Chicago:Blend

I was privileged to share the (Re)Do stage and space to celebrate women starting businesses in Chicago. Dahlia Mijarez and I shared how we need to (re)consider founder-friendly financing options. Thank you Gale Wilkinson at VITALIZE Venture Capital and Joey Mak at Chicago:Blend for putting together this inspiring event. #investinwomen #CapitalCollective #WBCares

📅 Join P33 Chicago & Kamp on August 1st in Chicago for this all-day amazing event on how venture really works! This event will cover topics such as "Understanding Flow of Capital", "Macro Trends", "Alternative Sources of Capital" and much more. Throughout the day, there will be speakers who are prolific in the startup/VC space along with breakout sessions, hip hop speed networking, lunch provided, panels and a fun happy hour afterwards. If you wish to attend, please apply now! https://lu.ma/venture-work

🔔 Chicago:Blend RANG THE Nasdaq BELL Y”ALL!! 🌊 Over the past two years the Chicago:Blend Venture Fellowship has been making WAVES with over 80% of our Fellows who were actively seeking VC roles land a role in VC. 🙏 SO many people help make this work possible from our leader Joey Mak, founder Lindsay Knight, and all of our incredible volunteers, mentors, partners, and now alumni. 🏆 It was so special to have this work recognized by Chicago Innovation last fall when we won the Social Innovator award and I'm so grateful they included us on this experience. 💪 To me, this is a win for Chicago and a statement that our ENTIRE tech community is putting in the work here to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the VC ecosystem. 🙌 I’m so happy that our alumni, Jessie Casey was able to join us for this special moment. Jessie was in the Fall 2023 class of Fellows, secured a role with Listen Ventures, and now in the works to start a critical fund here in Chicago and continue putting Chicago on the main stage. We have so many alumni like her and I’m so happy she joined us for this awesome win. 😎 Sounds like the market agreed as the Nasdaq ended up GREEN on our day (https://lnkd.in/d9gq25b5)! 😉 If you’re feeling inspired and want to donate a percentage of your recent market earnings, you can donate to Chicago:Blend here 👉  https://lnkd.in/d8bwWiuY This was all honestly such a cool experience. 👀 Stay tuned for more updates and wins as we have a new class of Fellows starting in September and BIG alumni news coming. The work continues. ✌️

Had a great time celebrating the diverse tech community in Chicago tonight at Taste 222 Chicago in honor of TechChicago Week. Thank you to our partners at Cleveland Avenue, VamosVentures, CDW, Deloitte, and Chicago:Blend for making the night a huge success!

🎉 Venture Fellow Friday — Ishmael Qawiy PharmD, MBA   🙌 Ishmael Qawiy, PharmD, MBA, is a dedicated healthcare professional with over a decade of experience in public health and clinical pharmacy practice. His recent fellowships with Chicago Blend and HBCUvc underscore his unwavering commitment to health equity and social impact. Ishmael was a pivotal Technical Advisor and Pharmacist at Vital Strategies in New York. His role involved overseeing clinical trial supplies and managing pharmacy operations in 7 countries and 11 sites across Asia, Africa, and Europe, demonstrating his leadership and management skills. Now, as a managing partner at Collaborative Enterprises, he focuses on empowering founders to create meaningful social change.    🚀 At 2Flo Ventures, Ishmael supports the team with due diligence and community engagement efforts. He is keenly interested in early-stage life science companies that tackle healthcare disparities, with a particular focus on chronic disease management.   💡 For Ishmael, health equity is about guaranteeing that the most underserved communities receive quality care and necessary resources to thrive. Despite progress in healthcare, people of color frequently encounter substandard treatment, which intensifies disparities and diminishes their quality of life. Overcoming these inequities is not just a goal but a path to transformative change.   📚 He is a proud alumnus of Florida A&M University, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Rutgers Business School. In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling, and spending quality time with family and friends.   🤝 Welcome to the 2Flo Ventures team! We appreciate your contributions.

🔔 Chicago:Blend RANG THE Nasdaq BELL Y”ALL!! 🌊 Over the past two years the Chicago:Blend Venture Fellowship has been making WAVES with over 80% of our Fellows who were actively seeking VC roles land a role in VC. 🙏 SO many people help make this work possible from our leader Joey Mak, founder Lindsay Knight, and all of our incredible volunteers, mentors, partners, and now alumni. 🏆 It was so special to have this work recognized by Chicago Innovation last fall when we won the Social Innovator award and I'm so grateful they included us on this experience. 💪 To me, this is a win for Chicago and a statement that our ENTIRE tech community is putting in the work here to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the VC ecosystem. 🙌 I’m so happy that our alumni, Jessie Casey was able to join us for this special moment. Jessie was in the Fall 2023 class of Fellows, secured a role with Listen Ventures, and now in the works to start a critical fund here in Chicago and continue putting Chicago on the main stage. We have so many alumni like her and I’m so happy she joined us for this awesome win. 😎 Sounds like the market agreed as the Nasdaq ended up GREEN on our day (https://lnkd.in/d9gq25b5)! 😉 If you’re feeling inspired and want to donate a percentage of your recent market earnings, you can donate to Chicago:Blend here 👉  https://lnkd.in/d8bwWiuY This was all honestly such a cool experience. 👀 Stay tuned for more updates and wins as we have a new class of Fellows starting in September and BIG alumni news coming. The work continues. ✌️

