Joanna is an early-stage investor at Emerson Collective, the family office of Laurene Powell Jobs that invests in companies positively impacting the world and helping people to live to their full potential. Prior to Emerson, Joanna was an investor at Founder Collective, a seed-stage VC fund based in New York. Before that, Joanna worked at Via Transportation, a global mobility and transit startup, where she led operations and strategy in Chicago. Joanna received her MBA from MIT Sloan and her B.A. in International Comparative Studies and Spanish from Duke University.
Kathryn Weinmann is a VP at Norwest Venture Partners, where she is a multi-stage investor across consumer tech and B2B SaaS. Some of her notable investments include UPSIDE Foods (fka Memphis Meats), Praxis Labs, and Wyze. Prior to joining Norwest, Kathryn supported Business Operations at NerdWallet with a focus on small business lending. She is passionate about financial inclusion, serving for over 5 years as co-chair of the Technology Advisory Counsel at Mission Asset Fund, a non-profit fintech organization in the Bay Area.
Samer is Chief Program Officer at BLCK VC. He oversees the strategy and execution of BLCK VC’s programs and strategic initiatives to empower, educate, and connect Black existing and aspiring venture investors. Samer is BLCK VC’s first employee and previously served as Chief of Staff. As Chief of Staff, Samer worked closely with the leadership team to develop the growth strategy, build organizational infrastructure, and expand the organization’s capacity.
Samer is also Managing Director of the Investors of Color, a consortium of Black, LatinX, Asian, and Ally investors building wealth by investing in high-growth companies serving communities of color. Previously, Samer was a Program Officer at VentureWell, where he provided strategic and programmatic leadership for both U.S. State Department early-stage venture and angel network development initiatives.
Sieo and Diversity VC are launching a survey to evaluate diversity and intersectionality on the funder level. We’re hoping to gather sufficient data to prove or disprove our hypothesis that the increase in diverse fund managers does in fact result in an increase in underrepresented minority founders in our ecosystem. If you are a VC (from Seed - Series C), we would greatly appreciate your participation in our survey.
