Black Tech Green Money

Mckeever 'Mac' Conwell is Founder & Managing Partner of RareBreed Ventures, a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders primarily outside of large tech ecosystems, typically first money in, or, at least earlier than most investors.  He’s one of the most prominent voices in tech on X (formerly Twitter), and his funds success is largely founded on his public persona. Follow Will Lucas o...

Ep. 174 In this episode of Black Tech Green Money, I dive into the essential gear you need to start a highly rated podcast. Whether you're a beginner or looking to upgrade your setup, I’ve got you covered with recommendations for every budget. I’ll walk you through the best recording software, hardware recorders, microphones, audio interfaces, storage solutions, hosting services, and communication...

Ep. 173 In this episode of Black Tech Green Money, Ceci Kurzman talks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about her impressive background as a private investor, entrepreneur, and independent board member. With a history as a former music executive and talent manager, Ceci has guided the careers and business strategies of some of the biggest artists in the world and has held board positions with prominent c...

Ep. 172 Brandon Butler is Partner + Chief Culture & Innovation Officer @ Majority // CEO @ Butter. ATL, an Atlanta-based media company covering all things Atlanta, from sports and news to food and music. Follow Will Lucas on Instagram at @willlucas Learn more at AfroTech.com https://instagram.com/afro.tech Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio....

Ep. 171 Damali Peterman is a highly regarded and sought-after lawyer, mediator, negotiator, educator, and speaker with nearly 20 years of experience in the alternative dispute resolution field. She is the founder and CEO of two  companies—Breakthrough ADR, and Damali Law. On this episode of Black Tech Green Money, Damali talks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about the high stakes negotiations, getting...

Ep. 170 John Hope Bryant is an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, best known for his work in economic empowerment and financial literacy. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing financial literacy and economic education to underserved communities. Bryant has been a vocal advocate for financial inclusion and has worked tirelessly to up...

Ep. 169 Fonz Morris is Lead Product Designer, Global Conversion at Netflix. He’s an entrepreneur and self-taught designer, leading one of the most impactful teams inside one of the biggest tech and media companies on the planet. He’s travelled all around the world on his self-driven educational adventures, and prior to joining Netflix, he led a design team at Coursera. On this episode, Fonz speaks...

Ep. 168 Lanny Smith is founder and CEO at Actively Black and Active Faith, both wildly successful athleisure brands doing numbers. An unlikely fashion mogul, Lanny is a former college star basketball player and pro athlete, but this wasn’t the road he chose, but, he’s found his path. On this episode, Lanny speaks with AfroTech’s Will Lucas about the fresh lane of athleisure, how he’s creating a mo...

Ep. 167 Dr. Nashlie Sephus is the Applied Science Manager for the Amazon AI team focusing on fairness in AI. Based in Atlanta, she formally led the Amazon (A9) Visual Search and AR teams, which launched Part Finder, the visual search tool for replacement parts) on the Amazon Shopping App in 2018. The team for Part Finder came from from Atlanta-based startup Partpic in 2016, where she was the CTO....

Ep. 166 Kobie Fuller is General Partner at Upfront Ventures. He’s got deep expertise in enterprise SAAS and frontier technologies including AR/VR. Previously, he was Chief Marketing Officer at REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-­commerce players based in Los Angeles. He’s got deep interest in artificial intelligence, and he’s placing bets on startups building in the space - even building...

Ep. 165 Ryan Leslie is a Grammy nominated musician and producer, and founder at SuperPhone which helps creatives and businesses increase engagement, drive revenue, and build better relationships with SMS / MMS marketing. On this episode, Ryan talks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about the economics of the music industry, why artists are selling their catalogs, and how creatives get wealthy. Follow Wil...

Ep. 164 Isaac Hayes III is on a mission to change social media forever. With his Fanbase app, he’s empowering content creators to monetize and own their contributions to the cultural conversation.  His commitment to creating an equitable landscape for the next generation of social media users has grown Fanbase to $100 Million + valuation, ad he’s the first black man in history to raise $9.2 Millio...

Ep. 163 Ben Holmes is Vice President, Enterprise Credit Risk Management at Wells Fargo and was previously an Assistant VP at Bank of America. He also runs Boardroom Vision which was created to help the everyday Black families learn financial literacy. Ben talks with AfroTech’s Will Lucas on stage at Winston Salem State University for our Financial Literacy HBCU Roadshow, presented by State Farm. F...

