Mandela Schumacher-Hodge, Founding Portfolio Services Director, Kapor Capital
Mandela Schumacher-Hodge teaches entrepreneurs how to be successful, both in business and in life. Beginning her career in tech as a venture-backed startup founder, Mandela later became the Global Director of Startup Weekend Education, where her team scaled the organization from two to six continents in just two years, creating the world's largest and most diverse community of education entrepreneurs. In October 2016, Mandela joined venture capital firm, Kapor Capital, as its founding Portfolio Services Director. Within her first few months, Mandela partnered with Dr. Freada Kapor Klein to launch the Founders' Commitment, the first ever diversity and inclusion pledge backed by a VC firm. To date, 87 tech startups in the Kapor Capital portfolio have signed on to uphold the pledge, and over the past year, Mandela and Dr. Kapor Klein have created custom workshops and resources to help founders successfully bake D&I into the DNA of their companies.Most recently, Mandela launched Mandela SH, a site that provides radically authentic content to entrepreneurs in search of success: both in business and in life. To date, Mandela has presented on over 50 stages, including Google, Facebook, Gates Foundation, Techstars, and more. Mandela has also been featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, LinkedIn's Top 10 Voices in VC and Entrepreneurship, Medium.com's Top 10% of Writers, The Registry's 40 Under 40 Silicon Valley Tech Diversity List, Case Foundation's Top 50 Inclusive Entrepreneurship Champions to Follow, Hackbright's 10 Black Female Leaders in Tech to Watch, and others. Mandela's favorite place to hang out is on IG; feel free to head on over and say hello @MandelaSH.
