National

On Friday, May 27th, Axios Editor-in-Chief Sara Kehaulani Goo, breaking news reporter Shawna Chen and Axios Today host Niala Boodhoo led conversations with AAPI newsmakers examining the duality of visibility and vulnerability facing the Asian American community at this moment in history. While AAPI representation in politics and popular culture is increasing more than ever before, the larger community continues to face threats and violence amidst a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric. Guests included actor Tamlyn Tomita, New York City Council District 39 Councilmember Shahana Hanif and Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner.

Tamlyn Tomita shared her thoughts on the increase in Asian American representation in film, what’s driving the momentum and how roles offered to AAPI actors have evolved in substance and quantity over the last three decades.

On the rise of Asian American & Pacific Islanders in film: “Our stories deserve to be told because quite literally, they make a lot of money at the box office…but more importantly, it relates to Americans of all different cultures, this immigrant culture, the family, the relationships between mother and daughter and father and son. These are kinds of stories that connect us all.” 

On the importance of stories shining a light on Asian American history: “These are histories that are known, but they’re not widely known. But they need to be known, and these are the stories that I’m interested in, because as Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders, we’re part of this culture, the contributions, our accomplishments that contributed to the greatness of this culture, while adding that kind of specific seasoning, that kind of specific spice from our mother countries.”

Councilmember Shahana Hanif explained what motivated her to run for public office, how the power of visibility couples with the burden of representation and how she grapples with mounting hate crimes against Asian communities. 

On the power and the burden of representation: “It’s tough to be the first to cross many identities. And at the same time, I recognize that I get to have the mic in the room that I’m entering, in the conversations I’m having about legislation and how the city’s budget must be allocated through a lens of justice and equity.”

On misconceptions about Asian American participation in politics: “You’re absolutely right that this is a dangerous misconception that Asian Americans are not involved in the political arena. We have always been involved. We’ve always been fighting hand in hand with Black activists and other communities, to be seen…we’ve always been fighting and advocating and organizing for a just city, for ourselves and for all communities.”

Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner reflected on the outsized impact of climate change on Pacific Islanders and how to better increase visibility of Pacific Islanders among the larger pan-Asian community.

On climate change in the Marshall Islands and nearby low-lying lands: “What we’re experiencing is the potential loss of our physical existence, the physical existence of our land, and as a culture that’s deeply tied to that land, this is something that will impact our identity, who we are as a people, our sovereignty.” 

On how to give more visibility to Pacific Islander communities: “I think getting to know the Pacific Islander community better would be great and understanding the culture and the very specific issues that Pacific Islanders face that differentiates our experience from Asian Americans is probably a good step. Listening to Pacific Islander scholars, listening to Pacific Islander writers, highlighting those voices is really valuable.” 

Watch: A conversation on AAPI visibility & vulnerability

We explore how Asian-American representation in politics and popular culture is increasing more than ever before.

