Join Chicago:Blend, BLCK VC Midwest Chapter, Gray Matter Experience, and TechNexus Venture Collaborative for a celebration of Black excellence featuring delicious food from Cajun Cafe Chicago and an all-star lineup of Black investors, innovators, and change-makers offering practical advice through a series TED-style talks, including:
"Rethinking Entrepreneurship: An overlooked path to Black wealth creation"
Devin Brown, Associate, TechNexus Venture Collaborative
"Rewriting the Rules: A guide to investing in future disruptors"
Britney Robbins, Founder & CEO, The Gray Matter Experience
"Three lessons for entrepreneurs from a former teacher"
Abena Boamah-Acheampong, Founder & CEO, Hanahana Beauty
"From Rookie to Veteran: Learning how to the play the VC game"
Jason Mercer, Principal, Cleveland Avenue
"Becoming an Investor"
Chidima Okorie, Program Officer, BLCK VC
The event is free and open to the public, although current or aspiring investors, emerging fund managers, and founders will find the content and networking particularly relevant.
Thank you to our amazing event sponsors CDW and Accenture.
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The Hosts
Chicago:Blend is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in Chicago’s venture capital and startup community.
BLCK VC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that equips Black investors with the access, education, and community they need to accelerate their careers in venture capital.
The Gray Matter Experience empowers young Black people (ages 14-24) to disrupt the status quo, mobilize innovative ideas, and champion their communities.
TechNexus Venture Collaborative
We create unique innovation ecosystems between corporations and startups to generate growth, critical insights, and lasting impact at scale.
The Sponsors
CDW Corporation (Nasdaq: CDW) is a leading multi-brand provider of information technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. A Fortune 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Index, CDW was founded in 1984 and employs approximately 15,000 coworkers.
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale.