Joanna: It’s great to be here, Spiffy! Illumen Capital’s mission is to reduce racial and gender bias in investing and entrepreneurship. In other words, the challenge we address is to increase racial and gender diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in who is hired as an investor and which entrepreneurs or founders get investment dollars. Illumen does this by working with investors to identify and reduce their own biases and then subsequently coaching investors to implement new initiatives and actions to increase diverse representation and make investing more equitable.
Temina: It’s great to be here, Spiffy! Our vision is for everyone to have access to a supportive coach, counselor, or mentor. Everyone deserves a bit of support as they solve the problems in their lives, or search out a path to a better future. But not everyone gets the support they need. So, we help deliver useful advice, information, and counseling to people facing difficult lives. In some cases, we train teachers, nurses, parents, and politicians to serve as mentors. We also create phone apps, videos, and books that can help people through their problems. The challenge is to make sure that the advice we offer is useful and relevant. We want to help people invest in their own education, health, and happiness—whatever it is they are looking for.
Malia: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! I sit on the Climate Philanthropy team at Salesforce where we aim to reduce the future impacts of climate change and respond to the impacts already here. In my role, I oversee our disaster resilience programs to help prevent, prepare, and respond to future climate disasters with a focus on vulnerable communities.
