute, a 501(c)3 charitable organization. With your donations, we will be able to reach more communities and uplift local entrepreneurs, bringing a much-needed spotlight to their valuable work.
Contact us today at hello@impact-experience.com to discuss hosting an Impact Experience in your community or within your organization.
Impact Experience, 2323 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
Absolutely loving the focus! 🌟 Remember, as Coco Chanel said - success is often about seizing new opportunities. Here's to making strides in every field! 💪 #Inspiration #Growth