Axios event

AAPI Heritage Month: Visibility & Vulnerability

On Friday, May 27th, Axios Editor-in-Chief Sara Kehaulani Goo, breaking news reporter Shawna Chen and Axios Today host Niala Boodhoo led conversations with AAPI newsmakers examining the duality of visibility and vulnerability facing the Asian American community at this moment in history. While AAPI representation in politics and popular culture is increasing more than ever before, the larger community continues to face threats and violence amidst a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric. Guests included actor Tamlyn Tomita, New York City Council District 39 Councilmember Shahana Hanif and Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner.Tamlyn Tomita shared her thoughts on the increase in Asian American representation in film, what’s driving the momentum and how roles offered to AAPI actors have evolved in substance and quantity over the last three decades.<ul><li>On the rise of Asian American &amp; Pacific Islanders in film: “Our stories deserve to be told because quite literally, they make a lot of money at the box office…but more importantly, it relates to Americans of all different cultures, this immigrant culture, the family, the relationships between mother and daughter and father and son. These are kinds of stories that connect us all.” </li><li>On the importance of stories shining a light on Asian American history: “These are histories that are known, but they’re not widely known. But they need to be known, and these are the stories that I’m interested in, because as Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders, we’re part of this culture, the contributions, our accomplishments that contributed to the greatness of this culture, while adding that kind of specific seasoning, that kind of specific spice from our mother countries.”</li></ul>Councilmember Shahana Hanif explained what motivated her to run for public office, how the power of visibility couples with the burden of representation and how she grapples with mounting hate crimes against Asian communities. <ul><li>On the power and the burden of representation: “It’s tough to be the first to cross many identities. And at the same time, I recognize that I get to have the mic in the room that I’m entering, in the conversations I’m having about legislation and how the city’s budget must be allocated through a lens of justice and equity.”</li><li>On misconceptions about Asian American participation in politics: “You’re absolutely right that this is a dangerous misconception that Asian Americans are not involved in the political arena. We have always been involved. We’ve always been fighting hand in hand with Black activists and other communities, to be seen…we’ve always been fighting and advocating and organizing for a just city, for ourselves and for all communities.”</li></ul>Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner reflected on the outsized impact of climate change on Pacific Islanders and how to better increase visibility of Pacific Islanders among the larger pan-Asian community.<ul><li>On climate change in the Marshall Islands and nearby low-lying lands: “What we’re experiencing is the potential loss of our physical existence, the physical existence of our land, and as a culture that’s deeply tied to that land, this is something that will impact our identity, who we are as a people, our sovereignty.” </li><li>On how to give more visibility to Pacific Islander communities: “I think getting to know the Pacific Islander community better would be great and understanding the culture and the very specific issues that Pacific Islanders face that differentiates our experience from Asian Americans is probably a good step. Listening to Pacific Islander scholars, listening to Pacific Islander writers, highlighting those voices is really valuable.” </li></ul>

Axios Events

On Thursday, June 9th, Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond and health care editor Tina Reed led conversations examining the real world impacts of misinformation on public health and climate action. Guests included White House national climate advisor Gina McCarthy and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities director Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable.

Gina McCarthy explained how misinformation around climate change makes her job more difficult, how climate disinformation threatens public health and the importance of improving public understanding of the value of renewable energy technologies. 

On efforts from fossil fuel companies to seed doubt about clean energy solutions: “We have to get tighter. We have to get better at communicating. And frankly, the tech companies have to stop allowing specific individuals over and over again to spread disinformation. That’s what the fossil fuel companies pay for…that’s what they do. We have to be smarter than that and we need the tech companies to really jump in.”

On whether climate misinformation is a threat to public health: “Oh, absolutely. It’s not just denial of this, it’s also greenwashing. You have these companies that are claiming to be part of the solution that really are just not informing people about what they’re really doing and how they’re really investing and how people should be investing their money if they really care about climate.”

Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable described the frustration the scientific community felt as vaccine misinformation spread, the challenges public health institutions faced in coordinating pandemic messaging strategies and the effectiveness of community-level messaging to build public trust.

On the scientific community’s reaction to vaccine misinformation: “Our initial reaction…was, “this is ridiculous, we’ll just tell them that’s not true.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough. What we really got behind on communication science of how we as scientists not just do the discoveries and put forth the therapies, but also think, how are we going to communicate this to the world, to our audience? Because if we do great things and then there’s no uptake or people are just misinterpreting what we’re communicating, then we are not going to be nearly as successful, as we unfortunately have seen with the COVID-19 vaccine.”

On the effectiveness of community level health messaging: “In my view, the most effective way of communicating about health messages like this is from a health professional who is a trusted member of a community. Rather than have me get up on the pulpit…have your local doctor, nurse or health advocate do that at your local community level.”

In the View from the Top segment, 3M corporate scientist and chief science advocate Dr. Jayshree Seth shared findings from their recent study measuring attitudes toward science that showed the impact of misinformation on scientific credibility.

“The 2022 results show that regardless of subject matter, most Americans say misinformation is prevalent on social media and traditional news. 72% of Americans say they trust science-based facts on traditional news. 37% say they trust science-based facts on social media. It is a problem if people can’t trust the science information they are getting…science relies in many ways on the trust of the public, and the public relies on the trust in science, and misinformation can really undermine this relationship.”

Watch: A conversation on battling misinformation

On June 9, join Axios for an event featuring Gina McCarthy and NIH Director Dr. Pérez-Stable.

