TUP EP 087
Aransas: [00:00:00] An uplifter,
welcome to the Uplifters podcast. Today I'm [00:00:15] joined by Regina Gwen. Regina was nominated for our show by none other than the amazing. Kim Williams, who you probably fell in love with just like I did back in episode 25. Regina is the co founder of Black Women [00:00:30] Talk Tech, which helps Black women build the next billion dollar business.
Regina has been named one of the 100 most powerful women in Entrepreneur Magazine and in the top 10 women in tech [00:00:45] by Essence Magazine. I'm so grateful to have you here today, Regina. Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate the time. So excited to hear your story and to understand how you stay focused [00:01:00] and motivated and energized in the work that you're doing.
So Before we get into all that juicy stuff, tell us about what you do.
Regina: We educate, amplify, and fund Black women from both an [00:01:15] entrepreneur and a tech professional perspective. So what does that mean? How do we educate? We host a technology conference called Roadmap to Billions. That's the largest technology conference for black women in the country that are [00:01:30] based here in Brooklyn, New York at Brooklyn Navy Yard.
We've hosted over 2000 entrepreneurs, technologists, investors and enthusiasts to come and learn about artificial intelligence. Let's learn about the metaverse. Let's [00:01:45] talk about productivity tools, access to capital, you name it. We design and we very intentionally curate both the programming and the audiences to make sure that we see women win.
, that's essentially our goal. [00:02:00] Every time, you know, up at bat, we want to win. We also host smaller recruiting events. So for our partners who are actively looking to hire women in tech. and technology roles are very broad. You know, [00:02:15] you don't have to have an engineering degree to work at a tech company.
You don't have to be an engineer to have a technical role. So getting the education out about career paths and opportunities is something that's super important as well as [00:02:30] amplify. You know, we want to change the idea of what a tech founder looks like. Because when you think about a tech founder, you think of Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates.
Travis Kalanick, like, you can go on and on and on. They have a lot in common, [00:02:45] those guys. Don't you think? And yet, I can rattle off, you know, Asosa Iguodoro and Jennifer Williams and Iman Adelzid and Beatrice Dixon, and there's amazing Black women that are running literally billion dollar [00:03:00] businesses that no one's ever heard of.
And so, part of the normalization of tech has to be normalizing the idea of who actually is thriving in tech, who's performing well in tech, who is, you know, killing it in [00:03:15] technology. And it's more than just white guys from Harvard and Stanford. We use technology. every single day. Well, you know, you turn over in your bed and you grab your phone and you're automatically plugged in whether it's a good thing or bad thing.
I've been trying to push my [00:03:30] phone away in the morning, but at least not read it before going to bed at night. But we are a part of The fourth industrial revolution as it relates to technology and specifically artificial intelligence. And so [00:03:45] whether we like it or not, we got to get on this train, whether you in your personal life or in your professional life.
These are very real. Behavioral shifts that are happening. And so the opportunity to monetize those shifts from [00:04:00] again, starting your own company and or working for a company that is involved in this revolution also speaks to our focus on building generational wealth for black and brown communities. You know, we know that technology is the not [00:04:15] only the wave of the future, it is now and the top 5 trillion businesses are all tech companies.
Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia. Alphabet, you know, whether we like it or not, like I was mentioning, the [00:04:30] opportunity for outsized growth is within this industry. And so we're here and committed to providing resources and more access to tap into that.
Aransas: That is huge. What do you find is most [00:04:45] compelling in creating believers?
that women are important to the workforce, that people of color are important to the workforce.
Regina: The most valuable story to tell is the bottom line. We have seen time and time again, [00:05:00] even from an entrepreneur perspective that women entrepreneurs, black women entrepreneurs create more valuable companies.
They have higher valuations when they do reach investment. They provide higher profit margins. [00:05:15] companies that have diverse teams deliver stronger multiples. So the proof is in the numbers in terms of why diversity is valuable. Can't say that it always has mattered We don't want to get [00:05:30] into why diversity matters.
