Representation and Innovation
Amiah Sheppard is a Director at Backstage Los Angeles, a 3-month program designed to give underrepresented founders the support they need to reach their next critical milestone. This story is the second in a multi-part series featuring the Backstage Los Angeles Crew.
It Takes A Village
I empower those around me — especially the underrepresented — to harness their unique perspectives to enact change. Currently, I do this through being a visible Black woman venture capitalist in Los Angeles, CA — the city I was raised in. I believe in inspiring others to think about their identities and lived experiences in a way that benefits them. This is what I’ve been able to do, and I love helping others to do the same. This is important for the success of our generation and the future.
I empower those around me to harness their unique perspectives to enact change.
This calling was not something I discovered and achieved overnight. It took a village for me to get to the position that I am in. My representation is not lost on me. I’m a young, Black woman from LA’s inner city — a former foster youth. I also attended an Ivy League school for my undergrad (that’s a post for another day!) While there, I saw that “innovation” was suspiciously, overwhelmingly reserved for people that were White, male, or both. When I returned to LA, I saw similar patterns, even with community builders who work to enact change and improve diversity.
As a foster youth, I had to convince strangers that I was a safe bet for them to invest in. With that investment, among other things, I was able to attend Columbia, where I studied gender and organizational leadership and researched high-level Black women executives and managers and their leadership strategies. When I graduated, by reverse engineering those strategies, I figured that me finding underrepresented tech founders to invest in would be a impactful strategy. I knew I had to take greater responsibility and put the money where my mouth was, and found a special role as an Associate and Analyst at Backstage Capital — a venture fund that has invested in over 125 companies led by exceptional underrepresented founders.
I wanted to strategically use my privilege and increasing influence at Backstage. With that passion, I inserted myself into the LA tech ecosystem and hosted events, participated in panels, met with amazing underestimated founders, as well as engaged with great local investors. I’ve found it important to show up in order to represent and challenge the narrative that there are few women and people of color in tech, and especially in VC.
Change The Narrative
Some people have told me it’s courageous of me to attend various investor events due to usually being the only one, or one of few, that looks like me. What I believe is actually courageous is my response when other VCs tell me they’re not currently backing even 1 underrepresented founder. Each time I learn that, I call them out on their notions about competitiveness and innovation. This is important because: 1) talent can come from anywhere if you know what to look for, and 2) diverse teams make more money.
I believe that being direct about this matter is how we change the narrative and get more underrepresented founders funded (both with money and resources) on par with their peers so they can similarly accelerate their businesses. Underrepresented tech founders are often the most innovative, competitive, and resilient due to the knowledge and experience they’ve gained by achieving success in a world built to undermine their success. Backstage is a living example that it can be done, and others can follow the model, even if their investment thesis isn’t solely focused on investing in underrepresented founders.
Talent can come from anywhere if you know what to look for, and diverse teams make more money.
Representation in LA
Throughout the Backstage Accelerator program, the main principal I have been trying to impart to our cohort founders is self-assuredness. The founders in our program are working on their life’s work. We exclusively accepted underrepresented founders for Accelerator because they are the best people in the world to solve the problem they are solving right now. In my experience, it always helps to remind our founders of that fact. When Accelerator came to fruition and I was musing on the opportunity to join Backstage Los Angeles’ leadership, I relished in the realization that I could utilize my lived experience and academic knowledge, as well as progress in my career and purpose.
As a native Angeleno, I take the responsibility that comes with being a community builder for founders seriously — especially when supporting people from underrepresented backgrounds. I took the Director position at Backstage Los Angeles to solidify my commitment. Me being in this position, especially at a young age, is a testament to practicing self-assuredness and seeking out a career that rewards me for helping others shine brighter through funding, opportunities, and resources. I wanted to play a more active role to enact change and walk in my power as someone with a unique eye for innovation. I wanted to ensure that founders have access to high-quality resources and opportunities that’ll help accelerate not only their business but also their own growth. Even if they only follow me on Twitter, I want to give value to them.
As investors, we are curators of what innovation will be for our and future generations. With the 6 companies in our inaugural cohort, Backstage Los Angeles is representative of both innovation and excellence. I’m honored to be able to empower the founders of Adventurely, Lacquerbar, Lorals, SnapStays, Optimal Solar, and Unomi to harness their unique perspectives so that they can enact change in the ways that only they know how. I am able to use the skills, learnings, and competitive strategies I’ve accumulated over my life and infuse them into these companies to help them reach their full potential.
Even before our companies came to work with us at The Riveter West LA for Accelerator Cohort 1, my mind has been focused on actionable ways our team could be helpful. It’s been extremely fulfilling to see their progress in just a few short weeks, and I expect more to come. Underrepresented founders deserve to be represented and highlighted in LA’s tech ecosystem. I am grateful to work with these individuals to build the future of the world.
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