On Thursday, June 9th, Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond and health care editor Tina Reed led conversations examining the real world impacts of misinformation on public health and climate action. Guests included White House national climate advisor Gina McCarthy and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities director Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable.Gina McCarthy explained how misinformation around climate change makes her job more difficult, how climate disinformation threatens public health and the importance of improving public understanding of the value of renewable energy technologies. <ul><li>On efforts from fossil fuel companies to seed doubt about clean energy solutions: “We have to get tighter. We have to get better at communicating. And frankly, the tech companies have to stop allowing specific individuals over and over again to spread disinformation. That’s what the fossil fuel companies pay for…that’s what they do. We have to be smarter than that and we need the tech companies to really jump in.”</li><li>On whether climate misinformation is a threat to public health: “Oh, absolutely. It’s not just denial of this, it’s also greenwashing. You have these companies that are claiming to be part of the solution that really are just not informing people about what they’re really doing and how they’re really investing and how people should be investing their money if they really care about climate.”</li></ul>Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable described the frustration the scientific community felt as vaccine misinformation spread, the challenges public health institutions faced in coordinating pandemic messaging strategies and the effectiveness of community-level messaging to build public trust.<ul><li>On the scientific community’s reaction to vaccine misinformation: “Our initial reaction…was, “this is ridiculous, we’ll just tell them that’s not true.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough. What we really got behind on communication science of how we as scientists not just do the discoveries and put forth the therapies, but also think, how are we going to communicate this to the world, to our audience? Because if we do great things and then there’s no uptake or people are just misinterpreting what we’re communicating, then we are not going to be nearly as successful, as we unfortunately have seen with the COVID-19 vaccine.”</li><li>On the effectiveness of community level health messaging: “In my view, the most effective way of communicating about health messages like this is from a health professional who is a trusted member of a community. Rather than have me get up on the pulpit…have your local doctor, nurse or health advocate do that at your local community level.”</li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, 3M corporate scientist and chief science advocate Dr. Jayshree Seth shared findings from their recent study measuring attitudes toward science that showed the impact of misinformation on scientific credibility.<ul><li>“The 2022 results show that regardless of subject matter, most Americans say misinformation is prevalent on social media and traditional news. 72% of Americans say they trust science-based facts on traditional news. 37% say they trust science-based facts on social media. It is a problem if people can’t trust the science information they are getting…science relies in many ways on the trust of the public, and the public relies on the trust in science, and misinformation can really undermine this relationship.”</li></ul>Thank you 3M for sponsoring this event.

On Wednesday, June 8th, Axios technology and business reporter Kia Kokalitcheva and business editor Dan Primack led conversations examining the trends and issues impacting the current market for private companies and why they may be choosing to stay private for longer. Guests included Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady and former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt.

Pat Grady explained how his latest warning about impending market volatility differs from his previous predictions and how inflation and public market forces are impacting founders, their companies and their valuations.  

On how today’s market volatility differs from previous economic crises: “This is distinctly different in that the most powerful economic machine on the planet, which is the Fed, is now on the opposite side of the table from us…in 2020 when COVID hit, the Fed wanted to stimulate our way out of impending recession. The Fed is now trying to rein in inflation. So what is very different this time versus last time is the stance of the Fed, and that’s something that in general is going to be working against a lot of the companies in the tech industry.”

On his message to founders adapting to the current investing environment: “When we talk about things like, for example, the internet bubble burst, that sounds like a moment in time where all of a sudden overnight something burst, but it actually plays out over a couple of years. So the ripple effects of what’s happening at the moment probably have not yet been fully felt. Our overall message to founders is not one of red alert, it is one of disciplined growth, and as we head into this new environment, you probably want to hear the word discipline a little bit more than you hear the word growth.”

Harvey Pitt expressed concern that the economy is in the early stages of a recession, his belief that current regulatory approaches are driving the slowdown in companies going public and his thoughts on the SEC’s proposed changes to SPAC transaction requirements. 

On companies’ current reluctance to go public: “Given some of the activities, including at the SEC, its proposed regulation of so-called private funds that are catering solely to highly sophisticated investors and its rulemaking on SPAC transactions, there is a great deal of current reluctance for companies to go public. That means that private venture capitalism is working, at least when they see a good opportunity, but that the marketplace itself is shutting down too many of these startup companies.”