It matters because like we're all human beings, right? Like there's like that piece, but why is it actually valuable? Is because it delivers profit to the bottom line. And when we talk to [00:05:45] any business minded person, they want. not black or white, but green. So how are we saying that these new tech professionals, this new source of workforce is contributing to the bottom line and in [00:06:00] new innovation, they're coming with different perspectives are coming with amazing energy and momentum.
They're able to hit the ground running because they're well trained. They come from very strong backgrounds and experiences. We have a lot of women that [00:06:15] are transitioning, so they may come from finance into technology, or they may come from being a social worker. There's really no specific Path to land at a tech company.
The biggest criteria is your [00:06:30] ability to adapt quickly and your ability for independent thinking and strategic decision making. When you have the ability to do those things, it positions you very well for a career in
Aransas: tech. That's so interesting [00:06:45] and so true for any entrepreneurial role, but also any innovation space.
If you're going to disrupt, those are probably the key qualities. Absolutely. Now, you started your career [00:07:00] in pretty traditional roles within retail. Did you ever have any idea? That this is what you would be doing.
Regina: You know, it's interesting because, so I never thought myself in technology for [00:07:15] sure., I grew up as a retail girl, fashion girl.
I was heavy into, I was a mall rat, you know, in, in high school, like lived at the mall, worked at every store, but I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That I always [00:07:30] knew because my dad was a small business owner in North Carolina. Yeah. So I knew I wanted to run a business. Had no idea what that business was going to be.
So my dad had a paper processing and like recycling plant. [00:07:45] I knew I did not want to do that, that I knew. That was not of interest, but figuring out what that was definitely took time. I worked at Macy's right out of college and added actually executive like training program like people [00:08:00] lose fight of how valuable those training programs are to give you like those basic foundational tenants of business.
What is margin? What is inventory turn? What is merchandise [00:08:15] planning? What is merchandising?, how does it translate to an e commerce platform? there's just so much that I've learned at Macy's. I'm a huge, huge fan and proponent. I'm not sure how many of those programs exist anymore, but those that do, you know, I [00:08:30] hope and pray that they continue because https: otter.
ai
perspective on business as a whole, that no school necessarily helps you
Aransas: [00:08:45] develop. So interesting too, that that's in essence what you've built now.
Regina: Yeah. I mean, and at Macy's I was, had the chance to build brands. Like we launched Inc. International Concepts, um, which is I think still on the sales floor today.[00:09:00]
American Rag was a junior's young men's brand, which I'm pretty sure is still on the floor to this day, which was like, not dating myself quite some time ago, a lot went into it. And a lot of those questions and those considerations are things that we [00:09:15] definitely talk about now at Black Women Talk Tech.
We're based in New York, but we host Roadmap to Billions in London and Toronto. We've hosted in Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, LA, every single market is different. And yet the challenge, [00:09:30] unfortunately, is still the same. The challenges that face women are still the same. I hope to be out of business at some point, would, would love, love, love that for sure.
Aransas: I don't know. This is a bizarre analogy and I'm totally going to cut this out of the podcast. But [00:09:45] I was listening to This American Life this morning and it was the episode about rats and it was talking about New York's rat problem and the guy who got obsessed with rats and the final act was how the province of [00:10:00] Alberta had zero rats in their province.
And it's the only place that humans exist in the world that doesn't have rats. And it's because when rats were coming in the 60s, they were like, we're [00:10:15] not gonna deal with this. We're not gonna take rats. And they set up a system to block them at the border and create education because people in Alberta won't even recognize a rat.
Because they don't [00:10:30] have them. They've never seen them. They had taxidermy rats and put them up and say this. And I think it's a weird, but exciting analogy for what you're saying, right? That what about a place in which [00:10:45] equality is the norm and access is the norm so much so that people aren't even aware.
that it is a possibility to have these divisions. And it, you know, it's a utopian idea for sure. And it's a lot [00:11:00] harder than even managing those pesky, highly reproductive rats. But when I think about it in those terms, it is exciting because you're right. This is, this is a problem just like the rats that exists the world [00:11:15] over, unfortunately.
Regina: Absolutely. Just as dangerous. Right?
