Naza Shelley is Founder and CEO of CarpeDM, an exclusive member-only dating community, created for singles seeking meaningful relationships with professional Black women.
Naza is the daughter of military parents, so she lived in many places growing up. She eventually settled down in Virginia for high school, and then the University of Virginia for college. From a young age, she had aspirations to become an attorney. She pursued this journey, with a law degree from Howard University. Naza says it was a year post law school teaching in China that reinforced her desire to practice. And so she did when she returned to the US. As a successful black professional woman in DC, she still found something missing.
As she explored the various online dating experiences, she became more and more frustrated: why wasn’t there anything for her specifically? And so, the idea for CarpeDM was born. Fast forward through milestones, like landing a co-founder, going through Techstars, and launching a truly unique hybrid service that is part online dating and part matchmaker service. Naza has closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round, gaining her membership into the group of black women founders who’ve raised over $1M in venture capital.
Naza has a great story. You’ll want to listen in.
In this episode Naza and Dan discussed:
- Growing up in a military family
- The impact of spending a year in China after law school
- How dozens of dates in a year left her exhausted, with no real connections
- The power of 'friends and family' signals
- Why $86,000 was the right amount for her first fundraise
OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS EPISODE:
BLCK VC
A focused community built for and by black investors.
If you ever thought about getting into Venture, you definitely want to connect up at blackvc.com or
follow @BLCKVC for more about their exceptional programs and events.
MORE on NAZA and CARPEDM
Naza:
CarpeDM:
linkedin.com/company/carpedmdating
Follow Founders Unfound: Like and share - help us grow!
#blackfounders #founderstories #foundersafricandescent #onlinedating
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com