Experiences of Womxn of Color in Venture Capital

Learning from our candid conversations with Sydney Sykes and Tadia James

Tadia James, Senior Associate at GingerBread Capital (pictured left) and Sydney Sykes, Former Analyst at New Enterprise Associates and Co-Founder of Blck VC (right).

This past Wednesday, Cornell Venture Capital hosted its annual Experiences of Womxn in Venture Capital event, in partnership with the Dyson Students of Color Coalition. The event was supported by the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, Entrepreneurship at Cornell, W.E. Cornell, Black Entrepreneurs in Training, the Gender Justice Advocacy Coalition, and Big Red Ventures. This year, our speakers Sydney Sykes and Tadia James spoke on the intersectionality of racial and gender diversity in venture capital at three events open to all Cornell students. This article details the major takeaways for students and industry professionals alike.

Why are events that take up the issue of diversity so important?

Female founders received just 2.2% of all U.S. venture capital dollars in 2018, totaling to $2.88 billion. To put that into perspective, all female founders put together received $10 billion less in funding than one e-cigarette company, Juul, took in by itself. These numbers are even bleaker for female founders of color, who receive less than 1 percent of all VC funding in the U.S. This investment disparity is mirrored by the industry demographics; fewer than 10 percent of decision-makers at VC firms are women and an even smaller…