Can Sisterhood, Investing, and Race Co-Exist?

As we mourn the passing of former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, I am reminded not only of her many accomplishments, diplomacy, and wisdom but what a fierce champion she was of women supporting women, so beautifully captured in that quote.

And so I wonder how we are carrying on her legacy, how have we advanced sisterhood? Can sisterhood, finance, and race co-exist? Can various women across the country, across the globe truly show up for one another? Can women invest in women and change the shameful reality in venture capital and finance at large?

I see sisterhood all around me and it exists in many beautiful forms for the Wocstar Fund (we have amazing investors, founders and allies).  However, the experience of myself and other female funds founders and investors across the market is too varied. It is weighing heavy on my head and heart. Too few of us are investing, advocating, and supporting each other in meaningful ways and it gets pretty dismal when we look across sisterhood and race. 

Sisterhood 101

It is a simple concept. Almost too simple if you look it up in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster defines it as the state of being a sister and Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a relationship between sisters.

I repeat - despite all the contributions of women, despite many women being entrepreneurial, solutions-oriented and problem-solvers by nature.

It feels a little lazy to me to define a word by just repeating the word and don’t get me started with them using lipstick as an example. But hey, it's the Oxford dictionary. And as stated on their website, “The Oxford English Dictionary has been the last word on words for over a century. But, as with a respected professor or admired parent, we count on its wisdom and authority without thinking much about how it was acquired.” https://public.oed.com/history/

But I digress, we got grown folk, woman folk work to do!

Sisterhood, when it is alive and well, is a beautiful, inspiring, empowering relationship. It is a bond that need not be one of a family but a connection to other women, that can cross generations, race, religion, and values.  It empowers and uplifts women to thrive and be the best version of themselves. It is a community that allows for your truest self to manifest and in turn advance and improve society as a whole.

Throughout human history, sisterhood has been the bedrock of profound change, such as  Women’s Suffrage, Voter Registration, Civil Rights, Equal Pay, women in the workplace, to how wars were fought (or rather how peace was achieved) - i.e. Rosie the Riveter, Bletchley Park and the enigma codebreakers, and the women serving in the armed forces today and throughout history.

Women can and should be investing in women.
In so many areas, Sisterhood is alive and well. Unfortunately, women investing in women hasn’t advanced as much as it should. And for the many that are supporting women and diverse women, we need more women to support them so they aren’t doing it alone. Here’s the current state of how women invest in women.

• A call to action to support a charity or a non-profit and we step into action. We write checks, we tell our friends, we host the committees, we know how to do this!

• A special event or panel on women and finance and we are the first ones in the zoom!

• A showcase of female investment funds or entrepreneurs? Angel investing? Well…schedule permitting we’ll try to make it.

• Trust your capital to a female wealth manager, financial planner, or fund manager? Not so much.

• Trust money to BIPOC female fund managers or entrepreneurs, aka your sister? Hardly.

As seen throughout history women are getting the short end of the stick and BIPOC women, well let’s just say we are barely getting the wood shavings from said “stick”.  

Here’s what we’re not talking about and should be screaming at the top of our lungs (in a cute, classy way, of course).  Not enough White or BIPOC women are investing in women. PERIOD.

The market wants to keep reminding us that only 2% is invested in women. Specifically, in 2021, the venture capital industry was $330 billion yet only 2% went to companies founded only by women and 15.6% to founding teams that include both women and men, according to PitchBook data. The implication is that the male-dominated VC sector is to blame and needs to “fix” the problem. Another "white knight in shining armor to the rescue" scenario.

I reject this concept. We don’t need saviors. We need allies. We need women investing in women. Women have the power and the dollars to change the reality for women.

By 2030, American women are expected to control roughly $30 trillion in financial assets, according to a 2020 study from McKinsey & Company.

$30,000,000,000,000 controlled by Women!

It’s time to Sister Up!   

Jacki Zehner is a wonderful, loving, successful example, teacher, investor that is living her values of Sistering Up.  Check out her writing on the topic, titled, “Sistering Up: But First, Canapé anyone?”.

Geri Stengel, President, Ventureneer, and prolific Forbes writer has been writing about this topic consistently. Be sure to read “Funding Female Founders: If Male VCs Won’t Do It, Women Angels And Limited Partners Will” via @forbes. 

You know what it means to be a good friend, to be in a healthy relationship and how amazing it feels to have an ally on your side. All the same, we can all improve, especially if we want to change the flow of capital, so I leave you with a few simple ways to be a better SISTER (or an Ally for all our diverse readers). If you get stuck, call or email me.

Make Time.  Return a phone call, email, or schedule a 15 min call. Start with a woman who is totally different from you.

Prioritize Win-Wins. Start with two (2) priorities. Think, discuss and follow through on how you can support one another.  Think of one financial and one non-financial way to help each other.

Champion Women. Are there people that respect your knowledge and judgment? Are there others that will take your advice? Or maybe you already invest in women. Well, time to tell others so they can follow your lead. Get talking points, information from funds and founders to help make the case.

Stop Making Intros and Start Investing. Stop cold, lukewarm introductions. It's the modern-day version of kicking the can down the road. Write the check and tell two more people to do the same. If you won’t, don’t expect someone you knew ages ago from college or work or vaguely via Linkedin. Just because you have the email of someone with a fancy investment, DEI or corporate title, consider it a dud unless you can pick up the phone and have a conversation. 

And seriously, if you get stuck call or email me.

Making the case for investing in women is easy and writing the check is too!