Aransas: I would say more so, yeah.
Regina: Just as a health problem, to be sure. Yes. And yet, yeah, it's very, very, unfortunately it can't be solved [00:11:30] with, with some traps at the border, but I definitely think it's, it's the idea of it is something that we always have to work towards. And you shoot for the stars and get the moon or, you know, whatever that saying is, but you have to [00:11:45] think about that long term goal, even to make very small steps towards progress.
Aransas: Yeah. And it is. It's incremental. And so for you, what energizes you [00:12:00] to keep going when you're facing such a hard time? gnarly problem.
Regina: What really motivates me is the feedback. It's the energy that we get from the community when someone lands a job or when they get their [00:12:15] first 50, 000 check from an investor or when they find their co founder at our conference or when they find their business coach at our conference.
Like we get Those testimonials and it just reinforces that we're on the right track [00:12:30] that we're doing what we need to do to get these women into the right rooms to get them the right opportunities to get them introduced to the right people. It's like I did that, right? Like, that's me. And I love being able to [00:12:45] see that power.
There's a lot of power in knowing that We're, it's like, you know, our small but mighty team to tens of thousands of people. It feels great that with our very limited, limited [00:13:00] resources, we've made such a big impact for eight years. And you know, in general, most businesses aren't around after like year three.
So the fact that we're even literally still here is a testament. to what we've been [00:13:15] doing and how we've been doing it. There's a lot to be said about the power of the community that continues to show up. They continue to support us. They continue to like our posts and respond to our emails and, you know, they say yes when we call [00:13:30] and those things really matter.
Aransas: Yeah, it always comes back to community. I did an analysis yesterday of The responses our hundred or so guests on this podcast so [00:13:45] far have given to the question of how do you take care of yourself? and do the hard work that you're doing in the world. And the vast majority talked about community. I'd say about 80 [00:14:00] percent talked about community as one of the core pieces of their self care routines.
For sure. And it's not just the self care, right? It is creating momentum. It is Creating a [00:14:15] pathway for navigating the ups and the downs, both in business and in life. And so every time I hear it, I'm like, this, this is the secret. Like if you want to get something done, get some people. Absolutely.
Regina: Get good [00:14:30] people, get competent people, get independent thinking people, get critical thinking people.
But yes, no business is going to scale with one person. No business is going to scale with three people. Like you've got to have [00:14:45] a team to scale. And we specifically focus on technology companies because as I was mentioning with the top five companies. companies, literally the most valued companies in the world are all technology businesses [00:15:00] that requires scale.
If you want to have a lifestyle business, uh, restaurant, laundromat, law firm, great. And if you want to make, you know, 10 million, 25 million annual, we want to [00:15:15] make 500 million. How do we make a billion dollar valued company? That's the level at which we need to be thinking, right? A lot of times, women, we don't think big.
It's like, Oh, we'll be okay if we, if [00:15:30] we have 10 million. And listen, we will be for sure. But guys are not thinking like that.
Aransas: No, no. I mean, I'm certainly not thinking like that. So tell me, how do you help women break out [00:15:45] of thinking small?
Regina: Yeah. So this May, this past conference we had, we literally had a panel called Big Tech Energy.
And we focused on the reason. That's so good. Yeah, we were like, we need some big [00:16:00] tech energy going on here because what actually ended up happening was the conversation was about energy businesses, electric vehicles, climate tech, green tech innovation. There's just literally billions of dollars being [00:16:15] invested into this type of innovation, and women are wildly underrepresented in this vertical.
You know, I'm talking about decarbonization, space, electric vehicles, charging stations, the innovators, the [00:16:30] technologists, the startups that are focused on this, almost like overwhelmingly, not only white men, but just men in general. And the thing is, We don't know. We don't know. So if we knew and we had opportunity, then we [00:16:45] could at least get on the road.
That is why it's so important for that amplify piece of our pillar because we've got to amplify these stories. That's why it's important for us to have a large community so that they can get the word [00:17:00] out so that they can can be exposed to and potentially pursue these types of innovations. Because otherwise, everyone is just, you know, in their own little rat race, right?