On the proposed changes to SPAC transaction rules: “I think the SEC has correctly identified a problem in that many of the SPAC transactions we’ve seen included overinflated projections and were misleading to the people who invested in them. I think that’s a serious concern and the SEC was right to act. The problem we have is what the SEC has now done is to say that it will treat SPAC transactions as if they were IPOs and bring all of the requirements of an IPO to a SPAC transaction. There has to be a middle ground, and I’m fairly concerned that the SEC may not have found it.”

In the View from the Top segment, Cooley partner and head of San Francisco corporate practice Rachel Proffitt described the changes she has noticed in investor mindset in the current market.

“We are absolutely noticing the tone and tenor of conversations in the boardroom really focusing on operational efficiency, really focusing on when we really need to raise capital…we are also noticing when folks do in fact need to go into the markets to raise capital, that the investor conversations are a little different. The uber-friendly terms from a founders’ perspective may not be as present, and investors are absolutely focusing more on sort of downstream economic protections in a way that they may not have been in historical years.”

Thank you Cooley for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on the state of the market for private companies

On June 8, join Axios for an event on the road ahead of private companies.

On Wednesday, June 8th, Axios technology and business reporter Kia Kokalitcheva and business editor Dan Primack led conversations examining the trends and issues impacting the current market for private companies and why they may be choosing to stay private for longer. Guests included Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady and former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt.Pat Grady explained how his latest warning about impending market volatility differs from his previous predictions and how inflation and public market forces are impacting founders, their companies and their valuations. <ul><li>On how today’s market volatility differs from previous economic crises: “This is distinctly different in that the most powerful economic machine on the planet, which is the Fed, is now on the opposite side of the table from us…in 2020 when COVID hit, the Fed wanted to stimulate our way out of impending recession. The Fed is now trying to rein in inflation. So what is very different this time versus last time is the stance of the Fed, and that’s something that in general is going to be working against a lot of the companies in the tech industry.”</li><li>On his message to founders adapting to the current investing environment: “When we talk about things like, for example, the internet bubble burst, that sounds like a moment in time where all of a sudden overnight something burst, but it actually plays out over a couple of years. So the ripple effects of what’s happening at the moment probably have not yet been fully felt. Our overall message to founders is not one of red alert, it is one of disciplined growth, and as we head into this new environment, you probably want to hear the word discipline a little bit more than you hear the word growth.”</li></ul>Harvey Pitt expressed concern that the economy is in the early stages of a recession, his belief that current regulatory approaches are driving the slowdown in companies going public and his thoughts on the SEC’s proposed changes to SPAC transaction requirements. <ul><li>On companies’ current reluctance to go public: “Given some of the activities, including at the SEC, its proposed regulation of so-called private funds that are catering solely to highly sophisticated investors and its rulemaking on SPAC transactions, there is a great deal of current reluctance for companies to go public. That means that private venture capitalism is working, at least when they see a good opportunity, but that the marketplace itself is shutting down too many of these startup companies.”</li><li>On the proposed changes to SPAC transaction rules: “I think the SEC has correctly identified a problem in that many of the SPAC transactions we’ve seen included overinflated projections and were misleading to the people who invested in them. I think that’s a serious concern and the SEC was right to act. The problem we have is what the SEC has now done is to say that it will treat SPAC transactions as if they were IPOs and bring all of the requirements of an IPO to a SPAC transaction. There has to be a middle ground, and I’m fairly concerned that the SEC may not have found it.”</li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, Cooley partner and head of San Francisco corporate practice Rachel Proffitt described the changes she has noticed in investor mindset in the current market.<ul><li>“We are absolutely noticing the tone and tenor of conversations in the boardroom really focusing on operational efficiency, really focusing on when we really need to raise capital…we are also noticing when folks do in fact need to go into the markets to raise capital, that the investor conversations are a little different. The uber-friendly terms from a founders’ perspective may not be as present, and investors are absolutely focusing more on sort of downstream economic protections in a way that they may not have been in historical years.”</li></ul>Thank you Cooley for sponsoring this event.

On Friday, June 17th, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras, local managing editor Delano Massey and executive editor Aja Whitaker-Moore hosted a virtual event exploring Juneteenth’s call to action and the significance of African American culture and contributions. Guests included Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Princeton University professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. and BET chief executive officer Scott Mills. 

