Editor’s note: This is part of series of stories from WRAL TechWire focusing on the calls to action by African American executives in the Research Triangle technology sector following the death of George Floyd.
DURHAM – Women are rare in the venture capital world, black women even more so. Karen LeVert is both.
She moved from Columbus, Ohio to North Carolina as part of a corporate relocation with Nationwide Insurance in 1996 to manage their 500-person Service Center located in Raleigh.
After a successful stint, she ultimately left Nationwide to follow her dreams of being an entrepreneur. After founding two startups, she launched Southeast TechInventures and Ag TechInventures, accelerators that further develop promising university technologies.
Over the 15 years of early-stage technology development, she said she realized there was tremendous opportunity for an early- stage venture fund. In late 2019 she became a Venture Partner with Research Triangle based, Pappas Capital, with plans to launch a fund to invest in early-stage Ag companies under their Specialized Fund Management offering.
Like other African American business leaders in the Triangle, she is calling for change in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in May.
Tech Legends: AgTechInventures: Karen LeVert — coming full circle
- What is your view on the ground here in the Triangle?
Similar to other areas of the country, the shock of the death of George Floyd has opened eyes to the plight of African-Americans in the U.S. The rallies here in the Triangle seem productive and those involved are diverse. However, there is no sacred ground – we must embrace the fact that something is wrong in America when it comes to race.
- What can be done on a local level to affect change?
At the local level what can we do to ensure our children are educated equally? I feel we’re moving back in the direction of segregated schools from the 60s and 70s where the quality of education was not the same. My parents intentionally purchased a home in small, white, Johnstown, Ohio in 1961 so their kids could have the same education as their white counterparts. It wasn’t an easy time for us in the beginning – that is a story for another time! In the end, Johnstown became a wonderful place for us to grow up. My siblings and I did very well in school, and I was Salutatorian of my class. I was given the same education and opportunity to perform. This is where systemic racism lives, not giving everyone the same tools and opportunity to perform. Education is truly an equalizer. However, our current system has limited opportunities for minorities which has created systemic poverty and a host of problems we can discuss later.
From a local policing perspective, we should have the same policing that white people have, not being over policed or under policed.
- Do you feel this is a watershed moment? If so, why?
Yes, this is a watershed moment. I feel the world was moving more slowly due to Covid-19 giving us all an opportunity to really see what we’ve been dealing with in our communities. We are now having more open conversations about race and white advantage, this is good and needs to continue. What does white advantage in a nutshell mean for me? It means the advantage that was actively denied to my ancestors. These are advantages that I witnessed being denied to my great grandparents, grandparents and parents. Each generation dreams for a better life for their children, in some ways we’ve come a long way and in many others, not so far. This is a call to action, we’re all brilliant people, if we put our energies to focus on race in America, we can move mountains.
- Where do we go from here?
We can’t change the past and we must be very intentional about the future. We have to talk more openly about race and not have it be an uncomfortable subject. Our school books need to tell the real story about the treatment of non-white people in the U.S. We must have diverse teams in everything we do, letting everyone bring their unique skills and experiences to the table to outperform those teams that aren’t diverse. My prayer is that in my lifetime when we see a person of color it’s no different than seeing difference in eye color, traits we have no control over. America has the strong opportunity to LEAD and set an example for the world to follow.
