 Welcome back. Oh my goodness. It's been a wonderful, wonderful day. Action packed conversations. I wanted to just take a few minutes to kind of go over what I heard today. Please feel free to put in some of your most poignant learnings from the day in the chat. We started off centering and grounding ourselves. And then we were met with Dr. Elisa Clementic who talked about inclusion being this intentional equity driven body of teamwork that needs to happen and how they're showing those impacts and pathways for entrepreneurs of color and women and youth in Chicago. I mean, I'm sorry in Atlanta. We talked about what the role of art is in undoing racism that was a wonderful conversation like how do we resource artists as the R&D arm of culture and how to influence city planning policy and so forth. Erica Alexander reminded us that representation matters in the arts. Sarah Eagleheart did as well how stories matter and they have impacts beyond the arts. Sarah reminded us that part of the change has to include Indigenous people like we have to have visibility across platforms so that we're able to see Indigenous folks and understand who they are. There was a conversation about the structures of organization and folks influencing people of color to go into the nonprofit industry not just because part of because of devaluing the work of people of color and that people of color were brought here and I will not forget this tagline. People of color, particularly African people, Black people were brought here to rock your world and make your planets twirl. That has got to be one of the best quotes of the day. Stories we were reminded are needed for healing. They are reparative, they are restorative and they're sustainable. Cherise reminded us, talked to us a little bit about how we move to access and what she pointed out was that we need to understand that there's a lack of availability and scale of local equity capital providers. And that there's a mismatch in terms of products and looking at how families and friends are able to invest in businesses that they care about. And so she named some solutions. Again, we're solution focused and she said we need multiple equity capital sources. We need to expand the focus and product alignment and we need greater representation of color amongst general partners. But most importantly, I think she named and lifted and this has been a theme that has shown up across the different breakout sessions as well that there is a need for a mind shift so that we can see people of color, not as a social problem, but as a business opportunity. Deborah Schwartz, Keisha Cash and Deshaun and Mira talked about looking at businesses or as a business owner not look not just looking at extraction but how do you provide value to entrepreneurs, increasing their, their incomes. And how do we get more capital to founders of color. There was a conversation about catalytic capital and impact investment can't just be about profit only, but it is aiming towards justice. Right. And so, holding on to this notion that impact and generating profit and returns are not exclusively are mutually mutually exclusive, but they go hand in hand. And then the sessions. Oh my goodness, I had a chance to bounce around to all three of them they were amazing. The capital allocators reminded us that policy is the hitting X factor, and we have to really fundamentally deal with white supremacy and institutions, so that we create spaces where we're not only looking at financial capital, but social capital is also necessary, and that everyone on the block has a has a role to play in that. In terms of enterprises, we thought about and heard from the folks that there's there's this fear and uninformed capital of investors that needs to be educated and so how do we educate investors of color to make educated decisions around the return on investments that they want to see. There was a call for ecosystem builders and more of them to ease investors into building relationships and educating these can these entrepreneurs or these investors. We went over to the innovators and again that thread of community is breaking through community is the biggest innovator and accelerator. So we know what the data is we know what the problems are are but how do we take what is happened in coven 19 where we've afforded these new spaces for quick responses and how do we bake those into some of the long term ideas or long term solutions. We know that how we support community and collaborate with community is the base and so how do we support communities in keeping money in and revenues generating in their community so that they're willing and able to spend inside of their community. And then how do we create the kinds of solutions that are generational. Those are important as we think about our works together. So our day isn't over. We've had an action packed day. I hope that you are as rejuvenated and energized as I am listening to the different conversations and all of the wonderful work that is happening across the country in this space. We have three post conference opportunities for you to engage in that all begin at 330. The first is the civic dinners in partnership with civic dinners spectrum presents spectrum virtual lounge that is creating space to explore racial equity in the context of today's environment and and