Mayor Sylvester Turner explained what’s at stake for the next generation if discussions about slavery are restricted in schools, the importance of understanding the meaning behind Juneteenth and how confronting the pain of the past could lead to a a more inclusive future. 

On understanding the history and meaning of Juneteenth: “You don’t just want to commercialize it. This is not just another day where you just take off. It is important for everybody to understand the history and how it came into existence…it is a day of freedom, of liberation for people who were once slaves and who were set free, and in setting African Americans free, quite frankly the whole country set itself free, because you can’t enslave one without enslaving others as well.”

On ensuring Houston confronts its past in order to address its future: “They need to know what took place in order to have meaningful reforms and to do better as you move forward. They need to know that African Americans, for example, were enslaved and then what it took to bring about their freedom. Otherwise, you walk around as if nothing has ever happened. So in order to build a great future where we are reflective of the diversity and we’re working to be inclusive, it is important to know how you got to this point…and if you don’t, then you run the risk of repeating the past in the very worst way.”

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. described what needs to happen for society to truly make progress toward racial equity and how learning about the history of race in this country informs the understanding of current events and combats racist views.   

On uprooting societal distinctions based on race: “There is still in this society a valuation of particular bodies and a general disregard of others. And until we uproot that, until we get rid of this distinction, this insidious distinction based on race, that some people ought to be valued more than others, we will find ourselves on this racial hamster wheel over and over again.” 

On teaching history to combat racist views: “Telling the truth about who we are and what we’ve done sets the stage for us to grow up and be otherwise. It doesn’t resolve the problems. It will not settle the contradictions. But it will damn sure put us on the road to becoming better people, becoming a more just society I believe.” 

Scott Mills highlighted how BET is employing research on sociology and psychology to create content that combats racist beliefs and how their mission to entertain and empower the Black community inspires visions for their platform and their programming.    

On BET’s campaign to promote content that drives change and spotlights systemic racism: “The trick is there’s actually not a body of scholarship or data or research that’s sitting on the shelf that you can just go and take, that says the way to kind of break a racist misperception or disrupt a racist belief is to do these three things. There is no actually kind of proven techniques around how specifically to do this. So our starting point was to engage with scholars, academicians, who actually specialize in understanding sociology and behavioral psychology to determine and identify specific narrative devices and techniques that can be used to combat racist beliefs.” 

On building a mission to entertain, engage and empower the Black community:  “Where we ultimately landed was that our mission is to entertain, engage and ultimately empower the Black community, and that became a powerfully clarifying approach to everything that we do. Part of the reason we start with entertaining is, yes, that’s the commercial side of our business, but it’s also the vehicle that we use to bring people into BET…but then ultimately using all of our resources to simultaneously empower.”

In the View from the Top segment, Bank of America SVP of global supplier diversity and responsible sourcing executive Vonshe Jenkins shared how collective pain around contemporary injustice has led companies to take action toward racial equity. 

“Going back to the killing of Mr. Floyd, and I remember that time and we all individually digested and experienced it differently, but we knew as a company we had to really turn the collective pain that we were feeling and our devastation and our horror, quite frankly, and put it into action.” 

Thank you Bank of America for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on Juneteenth's call to action

Join Axios for a virtual event honoring Juneteenth on June 17.