🔔 Chicago:Blend RANG THE Nasdaq BELL Y”ALL!! 🌊 Over the past two years the Chicago:Blend Venture Fellowship has been making WAVES with over 80% of our Fellows who were actively seeking VC roles land a role in VC. 🙏 SO many people help make this work possible from our leader Joey Mak, founder Lindsay Knight, and all of our incredible volunteers, mentors, partners, and now alumni. 🏆 It was so special to have this work recognized by Chicago Innovation last fall when we won the Social Innovator award and I'm so grateful they included us on this experience. 💪 To me, this is a win for Chicago and a statement that our ENTIRE tech community is putting in the work here to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the VC ecosystem. 🙌 I’m so happy that our alumni, Jessie Casey was able to join us for this special moment. Jessie was in the Fall 2023 class of Fellows, secured a role with Listen Ventures, and now in the works to start a critical fund here in Chicago and continue putting Chicago on the main stage. We have so many alumni like her and I’m so happy she joined us for this awesome win. 😎 Sounds like the market agreed as the Nasdaq ended up GREEN on our day (https://lnkd.in/d9gq25b5)! 😉 If you’re feeling inspired and want to donate a percentage of your recent market earnings, you can donate to Chicago:Blend here 👉  https://lnkd.in/d8bwWiuY This was all honestly such a cool experience. 👀 Stay tuned for more updates and wins as we have a new class of Fellows starting in September and BIG alumni news coming. The work continues. ✌️

🚨 LAST CHANCE to get your tickets for TechChicago Day w/ P33 Chicago! TechChicago Day is the flagship event for TechChicago Week 2024 hosted by P33 Chicago! This event is a celebration of the diversity of Chicago's tech ecosystem - from the tech, the companies, the people, the food and the culture. Anyone and everyone will find something at TechChicago Day - from seasoned tech founders to those that are tech curious! Register here 👉 https://lnkd.in/g39aQHX8

🌎 Climate investing is hard and investors / LPs need to think differently when backing the next innovative technology from seed to scale. 🙏 Join Energy Capital Ventures, Impact Science Ventures, Earth Foundry, and Chicago:Blend along with several other investors, LPs, ecosystem supporters local to the Chicago region as we explore climate venture capital investing opportunities and trends, how climate fund managers drive returns, challenges to the climate investment landscape, an overview of the Chicago climate tech ecosystem, and how climate tech enthusiasts can support emerging / underrepresented fund managers and investors. We'll have some networking, an informative panel with veteran climate investors, and light refreshments. 📅 Join us on Monday, July 22nd at Portal Innovations (400 N Aberdeen Street) from 3:30 PM CT - 6 PM CT. Check out this link to learn more 👉 https://lu.ma/v0v3gu9m

I had the privilege of volunteering at the 2024 (Re)Do Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by VITALIZE Venture Capital and Chicago:Blend. If you missed it, here are a few key insights from the panels 👇: 🥇 Amanda Lannert's opening keynote: - Bonnie St. John's inspiring Paralympics story of resilience and the phrase, "Winners get up; gold medal winners get up the fastest." - True leadership combines confidence, competence, and humility. Actions speak louder than words. 💪 Panel with Jan Seale, Luisa Castellanos, Shelley Gupta, and Tony Wilkins: - Build your tribe, embrace failure, and understand the power of community support. 🏷️ Panel with Julia Stamberger and George Khalife: - Trust and constant selling as an entrepreneur are paramount, highlighting the continuous business challenges and the need to adapt to changing conditions. 🎗️ Panel with Jeffrey Eschbach, Christopher Deutsch, and Joey Mak: - Focus on building communities rather than networks, advocating for genuine support systems. 💰 Panel with Gale Wilkinson, Nancy (Choi) Bonges, and Dahlia Mijarez: - Diverse financing options beyond venture capital exist, including revenue-based funding and microloans. 🦸♂️ Panel with Bailey Moore and Michael Fassnacht: - A strong #personalbrand and identifying your unique superpower are essential. 🔥 Ellie Bahrmasel Keynote on passion: - #perspective over passion. What will the future look like? 🚀 Rapid talks with Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Aimee Schuster, Gregory Grossman, Gale Wilkinson, and Jasmine Shells: - Pivoting in careers can be beneficial. - Shared experiences of multiple career resets and the importance of #resilience. Do you agree or disagree with these insights? Let me know! Thank you to Joey Mak for extending the opportunity to help with this great event. And a special thank you to Annette Huynh for accommodating my broken ankle and our impromptu coffee (taco?) chat - I seriously appreciated it more than you could know. :) You can read all of my insights and takeaways in more detail in my Medium article here: https://lnkd.in/d2zCbzbA (If you are not a Medium member, DM me for the paywall-free link, and I'll gladly send it over) #WomenEntrepreneurs #ChicagoStartups #Leadership #Innovation #VCFunding #EntrepreneurshipSummit #Inspiration #Growth #CommunitySupport #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship