#OHUBFridays

2128 Saint Claude Avenue,New Orleans LA 70116

02 June, 2023

Description

#OHUBFridays is the monthly authentic networking event and speaker series held on the 1st Friday of the month in New Orleans, Louisiana. Authentically connect with the region's emerging diverse, equitable and inclusive technology, startup and venture ecosystem. Hear from the nation's leading innovators, entrepreneurs and investors. Learn about OHUB's New Energy Technology Incubator powered by OHUB, 100 Black Angels & Allies Fund, Greater New Orleans, Inc., H2TheFuture & The Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration. Each year, the NETI will invest up to $500,000 in five new energy technology venture-backable startups. All are welcome! RSVP required. Friday, May 5, 2023Jasmine Crowe-Houston is an award-winning social entrepreneur, children’s book author, and determined leader working to make the world a better place. In 2017, after years of feeding people experiencing homelessness from her own kitchen, Jasmine launched Goodr, a sustainable waste management company that leverages technology to combat hunger and reduce food waste. She has been featured on CNBC, Oprah Magazine, Forbes, Fast Co., New York Times, and named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 100 influential female founders and Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business. Under Jasmine’s leadership, Goodr has provided over 30 million meals to those in need and redirected millions of pounds of materials from landfill. Jasmine currently sits on the board for Metro Atlanta Chamber, and Drawdown Georgia. Rodney Sampson is an accomplished technology entrepreneur with two exits, a venture fund investor, selective advisor and four-time published author, including Kingonomics: Twelve Innovative Currencies to Transform Your Life, Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Passionate about closing our nation’s racial wealth gap, Sampson cofounded Opportunity Hub in 2013 and built it into the largest minority owned, multi-campus entrepreneurship center, co-working space, pre-accelerator and code school. Via a 2015 merger, Sampson joined Dr. Paul Judge and Allen Nance to launch TechSquare Labs, a 25,000 s/f work space and $15 million venture fund. To date, TechSquare Labs’ portfolio companies have raised over $250 million in venture capital, are worth over $1 billion, generate $75 million in recurring revenue and have created over 750 high growth technology jobs throughout Metropolitan Atlanta and beyond. Today, as Executive Chairman & CEO of Opportunity Hub, Sampson is focused on scaling its suite of collaborative and interconnected technology products, programs and initiatives to position the company as the world’s leading inclusive ecosystem building technology, education and investment platform. Sampson is also a Senior Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy program at the Brooking Institution in Washington, DC and a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Sampson previously served as the 1st Head of Diversity at Mark Burnett Productions, executive producers of the hit ABC show, ABC’s Sharktank. Friday, June 2, 2023Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne is CEO of Wocstar Capital, and co-founder of the Wocstar Fund, an early-stage venture fund that invests in the future of consumption and innovation using a female arbitrage strategy -- women of color tech entrepreneurs (“WOCstars”). Gayle (pronounced: Gay-l) was named "10 Women Changing the Landscape of Leadership" by the New York Times, March 2021 and Top 10 Women of Influence in Venture Capital by Venture Capital Journal, July 2022. She is an instructor at Wocstar Academy and co-founder of the Ally Capital Collab, an initiative to tackle systemic underinvestment in women of color fund managers. Gayle has over 30+ years of wall street, technology, philanthropy, training, and professional speaking experience. She is a former mergers and acquisitions banker at JPMorgan. She led the capital/planning effort for the Cinema High School, 1st public high school of its kind. She began her career at Sun Microsystems. She is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, the University of Michigan, and an attendee of the National University of Singapore and the City of London Polytechnic. Gayle is President of The Nantucket Project Academy and former board member of Women.NYC, NYC Economic Development Corporation and current board member of BE.NYC (Black Entrepreneurs), NYC Department of Small Business Services. Gayle is a 2022 recipient of the U.S. Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, 2021 Tri-Delta Woman of Achievement Award. Associate Producer of "Thoughts of a Colored Man" a Broadway play (October 2021) and investor in “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf” (April 2022) which was nominated for seven Tony Awards®. Friday, June 30, 2023Janice Bryant Howroyd, fondly known as JBH, is the first African American woman to found and build a multi-billion dollar company. ActOne Group, a $3.4 billion (USD) workforce solutions organization operates in over 32 countries, engaging some of the world’s best technologies and systems to support organizations of all sizes to provide jobs and careers for millions of workers across the globe. Her technologies service over 50 languages, and she leads from a culture of humanity, discipline, and excellence instilled by her parents. Growing up in a segregated educational system in the deep south, the values of DE&I, transparency, and accountability frame her leadership style, her public and media engagements, her charity, and the culture of her organization.