On Friday, June 17th, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras, local managing editor Delano Massey and executive editor Aja Whitaker-Moore hosted a virtual event exploring Juneteenth’s call to action and the significance of African American culture and contributions. Guests included Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Princeton University professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. and BET chief executive officer Scott Mills. Mayor Sylvester Turner explained what’s at stake for the next generation if discussions about slavery are restricted in schools, the importance of understanding the meaning behind Juneteenth and how confronting the pain of the past could lead to a a more inclusive future. <ul><li>On understanding the history and meaning of Juneteenth: “You don’t just want to commercialize it. This is not just another day where you just take off. It is important for everybody to understand the history and how it came into existence…it is a day of freedom, of liberation for people who were once slaves and who were set free, and in setting African Americans free, quite frankly the whole country set itself free, because you can’t enslave one without enslaving others as well.”</li><li>On ensuring Houston confronts its past in order to address its future: “They need to know what took place in order to have meaningful reforms and to do better as you move forward. They need to know that African Americans, for example, were enslaved and then what it took to bring about their freedom. Otherwise, you walk around as if nothing has ever happened. So in order to build a great future where we are reflective of the diversity and we’re working to be inclusive, it is important to know how you got to this point…and if you don’t, then you run the risk of repeating the past in the very worst way.”</li></ul>Eddie S. Glaude Jr. described what needs to happen for society to truly make progress toward racial equity and how learning about the history of race in this country informs the understanding of current events and combats racist views. <ul><li>On uprooting societal distinctions based on race: “There is still in this society a valuation of particular bodies and a general disregard of others. And until we uproot that, until we get rid of this distinction, this insidious distinction based on race, that some people ought to be valued more than others, we will find ourselves on this racial hamster wheel over and over again.” </li><li>On teaching history to combat racist views: “Telling the truth about who we are and what we’ve done sets the stage for us to grow up and be otherwise. It doesn’t resolve the problems. It will not settle the contradictions. But it will damn sure put us on the road to becoming better people, becoming a more just society I believe.” </li></ul>Scott Mills highlighted how BET is employing research on sociology and psychology to create content that combats racist beliefs and how their mission to entertain and empower the Black community inspires visions for their platform and their programming. <ul><li>On BET’s campaign to promote content that drives change and spotlights systemic racism: “The trick is there’s actually not a body of scholarship or data or research that’s sitting on the shelf that you can just go and take, that says the way to kind of break a racist misperception or disrupt a racist belief is to do these three things. There is no actually kind of proven techniques around how specifically to do this. So our starting point was to engage with scholars, academicians, who actually specialize in understanding sociology and behavioral psychology to determine and identify specific narrative devices and techniques that can be used to combat racist beliefs.” </li><li>On building a mission to entertain, engage and empower the Black community: “Where we ultimately landed was that our mission is to entertain, engage and ultimately empower the Black community, and that became a powerfully clarifying approach to everything that we do. Part of the reason we start with entertaining is, yes, that’s the commercial side of our business, but it’s also the vehicle that we use to bring people into BET…but then ultimately using all of our resources to simultaneously empower.”</li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, Bank of America SVP of global supplier diversity and responsible sourcing executive Vonshe Jenkins shared how collective pain around contemporary injustice has led companies to take action toward racial equity. <ul><li>“Going back to the killing of Mr. Floyd, and I remember that time and we all individually digested and experienced it differently, but we knew as a company we had to really turn the collective pain that we were feeling and our devastation and our horror, quite frankly, and put it into action.” </li></ul>Thank you Bank of America for sponsoring this event.

On Wednesday, June 15th, Axios executive editor Aja Whitaker-Moore and political reporter Alexi McCammond led conversations unpacking the state of Black entrepreneurship, how Black women are leading the way and proposed policies for expanding economic opportunities and bridging financial gaps. Guests included White House Council of Economic Advisers chair Cecilia Rouse and Black Ambition CEO Felecia Hatcher.

Cecilia Rouse explained how the White House is addressing inflation as it reaches record highs, how today’s post-pandemic economic recovery has been more equitable for Black Americans than in prior recessions and the federal government’s goals to buy from minority-owned businesses.

On equity improvements in the post-pandemic economic recovery: “We actually are seeing some signs that this recovery has been more equitable than prior recoveries. In fact, if we look at the decrease in unemployment compared to prior recessions, the African American unemployment rate, whether it’s for men or women, has recovered more quickly for African Americans relative to the prior recessions and relative to other Americans, white Americans.”

On government procurement practices and minority-owned businesses: “The Small Business Administration has put a premium on transparency and collecting data and publishing data on how those dollars are spent, going to Black-owned businesses, female-owned businesses…it’s putting goals on ensuring that a certain percentage of those dollars are going to these more minority businesses.”

Felecia Hatcher described the biggest economic hurdles for entrepreneurs of color, solutions her organization has implemented to help Black business founders improve their access to capital and what success looks like for closing the gaps among Black women in business.

