V.E.R. SOCIAL IMPACT INCUBATOR
Led by a diverse network of instructors and mentors from the social impact sector, this 5-month incubator brings a comprehensive and proven curriculum of business development to early-stage Black and Latinx social entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are our V.E.R. Fellows: Vision. Execution. Results.
For 5 months our Fellows meet (virtually) with our amazing instructors, mentors, and volunteer consultants for:
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Ten development sessions that include:
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Participants receive:
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MEET THE FELLOWS
Josue De PaZFirst Tech Fund is dedicated to closing the digital divide by providing low income and underserved communities with access to technology that allows them to pursue growth opportunities.
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Simone GambleO.A.A.A.R.S (Organizer. Activist. Artist. Advocate. Referral. System) helps businesses and nonprofits find talented grassroots professionals of color to provide radical professional development in the fields of social justice, equity, wellness, and education.
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Tiffany HayattHayatt's Journey Home is an umbrella organization to assist homeless veterans, aged-out foster youth, and returning citizens.
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Rasheeda MccallumBlack Chef Movement's mission is to fuel the fight against injustice in our communities through the preparation and distribution of healthy, nutrient-rich meal
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SaijeNewburgh LGBTQ Center is centering the struggles and needs of Queer People of Color, The Newburgh LGBTQ Center organizes, advocates and serves the needs of the LBGTQ+ community and our allies.
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Jerri ReidA Seamless Way is creating a safe space for artists of color and unifying the community through art and expression. A Seamless Way, Inc. will offer opportunities for youth and seniors to design seamlessly.
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Marissa DavisTallawah Consulting is committed to creating innovative impact solutions that enable the development of more equitable, resilient and inclusive communities.
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Laura Jean-JacquesZansèt is a wellness brand supporting people of the diaspora, with a focus on those of Caribbean descent, to address their ancestral trauma and implement daily healing and spiritual rituals.
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MEET THE MENTORS
Raz PetricRaz Petric is the founder of Root Financial, a finance and accounting consulting firm. Root Financial primarily provides fractional CFO services to start-ups and middle-market companies in the social enterprise space. Raz is also passionate about supporting social causes including sustainability practices, social equity, empowering employees, and animal welfare.
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Yuna MusukaYuna became a student of management through 10 years of managing inter-generational, multi-cultural and multi-departmental teams. In Guatemala, she successfully helped over 250 teachers scale-up a health education program in 21 public schools. She positioned leadership at each institute to translate a program concept into a fully operational program with milestones and key performance indicators.
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Asanni ArmonAsanni Armon is a Black, genderqueer femme community organizer and is the founder of For The Gworls, which fundraises to assist Black trans people with rent and gender-affirming surgeries. They have been an organizer for the past 6+ years, with their entryway into movement work beginning as a founding member of the Black Justice League at Princeton University, and have organized with and alongside various Black/queer groups since.
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Rachel WyleyRachel Wyley currently serves as the Bay Area Executive Director for Peer Health Exchange. She has worked in service of students and communities in the nonprofit sector for over 15 years, primarily in the Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco Bay Area communities. Her professional career has taken her from parks to middle schools to performance venues and beyond.
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Lamar ShambleyLamar Shambley (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based educator with eight years of teaching experience in instructing middle school math and high school Spanish. He was inspired by his former students to launch Teens of Color Abroad (TOCA), a nonprofit organization that provides high school students of color with global language learning opportunities.
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Eunice NyandatEunice Nyandat is the Founder at MBM [MyBizMarketer] based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her first taste of entrepreneurship was as a product manager of Managed Cyber Security; while in that position, she co-founded a lifestyle management company in Atlanta, GA. Three years later, she pivoted and founded a Digital Marketing, Advertising, and Analytics firm for Tech startups.
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MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
Luis MartinezLuis Martinez, MSOL is an Afro-Latino from Honduras and raised in Brooklyn, New York with an M.B.A. in Organizational Leadership, Luis is an advocate, networker, and ecosystem builder. A Former Pro Basketball Player and U.S. Navy Veteran, currently he is the Founder/CEO for “We Tha Plug '' WTP works with Pan-African & Latinx founders and startups at all levels. (Ideation Phase to Pre-Seed & Series A Round).
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Sivan BruceSivan Bruce is passionate about mission-driven finance. Currently, she helps with the compliance and monitoring of the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) portfolio, which includes over $150 million in financing for facilities like the Pinkerton Boys & Girls Club in Harlem or other community spaces.
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Eunice NyandatEunice Nyandat is the Founder at MBM [MyBizMarketer] based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her first taste of entrepreneurship was as a product manager of Managed Cyber Security; while in that position, she co-founded a lifestyle management company in Atlanta, GA. Three years later, she pivoted and founded a Digital Marketing, Advertising, and Analytics firm for Tech startups.
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Noel McKenzieNoel McKenzie is the Executive Director of Represented Foundation, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to solving the diversity deficit for social leaders. Driven to create a better reality for Black and Latinx founders who currently represented less than 10% of nonprofit CEOs and less than 3% of venture-backed firms, Noel founded Represented in 2017.
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Volunteer
Unlike anything I've experienced. It's been invaluable. We still use those lessons to measure our success, today.” |
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I got to set aside the way that I would normally approach my business and be in a community that allowed me to learn and fail." |