to have a constructive dialogue about change. So you'll have to leave this platform in order to participate in the civic dinners. You want to go to www.CivicDinners.com forward slash so cap I think someone's dropping that into the chat right now. The second opportunity is the art of providing joy. It's a baking demonstration from goodie box bake shop with owner and founder Kerry Spindler. So grab your children your fur baby and an apron for this baking demonstration and there will be a recipe that will be shared with you to try at home at three o'clock not 330 at three o'clock. There will be the game changers entrepreneurs creating impact session with Joey Womack and Sarah Sterling. They're going to be teeing up the entrepreneurs showcase that's going to happen at 330 and it's an exclusive opportunity to meet. And here's stories of the inaugural cohort of spectrum scholarship entrepreneurs from across the United States. They will be up in a bit to share a little bit more with you. And then forth, you can also start your own session to dig deeper in any of those areas that grabbed your attention today. So connect with folks in the people's tab and use the sessions tab on the left to make that end of day session happen. While today we were focused on inclusion, you won't want to miss tomorrow where we'll shift our attention to impact. We have a wonderful lineup of lightning bolt speakers and panelists. And before I turn it over to Joey. I want to make sure that we give special thanks to our supporters and network partners Chicago beyond John, John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, Propel Capital Prudential WK Kellogg Foundation, and thanks to our speakers presenters, hosts and all of you for joining us will start up again tomorrow 1130 a.m. Eastern 830 a.m. Pacific. Now welcome to the stage, Joey Womack and Sarah Sterling. Thank you so much for joining us. I wanted to turn it over to you all to prep this session and the meet and greet that's going to happen with entrepreneurs. Perfect. Thank you, Nadia. Hello, everyone. I am the scholarship entrepreneur coordinator for so cap, which during the flagship conference of so cap, which happens in the fall I'd run our scholarship program for about 100 years. And for the first time this year, we have created in partnership with Joey, well Mac, the spectrum virtual scholarship entrepreneur opportunity which focuses on supporting entrepreneurs of color in the United States. And we're joined here, Nadia mentioned already Joey will Mac from goodie nation, and we're so happy to have him be part of both creating and mentoring entrepreneurs and guiding us through this process of how to best support them both before during and after the spectrum conference. A few moments to introduce yourself. Sure, sure. Sorry, I kind of had a slight delay so hey everyone I am Joey will Mac founder of goodie nation. My life's purpose to help one billion people by the year 2039 I'm super serious about it. A year ago, I stood on stage a spectrum in Atlanta and talked about building an intentional culture and here we are a year later with actionable steps and making that that happen I'm super appreciative of the opportunity. I'm going a little bit into my work. I'll go go into my work a little bit later on but I'll kick it back to Sarah for more context. I just want to thank you for being a spectrum supporter and advisor speaker and now helping us to launch this scholarship program perspective. You, you've had your own accelerator. Can you tell us a little bit more about that work and give us some insight before we kick it back to Sarah. Sure, sure. So the flagship program for goodie nation is called the intention good project. And so what we see typically for diverse list startups and also social impacts artists, particularly here in Atlanta, but really all across the nation is that they receive funding about to venture investment levels lower than where their progress indicates and so for context if they're raising a seed round there. They're really, or they're trying to raise a seed around they have all the milestones for it. They're actually only getting money at the angel level and that's just it's sad quite honestly it is difficult to look at for some of these founders and so our way of kind of feeling that gap is to connect those startups to influencers for endorsements or key advisor roles to large companies for either paid pilots or partnerships and also to investors where it really makes sense. And so essentially, we're using social capital or we're helping to build social capital by feeling that the trust gap so to speak. And so in the last year really, you know, literally, you know, I think what maybe three weeks after spectrum in Atlanta, we started the work and in the last 12 months we have helped out 60 star we have 60 startups in the pipeline. They've raised over $3 million so far and they have pilots with Delta and Home Depot and MailChimp and so we're super excited for where we go next both taking the Atlanta startups and connecting them with awesome people nationally, but also taking national startups or startups outside of Atlanta and then bringing them or connecting them to resources here in the Atlanta startup ecosystem. Thank you so much. Sarah I wonder if you can tell us a little bit about the entrepreneur program