Meet the black female entrepreneurs shaking up Silicon Valley

Kathryn Finney

The writer, keynote speaker, and author is the founder of digitalundivided (DID), a social enterprise that encourages women of colour to be actively involved in the digital space and achieve economic security through entrepreneurship. DID has since hosted some of the diverse tech conferences that equip women entrepreneurs with startup tools, mentorship and other funding support. Finney, who gives on average 50 keynotes a year, is also the founder of the BIG Incubator Program, a 30-week startup incubator program for up to 20 startups led by Black and Latinx women. Finney gives advice to founders within the incubator program in Atlanta. Thanks to her other initiative, Project Diane, people have been able to “quantify the dearth of black, female entrepreneurs in tech.” Her first report in 2016 found that just 12 startups led by black women had raised more than $1 million in funding. Two years later, about 34 had gone above this figure.