On the biggest obstacle for Black women entrepreneurs who are just starting out: “It’s going to be funding…that is what our founders need, and a quicker pathway to getting the support that they need. A lot of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, especially Black female founders, waste a lot of time in the wrong meetings with the wrong people that have no authority to say yes to them, only authority to say no and become blockers.”

On providing mental health support systems for founders: “One of the things that we added last year was actual therapists and mental health and wellness support for a lot of our founders. I don’t know how you build an entrepreneurship support program for Black entrepreneurs moving forward without making sure that they have the mental fortitude to build companies, to be able to get back up when they hear the no’s, when they’re able to raise the capital and continue to raise capital, oftentimes from investors that don’t look like them…”

In the View from the Top segment, Goldman Sachs global head of sovereign coverage, sustainability and inclusive growth Dina Powell McCormick and Goldman Sachs Foundation global head of corporate engagement and president Asahi Pompey shared insights from listening sessions they conducted with Black female leaders in business on what they need to be more successful.  

Asahi Pompey: “Through these listening sessions, we heard a number of things. Black women nonprofit leaders were saying three things to the marketplace: they’re saying we need general operating funding. Two, we also need multi-year commitments, really sustained investments. And the last thing they said is we want visible sponsorship…they were saying trust us, fund us.”

Thank you Goldman Sachs for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on equity in entrepreneurship

Join Axios for a virtual event examining the state of Black entrepreneurship and how Black women are leading the way.

Black Women in Business: Equity in Entrepreneurship

On Wednesday, June 15th, Axios executive editor Aja Whitaker-Moore and political reporter Alexi McCammond led conversations unpacking the state of Black entrepreneurship, how Black women are leading the way and proposed policies for expanding economic opportunities and bridging financial gaps. Guests included White House Council of Economic Advisers chair Cecilia Rouse and Black Ambition CEO Felecia Hatcher.Cecilia Rouse explained how the White House is addressing inflation as it reaches record highs, how today’s post-pandemic economic recovery has been more equitable for Black Americans than in prior recessions and the federal government’s goals to buy from minority-owned businesses.<ul><li>On equity improvements in the post-pandemic economic recovery: “We actually are seeing some signs that this recovery has been more equitable than prior recoveries. In fact, if we look at the decrease in unemployment compared to prior recessions, the African American unemployment rate, whether it’s for men or women, has recovered more quickly for African Americans relative to the prior recessions and relative to other Americans, white Americans.”</li><li>On government procurement practices and minority-owned businesses: “The Small Business Administration has put a premium on transparency and collecting data and publishing data on how those dollars are spent, going to Black-owned businesses, female-owned businesses…it’s putting goals on ensuring that a certain percentage of those dollars are going to these more minority businesses.”</li></ul>Felecia Hatcher described the biggest economic hurdles for entrepreneurs of color, solutions her organization has implemented to help Black business founders improve their access to capital and what success looks like for closing the gaps among Black women in business.<ul><li>On the biggest obstacle for Black women entrepreneurs who are just starting out: “It’s going to be funding…that is what our founders need, and a quicker pathway to getting the support that they need. A lot of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, especially Black female founders, waste a lot of time in the wrong meetings with the wrong people that have no authority to say yes to them, only authority to say no and become blockers.”</li><li>On providing mental health support systems for founders: “One of the things that we added last year was actual therapists and mental health and wellness support for a lot of our founders. I don’t know how you build an entrepreneurship support program for Black entrepreneurs moving forward without making sure that they have the mental fortitude to build companies, to be able to get back up when they hear the no’s, when they’re able to raise the capital and continue to raise capital, oftentimes from investors that don’t look like them…”</li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, Goldman Sachs global head of sovereign coverage, sustainability and inclusive growth Dina Powell McCormick and Goldman Sachs Foundation global head of corporate engagement and president Asahi Pompey shared insights from listening sessions they conducted with Black female leaders in business on what they need to be more successful. <ul><li>Asahi Pompey: “Through these listening sessions, we heard a number of things. Black women nonprofit leaders were saying three things to the marketplace: they’re saying we need general operating funding. Two, we also need multi-year commitments, really sustained investments. And the last thing they said is we want visible sponsorship…they were saying trust us, fund us.”</li></ul>Thank you Goldman Sachs for sponsoring this event.

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