process. Yeah, definitely so historically Socap has offered scholarships to entrepreneurs from all over the globe to help them attend our in person events that happens every fall the flagship event of Socap. This is the first time that we're doing a scholarship process for entrepreneurs for spectrum but I want to give a little bit of history about the scholarship process in general. The scholarship has been set up ever since the beginning to provide additional support for entrepreneurs as some of you who have been to the flagship conference of Socap know it can be a really overwhelming experience to be placed at Fort Mason Center with 3000 other people and try to connect with potential funders and partners. And so we wanted to create a space for them that really sets them up for success and and also provides them a spotlight during the event so they can stand out from the crowd. As well as an entire day of programming during Socap we actually have a whole day event specifically for the scholarship entrepreneurs who come from all over the globe. It's called the impact accelerator day and we invite guest speakers that have different platforms and support for them. And it also gives them a chance to network with one another and get to know one another and actually we've had a lot of strategic partnerships that have been created between entrepreneurs themselves that are in the same sort of industries especially one that comes to mind our sanitary pads ecological sanitary pads. An entrepreneur from Asia partnered with an entrepreneur in I believe Kenya formally right after Socap. So we've seen a lot of success with that with the spectrum scholarships and since the first year we've done it and it's a virtual event. It's been a very different process and we've been trying to be very intentional about that but I can go into that in more depth in a second. If you could talk a little bit about this I mean this is wonderful work to both of you. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about who you've been collaborating with like how have you pulled these entrepreneurs together. Joy, you want me to take it or you want to take it. I mean, I can, you know, I think in terms of the sourcing the recruiting the founders I mean with us and the intention to do a project we have a list of founders we kind of keep a track, keep an eye on and track their progress and so email and several messages and including some threats to sign up or apply. We're given as well as using LinkedIn and social media and also using our network of awesome people throughout the country to activate their own networks to find startups. This question is to both of you I wonder is there any for the entrepreneurs that are in the in the fellowship are they from particular industries and the same for you Joey are you looking across particular industries or issue areas or sectors. Yeah, so for this specific scholarship for spectrum. We focus on entrepreneurs of color operating within the United States. So, even if they have some sort of process that exists outside of the US, especially for like the food industry, as long as they're operating and selling their products and services within the US they applied and were qualified for the scholarship from from California all the way to DC in New York. We have 35 entrepreneurs in this initial cohort, and for the entrepreneur sessions which we'll get to in a second, which are happening later today, we did break them down and divide them by different sectors which I can go into in a second. But the actual application was open to entrepreneurs in any sector, and specifically entrepreneurs that are at a stage where they're looking for some sort of an investment and it can be their first time looking for investment and to engage with investors. So what we're trying to do through this program is provide support for them and opportunities for them to connect with investors and that includes having a partnership with Village Capital they have a platform called abacca. So the entrepreneurs have been able to access for free and input their information and there they're able to connect with investors and I know joey's use that with his entrepreneurs as well and it's been a hugely successful application we've also been working with this program together. And so we have created outside external strategic partnerships to help support this program. We've also done a series of webinars to orient the entrepreneurs both in storytelling. How to use the actual abacca platform how do you hop in because this is the first time we've done this conference virtually to make sure that they are they feel completely prepared and secure for the sessions that are coming up in about 30 minutes. I give a plus one again to Village Capital that the abacca tool is a complete game changer and so I've been blessed to have the opportunity to to to work with Village Capital for over two years now and so there's no visual for it but there with the tool is a chart essentially that allows both entrepreneurs investors and even mentors and other people in the ecosystem to truly understand where a startup sits today essentially the milestones they've reached across eight different business categories everything from the team the problem the value proposition the milestones relative to the product the market their business model