Fearless Fund COO and co-founder Ayana Parsons recently announced that she’ll be stepping away from her position at the venture capital company.
Parsons reportedly made her decision to leave the Fearless Fund back in April. Alongside Arian Simone and Keisha Knight Pulliam, she began the VC company back in 2019 to help Black women entrepreneurs with their own businesses.
Dedicated to addressing the gap in funding for Black women entrepreneurs, under Parsons and the rest of the team, the Fearless Fund has helped dozens of BIPOC women with obtaining capital for ideas such as Pinky Cole’s “Slutty Vegan” food chain, Amira Rasool’s “The Folklore” and Arion Long’s “Femly.”
According to Parsons, she’ll continue to advocate for Black women entrepreneurs, even though she won’t be a part of the Fearless Fund.
“But what I can tell you as it relates to me, is I’m a problem solver. I’m a changemaker,” she said per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “And so, I am pulling together people to talk about innovative and creative ways that we can continue to drive change and do it in multiple areas.”
Although she’s previously stated her decision to step down as COO isn’t related to legal issues, the announcement comes as the Fearless Fund faces conservative efforts to eliminate it. In the ongoing lawsuit, the Fearless Fund has been accused by the American Alliance for Equal Rights of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Announced last month, the ruling by the 11th Circuit, made up of three judges, suspended their Strivers Grant Contest claiming it violates Title 42 by using race as a guideline for the award.
With the suspension of the Fearless Fund’s contest, Black women entrepreneurs face more obstacles when trying to access an already limited amount of capital.
As only 1.9% of venture capital goes to women at all, Black women are estimated to receive approximately 0.35% of all venture capital funds for businesses. For the money dedicated to early stage seed fundings for diverse founders, research has found that white women are obtaining most of it, drawing in 79% of the funds dedicated to the group.
With the already limited opportunities and the allocation of diverse founder funds to white women, Black women are forced to navigate an industry that doesn’t offer them enough support.
Still, Black women are persevering as business owners as the fast-growing group of entrepreneurs. Despite making up only 10% of the population, they’re responsible for a 70% increase of businesses from pre-pandemic levels in just three years.
With increased investments in the projects of Black women entrepreneurs, researchers predict a chance to better the economy in return.
“Better understanding helps advocates find opportunities to further support these entrepreneurs,” said senior director of Venture Forward Alexandra Rosen. “What our research demonstrates is that entrepreneurship creates positive impacts for entrepreneurs’ households, the communities where they live and work as well as the greater economy.”