Ep. 162 Aaron Samuels is Founder and Managing Partner of Collide Capital a $66M fund, so far, which is the first VC fund simultaneously backed by Amazon, Alphabet, and Twitter. He’s also co-founder and served as COO at Blavity, the largest global Black Media company for Millennials and Gen-Z, and AfroTech, the largest Black Tech conference in the world.  He began his career as a spoken word artist...

Alphonso David has committed his life to actualizing a more just and equitable world. Currently, he’s President & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, focused on reimagining what diversity, equity, inclusion, and opportunity looks like in global workspaces and marketplaces, as well as achieving the notion of economic justice for the Black diaspora globally. The Global Black Economic Forum e...

Ep. 160 D’Seanté Parks is founder and CEO of 1000 MORE, an app that makes it easier for people from underrepresented communities, like the ones she’s from, to engage in politics — a topic that is super important to everyone’s well-being and growth but often difficult to participate in. Her app provides digestible nonpartisan summaries of legislation coming up for a vote, written in a way that does...

Ep. 159 J. Byron is the Lead Developer at Woodlawn Central, a $900 million economic development project on Chicago’s South Side. The massive project will include a boutique hotel, call and data center, residential buildings, theater, urban farm and microgram. And, there are plans to integrate a lot of technology like AI, AR, and VR to assist with the community health, safety, education and tourism...

Ep. 158 John and Mike Burns, known as The Burns Brothers are serial entrepreneurs with companies in a variety of verticals like organizational culture & diversity, marketing, pr& events, hospitality and lifestyle. You may have heard of their companies like Manchester Park, a creative agency, HQ House, which is a social club, or Koi Collective, a DEI strategy firm. John is an attorney by tr...

Ep. 157 Jarvis Sam is the Founder and CEO at The Rainbow Disruption where the mission is to partner with organizations to develop practical solutions that champion DEI in the workplace and enable systemic progress where authenticity, empathy, growth mindset, and transparency are celebrated. Previously, he was Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer at Nike. On this episode, Jarvis speaks wi...

Ep. 156 Andrew Hawkins, aka Hawk, is a former NFL wide receiver, having played 6 seasons in the league with teams like Bengals, the Browns, and the Patriots. Today, he’s a media personality AND co-founder at Status Pro, an athlete led technology company, which makes software for training and consumer entertainment.  On this episode, Hawk speaks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about how to secure A-List...

Ep. 155 Andrew McCaskill is a communications executive with 20 years of experience delivering award-winning communications and PR campaigns at Fortune 500 companies and highly successful technology start-ups. He was SVP of Global Communications and Multicultural Marketing at Neilsen, Head of D&I, Global Sales & marketing at Facebook, is an investor and advisor at Culture Genesis, and is a...

Ep. 154 Drew Henson is an award-winning designer, entrepreneur and founder of twenty2b, a lifestyle and technology product design studio based in Toronto, Canada, founder/CEO of SEAM Technic, an IoT personal safety platform, and founder of TOQi, a cannabis accessory technology company. Armed with both a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from The University of Saskatchewan and a Masters in Industrial De...

Ep. 153 Jehron Petty is Founder and CEO at ColorStack, a non-profit collegiate organization that helps Black and Latinx Computer Science students get degreed and hired. When he was at Cornell, he worked as an intern at google, and later turned them down for a full-time role to start his own entrepreneurial journey. On this episode, Jehron talks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about the pipeline for Bla...

Ep. 152 Culture Wireless is a Black owned internet service provider which delivers fast, reliable, affordable internet solutions. Jerome Howard is Chief Operating Officer, working to empower communities with high-quality and affordable internet service.  Follow Will Lucas on Instagram at  @willlucas Learn more at AfroTech.com https://instagram.com/afro.tech Learn more about your ad-choices at http...

Ep. 151 This episode features a fireside chat with Dennis Cail of Zirtue, and Abim Kolawole of Northwestern Mutual. Dennis Cail is the founder and CEO of Zirtue, a fintech company pioneering in the $200 billion relationship-based lending market segment by automating the loan process between family and friends with payments going directly to designated creditors. Northwestern Mutual’s For two decad...