Pun intended from our rat conversation. And [00:17:15] if you don't get out and like, just look around the corner, you'll just never know. And folks are out here making ridiculous amounts of money.
Aransas: When I think about the second and third order consequences of that, they're giving money to the [00:17:30] organizations they care about.
Absolutely. Which bias toward their needs and interest. And so if we diversify, who has the billions? Then we diversify who receives the benefit of the billions.
Regina: [00:17:45] Coming back to that network conversation, value of relationships and the value of these networks translate into literally creating like lifting communities, lifting families, lifting [00:18:00] generations out of not only just out of poverty, but also like changing the trajectory of What could good look like for black and brown communities led by women?
You
Aransas: said, I believe founder self care is [00:18:15] just as necessary as the pitch deck or the customer service strategy. What makes you believe that?
Regina: when burnout happens, okay, cause it's going to happen. So let's, let's just name from the [00:18:30] beginning that it's going to happen. So when it happens, your ability to recharge and overcome is correlated to the success of the business.
Okay. If you decide that the burnout has [00:18:45] overwhelmed, and you take two, three months to figure it out, and then in turn, your business is stagnant for two and three months, time is your most valuable asset. Mm hmm. [00:19:00] And in some cases for entrepreneurs that are early stage, it's the only asset. That you have because you haven't made revenue and you haven't figured out your business model that allows you to drive lots of revenue yet.
So the only [00:19:15] commodity or the only commodity, the only asset that you really have is your time and how you choose to spend that time on marketing, finance, operation, tech, whatever. So if you are not doing something [00:19:30] towards your business because you have burnt out, then literally your business stagnant. So it doesn't matter whether you have a pitch deck.
It doesn't matter whether or not you've got a great customer service team. If you aren't advising them, directing them, supporting them, if [00:19:45] you aren't giving them tools, And the founder is the visionary. They're the ones that are setting the course. They're the captain of the ship. And so if you aren't whole, if you don't have the mental, emotional, spiritual [00:20:00] capacity to govern yourself, then where can your business go?
Aransas: Yeah. And so one of the things we we've talked a lot about on here is raising courage capital and the importance of that to starting any new [00:20:15] venture. But it's also interesting to think about your funding in essence as your own mental and physical and spiritual energy that you're able to invest.
Regina: Absolutely. Having burnt out several times over the past [00:20:30] 10 years of being an entrepreneur. You know, you, you learn, but you also can look back and be like, wow, wish I would have done this differently. I can do this differently next time. I will do this differently next time. And being able to identify burnout [00:20:45] before it happens.
is also key because once you've experienced it and you're in that, like, just brain fart like you're just in that, you know, that space where you just can't think and pulling yourself out, you can recognize the [00:21:00] signs the next time so that you don't get to that place again. And then there's also just like life happening.
My dad passed away seven years ago. There was nothing I could do. There was no pulling out. You have to sit with grief and you have to find the people and the [00:21:15] tools and the therapy to, to work through certain, you know, life events. And so that, you know, alongside being an entrepreneur where people are depending on you and they're, you know, they're, they're, they're looking for your leadership and all those pieces is [00:21:30] why it's so important to maintain self care all the time so that you can't, you know, get yourself to a place where you're in that rut and it's just really, really hard to get out.
Aransas: Yeah, I think as women, we, [00:21:45] the research shows that we tend to internalize stress, whereas men externalize it. And so men are more likely to get angry at someone or put that stress outward. Whereas women were like, okay, my family [00:22:00] needs me. My team needs me. My, And we're just like, I'll just take it all, pull it all in on ourselves and we internalize it as guilt and shame and stress and worry and fear.
Yep. So no wonder it feels really [00:22:15] freaking heavy. Yeah. And that I think is, that's the whole source of the burnout for most of us. What have you learned through your own experiences of burnout about both identifying the early signs. Mm [00:22:30] hmm. And. creating environments or context for yourself by which you dig yourself out of that hole before it gets too deep.
