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This week\\u2019s guest is dedicated to making businesses owned by women of color more visible, fundable, and scalable. Regina Gwynn, angel and limited partnership investor and co-founder of Black Women Talk Tech, believes that businesses can be innovated, launched, led, and built by women of color. Gwynn is looking for the next tech unicorn \\u2014 that is \\u2014 a company that grows to a $1 billion valuation.

Gwynn\\u2019s dreams about building an entrepreneurial empire were inspired by the popular \\u201980s cartoon Jem and the Holograms, about a record-company owner who\\u2019s secretly also the lead singer of a rock group. Gwynn successfully sold Avon products door-to-door as a teen, and that was where her interest in the beauty, fashion, and apparel industry grew.

Gwynn obtained her MBA from Northwestern University and used her job experience and business acumen on her first pivot Tressenoire, a beauty-tech startup for women of color who needed on-demand hair care and styling. The biggest lesson Gwynn has learned: understanding how timing and product-market fit influenced the success of her business.

Gwynn voices the difficulties Black women face when pitching to predominantly white male VC investors. These experiences serve as the catalyst for Black Women Talk Tech, a tech community designed specifically for Black women tech entrepreneurs. The goal: to create a space where Black women could be seen, heard, and engage with a community that can invest in their businesses.

Listen to Gywnn talk about the need to normalize the idea that an investable founder can come from anywhere, on this episode of SheVentures.

3:21 Gwynn talks about her childhood and the entrepreneurs in her family
5:53 What attracted her to the fashion, beauty, and apparel industry
9:51 Advice she would give young women pursuing a career in the fashion industry today
12:33 Gywnn talks about her pivot from fashion to her beauty-tech startup, Tressenoire
20:26 Listen to the difficulties Gwynn had, as a Black woman, pitching for venture capital
25:16 How Gywnn\\u2019s experience as a tech entrepreneur informed her next pivot: Black Women Talk Tech
27:56 Gywnn shares her opinion on the \\u201cpipeline issue\\u201d when it comes to venture/angel funding for women of color
33:24 What incentives does Black Women Talk Tech offer women to help grow their businesses
42:46 What are Gywnn\\u2019s biggest wins and unexpected challenges to date?
44:59 Gywnn explains why she included the word \\u201cbillions\\u201d in Black Women Talk Tech\\u2019s mission statement
47:06 The goals and initiatives of Black Women Talk Tech
49:41 Where listeners can find out more about Black Women Talk Tech and its programs