Scholarships for Fellows,
funded by Fellows.

I believe that there are hundreds of people like me. People who are extremely hungry to learn new skills and support their communities. People who are from underserved groups and don’t have a traditional background that directly links them to the tech ecosystem. People who are simply dying for an opportunity to do the work that they've always wanted to do.

There is an intersection, for example with On Deck being global and digital, and the organizations using hyper-local, place-based strategies. I’m excited about a ‘both/ and combination’. That’s one positive outcome from the pandemic — we now have the tools and the frame of mind to be proximity-agnostic.

I knew there was a $5k fee going into ODA. When I heard that it goes directly to the Access Fund, I thought, “Okay. That's perfect.” It’s an excellent reason to do it. It wasn't just a fee, it was earmarked for improving access to underserved founders and investors. We work in a field with a known problem, where this same group has access to all the investments and startup capability, and not everybody else does. It fully mirrors my efforts to seek out underserved areas, like developing countries, and invest my resources there.

There are so many people in this world who have so much potential, and they may not even know it. Maybe they need to be guided slightly, maybe they need to be in the right environments or community. Imagine how much more powerful our world would be if we were able to identify and nurture that talent.

In this community, when someone wins, everyone wins. They share their knowledge, hiring updates, and recommendations directly back to the community. It is especially satisfying when I've helped someone who shares a big win, knowing that I played a small part of their journey.