YouSaid · the spoken record

Melissa Bradley

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14

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2021-03-16

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2021-03-16

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1. “And people like me can't get there. And so I think really putting a number on that to signal that $10 billion, that is the largest we've ever seen. We see a lot of $100 million this, $100 million of that, but I think $10 billion, that was the most important thing. I think the second thing is that it was holistic in nature. I sit in the world of entrepreneurship. I see new initiatives every day. I'm also blessed to be a homeowner. I'm also blessed to be an investor. I don't know that anyone has ever thought about me holistically as a mother of six, as a person married, happened to be married to another woman, a person who is”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

2. “Well, I think you did the first thing. I will say, as I shared my phone, my texts are blowing up from people I talk to every day to people I haven't heard from in 20 years or even since when I was an undergrad. And so I think the most important thing you could do is to signal that this is important. I think this is significant for a couple reasons. I'm a finance major. So I think, first of all, the $10 billion, I'm going to put philanthropy on the side because respectfully that's already happening and other people are doing that. But the $10 billion from an asset management firm, I mean, like if people do not get the significance of that, then we're really in trouble because what you have done is not just signaled that's a large number, but you've signaled that you actually believe that there is that much investment potential in our community. Now, I know that and you know that from your time running urban investment group, but most of those dollars come in the form of gentrification. When you talk about housing and pushing us out, most of those come in jobs relocating, companies relocating to the suburb.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

3. “That number and say, eh, it's low, it's probably lower than I think. I don't know if it respectfully captures the unregistered entrepreneurship that takes place in our communities, if it captures the side hustle, so to speak, that people have in our communities. But I think that, you know, it is a number that I do expect to grow as we know that entrepreneurship writ large is already growing post-COVID. I think for a black women, at least through 1863, a lot of our entrepreneurs are black women who are in corporate America and retired. They say, look, I hit the glass ceiling within five to seven years. It's time for me to move on. So I take the number as a data point as a moment in time. I think it is not exemplar of where the potential and growth is for black women in entrepreneurship, because anecdotally I see people signing up and starting new businesses every single day and actively seeking capital.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

4. “Well, I think the statistic in and of itself is challenging because I think we can all attest to the vulnerability of having a job, particularly in COVID and the massive layoffs, particularly impacting all women, but black women. Entrepreneurship provides a level of security. It provides a fallback. And for some, it's actually been the patching and the cash flow smoothing between jobs that have ebbed and flow or been retired from or forced out from or riffed from. So I think entrepreneurship, I mean, you think about any community that identifies as black or Afro from the concept of sous and sharing money and giving money and having collective giving to make sure that one person is successful, all of our successful. I think entrepreneurship has always been that signal effect of being able to say, how can we create our own wealth and prosperity? And honestly, I think it's easier to start a business than it is to buy a home, which is, let's be clear, has always been the linchpin of wealth creation in this country. And we've been locked out literally because of systemic racism and legislation and then locked out because of the discrimination of banks.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

5. “Driven by community. And so there is this inherent tension where people say, well, entrepreneurs are solo sport. Entrepreneurship is not a solo sport for black people. It is about how do I help myself, but more importantly, how do I create jobs for folks who are not as fortunate to me? How do I create jobs for those brothers and sisters who got caught up in the system? How do I create wealth so that I can take care of my sisters, kids, my cousins' kids, get back to my church, and help support the local youth group? So I think networks are just inherent in terms of who we are. It has been part of our collective success. And moving forward, I think they provide anchors and touchstones for us in times of challenge and also an opportunity to help uplift us so that we can find success in our personal journeys.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

6. “I think networks for me have been important, whether it has been networks like black student union when I was on campus to the NAACP chapter to now alumni relations groups to sitting on boards of directors when I think about our recent election, all the political groups that we're organizing and helping people get out the vote. I think networks are literally the continuation of the underground railroad for the black community where it is an opportunity for those who are in leadership to bring the collective along. I think it's important also to note I was having a conversation with a gentleman named Sai, who is the CEO of Honeypot and Honeypot is obviously a well-known company founded by B that was part of the target campaign and also the scandal where people said how dare target put a black person out there. And he and I were having a very frank conversation about just what does it mean to be a successful black entrepreneur in this country. And we said one of the challenges we face is that capitalism is very individualistic and soloistic. Black people operate in a communal sense. We are inherently”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

7. “you've clearly spent your entire career building communities for what you call these new majority entrepreneurs how have networks and communities helped you in your career journey and what role can they play for black women in accessing that important capital and opportunities”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

8. “First, thank you for having me, an extremely excited about this initiative. We're supporting Black women and communities of color is very personal, obviously, as a black woman and growing up in a community and in a family that did not have a lot of resource in the world of capitalism that is very challenging to show up at school.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

9. “Melissa, we just heard from our CEO David Solomon on the role that leaders can play in advancing racial equity. You spent more than 20 years as a leader helping entrepreneurs reach their potential through your organization's 1863 and Eureka. Tell us how you got started and what personally drew you to this space.”

   2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

10. “Thanks, Jake. Welcome, Melissa. Melissa, you're a managing partner of the 1863 Ventures, which is a business development program for black and brown entrepreneurs, and also a co-founder of venture-backed Eureka, a coaching community that helps founders of color grow their businesses. You're also an advisory council member of the One Million Black Woman Initiative that we've spoken about on this podcast at LEMP. Melissa, welcome to the program. We'll talk about your personal experiences and your work building communities for entrepreneurs.”

    2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

11. “Women sees lessons that we've learned over decades across hundreds of transactions across the country. That's really why we're centering Black women in their voices as we invest as capital. And we know by approaching it this way, it's how we can make a really meaningful difference.”

    2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

12. “We want to see the entrepreneurial spirit of black women fully actualized. We have to ensure we're providing the funding that those businesses need to scale. That's also capital. You know, Giselle talked about the poor condition of housing that many black women live in today. We have to invest in better and more affordable housing. Again, that's capital. And so even challenges like narrowing the digital divide so that black women can research and apply for new jobs or in this moment where and ensure their kids can learn virtually. That requires capital investment in infrastructure that's lacking in many black communities. And so those are just a few examples. But stepping back, we know that we can drive real impact in addressing these challenges when we marry the power of investment, right? And that's where we can lean into businesses and expertise from across our entire firm with the partners and leaders from these communities, especially black women leaders that we're going to have around the table with us.”

    2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

13. “A black woman here in America has really been a long learning process for me. And so just given my experience, I'm just so proud of our long history in the research department. As I said, I've been at the film for almost 16 years. And we've written on the topic of womenomics in research for more than 20 years, this idea that, and the data confirms it, that investing in women is not just a fair thing to do, but that it's good for business and that it's good for the economy. And we actually, the term was first coined by Kathy Matsui, so I'll give a shout out. She was our chief Japan portfolio strategist, and she wrote the first piece on womenomics about 20 years ago, 22 years ago, I think 1999. So for me as a black woman, I was just really thrilled to work with Jan Hatsius and Dun Striving and Dunn Milo on our global economics team to be able to deliver this work on black women ox for the firm.”

    2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

14. “So, I am from a small island in the Caribbean. I joke with my friends here at Goldman that it's in our constitution to tell people about the country because it's so small. But I came to the US almost 22 years ago for college. And while Dominica is much less rich than the U.S. from a GDP perspective, a lot of the disadvantage faced by black women in the US actually does not exist on the island because the vast majority of people are black. In fact, a woman.”

    2021-03-16 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · The Case for Investing in Black Women · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT