My Mother, My Body, My Mission
As I sat down to write this newsletter on the brink of Mother’s Day, I am filled with a mix of emotions. Like so many of you, I am outraged, sad, appalled, and frankly, a little scared when I think about the state of our world today and the audacity of courts, politicians, and war criminals masquerading as heads of states to revoke the basic human rights of women and people globally. When will my body be mine? My ancestors, slaves on cotton plantations in the American South did not have agency over their bodies. They were property. The early generations of women in my family were property and the children they bore out of love or rape at the hands of their white slave owners were considered property. White men decided the fate of their bodies and their reproductive abilities. Generations later, white men cloaked in robes are again deciding the fate of my body and reproductive rights. So I ask again, When will my body be mine?
We should be showing respect, honor, and love towards mothers and the many who have chosen such a noble role in our society. Mother’s Day is meant to celebrate motherhood and honor the generations of fabulous women who raised us, influenced and shaped us, and fought for better futures for all of us. It is meant to honor women and their journey to motherhood; however, they chose to embark (or not) on their path.
Yet the recent leak of SCOTUS’ decision to repeal Roe vs. Wade and daily images of Ukrainian mother’s ascending out of rubble clutching their children has brought to light a very different discussion and disappointment for me. Namely, when will we see each other as human beings? When will we really SEE each other? REALLY see our hopes, our fears, our potential, our laughter, our joys, our insecurities, our desires, and our need to be loved, touched, heard, and acknowledged. When will we see that deep down we are all just striving for happiness, love, security, and to be SEEN? Methods, tactics, journeys, life experiences will differ and we can debate those for the next several centuries, but when will we see that treating each other equally does not take anything away from the other?
When will a Black woman’s success not be a threat to someone else's success? I am often asked or scolded for focusing my investment strategy on BIPOC women and diverse teams, talking about women of color all the time, and even calling my company Wocstar (aka Women of Color). The other day it came in the form of a different question (same critique), “When are you going to invest in white men and will you name your next fund Everystar instead of Wocstar? My answer remains the same, I’ll consider it when a) the BIPOC sisterhood is truly seen and has equal access and opportunity b) when white men are so severely discriminated against that they instead of my sisterhood are receiving only 2% of investment and c) when the wealth of the median white household which is currently 10X that of the median Black family reaches parity.
Until then I will continue unapologetically to fight for human rights and economic dignity. Motherhood, equal pay, affordable childcare, healthcare, housing, corporate board representation, access to capital and opportunities, privacy, - the list goes on but we deserve equity and equality for all human beings. And so we continue the work of the courageous and inspiring women that came before us.
Those of you that have been reading this newsletter or know a little about me know that my mother, Thelma Walls Bataille, was a trailblazer in the ‘60s and ‘70s who broke through barriers in the tech industry through her work on the F-15 fighter jet and DC-10 commercial plan using some of the earliest generations of IBM mainframes. Our dinner table was filled with brilliant women of all different backgrounds and ethnicities who were breaking barriers every day. She and her sisterhood of women in the early days of Silicon Valley gave life and inspiration to the work that I and the Wocstar team do each day - champion, invest and storytelling about BIPOC tech women.
The debate over my body and preserving my agency over my body won’t be settled soon, but I take comfort in witnessing each day that the sisterhood does have agency over their minds, dreams, innovations and the companies they are building. Each day, I and the Wocstar Fund team are honored and humbled to see the brilliant innovations that women of color are creating every single day with Wocstar. I know everyone’s future is bright when I see these minds at work changing the way we will consume, live, work and play in the future. Whether it’s the way we farm (Re-Nuble) or the way we drive our cars (Moment.AI), Wocstars are continuing to innovate and thrive! We will carry on the legacy that our mothers and role models began so many years ago and that is what I will celebrate this weekend with the original Wocstar, my mom. I hope you too continue to strive, thrive and be amazing to yourself and others.
Happy Mother's Day!
"When teachers or people put me down or in one way or another tried to make me feel less equal to what they thought I should be - my mother was on my side. It was amazing."
- Maya Angelou
P.S. If any of this resonates with you, please simply write the first name of your mother or mother-figure in the comment section. I’d love to hear from you!