and investor exit. And so it also is broken down according to the to the levels of funding at which the founders are seeking so these are called venture investment levels. So what we often see that in the past has been this huge mismatch between the type of funding or the type of investors the entrepreneur seek, but where the entrepreneur actually sit so they may actually reach milestones quote unquote that for angel level but they're going for a series a. And so that means they barely have anything down paper maybe their team isn't filled out someone is so forth and so oftentimes when founders go to investors, and they're told no, they have no idea why. This chart, and I think it's applicable to maybe 90% of all investors really shows entrepreneur where they sit. And so what we see and I think Village Capital is seen as well is the greatest predictor of success for for a startup founder is their self awareness or said very simply, where they assess themselves on that chart versus where an external person or third party assesses themselves. I mean it says that same startup and so the lower that the differences, the higher the likelihood, the founder is going to be successful. Have any outcome from that assessment how to what extent our folks using it to what extent is it changing the way that the businesses are being invested in. Yeah, I mean I can go for what we learned in the last 12 years and doing it so it's like 12 months, excuse me feels like 12 years in the last 12 months I think we've had over 200 companies fill out their rubric. I can tell you that what's clear is that the majority of our of our founders both again diverse led and also social impact startups. The three weakest areas are around essentially understanding how to scale their problems. across multiple markets. And so when you look at the chart and you see they score high in team, they understand their problem. They understand their value proposition, but the market and then the investor exit like category is lower really across the board. It really gives entrepreneurs and us as entrepreneur support program operators areas to focus on for their improvement. And so then we set okay ours for them to improve over 60 to 90 days. Once they level up essentially, it brings the milestones for the investment they seek, then we can start to make introductions, and that's how tactically we got a lot of those companies to over $3 million in investment in 12 months. Incredibly impressive $3 million months. That's awesome. Sarah. Can I turn my attention back to you around the industry piece. Do the entrepreneurs come from a particular industry and tell us a little bit more about what folks will experience in just a few minutes. In the next session. Yeah, so I welcome everyone who's watching or about to join us later for the sessions in the afternoon to come and actually participate in the entrepreneur showcase. So this is a space that we've created that's available to anyone that is on hop in to participate and engage with the entrepreneurs and we've made it a really special more holistic approach besides just a basic pitch session. The entrepreneurs have pulled together in just a week and I really want to recognize their effort and be to pivot and respond and create the materials necessary for their pitches. In such a short period of time but they've actually created their own stories so they're actually videos that we'll be showing of each of the enterprises about the stories of how they've developed as entrepreneurs, their challenges their innovations as well as about their business and the specific challenge that they're addressing. Whether that is creating more open sustainable markets or online platforms that are more inclusive to LGBTQ communities, or sustainable fashion or empowering women and girls that are going through puberty. These entrepreneurs have been picked from a very large cohort of applicants to showcase their innovations. I will be giving them time to really talk about their actual business models their investment asks so that investors and other people who might be interested in engaging with them further after the sessions get that information. And then there will be an open question and answer session that will be facilitated. They are broken into a sector so we have seven different groups, there's agriculture environment. Community development, economic development, education, health and then prototype and startup. So depending on your interest for those people who are listening in, feel free to bounce around and see the different groups. If anyone is interested in actually engaging one on one with the entrepreneurs and you're not an advocate or you're not necessarily an investor but you want to learn more information. We did create an investor look book that I would be more than happy to share with anyone who's interested and you can email me at Sarah with an H at social capital markets.net. And I'd be more than happy to connect you with any of the entrepreneurs. Thank you so much for T and up game changers that will be happening at 330pm Eastern. All you need to do is click on the left in the sessions tab. So we look forward to seeing you there for the rest of you will check it will check out and we'll see you in the morning. Thank you so much for joining today. Thanks so much everyone. Bye bye.