Regina: Yeah, so two big things. Because [00:22:45] I know, like I, I know that I know that I know when I start to feel overwhelmed and can't make small decisions, right? Like something as simple as respond to this email that will take a minute, right? [00:23:00] It's one question. You can respond to that, and you can't respond to that one email, right?
Because you just feel overwhelmed with like the 50 emails that need to be responded to or so on and so forth. So there's definitely that I find when I'm [00:23:15] getting to that point. And I'm like, all right, the second piece, delegate, delegate, delegate, delegate, delegate, delegate. I love to delegate. I love
Aransas: delegation.
Also known as empower, empower, empower, [00:23:30] empower, empower.
Regina: And when I tell you delegation makes me feel so happy. It frees up my mind. And also delegate also means just not right now. You may not give it to someone, but you're [00:23:45] delegating it to a different place than it is right now. So I can delegate. 50 emails just to respond to by the end of the month, or they don't have to be responded to right now, or I can [00:24:00] delegate a task to my admin, which I will say game changer.
That's what helps you scale. That's what helps you move forward. But even if you don't have that, and all you have is the ability to delegate it to another time. is huge in terms [00:24:15] of removing the overwhelm so that you can back away from, you know, that feeling of like, okay, it's about to hit the fan. So I find those two things in short order have helped me a lot when it comes to managing [00:24:30] my own self care and not feeling like I have to work every night and every weekend.
And then being able to say, okay, It's still going to get done because it needs to get done. It's just, it's not going to get done right now.
Aransas: That's so good. Especially as we [00:24:45] think of this as a continuous challenge to be managed. That this isn't, Oh, there was the big moment of breakdown and. Then I had to stop, take an [00:25:00] extended hiatus and begin again.
Right. But rather, these are my ways of working and this is how I protect myself so that I can continue working and make my purpose, my impact work sustainable in [00:25:15] the world. That's the essence of everything I'm trying to learn from all of you amazing guests on this show. It's like, How do you make this stuff sustainable?
Mm hmm. Because otherwise, we flame out fast.
Regina: Oh, yeah. [00:25:30] And there's still going to be times when you just need to unplug and take a day off. There's gonna be times. Take your vacations to do the holidays. No one's going to die if you don't send that email today.
Aransas: No one's dying. And no one's even [00:25:45] gonna notice most of the time.
Yep. Right? But we wear it as a badge. I haven't taken a day off in a year. That is not smart. That means I'm serious. But it doesn't, does it? It doesn't mean you're serious. No. It means you're short sighted.
Regina: Yeah.
Aransas: I [00:26:00] mean, I say this as somebody who's done that. So no judgment, but I get where it comes from. But it's not a badge.
Regina: Now, I wholeheartedly believe in working smarter and not [00:26:15] harder. If we can't figure out every hack, every shortcut, every AI tool, every outsource, because again, that is your ability to produce output is directly correlated to [00:26:30] your ability to scale. I don't care if you work every single day. If it's just you, Then there's no way of outsized growth, right, to reach thousands of people.
Millions of people cannot be [00:26:45] done with one person working all the time. It's, there's got to be tools, there's got to be systems, there's got to be processes, there's got to be automation to make that access and those touch points happen much more smoothly and quickly. You have to make [00:27:00] money while you're sleeping, you have to be connected to people while you're not working.
Well, now I'm
Aransas: all distracted thinking about what I need to do to make, I mean, cause it's like, I'll use this podcast as an example, right? I believe so deeply [00:27:15] in this work. I believe that we are all better when we hear one another's stories and when we learn from one another how to take care of ourselves.
That should not be something we have to figure out all by ourselves. And [00:27:30] yet, it is largely, I mean, there are some amazing people who are helping me and supporting this work. And do I wish more people could hear your story here? Yes. Because I think the more people hear your story and these other women's [00:27:45] stories, the better off we will all be as a society.
Because we're all human. When you impact a woman positively, you impact all the people that that woman touches. And so, as you're talking, I'm like, well, [00:28:00] what does this mean? And I don't know. I don't know. I don't think it's an easy answer. Agreed. To come up with. Like, how do you scale? How do you grow?
