Kim Smith, executive director of the League of Innovative Schools, has worked for many years to address education equity and has a unique perspective on the barriers to entrepreneurship. In this interview, Kim shares her thought-provoking insights to help drive racial equality in our venture capital industry, and makes a powerful call for white co-conspirators who are ready, willing, and able to fight.
For more, read Kim’s op-ed: A Call to Action — Black Educators Need White Co-Conspirators to Combat Racism in Schools and Empower Our Students to Succeed.
If you want to become a white co-conspirator and change the venture capital diversity ratio, Kim emphasizes that anti-racist work must be done in parallel. She suggests taking time to:
I allowed myself to include all of my “ridiculous” wants and aspirations on my list of 2023 goals, one of which was “finding a coach and co-collaborator who would agree to hold meetings from the chairlift.” Believe it or not, I was actually able to manifest that.
Read more ➞It is amazing what you can achieve if you get out of your own way.
Read more ➞I have learned the important lesson that being mediocre at anything is not a “safe” path to success. I now realize that the “safe” path for others may not be the best route for me.
Read more ➞In investing, and in life in general, an ability to foresee potential pitfalls has served me well. However, being able to see what can go wrong can prevent me from seizing an opportunity. I sometimes forget that most of my successes have been the result of seemingly impossible feats.
Read more ➞