Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs

I spent years of my life building systems to connect underserved entrepreneurs and investors to capital. I was fortunate to learn from big investment firms, Credit Suisse, Blackrock, Morgan Stanley etc, and hone my craft at MPAC Institute non-profit, C4 Church, Mindfulness Capital as Chief Philanthropic Officer, and Republic.co as an advisor focused on ensuring all entrepeneurs can access capital.

My Journey in Federal Entrepreneurship Policy

In my journey to create inclusive innovation ecosystems, we had wins and losses.

Some of the wins included when my friends from Philadelphia's Enterprise Center, picked NJ to expand thier incubation services helping create $1B capital and contracts for Minority businesses, and hundreds of jobs from Camden to Newark. I used my resources, corralled support, and with the strength of powerful women, Federal Government contributed millions to opening offices throughout New Jersey starting in 2021, expected to create $100M annually and hundreds of jobs.

However, not all my efforts were met with appropriate Federal support. In 2019, we had a vision to partner with the Federal Government to create a digital marketplace for Hundreds of Billions of capital and contract, as supported then by the US Dept of Commerce. I invested years of my life and family's resources into building this digital business infrastructure, only to see the Federal l funding collapse. Years after the Federal Government failed to fund the digital business systems we designed, I learned that sometimes The Federal government truly isn't interested in helping the little guys, the small businesses of America access the tools of the elite and big business.

COVID

Prior to the Pandemic, I was working with the Late Senator Rice on Diversity in Asset Management, testifying to the Joint Committee on Equal Opportunity for democratizing access to $100B NJ Division of investments. He first brought me on his show, From Trenton To You, to pass the torch. Then, we went to Trenton to discuss our plans with State legislators to increase the 0% of state capital flowing to Black investors and entrepreneurs. The late Senator and I didnt always agree on policy, as he differred on my cannabis legalization views, and did not support my earlier State testimony on bringing recreational cannabis to NJ. What we did agree on, is that to be a Black entrepreneur in NJ, meant you were operating at 10% parity, and we needed more capital to all our young builders.

Beyond working to implement policy for entrepreneurs, I inadvertently signed up up for the fight of my life. I successfully sued multi Trillion dollar company Amazon owned Whole Foods Markets, in United States District Court Newark, our Federal Court. I identified a pattern of systemic discrmination, in which I was falsely arrested and discriminated against. Whole Foods spent millions, hired numerous white shoe law firms, and I had no lawyer for the first year...just conviction, and social media.

I finally found a civil rights fighter with no Federal trial experience, and we managed to work together and win in Federal court in a unanimous jury verdict.

This trial showed me the people of NJ are good, but we have to destroy the barriers that limit us from interacting with each other. It's almost impossible to beat a $trillion corporation, even if you're right and they're wrong. I have strong views on holding corporations accountable, and making justice more accessible for all.

During COVID, I witnessed the Family justice system is doing more harm than good to so many families. We will bring federal oversight to wicked state systems, as millions of families were broken up with no accountability, no due process, and subject to unconstitutiuonal antiquated processes built on gender and racial bias. I'm going to work to provide Federal oversight in State Family court, and end the lack of due process ruining so many families lives around this country.

Despite adversity, I still managed to provide integral feedback to whitepapers ranging from Equity in Covid 19 put out by Senator Booker and Cardim's Office, to meeting with several heads of state about using new tech/crypto to create alternative revenue streams due to the lack of tourism spending. I saw the explosion of decentralized finance, and now see many of the wacky web 3 ideas embraced by instititonal finance. I'll work to expand access to capital for all our entrepreneurs, including digital assets, AI, Quantum, and Longevity & Wellness, and deep tech, areas I know to be our collective future.