I'm not a mechanic..Putting the Suit Back On

Last week I spent the day in Durham. I capped the day off participating in a Diversity Equity Inclusion program at Nutanix in downtown Durham. I then hopped into a car service I had scheduled to take me to RDU to catch a chartered flight to Nantucket where I was to speak on DEI in tech at another conference there. As we set off for the airport the driver asked to reconfirm where I was going at the airport. I told him that I was going to the Signature Airlines FBO terminal at the airport. He looked over his shoulder at me sitting in the back of the car in my sport coat, dress pants and shoes (I'm a pretty dapper dresser when I want to be...) and asked me if I was a mechanic, engineer or something.....I didn't miss a beat and replied no I'm going to catch the plane I chartered to go to Nantucket for the weekend.

Judgement and Bias exist people. We live with it every single day. I'm a successful, exited businessman but in the eyes of the car service driver I at best was a mechanic or a engineer..not even a pilot. This isn't new to me and the money and success that comes with the recent exit doesnt change a thing around how many people see me or others that look like me.

Back in May I was asked how it felt to be done. To have accomplished the big thing and to be at the end of the story. I responded to that question with "Who says I'm done. I'm just getting started". When I can walk into a room of investors and be respected for what I've accomplished or when I can get into a car and not have the driver assume that I am only a mechanic I will not be done.

I started my new thing 2ndF.org with the mission to drive the inclusive growth of the Triangle community. The emphasis is on inclusive. All of us as a community need to grow to respect and recognize the potential in all of our youth regardless of race, sexual orientation or any other thing that one might elect to bias against. I don't want to be seen as a black angel investor rather I want to be seen as a successful angel investor, founder and mentor with exits like: Loqate, AddressDoctor, Intelligent Search Technologies, UnionMetrics, MagnusHealth and yes GDC under my belt. I want people to recognize that I've helped enable great people such as Ted Baxa, Will Smith, Chas Scarantino and Hayes Davis who have gone on to do great things. I along with my new crew of pirates, intend to enable more people (regardless of ...) to achieve similar outcomes within the Triangle community. Through a combination of for profit investing and non-profit philanthropy . In my next post next week, I'll speak more about this. In the meantime...I guess I have to put the suit back on.