Davis Wright Tremaine’s Project W Completes Inaugural Tech Equity Hub Virtual Accelerator Program

Impressive nationwide cohort featured 10 Black and Latinx female entrepreneurs

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is pleased to announce the completion of Project W’s inaugural Tech Equity Hub virtual accelerator program, which provided 10 Black and Latinx female founders the tools, resources and connections they need to build successful companies.

“Tech Equity Hub is our newest initiative to unlock the power of pre-revenue tech companies founded by Black and Latinx women,” said Project W founder Lynn Loacker, partner-in-charge of DWT’s New York office. “These talented founders are innovating in education, healthcare and commerce to address some of the most intractable problems that underrepresented communities are facing. Without a doubt, these remarkable women will leave the world in a better place.”

The program’s full cohort included:

• Tiffany Hosey – BuilDATAnalytics: Streamlining complex construction projects.
• Laura Thomas – Effective to Great Education: Social emotional learning technology for underserved school communities.
• Emily Brown – Free-From Market: Healthy food solutions to improve health and equity outcomes.
• Sheena Franklin – K’ept Health: Virtual dermatological clinic providing culturally competent care.
• Aireka Harvell – Nodat: Artificial intelligence to help small businesses drive sales.
• Noelle Acosta – Noula: Affordable, at-home maternal wellness test kit and personalized pre- and postnatal care plans.
• Mandy Bowman – Official Black Wall Street: Connecting consumers to Black-owned businesses.
• Tope Mitchell – Reflekt Me: Personalizing ecommerce by size, body type, skin tone and hair texture.
• Ashley Williams – RIZZARR, Inc.: Promoting brands through millennial- and Gen Z-created content.
• Danielle Allen – Si · La · Bul: Video platform for cultural language learning.

During the 12-week program, which ended Sept. 30, the group engaged in workshops, one-on-one mentoring sessions, individualized coaching and tech deep dives, as well as community-building events. The expert faculty and accomplished mentors covered product design and evolution, marketing and sales, business strategy and finance, growth, legal, fundraising and personal development. All of the experts, investors and mentors were committed to help the founders build successful companies. Partners that generously shared their expertise and resources included Coalition Venture Studio, M12 (Microsoft’s venture capital fund), R/GA Ventures, Stripe and U.S. Bank.

“Tech Equity Hub was immensely helpful in solidifying my team’s growth. I love how the program focused on the development of every single department within a company,” said Ashley Williams, founder and CEO of RIZZARR, a tech-enabled content marketplace in which brands can find and work with over 5,000 millennial and Gen Z content creators worldwide. “I really think it’s so wonderful that these programs are being created to help women of color. There’s a lot of conversation going around about what women of color go through with startups, funding, and more, and until now, it’s been a lot of talk: Project W actually put it into action.”

Noula founder and CEO Noelle Acosta added: “As a founder, my background has mainly been in business development and go-to-market strategy, so getting exposure to so many different components of the startup journey has been really helpful. The most helpful part, for me, of Tech Equity Hub has been the fact that the faculty and mentors took the time to understand where I’m at in my startup journey as well as what I do well. I was paired with an investor and a mentor in my field who taught me practical and tangible skills.”

BuilDATAnalytics founder and CEO Tiffany Hosey said: “Tech Equity Hub was organized in a way that I never felt we were being shorted on any programming. For the entire program to focus on women of color, specifically Black and brown, and for Project W to pour all of the resources into the programming, it really felt like there was a sincere commitment to see all of us succeed. No other program in which I’ve been involved – from start to finish – has been comparable.”

About Project W

Project W is Davis Wright Tremaine’s commitment to help women build great companies, advance their careers and achieve parity in the boardroom and the workplace. Through its programming, partnerships with like-minded organizations and national network of over 2,500 founders, investors and executives, Project W is moving the needle in closing the gender equality gap and in advancing the careers and lives of women. For more information, visit https://www.dwt.com/about/project-w.

About Davis Wright Tremaine

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.dwt.com.

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