If you are Black and into both tennis and tech, you’re certain to salivate above this information nugget. The queen of the court docket herself, Serena Williams has been named as the Keynote speaker for the forthcoming Black Tech 7 days Conference. The annual occasion which is scheduled to choose area July 18 via the 22 in Cincinnati, Ohio has been bringing Black tech founders, influencers, and innovators alongside one another since 2016. The conference will host these types of periods as, “Getting Acquired by a Tech Giant,” “Removing Bias from Fundraising” and “Mergers and Acquisitions.”
“Black Tech 7 days is a motion in support of the success of ecosystems getting created by Black founders,” Williams reported in a assertion. “I’m hunting forward to becoming a member of this strong group of talent, connecting and impacting the long term of technological know-how.”
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The tennis superstar has been proving she’s no 1 trick pony, getting had her fingers in the tech and undertaking cash spaces for decades now. Williams operates her personal venture funds firm, Serena Ventures, which offers a concentration on backing minority and ladies-owned enterprises, and other marginalized communities.
For approximately a ten years, Williams has been putting in the get the job done off courtroom to back again organization homeowners and business owners like herself.
“We have to have persons like me and folks like Alison and like our group at Serena Ventures to be producing the big checks, to change that narrative so we never have to be forgotten,” Williams stated, referring to Alison Rapaport, the company’s Vice President who joined the fund in 2018.
Williams and Serena Ventures a short while ago produced headlines in March for boosting $111 million dollars in an inaugural fund.
In response to the NY Times article about the information, Williams tweeted: “No matter how much we arrive, we get reminded that it’s not adequate. This is why I elevated $111M for @serenaventures. To help the founders who are forgotten by engrained methods woefully unaware of their biases. Mainly because even I am neglected. You can do better, @nytimes.”
According to Revolt Tv, other panelists for the Black Tech 7 days Meeting consist of Kimberly Bryant, Founder of Black Ladies Code, Arlan Hamilton, Founder of Employ the service of Runner and Backstage Money, Janeen Uzzell, CEO of National Black Culture of Engineers and a lot more, with a overall of 60 functions general.
Black Tech 7 days will also run parallel to the Cincinnati Audio Pageant headlined by none other than Janet Jackson, that includes other Black audio superstars these types of as Charlie Wilson, Ari Lennox, Fantasia, and BJ The Chicago Child. Let us hope our girl Serena will get a tech split to take pleasure in the extra festivities!