Regina: For sure.
Yeah. And I mean, the people, you're absolutely right. Like, it is hard. This is not something that just, oof, [00:28:15] like, I'm going to set up a system tomorrow. And. Have a million followers on Instagram like that's not definitely not what I am proposing, but I am proposing to think about it, right? I am proposing to test different approaches.
I am proposing, you [00:28:30] know, test new tools, be constantly learning, be constantly exploring to see whether or not it's a good fit for your business or not. When I talk to early stage entrepreneurs, I'm always surprised by how much money people are spending, and I spent that [00:28:45] much money, like I spent so much money trying to figure it out, and I tell everyone now, take 500.
What can you get done for 500? What can you get done for 1, 000? Like, think in [00:29:00] pennies, think in dollars, don't think in thousands of dollars, or even hundreds of dollars. Think about What can I test with my audience, that market that you're trying to monetize? What can I test with them and what sticks [00:29:15] and what doesn't?
Half the battle is just weeding out the stuff that is not relevant to you. And then the real work is the things that are relevant. What's the fastest, most efficient, most cost effective. I think
Aransas: you really, Unlocked [00:29:30] something here because our learner mindset is our most abundant mindset. It's energizing for most of us to discover new insights.
And so what you're saying, I think, is invest in [00:29:45] learning over everything else.
Regina: Absolutely. It's time intensive. It's not, you know, again, that your most valuable asset is your time, but. But so is spinning your wheels. Yep. Yep. That's really time intensive. [00:30:00] Mm hmm. It definitely is. It's what you choose. I think I've heard this somewhere, like, choose your hard.
Right? Choose your hard. I was about to say it. Choose your hard. Like, I had a baby boy a couple of years ago, and so I've been trying to get the [00:30:15] weight off, like, get my mom bod together, and, you know, you gotta choose your hard. You wanna stay you know, with this mom bod or do you want a different mom bod?
Like staying here is hard, but you know, getting your butt up and working out is hard too. So choose, choose the hard. [00:30:30] And you know, do you want your business to succeed or do you want to go like back to corporate America or whatever that hard is for you, you just got to choose it.
Aransas: Yeah. And sometimes it takes [00:30:45] hard work to get to easy.
Right, so all these wonderful time savers that you're talking about are rarely obvious. It takes some digging and it takes some doing and it takes [00:31:00] finessing and exploration to even discover the easy. Gina, I'm so happy to meet you and so grateful for your time and the big work that you're doing in the world.
Regina: Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate the time. [00:31:15] It's been really fun and went quickly, so yeah, hopefully more to come in the future.
Aransas: Yes, uplifters, thanks so much for listening. I hope you carry from Regina's story, a bit of a challenge [00:31:30] to. Consider how you're thinking about what you're creating in new ways.
I'll share links to Regina's work in the show notes and can't [00:31:45] wait to hear what it sparks for you. Thank you for listening to the Uplifters podcast. If you're getting a boost from these episodes, please share them with the Uplifters in your life and then Join us [00:32:00] in conversation over at TheUpliftersPodcast.
com, head over to Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast and like, follow and rate our show. It'll really help us connect with more [00:32:15] uplifters and it'll ensure you never miss one of these beautiful stories. Mmm.
Music: Big love painted water, sunshine with rosemary. And I'm dwelling. Not [00:32:30] perplexing, though You find it ing.
Toss a star in half for Be around. Best love for relish in a new prime plant a tree in springtime dance with addle. Hindsight. [00:32:45] Bring the sun to twilight. Lift you up, whoa Lift you up, whoa Lift you up, [00:33:00] whoa Lift you up Lift you up, whoa Lift you up, whoa Oh, oh, oh, [00:33:15] oh I'm gonna lift you up. Whoa. Lift you up.
Doo doo doo doo doo. Doo doo doo doo doo. Beautiful. I cried. [00:33:30] It's that little thing you did with your voice! Right? In the pre chorus, right? I was like. Mommy, stop it. I had to cry crying. Mommy, stop crying. You're disturbing the peace.